Imagining university education: the perspectives of young people impacted by low socio-economic status and disengagement from school. Significant effort is being made in Australia to increase the participation of students from low socio-economic status backgrounds in university education. This project will contribute to this effort by delivering knowledge on the perceptions of university education held by low socio-economic status young people aged 12-15 disengaged from school.
Mentoring and Indigenous Higher Education: Understanding how university students mentor Indigenous school students. Mentoring Indigenous school students by university students is an expanding initiative to address the education gap experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. This project will investigate what works in successful mentoring between university students and young Indigenous Australians and what are 'mentoring best practices' with Indigenous young people. The projec ....Mentoring and Indigenous Higher Education: Understanding how university students mentor Indigenous school students. Mentoring Indigenous school students by university students is an expanding initiative to address the education gap experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. This project will investigate what works in successful mentoring between university students and young Indigenous Australians and what are 'mentoring best practices' with Indigenous young people. The project builds on our research with the Australian Indigenous Mentoring Experience (AIME), a program engaging university students and Indigenous young people across Australia. Expected outcomes are new knowledge on university student mentoring of Indigenous school children and the design of 'remote' university student mentoring using communication technology.Read moreRead less
Maximising the conservation of biodiversity and the delivery of ecosystem services: What to do, where and when. The economic wealth of Australia is underpinned by its remarkable biological diversity. However, land and water degradation are eroding Australia's natural asset base damaging industries such as tourism, fisheries, and forestry. Given limited funds for biodiversity conservation, we need to minimise the misallocation of resources by making wise investments. This research will result in ....Maximising the conservation of biodiversity and the delivery of ecosystem services: What to do, where and when. The economic wealth of Australia is underpinned by its remarkable biological diversity. However, land and water degradation are eroding Australia's natural asset base damaging industries such as tourism, fisheries, and forestry. Given limited funds for biodiversity conservation, we need to minimise the misallocation of resources by making wise investments. This research will result in frameworks and tools to ensure that we maximise the protection of biological diversity and the delivery of ecosystem services (such as clean water) that are important for human well-being. We will share the results of our research with decision makers, scientists, and the general public.Read moreRead less
Institutional transitions to sustainable agriculture: An inter-disciplinary analysis of a novel common-property resource governance system. Efforts to overcome the severe degradation of land resources supporting agriculture and human communities continue to be constrained by institutions and social norms. The knowledge needed for a transition to sustainable agricultural landscapes through institutional change is inadequate. A collaboration between specialists in economics, politics, sociology, ....Institutional transitions to sustainable agriculture: An inter-disciplinary analysis of a novel common-property resource governance system. Efforts to overcome the severe degradation of land resources supporting agriculture and human communities continue to be constrained by institutions and social norms. The knowledge needed for a transition to sustainable agricultural landscapes through institutional change is inadequate. A collaboration between specialists in economics, politics, sociology, ecology and soil science at the University of New England and graziers in an upper Murray-Darling subcatchment will analyse the transition to a common-property institution on this subcatchment. It will make a distinctively Australian contribution to international efforts to understand such transitions, and serve as a model for progress towards sustainability elsewhere in Australia.
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Presumed Guilty: An Economics Analysis of the Efficiency of Environmental Bonds for the WA Mining Sector. Environmental bonds have two important economic effects. First they give an incentive for mining firms to manage environmental damage and second they prevent excessive costs falling on the regulator in the case of bankruptcy. The aim of this project is to assess if this policy can be redesigned to increase its economic efficiency.
Bioeconomic Modelling of Marine Reserves. Australian waters contain a huge range of biodiversity, but are under threat from human activities. To face this challenge and resolve the problems of depleted fisheries and habitat destruction, innovative approaches are required to integrate marine biology with fisheries economics. The research meets this immediate need by developing bioeconomic models of marine reserves to determine reserve location and size, and analyse interactions between reserves a ....Bioeconomic Modelling of Marine Reserves. Australian waters contain a huge range of biodiversity, but are under threat from human activities. To face this challenge and resolve the problems of depleted fisheries and habitat destruction, innovative approaches are required to integrate marine biology with fisheries economics. The research meets this immediate need by developing bioeconomic models of marine reserves to determine reserve location and size, and analyse interactions between reserves and harvested areas under environmental uncertainty. The models will be developed using the latest developments in economics, biology and numerical methods and will be used to conserve Australia's marine biodiversity and improve fisheries management.Read moreRead less
Making Australia internationally competitive: driving educational attainment by academic motivation, self-concept, engagement and aspirations. This project will extend and test predictions from motivation theory about educational choice and attainment, using multiple large national/international databases and new statistical models. This will result in better strategies to meet government targets of increasing tertiary enrolments, particularly for disadvantaged students.
Modelling Payments for Environmental Services on Indigenous held lands. Payments for environmental services (PES) such as fire management have potential to provide employment to indigenous people managing land that has previously been thought to hold no commercial value. In so doing it could transform the economies of the very remote parts of Australia where indigenous people live. For these schemes to work, however, greater understanding is required not only of the willingness of society to pay ....Modelling Payments for Environmental Services on Indigenous held lands. Payments for environmental services (PES) such as fire management have potential to provide employment to indigenous people managing land that has previously been thought to hold no commercial value. In so doing it could transform the economies of the very remote parts of Australia where indigenous people live. For these schemes to work, however, greater understanding is required not only of the willingness of society to pay for environmental services in northern Australia but also of the perceptions of the indigenous people who are providing these services. Choice modelling can (1) quantify values of different environmental services in different sectors of society and (2) help allocate the payments for environmental services efficiently.Read moreRead less
Adaptive economic management of Australia's urban water. This project responds to the so-called 'wicked problem' of ensuring an adequate supply of water to urban consumers at the lowest price even during long-term droughts. The project will generate, for the first time in the world, an integrated, dynamic, and adaptive supply and demand model to manage urban water optimally over time.
Economics of Conserving Australian Tropical Wildlife: An Analysis of the Role of Economic Valuation, Property Rights and Commercialisation. Australian tropical native animals are selected to analyse economic valuation (use and non-use valuation) of wildlife species and to assess systematically the role of property rights and commercialisation in conservation. The project will (1) reduce bias of Australian economic studies in favour of temperate species; (2) answer several unresolved questions ra ....Economics of Conserving Australian Tropical Wildlife: An Analysis of the Role of Economic Valuation, Property Rights and Commercialisation. Australian tropical native animals are selected to analyse economic valuation (use and non-use valuation) of wildlife species and to assess systematically the role of property rights and commercialisation in conservation. The project will (1) reduce bias of Australian economic studies in favour of temperate species; (2) answer several unresolved questions raised in the Parlimentary Report on Commercial Utilisation of Australian Wildlife; (3) advance economic theory (e.g. relating to dynamic influences on economic valuation) and provide new insights into property rights making use of empirical and experimental results, and (4) thereby contribute to public policy decision-making.Read moreRead less