Families at the centre: negotiating Australia's mixed market in early education and care. Despite a surge of policy reforms and Australian government investment in early childhood education and care (ECEC), little is known in Australia about how local ECEC markets function and how low-income families make decisions about the use or non-use of child care services. This project will provide evidence for policy-making and service provision that aims to encourage child care use by low-income familie ....Families at the centre: negotiating Australia's mixed market in early education and care. Despite a surge of policy reforms and Australian government investment in early childhood education and care (ECEC), little is known in Australia about how local ECEC markets function and how low-income families make decisions about the use or non-use of child care services. This project will provide evidence for policy-making and service provision that aims to encourage child care use by low-income families. The direct involvement of child care providers in the research will strengthen its relevance and impact. This research will place Australia at the forefront of international research on local child care markets, and resulting improvements in ECEC policy and services will generate substantial economic and social benefits.Read moreRead less
Women in Local Government: Understanding their Political Trajectories. This project aims to investigate the chronic under representation of women in Australian politics through a local government lens. It expects to generate new knowledge about barriers to female political representation, their political performance and pathways to higher tiers of elected office. By following men and women councillors across an election cycle, this research seeks to robustly compare and measure women's experienc ....Women in Local Government: Understanding their Political Trajectories. This project aims to investigate the chronic under representation of women in Australian politics through a local government lens. It expects to generate new knowledge about barriers to female political representation, their political performance and pathways to higher tiers of elected office. By following men and women councillors across an election cycle, this research seeks to robustly compare and measure women's experiences of local politics to develop a new framework to map and address obstacles preventing political equity. Expected outcomes include theoretical advances and a 'best practice' guide for achieving parity.This should provide significant public benefits by advancing female participation across all levels of governments.
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The Kids in Communities Study: national investigation of community level effects on children's developmental outcomes. This project (a cross-disciplinary collaboration) will investigate community level factors influencing early childhood developmental outcomes using a mixed methods approach in up to 10 communities across Australia. This will result in a potential set of measures or indicators that reflect communities that are good for children.
Conviction Politics: the convict routes of Australian democracy. This transnational digital history project aims to demonstrate the importance of collective convict protest to the early development of democracy in colonial Australia. It generates new knowledge about Australian convict history, documenting for the first time the extent and character of convict activism 1788-1850 and offers fresh perspectives on the role of ‘political’ transportees in the mobilisation of the wider convict and free ....Conviction Politics: the convict routes of Australian democracy. This transnational digital history project aims to demonstrate the importance of collective convict protest to the early development of democracy in colonial Australia. It generates new knowledge about Australian convict history, documenting for the first time the extent and character of convict activism 1788-1850 and offers fresh perspectives on the role of ‘political’ transportees in the mobilisation of the wider convict and free population for reform. Expected project outcomes include building international and interdisciplinary HASS/STEM/industry collaborations in digital methods for archive research and communication, delivering significant benefits, notably innovative media ensuring impact with domestic and international audiences.Read moreRead less
Improving employment outcomes for Australians with disability. This project aims to provide evidence about how to improve employment outcomes for people with disability. Nearly one in five adult Australians have a disability and just over half of these are in the labour force; a modest increase in employment rates will have significant social and economic benefits for people with disability and society. By collecting longitudinal quantitative (survey) and qualitative (interview) data at three ti ....Improving employment outcomes for Australians with disability. This project aims to provide evidence about how to improve employment outcomes for people with disability. Nearly one in five adult Australians have a disability and just over half of these are in the labour force; a modest increase in employment rates will have significant social and economic benefits for people with disability and society. By collecting longitudinal quantitative (survey) and qualitative (interview) data at three time points from over 1500 jobseekers with disability, critical information should be gained about how the characteristics of employment services, workplaces and jobseekers contribute to sustainable, meaningful employment for people with disability.Read moreRead less
Stewarding thin markets: improving public sector market effectiveness. This project aims to develop methodologies to identify thin markets in the public service sector. Thin markets, where there are a low number of buyers or low number of sellers, are a major risk for governments utilising a personalised approach to service delivery. This project will develop new methodologies for identifying thin markets and determine ways emerging markets can be stewarded to better achieve their aims.
Identifying genes that influence clinical course and susceptibility in multiple sclerosis. This project aims to identify the genetic basis of multiple sclerosis (MS), the most common neurologic disease in young Australian adults. MS urgently needs research to identify predisposition, aid early diagnosis and provide bona fide molecular targets for new therapies. This will benefit people with MS and those susceptible to it. Crucial new knowledge identified will benefit other major areas of MS rese ....Identifying genes that influence clinical course and susceptibility in multiple sclerosis. This project aims to identify the genetic basis of multiple sclerosis (MS), the most common neurologic disease in young Australian adults. MS urgently needs research to identify predisposition, aid early diagnosis and provide bona fide molecular targets for new therapies. This will benefit people with MS and those susceptible to it. Crucial new knowledge identified will benefit other major areas of MS research including epidemiology, immunology and neurobiology. Collaboration of 8 major Australian institutions is also important for this project and future studies. The team will have access to a new national MS GeneBank (platform) with samples from 2240 patients that should generate findings important to world-wide MS genetic knowledge.Read moreRead less
Designing Distributed Intrusion Detection Systems for Critical Industrial Infrastructures. SCADA systems are computerized systems that control and monitor industrial and critical infrastructures, such as power grid, gas and water facilities and nuclear power plants. Many cyber-attacks on SCADA systems make such systems vulnerable. Also there is an increasing risk that SCADA vulnerabilities could be exploited by terrorist organizations. The security of SCADA systems of critical infrastructures ha ....Designing Distributed Intrusion Detection Systems for Critical Industrial Infrastructures. SCADA systems are computerized systems that control and monitor industrial and critical infrastructures, such as power grid, gas and water facilities and nuclear power plants. Many cyber-attacks on SCADA systems make such systems vulnerable. Also there is an increasing risk that SCADA vulnerabilities could be exploited by terrorist organizations. The security of SCADA systems of critical infrastructures has enormous and direct impact to our national security, economy and social life because of potential disasters that could happen from natural causes as well as malicious attacks. This project aims to investigate the relevant issues and provide efficient and reliable technological solutions to detect and prevent such problems.Read moreRead less
Developing smart embedded host-based intrusion detection systems. Computer intrusion is a major concern in many places. It is estimated that cybercrime cost firms US$1 trillion globally in 2008. Many serious cyber attacks, including cyber espionage, do not generate significant network traffic and can easily penetrate network-based intrusion detection systems (NIDS). Such attacks often attempt to compromise individual hosts and hence they are best detected at the host level. We aim to design i ....Developing smart embedded host-based intrusion detection systems. Computer intrusion is a major concern in many places. It is estimated that cybercrime cost firms US$1 trillion globally in 2008. Many serious cyber attacks, including cyber espionage, do not generate significant network traffic and can easily penetrate network-based intrusion detection systems (NIDS). Such attacks often attempt to compromise individual hosts and hence they are best detected at the host level. We aim to design innovative host-based IDS, as a complement to the NIDS, to address this issue. The outcomes of this project will strengthen the national capability to resist attacks by criminals and terrorists on Australian networked critical infrastructures and also enhance the global competitiveness of Australia’s information technology industry.Read moreRead less
Detecting Supervisory Control and Data Access (SCADA) malicious programs to protect Australian critical infrastructure. The security of SCADA systems has enormous impact to our national security and economy because they control and monitor critical infrastructure, like power, gas and water facilities and nuclear power plants, etc. This project aims to investigate the security issues and provide innovative technological solutions to detect and prevent such problems.