Signalling pathways for sexual differentiation of apicomplexan parasites. This project aims to study the sexual development of apicomplexan parasites, which cause major diseases in humans, livestock and wildlife, including malaria. Only sexually differentiated cells can survive in the mosquito vector and hence this development is essential for the parasite's life-cycle. This project will employ a new approach that separates female from male parasites, thus enabling new information to be gleaned ....Signalling pathways for sexual differentiation of apicomplexan parasites. This project aims to study the sexual development of apicomplexan parasites, which cause major diseases in humans, livestock and wildlife, including malaria. Only sexually differentiated cells can survive in the mosquito vector and hence this development is essential for the parasite's life-cycle. This project will employ a new approach that separates female from male parasites, thus enabling new information to be gleaned about the development of these parasites. The expected outcomes are an understanding of the mechanisms of sexual differentiation and a functional characterisation of novel sex-specific molecules. This will provide significant benefits, such as pivotal prerequisites for new approaches to parasite intervention.Read moreRead less
The Epigenetics of Sex in the Dragon. Genetic codes do not directly translate to phenotypes -- environment acts through epigenetics to modify development. We use advanced molecular techniques to examine how epigenetics responds to temperature to reverse sex in our novel animal model, the dragon lizard. How does the cell sense temperature? Once the extrinsic signal is captured, how does it influence chromatin modification to release or suppress key genes in the sex differentiation pathway? Which ....The Epigenetics of Sex in the Dragon. Genetic codes do not directly translate to phenotypes -- environment acts through epigenetics to modify development. We use advanced molecular techniques to examine how epigenetics responds to temperature to reverse sex in our novel animal model, the dragon lizard. How does the cell sense temperature? Once the extrinsic signal is captured, how does it influence chromatin modification to release or suppress key genes in the sex differentiation pathway? Which sex genes are targets? Epigenetic enzymes are astonishingly conserved, providing exciting opportunities to draw from human systems to unravel novel signatures of temperature-induced sex switching in reptiles. This project will advance knowledge of developmental programming generally.Read moreRead less
Regional Australia' skills shortages and high-skill refugees' employment . Regional Australia loses to cities thousands of professional and trade-related people whose skills cannot be replaced. Focusing on small and medium-size enterprises producing food and beverages, this project aims to determine whether refugee employment (i) is a strategic resource (ii) can alleviate these chronic regional skill shortages, and (iii) can be integrated in immigration policy. In doing so, it will for the firs ....Regional Australia' skills shortages and high-skill refugees' employment . Regional Australia loses to cities thousands of professional and trade-related people whose skills cannot be replaced. Focusing on small and medium-size enterprises producing food and beverages, this project aims to determine whether refugee employment (i) is a strategic resource (ii) can alleviate these chronic regional skill shortages, and (iii) can be integrated in immigration policy. In doing so, it will for the first time provide critical empirical evidence on the possible need to separate policy measures aimed at rural vs. urban employers. The outcomes will contribute to reducing the problem of critical skill shortages and wastage at once and do so with an eye to the needs to rural Australia – a key driver of the country’s exports. Read moreRead less
Policy Modelling for Ageing in Emerging Economies: The Case of Indonesia. This project, in collaboration with the World Bank and the Indonesian Planning Authority, will support major social and economic policy development in a rapidly ageing region. It will break new ground by developing a cutting-edge economic policy model reflecting salient features of ageing in emerging economies, taking into account the wider implications for education, employment, formalisation, growth, and retirement. It w ....Policy Modelling for Ageing in Emerging Economies: The Case of Indonesia. This project, in collaboration with the World Bank and the Indonesian Planning Authority, will support major social and economic policy development in a rapidly ageing region. It will break new ground by developing a cutting-edge economic policy model reflecting salient features of ageing in emerging economies, taking into account the wider implications for education, employment, formalisation, growth, and retirement. It will bring the armoury of policy analysis instruments available to these countries up to the standard now enjoyed by the developed world. Indonesia, on the brink of major pension reform, will be used as a test bed. Data sets will be developed to allow the model structure to be applied to other emerging economies in Asia. Read moreRead less
