Youth, religion and sexuality: digital media, school cultures, exemptions. This project aims to understand the knowledges and practices about sexuality and religion that form the everyday worlds of young people who are religious. This should provide significant new knowledge about a key time in the development of a young person’s identity via a nationwide, deep yet comparative approach. Expected outcomes include strategic health policy and curriculum development advice that responds to current d ....Youth, religion and sexuality: digital media, school cultures, exemptions. This project aims to understand the knowledges and practices about sexuality and religion that form the everyday worlds of young people who are religious. This should provide significant new knowledge about a key time in the development of a young person’s identity via a nationwide, deep yet comparative approach. Expected outcomes include strategic health policy and curriculum development advice that responds to current debates around religious exemptions to anti-discrimination law and creates better education and health care for religious and LGBTIQ+ youth. Benefits will include increased wellbeing for religious LGBTIQ+ youth, conservatively religious and newly arrived youth communities in Australia.Read moreRead less
The role of public culture in the construction of contemporary Australian literature. Literature is not simply a body of texts; it is a cultural technology, affected by changing patterns of production and consumption. Witness the 'cult of celebrity', the phenomenal recent growth of literary festivals, literary internet sites, reading groups, changing patterns of literary marketing, education, employment and leisure. Academic scholarship, largely text-based, fails to engage with these public and ....The role of public culture in the construction of contemporary Australian literature. Literature is not simply a body of texts; it is a cultural technology, affected by changing patterns of production and consumption. Witness the 'cult of celebrity', the phenomenal recent growth of literary festivals, literary internet sites, reading groups, changing patterns of literary marketing, education, employment and leisure. Academic scholarship, largely text-based, fails to engage with these public and popular phenomena. Our project develops methods for describing and evaluating how these practices construct literary value and cultural identity, in ways that will bring academic literary analysis into a more informed, more creative engagement with public and popular culture in Australia.Read moreRead less
Investigating Innovative Waste Economies: redrawing the circular economy . Australia is facing a waste crisis and government and industry are promoting the Circular Economy as a solution. This project investigates innovative cultural and economic practices in three waste streams: single use plastics, organics and bulky household waste, to understand how they realise or redraw the circle. The project develops empirical evidence to advance thinking about how novel waste economies are organised and ....Investigating Innovative Waste Economies: redrawing the circular economy . Australia is facing a waste crisis and government and industry are promoting the Circular Economy as a solution. This project investigates innovative cultural and economic practices in three waste streams: single use plastics, organics and bulky household waste, to understand how they realise or redraw the circle. The project develops empirical evidence to advance thinking about how novel waste economies are organised and the cultural and social innovations they generate. Outcomes include national and international case studies of innovative waste economies, social learning events with industry stakeholders and academic publications. Key benefits provide evidence of how different waste practices enable more sustainable ways of living. Read moreRead less
Only at the movies: mapping the contemporary Australian cinema market. Only at the movies? is a three-year project that asks: What is the enduring appeal of cinemagoing and how is it changing? It will provide detailed analyses of formal film exhibition and distribution in Australia by combining economic, cultural and geospatial research with industry expertise.
The sparrows in the mining towns: a century of adaptation to contamination. Our research will characterise how contamination from the extraction of precious metals can spread through the environment and how it effects a highly urbanised bird – the house sparrow. In many cases, populations of these birds have been intimately associated with mining operations for over a century, and our recent work has provided evidence of adaptation over time. House sparrows provide a great natural system to unde ....The sparrows in the mining towns: a century of adaptation to contamination. Our research will characterise how contamination from the extraction of precious metals can spread through the environment and how it effects a highly urbanised bird – the house sparrow. In many cases, populations of these birds have been intimately associated with mining operations for over a century, and our recent work has provided evidence of adaptation over time. House sparrows provide a great natural system to understand the genetic potential of organisms to adapt to anthropomorphic change in the environment connected with the resources industry. Our work, will bring new insight into the future management of environmental contamination, and the mitigation of adverse effects arising from resource extraction.Read moreRead less
An examination of the factors shaping recent developments in youth drinking. Over the past 15 years, the proportion of Australian teenagers who drink alcohol has halved. This project aims to understand the drivers of this major shift in teenage drinking behaviour. Initial work has shown that drinking has declined across demographic, socio-economic and cultural groups. This project plans to use mixed methods to analyse new and existing data to examine four potential drivers of this generational c ....An examination of the factors shaping recent developments in youth drinking. Over the past 15 years, the proportion of Australian teenagers who drink alcohol has halved. This project aims to understand the drivers of this major shift in teenage drinking behaviour. Initial work has shown that drinking has declined across demographic, socio-economic and cultural groups. This project plans to use mixed methods to analyse new and existing data to examine four potential drivers of this generational change in behaviour. Understanding the reasons behind this shift is important both to expand knowledge about the socio-cultural conditions shaping teenage alcohol consumption practices, and to support and maintain these trends through informed social policy.Read moreRead less
Chinese-language digital/social media in Australia. This project aims to study the production, content and use of digital/social media by mainland Chinese migrants in Australia. China’s global rise has generated widespread anxiety about its possible use of diasporic Chinese media to influence the world. This project expects to generate a new framework for analysing soft power and propaganda in digital/social media, while also undertaking a major rethinking of the concept of flexible citizenship. ....Chinese-language digital/social media in Australia. This project aims to study the production, content and use of digital/social media by mainland Chinese migrants in Australia. China’s global rise has generated widespread anxiety about its possible use of diasporic Chinese media to influence the world. This project expects to generate a new framework for analysing soft power and propaganda in digital/social media, while also undertaking a major rethinking of the concept of flexible citizenship. The study will produce a more accurate assessment of China’s influence through migrant media in Australia and elsewhere.Read moreRead less
Shop Talk: Department Stores, Shoppers and Consumer Capitalism, 1945-2025. This project aims to provide a deeper understanding of shopping and its significance in everyday Australian life by using oral history interviews with shoppers, workers and managers who have engaged with department stores since 1945. This project expects to produce the first history of the country’s post-war department stores. Expected outcomes include new, more nuanced perspectives of shopping and the challenges affectin ....Shop Talk: Department Stores, Shoppers and Consumer Capitalism, 1945-2025. This project aims to provide a deeper understanding of shopping and its significance in everyday Australian life by using oral history interviews with shoppers, workers and managers who have engaged with department stores since 1945. This project expects to produce the first history of the country’s post-war department stores. Expected outcomes include new, more nuanced perspectives of shopping and the challenges affecting the retail sector via a range of publications, international collaborations, and an archive of oral history recordings. This should provide significant benefits to researchers examining the retail sector, to Australians working in retail, and to ordinary Australians, whose stories will be placed on the historical record.Read moreRead less
Can consistent individual differences in metabolic rate explain animal personality? Implications for fish and aquaculture in a warming climate. This project will determine if consistent individual differences in metabolic rate affect behaviour, growth, and reproduction in fish. If so, then we need to prepare for the fact that a warming climate will lead to reductions in fish growth and reproduction, because rising temperature directly increases metabolism and therefore maintenance costs.