To what extent does Australian food policy consider its health impact. This research will examine how public policies relating to food can be made healthier. The diet of Australians currently contributes to high rates of disease including diabetes, heart disease and the underlying issue of obesity. It will examine Australian agriculture and food processing, manufacturing and marketing and the environmental impacts of these sectors. The research will analyse policy documents and interview key peo ....To what extent does Australian food policy consider its health impact. This research will examine how public policies relating to food can be made healthier. The diet of Australians currently contributes to high rates of disease including diabetes, heart disease and the underlying issue of obesity. It will examine Australian agriculture and food processing, manufacturing and marketing and the environmental impacts of these sectors. The research will analyse policy documents and interview key people involved in each sector to determine their views on the ways in which our food supply affects our health. It will result in policy recommendations advising how the Australian food sector can be made more supportive of health and equity. Policy makers will be engaged with our findings through a Food Policy Summit. Read moreRead less
Building better: Neighbourhoods to benefit children with disability. This project aims to identify which neighbourhood features support wellbeing for children with disability. The project expects to advance innovation by combining Australian disability policy, children's lived experience of disability, and high-quality child development and built environment data. Expected outcomes of the project include new, co-created insights for how urban neighbourhoods can enable children with disability to ....Building better: Neighbourhoods to benefit children with disability. This project aims to identify which neighbourhood features support wellbeing for children with disability. The project expects to advance innovation by combining Australian disability policy, children's lived experience of disability, and high-quality child development and built environment data. Expected outcomes of the project include new, co-created insights for how urban neighbourhoods can enable children with disability to thrive and a suite of end-user indicator tools to monitor their progress. Expected benefits include improved policy options and tools for government and advocates to plan and deliver more equitable neighbourhoods, and ultimately better participation, inclusion, and wellbeing for children with disability.Read moreRead less
Generating evidence for nature-based strategies to reduce loneliness. While loneliness and despair are reportedly increasing due to social and economic upheaval caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, governments are investing in urban greening. This project aims to help steer greening strategies to reduce loneliness and despair, to enable recoveries from COVID-19 that are more sustainable, equitable and nourishing. This project will: (1) engage with leading scientists within and outside Australia to f ....Generating evidence for nature-based strategies to reduce loneliness. While loneliness and despair are reportedly increasing due to social and economic upheaval caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, governments are investing in urban greening. This project aims to help steer greening strategies to reduce loneliness and despair, to enable recoveries from COVID-19 that are more sustainable, equitable and nourishing. This project will: (1) engage with leading scientists within and outside Australia to formalise my draft conceptual model of pathways linking urban greening with loneliness and despair; (2) test associations and pathways with multiple sources of nationally representative data; (3) supervise a mixed-methods PhD project; and (4) share findings for building up knowledge capacities and guideline development.Read moreRead less
About time; a new biology for the mineralocorticoid receptor . Temporal control of cell function aligns biological pathways with environmental cues and is critical for optimal heath in mammals. This project will shed light on how a hormone receptor, the MR, modulates time keeping of biological clock time in cells. We will bring together cutting edge genetic modals and bioinformatic approaches with a unique set of research models to define the interaction between the MR and the circadian clock a ....About time; a new biology for the mineralocorticoid receptor . Temporal control of cell function aligns biological pathways with environmental cues and is critical for optimal heath in mammals. This project will shed light on how a hormone receptor, the MR, modulates time keeping of biological clock time in cells. We will bring together cutting edge genetic modals and bioinformatic approaches with a unique set of research models to define the interaction between the MR and the circadian clock and its role in the normal biology of the heart. New data will significantly enhance our understanding of the biology of MR and cortisol for the circadian time keeping function in peripheral tissues, and gain a clearer understand how our heart cells adapt to environmental circadian disruptors such as shift work. Read moreRead less