Incentivising On Country Aboriginal Employment: Anangu Futures. . This project aims to investigate the changing face of cultural tourism in central Australia and examine pathways towards sustainable aboriginal employment in and around Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park. The project is significant because it brings together Aboriginal community members, industry and government stakeholders to identify micro-business opportunities, youth training initiatives, better relations across cultural divides, ....Incentivising On Country Aboriginal Employment: Anangu Futures. . This project aims to investigate the changing face of cultural tourism in central Australia and examine pathways towards sustainable aboriginal employment in and around Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park. The project is significant because it brings together Aboriginal community members, industry and government stakeholders to identify micro-business opportunities, youth training initiatives, better relations across cultural divides, and the economic value of Aboriginal knowledge. Outcomes include a model for sustainable Aboriginal employment in remote and very remote contexts, and the development of culturally relevant and sustainable governing guidelines for regional investment. Benefits include more sustainable jobs for Aboriginal people.Read moreRead less
Conditional welfare: A comparative case study of income management policies. Using an innovative methodology that incorporates a cross-national comparison of policy design and practice, this project aims to explore the effects of income management policies. The research will provide new insights into compulsory income management in Australia, and its more recent introduction in New Zealand. The expected outcomes will provide benefits, such as a richer understanding of human agency, autonomy and ....Conditional welfare: A comparative case study of income management policies. Using an innovative methodology that incorporates a cross-national comparison of policy design and practice, this project aims to explore the effects of income management policies. The research will provide new insights into compulsory income management in Australia, and its more recent introduction in New Zealand. The expected outcomes will provide benefits, such as a richer understanding of human agency, autonomy and social identity in the context of social policy.Read moreRead less
Housing energy efficiency transitions. This project aims to provide an analysis of housing retrofit and its links with household energy costs. It includes householders across eight global urban sites, as well as the businesses that supply retrofit services. The project will analyse the retrofit experience of both energy poor and other households, providing an internationally significant evidence base. Outcomes include a robust empirical evidence base on the implications of retrofit for househol ....Housing energy efficiency transitions. This project aims to provide an analysis of housing retrofit and its links with household energy costs. It includes householders across eight global urban sites, as well as the businesses that supply retrofit services. The project will analyse the retrofit experience of both energy poor and other households, providing an internationally significant evidence base. Outcomes include a robust empirical evidence base on the implications of retrofit for households to tailor actions that will shape the lives of residents in Australian households.Read moreRead less
Emotions and Employee Turnover: New Methods for Complex Dynamic Systems. This project aims to vastly improve the data-analytic capabilities of social and health researchers, while increasing knowledge about emotion dynamics and their link to employee turnover. By drawing on and advancing methods from ecology and applied physics, this project plans to investigate the role that individual emotions play in employee turnover with new quantitative methods for characterising and testing causality in c ....Emotions and Employee Turnover: New Methods for Complex Dynamic Systems. This project aims to vastly improve the data-analytic capabilities of social and health researchers, while increasing knowledge about emotion dynamics and their link to employee turnover. By drawing on and advancing methods from ecology and applied physics, this project plans to investigate the role that individual emotions play in employee turnover with new quantitative methods for characterising and testing causality in complex dynamic systems. The expected outcomes include an improved capacity for researchers, managers, and policy makers to understand complex organisational, economic, and health systems. This will provide immediate societal benefits by informing the development and deployment of targeted interventions in such systems.Read moreRead less
Modelling human brain development with stem cells and biomaterials. With limited resources to directly study and advance our understanding of human neural development, this
proposal will establish models of 4 key stages. Employing innovative, interdisciplinary approaches, biomaterials will be fabricated to provide structural and chemical support for human stem cells during: (i) neural induction, (ii) specification into neuronal progenitor subpopulations, (iii) neuronal maturation and integration ....Modelling human brain development with stem cells and biomaterials. With limited resources to directly study and advance our understanding of human neural development, this
proposal will establish models of 4 key stages. Employing innovative, interdisciplinary approaches, biomaterials will be fabricated to provide structural and chemical support for human stem cells during: (i) neural induction, (ii) specification into neuronal progenitor subpopulations, (iii) neuronal maturation and integration into complex neural networks as well as, (iv) the organisation of neurons into larger 3-dimensional brain structures, namely folding of the human cortex. Further, biomaterials developed here have commercialisation potential, targeted at standardizing the culturing of human stem cells to defined neural populations.
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