Improving water quality modelling by better understanding solute transport. Poor stream water quality is a critical problem in Australia and globally. Stream water quality depends directly on pathways and time taken for water to transport pollutants through catchments. Predicting these pathways is highly challenging and currently requires specialised data. This project aims to better model the movement of water from rainfall to streams, enable greatly improved use of water quality data routinely ....Improving water quality modelling by better understanding solute transport. Poor stream water quality is a critical problem in Australia and globally. Stream water quality depends directly on pathways and time taken for water to transport pollutants through catchments. Predicting these pathways is highly challenging and currently requires specialised data. This project aims to better model the movement of water from rainfall to streams, enable greatly improved use of water quality data routinely collected in Australia's catchments and thereby better predict water quality behaviour. Proposed field studies aim to support this development. The outcomes sought are improved planning and management of water quality in our rivers, lakes and estuaries, improved health of these water bodies and improved water supplies.Read moreRead less
Youth, religion and sexuality: digital media, school cultures, exemptions. This project aims to understand the knowledges and practices about sexuality and religion that form the everyday worlds of young people who are religious. This should provide significant new knowledge about a key time in the development of a young person’s identity via a nationwide, deep yet comparative approach. Expected outcomes include strategic health policy and curriculum development advice that responds to current d ....Youth, religion and sexuality: digital media, school cultures, exemptions. This project aims to understand the knowledges and practices about sexuality and religion that form the everyday worlds of young people who are religious. This should provide significant new knowledge about a key time in the development of a young person’s identity via a nationwide, deep yet comparative approach. Expected outcomes include strategic health policy and curriculum development advice that responds to current debates around religious exemptions to anti-discrimination law and creates better education and health care for religious and LGBTIQ+ youth. Benefits will include increased wellbeing for religious LGBTIQ+ youth, conservatively religious and newly arrived youth communities in Australia.Read moreRead less
Only at the movies: mapping the contemporary Australian cinema market. Only at the movies? is a three-year project that asks: What is the enduring appeal of cinemagoing and how is it changing? It will provide detailed analyses of formal film exhibition and distribution in Australia by combining economic, cultural and geospatial research with industry expertise.
Mapping the movies: the changing nature of Australia's cinema circuits and their audiences 1956-1984. Support for film production is a high profile component in Australian cultural policy, but the cultural and commercial opportunity represented by cinema exhibition and attendance is less well understood. Focusing on the three decades after the introduction of television in 1956, this project is the first of its kind to use geospatial visualisation to map the social and economic circuits of cinem ....Mapping the movies: the changing nature of Australia's cinema circuits and their audiences 1956-1984. Support for film production is a high profile component in Australian cultural policy, but the cultural and commercial opportunity represented by cinema exhibition and attendance is less well understood. Focusing on the three decades after the introduction of television in 1956, this project is the first of its kind to use geospatial visualisation to map the social and economic circuits of cinema-going, and to identify the variables that explain cinema diversification, survival or closure. It will contribute to policy analysis in terms of local media access modelling, and will consolidate this team's international reputation for innovative Australian research in the representation of historical data.Read moreRead less
Ochre archaeomicrobiology: a new tool for understanding Aboriginal exchange. This project aims to identify the origins and movements of Australian archaeological ochre through the development of a novel tool combining genomic and chemical analysis. The geographic distribution of Australian ochre is closely linked to Aboriginal creation stories, while its physical distribution by people is evidence of cultural cooperation. Using this new archaeomicrobiological technique, the project aims to answe ....Ochre archaeomicrobiology: a new tool for understanding Aboriginal exchange. This project aims to identify the origins and movements of Australian archaeological ochre through the development of a novel tool combining genomic and chemical analysis. The geographic distribution of Australian ochre is closely linked to Aboriginal creation stories, while its physical distribution by people is evidence of cultural cooperation. Using this new archaeomicrobiological technique, the project aims to answer significant questions about past human behaviour, in terms of trade, cultural interactions, territoriality and colonisation. The method also has the potential to benefit traditional owners by contributing to repatriation projects. The collaborative detailed recording, sampling and analysis of ochre sources on traditional lands will also assist Aboriginal communities to manage this important aspect of their cultural heritage.Read moreRead less
