Policing the border: security, human rights and gender. Women are the fastest growing group undertaking extra-legal border crossing, yet we know little about the gendered character of border enforcement. This project will develop a regulatory framework for border policing that is adaptable to the gender determinants of mobility, human rights and the future challenges of border management.
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
Young Workers and the Future of Service Employment. This project aims to understand how the social and political relations of service employment are transforming, and how workers' participation can support the future viability of the service economy. It explores how young service workers negotiate their status, conditions and working relationships, and how service employment facilitates or limits their social and political participation. This evidence base supports efforts to improve the resilie ....Young Workers and the Future of Service Employment. This project aims to understand how the social and political relations of service employment are transforming, and how workers' participation can support the future viability of the service economy. It explores how young service workers negotiate their status, conditions and working relationships, and how service employment facilitates or limits their social and political participation. This evidence base supports efforts to improve the resilience and productivity of the service economy and enhance the social relations of service labour at a time of economic crisis. It will benefit policymakers, employers and worker representatives aiming to engage and support this diverse labour force.Read moreRead less
Risk shifting, retirement and low-paid work. This project will respond to the pressing need for greater understanding of the new socio-economic terrain of social risk shifting. The project will situate retirement financing within a discourse of risk shift to households and individuals, which is seeing social roles and identities tied, in cultural as well as monetary ways, into global finance.
Governing Climate Futures: The Social and Political Ramifications of Climate Modification. In light of the slow progress of international climate negotiations momentum has been developing behind a range of proposed strategies for manipulating climatic systems. Collectively referred to as ‘geoengineering’, current projects include technologies designed to reflect sunlight away from the Earth and techniques for directly removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Though these techniques may prove ....Governing Climate Futures: The Social and Political Ramifications of Climate Modification. In light of the slow progress of international climate negotiations momentum has been developing behind a range of proposed strategies for manipulating climatic systems. Collectively referred to as ‘geoengineering’, current projects include technologies designed to reflect sunlight away from the Earth and techniques for directly removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Though these techniques may prove to be a cost effective response to global warming, the deployment of these technologies will pose significant social, political and diplomatic challenges. This project will document the international development of geoengineering and will provide critical insights into the wider social and political ramifications of these developments.Read moreRead less
Experimental workers of the world - the labour of human research subjects in the emerging bioeconomies of China and India. China and India have become significant new hubs for domestic and multinational clinical trials, the process by which new drugs are tested for global consumption. Developing the concept of experimental labour, this project will investigate the growing numbers of the poor and uninsured who enrol in clinical trials as a means of making a living.
Australia a space-faring nation: imaginaries and practices of space futures. This project investigates the challenges, opportunities and implications of outer space as a site of economic, political, environmental and cultural interest for Australia. Combining ethnography and creative practice, the project analyses how a range of imaginaries of outer space are produced through a study of the development of Australia’s National Space Agency, the role of new venture capital firms in Australia, and ....Australia a space-faring nation: imaginaries and practices of space futures. This project investigates the challenges, opportunities and implications of outer space as a site of economic, political, environmental and cultural interest for Australia. Combining ethnography and creative practice, the project analyses how a range of imaginaries of outer space are produced through a study of the development of Australia’s National Space Agency, the role of new venture capital firms in Australia, and scientific research on alien life in terrestrial analogue sites in Australia, the U.S and Chile. Research outputs will contribute to national research capacity in social studies of science, foster opportunities for international interdisciplinary collaborations, and inspire Australian public engagement with space research. Read moreRead less
Groups, piecewise linear representations, and linear 2-representations. This project aims to address fundamental questions at the interface of two central areas of modern mathematics, geometric group theory and higher representation theory. Higher representation theory is a relatively new field, but its tools have already had a tremendous impact on mathematics. The project is expected to use these tools to address outstanding questions in geometric group theory. The expected outcomes of this pr ....Groups, piecewise linear representations, and linear 2-representations. This project aims to address fundamental questions at the interface of two central areas of modern mathematics, geometric group theory and higher representation theory. Higher representation theory is a relatively new field, but its tools have already had a tremendous impact on mathematics. The project is expected to use these tools to address outstanding questions in geometric group theory. The expected outcomes of this project include resolutions of open problems in the theory of Artin groups and the creation of a new subject, the dynamical theory of two-linear groups.Read moreRead less
Integral transforms and moduli theory. This project is in algebraic geometry, a branch of pure
mathematics. An overarching goal is a better understanding of the
algebra underlying the sophisticated geometries that arise in the
classification problems that are pervasive in mathematics and its
applications to physics. This new knowledge will then be applied to
further elucidate the geometry of these spaces.
Expected outcomes of this project include major progress in our
understanding of derived ....Integral transforms and moduli theory. This project is in algebraic geometry, a branch of pure
mathematics. An overarching goal is a better understanding of the
algebra underlying the sophisticated geometries that arise in the
classification problems that are pervasive in mathematics and its
applications to physics. This new knowledge will then be applied to
further elucidate the geometry of these spaces.
Expected outcomes of this project include major progress in our
understanding of derived categories of algebraic stacks via the
Fourier-Mukai transform.
The benefit will be to enhance the international stature of Australian
science.Read moreRead less
Algebraic categories and categorical algebra. Algebra is the study of operations, such as addition and multiplication, and the relationships between these operations. This project will study two exciting new branches of algebra, quantum algebra and postmodern algebra, which will lead to important advances in physics, geometry, and computing.