Excessive sitting and population health: strengthening the science and the relevance to policy and practice. The majority of Australian adults spend most of their waking hours sitting; this increases the likelihood of developing diseases of inactivity, including diabetes, heart disease and some cancers. New research will investigate what factors encourage excessive sitting and what the health benefits are for people who deliberately do less sitting.
Addressing time scarcity: feasible strategies for a healthy future. Lack of time is the main reason people say they don't exercise, take public transport or eat healthy food, and for many Australians (especially parents who combine working with raising children) time pressure is acute. This program of research will provide ways to reduce time barriers, to make healthy and sustainable living more feasible.
Food systems, urban health equity and climate stabilisation: the need for a common agenda. This research will help address two great contemporary human struggles - achieving health equity and climate stabilisation. Action concerned with economic and social policy, food systems and urban living will improve Australian and global health, and help reduce social inequity such that communities are better able both to cope with the impacts of climate change and to avert further damage to the global en ....Food systems, urban health equity and climate stabilisation: the need for a common agenda. This research will help address two great contemporary human struggles - achieving health equity and climate stabilisation. Action concerned with economic and social policy, food systems and urban living will improve Australian and global health, and help reduce social inequity such that communities are better able both to cope with the impacts of climate change and to avert further damage to the global environment. Providing an evidence base that demonstrates, for the first time, what can be done in an integrated manner, will help mobilise political and popular support for a radical break with the compartmentalised and short term approach that dominates the political agenda at state, national and global levels.Read moreRead less
Mental health, job quality and workforce participation: evidence from population health research to address complex problems and conflicting policies. Mental disorders such as depression are a major cause of disability. Improving mental health can increase productivity and workforce participation. However, the psychosocial quality of work is a factor that overlays the relationship between work and health. Poor quality work (for example, unreasonable time pressure, insecurity) increases the risk ....Mental health, job quality and workforce participation: evidence from population health research to address complex problems and conflicting policies. Mental disorders such as depression are a major cause of disability. Improving mental health can increase productivity and workforce participation. However, the psychosocial quality of work is a factor that overlays the relationship between work and health. Poor quality work (for example, unreasonable time pressure, insecurity) increases the risk of poor mental health, absenteeism, and exit from the workforce. This project will analyse data following people over time to investigate the long-term health and employment consequences of poor psychosocial job quality, and consider the special case of mature age workers. It will identify those individuals at greatest risk, and factors that can buffer against the adverse effects of poor quality work.Read moreRead less
Fostering Safe Nanotechnology Research Focused on Critical Public Health Problems. This Project builds upon the applicant's unique interdisciplinary research and collaborations to develop an innovative framework for improving occupational health and safety standards of nanotechnology research at the Australian National University and fostering its focus on critical public health problems such as biosecurity, food and water safety, pollution control and equitable access to health technologies.
Testing theoretical models of age and disease related changes to inform prevention. Pathological brain changes associated with future cognitive decline become detectable in the 40s or earlier. Yet little is known about what constitutes normal brain ageing in mid-life. Using a number of neuroimaging and epidemiological techniques this project will scrutinise brain and cognitive ageing in middle-age and their significance.
Social relations and social engagement in older adulthood: implications for health, well being and cognition. This project will examine the nature of changes in peoples social networks that occur with age and the effects of these changes on health and well being in later life. The project will use information collected as part of several ongoing Australian studies of ageing and will have implications for social policy.
Health and sustainability: Australia in a global context. Sustainable population health in Australia is threatened by emerging global and domestic forces, including rising costs of energy and food, linked with climate change and migration. Domestic factors include a growing, ageing population. Better understanding of these forces will enhance national capacity to respond and adapt to these risks.
The role of the innate immune response in the asymptomatic nature of viral infections in bats. Bats are natural reservoirs to a variety of viruses, including many that are lethal in humans and other mammals. This project will generate fundamental information on the mechanisms involved in the asymptomatic nature of viral infections in bats and contribute towards the development of new antiviral strategies for other susceptible species.
Soft nanotubes for biomedical applications. Nature employs self-assembly of small molecules to build complex materials. This project will mimic natural self-assemblies to design synthetic tubular structures on the nanoscale, and apply these nanostructures to solve problems in the fields of biology and medicine.