Living With Uncertainty: Creating the Postmodern Self in Contemporary Australia. Life in postmodernity is marked by rapid change and uncertainty. Increasingly, as tradition is worn away, individuals must create new scripts to give life meaning and structure. Through a case study of gays and lesbians, this project will investigate how a group of Australians are creating postmodern selves. Drawing on in-depth interviews, it traces the relationship between discursive and psychological accounts of t ....Living With Uncertainty: Creating the Postmodern Self in Contemporary Australia. Life in postmodernity is marked by rapid change and uncertainty. Increasingly, as tradition is worn away, individuals must create new scripts to give life meaning and structure. Through a case study of gays and lesbians, this project will investigate how a group of Australians are creating postmodern selves. Drawing on in-depth interviews, it traces the relationship between discursive and psychological accounts of the postmodern self and their political effects. With a particular interest in emotional life, this study will provide critical information on how individuals and communities can manage creatively the uncertain conditions of postmodernity.Read moreRead less
Victorian Fishers: an ethnographic study. The project will study fishers and their families in three Victorian coastal communities- Lakes Entrance, the Corner Inlet ports, and Portland - to investigate how the character of fishing communities and perceptions of fishing as a way of life are affected by socio-economic context. The project will contribute new conceptual understandings of the construction of identity in fishing communities, establish a basis for studying diversity in discourse and p ....Victorian Fishers: an ethnographic study. The project will study fishers and their families in three Victorian coastal communities- Lakes Entrance, the Corner Inlet ports, and Portland - to investigate how the character of fishing communities and perceptions of fishing as a way of life are affected by socio-economic context. The project will contribute new conceptual understandings of the construction of identity in fishing communities, establish a basis for studying diversity in discourse and practice in contexts where access to marine resources is governed by legislative control and scientific advice, and has the potential to provide input to policy development within the Victorian and Commonwealth fishing industryRead moreRead less
Community Foundations of Resilience of Young People. Understanding and promoting resilience in young people is one of the most important health priorities of the Federal Government. The proposed project advances resilience research in a new direction. It is highly innovative in bringing together a research team from disciplines and professional knowledge domains that generally do not inform each other, to fill the conceptual gap in current knowledge around care, control and social resilience usi ....Community Foundations of Resilience of Young People. Understanding and promoting resilience in young people is one of the most important health priorities of the Federal Government. The proposed project advances resilience research in a new direction. It is highly innovative in bringing together a research team from disciplines and professional knowledge domains that generally do not inform each other, to fill the conceptual gap in current knowledge around care, control and social resilience using an applied community development project and a methodology of engagement with young people, to bring about social change.Read moreRead less
Mapping Justice Globalism: Reassessing the Ideological Landscape of the Twenty-First Century. "Mapping Justice Globalism" offers the first comprehensive analysis of the ideological claims of the global justice movement. The project assesses problem-solving approaches and policy platforms of civil society groups within the global justice movement and implications for Australian policy development and practice. The project offers alternative strategies to anticipate and address problems of globali ....Mapping Justice Globalism: Reassessing the Ideological Landscape of the Twenty-First Century. "Mapping Justice Globalism" offers the first comprehensive analysis of the ideological claims of the global justice movement. The project assesses problem-solving approaches and policy platforms of civil society groups within the global justice movement and implications for Australian policy development and practice. The project offers alternative strategies to anticipate and address problems of globalization, such as climate change, financial volatility, migratory pressures and cultural conflict. Key findings will be made available to Australia's policy-making sector in targeted and accessible formats. The project will enhance Australia's capacity to interpret and engage with the forces of globalization shaping our region and the world.Read moreRead less
Breaking the cycle: the role of housing and support in resolving chronic homelessness. The Australian Government aims to reduce homelessness by half by 2020 and to offer supported accommodation to all rough sleepers by 2020. Chronically homeless people are often part of an impoverished underclass, largely excluded from the labour force and other mainstream institutions. This research will lead to improvements in service delivery and program designs and will link them to the wider areas of housi ....Breaking the cycle: the role of housing and support in resolving chronic homelessness. The Australian Government aims to reduce homelessness by half by 2020 and to offer supported accommodation to all rough sleepers by 2020. Chronically homeless people are often part of an impoverished underclass, largely excluded from the labour force and other mainstream institutions. This research will lead to improvements in service delivery and program designs and will link them to the wider areas of housing policy and social inclusion. The findings will directly contribute to the National Research Priority, promoting and maintaining good health and the priority goal strengthening Australia's social and economic fabric.Read moreRead less
