Quantifying And Reducing The Burden Of New And Emerging Psychoactive Substances In Australia
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$645,205.00
Summary
The public health threat posed by emerging drugs of concern (e.g., new psychoactive substances (NPS) and crystalline methamphetamine) requires timely and effective public health interventions. This research program will strengthen estimates of the global NPS health burden, enhance the surveillance of unwitting drug consumption, and develop and evaluate novel harm reduction responses. Findings will inform policy and health service delivery, both globally and within Australia.
The Role Of Preconception And Perinatal Substance Use And Misuse In Childhood Social, Emotional And Behavioural Problems
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,562,250.00
Summary
This project will use perinatal and preconception data from three long-running Australian studies that have tracked the health and wellbeing of several thousand participants prior to parenthood. The aim is to understand how parental histories of substance use, and patterns of use during pregnancy, and in early life, shape offspring social, emotional and behavioural outcomes across childhood. Results will inform new approaches to preventing substance-related harms within and across generations.
Ethical frameworks for responsible innovation of neurotechnology. This project aims to ensure the ethical and efficient innovation of emerging neurotechnologies, including implantable brain devices, synthetic drugs and direct-to-consumer brain devices. This project expects to generate Australian’s first responsible innovation framework through extensive community engagement. Expected outcomes of this project include: guidelines for the development of neurotechnologies; a national framework for r ....Ethical frameworks for responsible innovation of neurotechnology. This project aims to ensure the ethical and efficient innovation of emerging neurotechnologies, including implantable brain devices, synthetic drugs and direct-to-consumer brain devices. This project expects to generate Australian’s first responsible innovation framework through extensive community engagement. Expected outcomes of this project include: guidelines for the development of neurotechnologies; a national framework for responsible innovation; partnerships with international brain initiatives; and enhanced interdisciplinary capacity. The proposed research should provide significant benefits: innovation of technologies that meet Australians' needs, reduced misuse and harm, and greater social support for innovation in neuroscience.Read moreRead less
Digital Death and Immortality. This project will create a philosophically-informed ethical approach for managing the 'digital remains' of internet users who have died. Emerging artificial intelligence technologies make it possible to reuse and interact with these digital remains. This offers new ways of commemorating the dead and for managing grief. Yet these technologies also threaten to exploit the dead and to change our relationship to them in troubling ways. Expected outcomes of the project ....Digital Death and Immortality. This project will create a philosophically-informed ethical approach for managing the 'digital remains' of internet users who have died. Emerging artificial intelligence technologies make it possible to reuse and interact with these digital remains. This offers new ways of commemorating the dead and for managing grief. Yet these technologies also threaten to exploit the dead and to change our relationship to them in troubling ways. Expected outcomes of the project include guidance for the ethical use of these technologies and policy recommendations for regulating the reuse of digital remains. This will provide significant benefits by helping Australia to avoid the ethical dangers inherent in emerging technologies of 'digital reanimation.'Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE220100027
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$467,754.00
Summary
Making a life with less: youth underemployment over the life course. This project aims to investigate the experiences and impacts of underemployment on young people. Using high-quality longitudinal data and qualitative interviews, this project expects to generate new, foundational knowledge about the employment pathways young people take following underemployment and the strategies they use to mitigate its effects. In doing so, this project aims to reveal the impacts underemployment has on young ....Making a life with less: youth underemployment over the life course. This project aims to investigate the experiences and impacts of underemployment on young people. Using high-quality longitudinal data and qualitative interviews, this project expects to generate new, foundational knowledge about the employment pathways young people take following underemployment and the strategies they use to mitigate its effects. In doing so, this project aims to reveal the impacts underemployment has on young people’s lives within and outside work, including their relationships, family formation and well-being. This much-needed research aims to provide significant benefits for policymakers and service providers that improve the lives of young people.Read moreRead less
