Trade and investment in the face of declining international cooperation. This project aims to investigate the impact and policy implications of trade and investment policies in a world trade system facing increasing uncertainty. The project intends to gain an improved understanding of investment regulations like Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) agreements and their impact on trade and foreign direct investment. Expected outcomes include new theories for the breakdown of international agr ....Trade and investment in the face of declining international cooperation. This project aims to investigate the impact and policy implications of trade and investment policies in a world trade system facing increasing uncertainty. The project intends to gain an improved understanding of investment regulations like Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) agreements and their impact on trade and foreign direct investment. Expected outcomes include new theories for the breakdown of international agreements and their effects on third world countries as well as empirical methods that allow for a quantification of the welfare and employment effects of investment policies like ISDS. This project should provide benefits by informing government policy makers to improve Australia’s trade and investment policies.Read moreRead less
Nature futures: mapping pathways to prosperity for people and nature. Population growth, consumption and trade are direct socio-economic drivers of land use change and climate change, which determine where species can persist. The UN Sustainable Development Goals and national policies acknowledge the dependence of people on nature and the impact of socio-economic drivers on nature. However, few analyses of impacts on nature explicitly incorporate socio-economic drivers. Utilising a novel modelli ....Nature futures: mapping pathways to prosperity for people and nature. Population growth, consumption and trade are direct socio-economic drivers of land use change and climate change, which determine where species can persist. The UN Sustainable Development Goals and national policies acknowledge the dependence of people on nature and the impact of socio-economic drivers on nature. However, few analyses of impacts on nature explicitly incorporate socio-economic drivers. Utilising a novel modelling framework and high-performance computing we will integrate economic, land use and biodiversity models to evaluate: (i) policies and incentives for increasing national vegetation cover for carbon sequestration and habitat, and (ii) global risks to nature posed by land use change under future geopolitical scenarios.Read moreRead less
Australia and Brazil in the Asian Century. This project aims to update a theory of trust that accounts for the growing international influence of the Chinese state. As the mining boom subsides, Australia and Brazil must expand their agriculture exports, especially to China, their leading trade partner. The Chinese government has proposed large-scale investments in both countries’ agriculture sectors, but allegations of tax evasion, hidden subsidies and neo-colonialism have fuelled distrust of Ch ....Australia and Brazil in the Asian Century. This project aims to update a theory of trust that accounts for the growing international influence of the Chinese state. As the mining boom subsides, Australia and Brazil must expand their agriculture exports, especially to China, their leading trade partner. The Chinese government has proposed large-scale investments in both countries’ agriculture sectors, but allegations of tax evasion, hidden subsidies and neo-colonialism have fuelled distrust of Chinese investors. This project hypothesises that these tensions stem from diverging approaches to building trust. This could inform academic and policy publications and lead to more informed and productive relations with Chinese partners.Read moreRead less
Cultural knowledge in China’s Belt and Road Initiative. This project aims to clarify how the international expansion of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is shaped by cultural factors alongside economic and political diplomacy. New knowledge about the interaction of local priorities with global networks is drawn from ethnographic data gathered in China and its food suppliers Argentina, Brazil and Australia. It hypothesises that such interactions are mediated by individuals and institutions ....Cultural knowledge in China’s Belt and Road Initiative. This project aims to clarify how the international expansion of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is shaped by cultural factors alongside economic and political diplomacy. New knowledge about the interaction of local priorities with global networks is drawn from ethnographic data gathered in China and its food suppliers Argentina, Brazil and Australia. It hypothesises that such interactions are mediated by individuals and institutions who research and communicate local ecological and territorial knowledge. Expected outcomes include academic publications, policy papers, and media pieces. Benefits include filling a gap in network theory, an updated approach to research ethics, and improved national capacity to manage BRI’s impact.Read moreRead less
The Politicisation of Free Trade Agreements in the US, EU and Australia. This project aims to investigate why free trade agreements are increasingly politicised in liberal democracies. Politicisation has generated widespread public backlash against free trade but has also varied across agreements and countries. The project uses a novel comparative framework to explain the economic and political factors determining free trade agreement politicisation in the US, EU and Australia, actors with the m ....The Politicisation of Free Trade Agreements in the US, EU and Australia. This project aims to investigate why free trade agreements are increasingly politicised in liberal democracies. Politicisation has generated widespread public backlash against free trade but has also varied across agreements and countries. The project uses a novel comparative framework to explain the economic and political factors determining free trade agreement politicisation in the US, EU and Australia, actors with the most trade deals. Expected outcomes include new understandings of public backlash against free trade and globalisation. Expected benefits include recommendations on including civil society in trade policy-making and allaying populist protectionism, without jeopardising economic openness and the rules-based liberal order.Read moreRead less