The role of the internet in building social capital amongst homosexually active men: virtual communities in HIV prevention. Social capital comprises features of social organisation such as civic participation, norms of reciprocity and trust in others that facilitate cooperation for mutual benefit, including health and wellbeing. The proposed research focuses on the role of the internet in producing the networks that engender social inclusion and community connectedness. There is scepticism about ....The role of the internet in building social capital amongst homosexually active men: virtual communities in HIV prevention. Social capital comprises features of social organisation such as civic participation, norms of reciprocity and trust in others that facilitate cooperation for mutual benefit, including health and wellbeing. The proposed research focuses on the role of the internet in producing the networks that engender social inclusion and community connectedness. There is scepticism about whether the 'virtual community' of the Internet can build social capital. The study will explore the potential benefits as well as harms to those homosexually active men who use the internet to access health information, meet sexual partners and build friendships that affirm gay identity and community inclusion.Read moreRead less
Food/body encounters: New approaches and alternative solutions to obesity prevention and policy. There is growing recognition of the need for new ways to tackle the obesity problem, and for forms of intervention that move beyond the limitations of individual behavioural changes. This project provides a paradigm for re-orientating how we have come to know obesity by investigating the cultural and institutional processes that shape everyday food and activity practices. Understanding and intervenin ....Food/body encounters: New approaches and alternative solutions to obesity prevention and policy. There is growing recognition of the need for new ways to tackle the obesity problem, and for forms of intervention that move beyond the limitations of individual behavioural changes. This project provides a paradigm for re-orientating how we have come to know obesity by investigating the cultural and institutional processes that shape everyday food and activity practices. Understanding and intervening in these dynamics of social practice are central to the challenges of reversing trends in the prevalence of obesity.Read moreRead less
Agency and Change in Institutionalised Organisations: The role of volunteers as institutional agents in the non-profit sector. This project intends to test recent developments in neoinstitutional organisational theory. The theoretical model developed is designed to address two questions bedvilling the genre: the role of human agency in institutional processes, and understanding institutional change. These questions are addressed in two ways: first, it takes voluntarism as an example of agency ....Agency and Change in Institutionalised Organisations: The role of volunteers as institutional agents in the non-profit sector. This project intends to test recent developments in neoinstitutional organisational theory. The theoretical model developed is designed to address two questions bedvilling the genre: the role of human agency in institutional processes, and understanding institutional change. These questions are addressed in two ways: first, it takes voluntarism as an example of agency in action; and second, it is located in the non-profit sector, an organisational field undergoing significant change. The project employs a micro-sociological methodological orientation rarely used in neoinstitutional research; that of non-participant observation and conversation analysis.Read moreRead less
Challenging the neoliberal critique of deficit spending and public debt. This project aims to analyse the rhetoric of balanced budgets by examining its intellectual and political history and revisiting counterarguments. Expected outcomes from the project will include insights into the development of rhetoric based on analysis of archival, textual and interview-based data . Findings from the project will be published in online fora with wide readership in national and international policy circle ....Challenging the neoliberal critique of deficit spending and public debt. This project aims to analyse the rhetoric of balanced budgets by examining its intellectual and political history and revisiting counterarguments. Expected outcomes from the project will include insights into the development of rhetoric based on analysis of archival, textual and interview-based data . Findings from the project will be published in online fora with wide readership in national and international policy circles. The project has the capacity to provide insights into and benefits for policy discourse on government deficit-spending and public debt.Read moreRead less
Working longer, staying healthy and keeping productive. Working longer, staying healthy and keeping productive. This project aims to develop a policy suite to respond to an older workforce. By 2060, nearly half of Australians aged 64 or older will be employed. Failure to address their health problems could threaten Australia’s economy, tax base and provision of health and care services. This collaboration between national policy portfolios (employment, social services, workplace health and socia ....Working longer, staying healthy and keeping productive. Working longer, staying healthy and keeping productive. This project aims to develop a policy suite to respond to an older workforce. By 2060, nearly half of Australians aged 64 or older will be employed. Failure to address their health problems could threaten Australia’s economy, tax base and provision of health and care services. This collaboration between national policy portfolios (employment, social services, workplace health and social equity) and expert scientists in work, health, social equality and policy process intends to reveal the diversity of older workers’ work-health dilemmas and effective ways for national policies to solve them. The policy suite will promote financial independence and meet social goals of equity and healthy ageing.Read moreRead less