A model of the mind which explains the role of emotions in normal cognition and affective disorder. Depression is recognised as one of the most burdensome diseases in Australia. Though we of course make no claims, as philosophers, to cure depression our contribution is to engage philosophy productively with a vital national area of empirical research. The other area of national benefit is to consolidate Australia's developing reputation as a site for the involvement of philosophy in interdiscipl ....A model of the mind which explains the role of emotions in normal cognition and affective disorder. Depression is recognised as one of the most burdensome diseases in Australia. Though we of course make no claims, as philosophers, to cure depression our contribution is to engage philosophy productively with a vital national area of empirical research. The other area of national benefit is to consolidate Australia's developing reputation as a site for the involvement of philosophy in interdisciplinary projects which link the humanities to the sciences. Furthermore, with the project's anchoring in the humanities, there is hope that a focus on, and increased understanding of, depression will have flow-on effects in the Australian community that will help ease the stigmatisation that is still felt by many of its sufferers.Read moreRead less
Early African woodworking and tool use at the transition to modern humans. Our archaeological excavations and preliminary dating of Amanzi Springs (South Africa) to between 515,000 and 163,000 years ago shows that the site covers a critical time period that led to the origins of our species, Homo sapiens. Amanzi documents, in never before seen resolution, the technological leaps that our ancestors made during this transition. At ~400,000 years ago this includes the oldest evidence for woodworkin ....Early African woodworking and tool use at the transition to modern humans. Our archaeological excavations and preliminary dating of Amanzi Springs (South Africa) to between 515,000 and 163,000 years ago shows that the site covers a critical time period that led to the origins of our species, Homo sapiens. Amanzi documents, in never before seen resolution, the technological leaps that our ancestors made during this transition. At ~400,000 years ago this includes the oldest evidence for woodworking and tool use and >163,000 years ago the oldest heat treatment of rock to make stone tools. The organic preservation at the site means that we can reconstruct changing environment, linked to sea level changes and spring activity, for this period in the evolution of our ancestors at a level of detail not previously possibleRead moreRead less
Epigenetics and Indigenous Australia. This project aims to investigate how epigenetics is being received by Indigenous Australians, and to identify the potential risks and opportunities that narratives of biosocial damage entail. Epigenetics is a rapidly evolving science concerned with how life experiences, such as trauma or stress, can modify DNA and be passed on to negatively affect children's (and possibly grandchildren's) health and development. This project will offer an understanding of th ....Epigenetics and Indigenous Australia. This project aims to investigate how epigenetics is being received by Indigenous Australians, and to identify the potential risks and opportunities that narratives of biosocial damage entail. Epigenetics is a rapidly evolving science concerned with how life experiences, such as trauma or stress, can modify DNA and be passed on to negatively affect children's (and possibly grandchildren's) health and development. This project will offer an understanding of the relationships between Indigenous health and epigenetics that will help Indigenous researchers, policymakers, and government bodies make well-informed decisions about the application and direction of this new science. The research will make a significant contribution to understanding how the interplay of biology, race, and society unfold at the intersection of different knowledge systems and at the forefront of technological progress.Read moreRead less
Early desert settlement of Arabia following out-of-Africa human dispersals. This project aims to improve our understanding of the nature, timing and climatic context of early human expansion into SW Asia, from a new extensive archaeological complex with associated palaeoenvironmental sequences on the Arabian Peninsula – a strategic out-of-Africa migratory corridor. It will combine innovative approaches in archaeology, geochronology and palaeoenvironmental research to evaluate the environmental a ....Early desert settlement of Arabia following out-of-Africa human dispersals. This project aims to improve our understanding of the nature, timing and climatic context of early human expansion into SW Asia, from a new extensive archaeological complex with associated palaeoenvironmental sequences on the Arabian Peninsula – a strategic out-of-Africa migratory corridor. It will combine innovative approaches in archaeology, geochronology and palaeoenvironmental research to evaluate the environmental and cultural adaptability of early desert settlement, providing critical new insights into globally significant human dispersal debates spanning multiple continents, including Australia. The aim is a fundamental new perspective on long-term human occupation dynamics of deserts and new understanding of regional dispersals.Read moreRead less
Nature's mechanisms for leaching and remobilising metals. This project aims to understand the chemical and physical processes that govern reactive transport and metal scavenging in rocky environments. Much of Australia's mineral wealth is the result of the interaction of warm fluids with rocks deep in the Earth over geological timescales. The formation of ore deposits is governed by the physical chemistry of mineral dissolution and crystallisation, and by fluid flow through porous rocks and frac ....Nature's mechanisms for leaching and remobilising metals. This project aims to understand the chemical and physical processes that govern reactive transport and metal scavenging in rocky environments. Much of Australia's mineral wealth is the result of the interaction of warm fluids with rocks deep in the Earth over geological timescales. The formation of ore deposits is governed by the physical chemistry of mineral dissolution and crystallisation, and by fluid flow through porous rocks and fractures. This project integrates innovation in geology, chemistry, and mineral engineering, and will deliver mineral-scale reaction models that will increase efficiency of in-situ mining and leaching technologies. Knowledge generated can be applied to improve mineral exploration, mining, and processing, contributing to unlocking billions of dollars’ worth of resources tied up in low grade, mineralogically complex ores.Read moreRead less