Balancing National Security and Economic Interests in Foreign Investment. The project aims to investigate growing divergence between countries’ inward foreign investment policies and their increasing links to national security. Novel interdisciplinary collaboration integrating political science, economics and law promises insights into these policy shifts, which appear driven by digitalisation of the economy and the rise of emerging markets (eg China) and State-linked investment. Expected outcom ....Balancing National Security and Economic Interests in Foreign Investment. The project aims to investigate growing divergence between countries’ inward foreign investment policies and their increasing links to national security. Novel interdisciplinary collaboration integrating political science, economics and law promises insights into these policy shifts, which appear driven by digitalisation of the economy and the rise of emerging markets (eg China) and State-linked investment. Expected outcomes include clarification of the causes and implications of these shifts and innovative understanding of the connection between national security and economic interests in investment. This new knowledge should enhance balance in investment policy and decision-making, with economic and foreign policy benefits for Australia.Read moreRead less
Deep Learning Attacks and Active Defences: A Cybersecurity Perspective. The belief that deep learning technology is imperative for economic development, military control, and strategic competitiveness has accelerated its development across the globe. However, experience has revealed the disappointing fact that deep learning models are vulnerable to a range of security attacks. Hence, a series of methodologies and defence strategies will be devised that make deep learning systems robust to these ....Deep Learning Attacks and Active Defences: A Cybersecurity Perspective. The belief that deep learning technology is imperative for economic development, military control, and strategic competitiveness has accelerated its development across the globe. However, experience has revealed the disappointing fact that deep learning models are vulnerable to a range of security attacks. Hence, a series of methodologies and defence strategies will be devised that make deep learning systems robust to these attacks. The methodologies require analysing attack lifecycles to identify them in their early stages. With this knowledge, active defence methods and forensic strategies can be developed to ensure efficient defences and prevent further attacks. Moreover, the outputs will be generalisable to most deep learning services.Read moreRead less
Balance and reinforcement: privacy and fairness in high intelligence models. The aim of this project is to develop a series of privacy preservation methods to achieve a new balance between privacy and fairness in highly accurate intelligence models. The main issue in achieving this goal is that high-accuracy intelligence technologies have resulted in significant privacy violations and are very vulnerable to issues of unfairness. This project will analyse the privacy risks associated with intelli ....Balance and reinforcement: privacy and fairness in high intelligence models. The aim of this project is to develop a series of privacy preservation methods to achieve a new balance between privacy and fairness in highly accurate intelligence models. The main issue in achieving this goal is that high-accuracy intelligence technologies have resulted in significant privacy violations and are very vulnerable to issues of unfairness. This project will analyse the privacy risks associated with intelligent systems and devise mechanisms to mutually reinforce both privacy and fairness based on the theoretical foundations laid by our analysis. These outcomes will enable model owners to effectively protect their intellectual property and offer services to users in a private, fair, and accurate manner.Read moreRead less
Harnessing innate immunity to mitigate bovine respiratory disease. Bovine Respiratory Disease (BRD) is the most significant health problem faced by the beef industry worldwide, causing economic losses of up to $40 million annually in Australia alone. This Project aims to assess an immunostimulant for its ability to induce resistance to infection with bovine respiratory viruses associated with BRD. The Project is expected to generate fundamental new knowledge in veterinary virology. Expected outc ....Harnessing innate immunity to mitigate bovine respiratory disease. Bovine Respiratory Disease (BRD) is the most significant health problem faced by the beef industry worldwide, causing economic losses of up to $40 million annually in Australia alone. This Project aims to assess an immunostimulant for its ability to induce resistance to infection with bovine respiratory viruses associated with BRD. The Project is expected to generate fundamental new knowledge in veterinary virology. Expected outcomes include scholarly publications. The Project will provide significant benefits, such as advances to fundamental knowledge, training of higher research degree students and proof-of-concept data to promote collaborations with commercial partners to develop novel treatment strategies to limit BRD.Read moreRead less
Reverse chemical proteomics: harnessing yeast display for drug discovery. This project aims to develop a technique that can rapidly identify the cellular protein targets of biologically active natural products. This project expects to provide fundamental biological and chemical insights into Australia's unique biodiversity that will facilitate the development of new therapeutic agents and agrochemicals based on leads provided by Nature. Expected outcomes of this project include an optimised and ....Reverse chemical proteomics: harnessing yeast display for drug discovery. This project aims to develop a technique that can rapidly identify the cellular protein targets of biologically active natural products. This project expects to provide fundamental biological and chemical insights into Australia's unique biodiversity that will facilitate the development of new therapeutic agents and agrochemicals based on leads provided by Nature. Expected outcomes of this project include an optimised and validated platform technology for accelerating drug discovery and development. This should substantially reduce the costs associated with fighting human and animal diseases, leading to improved health, productivity and quality of life.Read moreRead less