Assessing risk of oligomictic conditions in sub-tropical water supply lakes. Assessing risk of oligomictic conditions in sub-tropical water supply lakes. This project aims to assess the risk of low rates of mixing in sub-tropical drinking water supply reservoirs, using environmental monitoring and numerical modelling. Emerging evidence suggests sub-tropical drinking water supply reservoirs could transition to low mixing states with increasing age and projected changes in global climate. While th ....Assessing risk of oligomictic conditions in sub-tropical water supply lakes. Assessing risk of oligomictic conditions in sub-tropical water supply lakes. This project aims to assess the risk of low rates of mixing in sub-tropical drinking water supply reservoirs, using environmental monitoring and numerical modelling. Emerging evidence suggests sub-tropical drinking water supply reservoirs could transition to low mixing states with increasing age and projected changes in global climate. While this risk is poorly understood, it could significantly affect the long-term reliability of water supply and potable water treatment costs. Addressing this knowledge gap is expected to develop effective management responses to ensure the long term sustainable use of these water resources.Read moreRead less
Developing a national rural volunteering roadmap. This project aims to investigate the challenges affecting rural volunteering in Australia. Conducting a national analysis of volunteering demand and supply, this project expects to generate new interdisciplinary knowledge of the structural, demographic, organisational and personal factors affecting the sustainability of rural volunteering. Expected outcomes of this project include a world-first index of volunteering vulnerabilities and a spatial ....Developing a national rural volunteering roadmap. This project aims to investigate the challenges affecting rural volunteering in Australia. Conducting a national analysis of volunteering demand and supply, this project expects to generate new interdisciplinary knowledge of the structural, demographic, organisational and personal factors affecting the sustainability of rural volunteering. Expected outcomes of this project include a world-first index of volunteering vulnerabilities and a spatial map of volunteering unevenness, leading to the development of an evidence-based National Rural Volunteering Roadmap (2025-2035), which will guide our volunteering peak body partners, governments and rural communities to plan for and support rural volunteering over the longer-term.Read moreRead less
Shadow care infrastructures: sustaining life in the post-welfare city. Mounting evidence points to difficulties faced by Australians reliant on government income support in meeting market costs of essential needs. This project investigates whether and how ‘shadow care infrastructures’ – a wide range of formal and informal material and social supports – enable the survival, well-being and flourishing of income support recipients. Focusing on people with disabilities, unemployed and asylum seekers ....Shadow care infrastructures: sustaining life in the post-welfare city. Mounting evidence points to difficulties faced by Australians reliant on government income support in meeting market costs of essential needs. This project investigates whether and how ‘shadow care infrastructures’ – a wide range of formal and informal material and social supports – enable the survival, well-being and flourishing of income support recipients. Focusing on people with disabilities, unemployed and asylum seekers, the study evaluates the benefits and harms such infrastructures produce for those receiving and providing care, and the wider community. It examines risks and opportunities to scale up emerging care infrastructures identified as critical to making ends meet for income support recipients in contemporary cities.Read moreRead less
Why is (re)development hot?: Measuring cumulative heat in Australian cities. Incremental (re)development of Australia’s residential areas occurs piecemeal, with varied planning oversight, and results in potentially harmful cumulative warming. This project aims to causally identify the warming effect of residential (re)development and investigate the impact of planning policies that control changes in the built form associated with increased heat exposure. Using large geospatial datasets and a qu ....Why is (re)development hot?: Measuring cumulative heat in Australian cities. Incremental (re)development of Australia’s residential areas occurs piecemeal, with varied planning oversight, and results in potentially harmful cumulative warming. This project aims to causally identify the warming effect of residential (re)development and investigate the impact of planning policies that control changes in the built form associated with increased heat exposure. Using large geospatial datasets and a quasi-experimental research design, warming in Australia’s suburbs over the past decade at the micro (street canyon)- and neighbourhood-scales, will be attributed to (re)development types and ‘fissures’ in policy to inform climate resilient planning. Read moreRead less
Grandparent childcare: negotiating work and care across generations. This project aims to investigate how and why parents and grandparents share childcare responsibilities in contemporary Australia. Using mixed methods and an innovative conceptual approach with a central focus on parent-grandparent care dyads, it expects to generate critical new knowledge of intra-family negotiations about employment and childcare provision across generations, and their relationship with social and economic poli ....Grandparent childcare: negotiating work and care across generations. This project aims to investigate how and why parents and grandparents share childcare responsibilities in contemporary Australia. Using mixed methods and an innovative conceptual approach with a central focus on parent-grandparent care dyads, it expects to generate critical new knowledge of intra-family negotiations about employment and childcare provision across generations, and their relationship with social and economic policy. The project expects to identify sustainable employment-childcare practices that meet the needs of children, parents and grandparents. Significant benefits include informing new policies aimed to enhance both gender and generational equity, promote women’s workforce participation, and boost national productivity.Read moreRead less