Discipline, Morale and Winning Wars: Understanding the Relationships Between Discipline and Combat Performance in Low-Intensity Conflict. Discipline and morale are key elements in combat performance, particularly in Low-Intensity Conflict (LIC). This project examines the relationships between discipline, morale and combat performance using the Australian Army in Vietnam as a case study. It provides insights into better understanding and managing discipline and morale to produce and sustain comba ....Discipline, Morale and Winning Wars: Understanding the Relationships Between Discipline and Combat Performance in Low-Intensity Conflict. Discipline and morale are key elements in combat performance, particularly in Low-Intensity Conflict (LIC). This project examines the relationships between discipline, morale and combat performance using the Australian Army in Vietnam as a case study. It provides insights into better understanding and managing discipline and morale to produce and sustain combat performance. It assists the Army to avoid the negative effects of failures in discipline and morale that produced the My Lai massacre and the Abu Ghraib fiasco. It also helps position Australia internationally as a contributor to the better understanding of LIC, and fills a gap in Australian historiography of war.Read moreRead less
Understanding Low-Intensity Conflict. Since 1945, Low-Intensity Conflict (LIC) has become the dominant form of warfare. Conventional armies have a poor record of success in fighting LIC. This project uses the records of the Australian Army's operations in the Vietnam War to better understand it's operational performance there and to unearth insights into the conduct of LIC. The project has the potential to reduce casualties, both military and civilian, and assist the Army in selecting new war-fi ....Understanding Low-Intensity Conflict. Since 1945, Low-Intensity Conflict (LIC) has become the dominant form of warfare. Conventional armies have a poor record of success in fighting LIC. This project uses the records of the Australian Army's operations in the Vietnam War to better understand it's operational performance there and to unearth insights into the conduct of LIC. The project has the potential to reduce casualties, both military and civilian, and assist the Army in selecting new war-fighting technologies, designing training and developing doctrine for future LIC. The project will raise Australia's profile in theorising about this troubling but increasingly common form of warfare.Read moreRead less
Evolvability and the Evolution of Complexity. Anyone engaging in a moment's reflection on the striking richness, diversity, and complexity of the biological world is faced with the question: how did it get here? Though natural selection is central to answering this question, important new work has identified various conditions that make some lineages of organisms "evolvable": capable of changing in ways that radically expand the range of further possible changes. This project will clarify and in ....Evolvability and the Evolution of Complexity. Anyone engaging in a moment's reflection on the striking richness, diversity, and complexity of the biological world is faced with the question: how did it get here? Though natural selection is central to answering this question, important new work has identified various conditions that make some lineages of organisms "evolvable": capable of changing in ways that radically expand the range of further possible changes. This project will clarify and integrate these various conditions using empirical examples and simple models. The resulting work from this project will provide a clearer general understanding of what biological complexity is, and how science has compelling candidates for understanding how it evolves.Read moreRead less
Nature and Nation: Science, Environment and National Identity in Australia. Nature and Nation combines interviews and archival research to explore the intersection of three worlds in Australia:
· the natural world
· the scientific world that speaks for nature in settler society, and
· the cultural world that fosters and constrains science and other ways of knowing about nature.
The primary focus is the workings of science in northern Australia, where the frontier has never closed. The a ....Nature and Nation: Science, Environment and National Identity in Australia. Nature and Nation combines interviews and archival research to explore the intersection of three worlds in Australia:
· the natural world
· the scientific world that speaks for nature in settler society, and
· the cultural world that fosters and constrains science and other ways of knowing about nature.
The primary focus is the workings of science in northern Australia, where the frontier has never closed. The aim is to elucidate the past, present and future roles of environment and science in Australia's nation-building. Outcomes will include public lectures, journal articles and a major book for a general audience.
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The Empire of New Idealism?: Civilisation and Australian New Idealism, 1850-1950. Philosophies, like people and commodities, travel the globe. This project traces the movement of British 'New Idealist' philosophy to Australia in the mid-nineteenth century, its transformation into 'Australian New idealism', and return to Britain. It shows how the hopes of these first Australian philosophers for a global community overlapped with politicians and policy makers, and uncovers their shaping role in th ....The Empire of New Idealism?: Civilisation and Australian New Idealism, 1850-1950. Philosophies, like people and commodities, travel the globe. This project traces the movement of British 'New Idealist' philosophy to Australia in the mid-nineteenth century, its transformation into 'Australian New idealism', and return to Britain. It shows how the hopes of these first Australian philosophers for a global community overlapped with politicians and policy makers, and uncovers their shaping role in the formulation of many social policies that remain with us today. It places Australian history and research at the heart of a new global vision of New Idealist studies and offers scholars, policy makers and educators the necessary background to more fully articulate Australian understandings of citizenship and civilisation.Read moreRead less
Negotiating modernity: Buddhism between Tibet and China. This project will shed light on a significant aspect of modern Asian intellectual history: the appropriation of Yogacara Buddhism in Tibet and how this relates to simultaneous movements in China. The project will open up new perspectives on the distinct trajectories of modernist thought in Tibetan and Chinese cultures.
Critical thought in Thailand after Marxism: modern political history through ideas. This collaborative Australian-Thai project will document competing schools of critical thought that emerged in Thailand after the Cold War. Our team will map and analyse the battles of ideas that parallel political contests in the country, deepening understanding of tensions that now polarise one of Australia's most important regional neighbours.
A Creole Landscape: Jamaica in Space and Time. Comparative analysis, over time and space, enables a richer understanding of the long-term consequences of changing attitudes to landscape and their impact on the exploitation of resources. Compared to Australia, the process of creolization, moving beyond acculturation and multiculturalism, is far advanced in Jamaica, leading to a redefinition of concepts of the native, the exotic and the feral, and of ideas about conservation and wilderness. Explan ....A Creole Landscape: Jamaica in Space and Time. Comparative analysis, over time and space, enables a richer understanding of the long-term consequences of changing attitudes to landscape and their impact on the exploitation of resources. Compared to Australia, the process of creolization, moving beyond acculturation and multiculturalism, is far advanced in Jamaica, leading to a redefinition of concepts of the native, the exotic and the feral, and of ideas about conservation and wilderness. Explanation of such differences can provide important lessons for policy and planning. The project will develop and refine a methodology with potential for broad application, including Australia.Read moreRead less
The Awakening of Faith and New Confucian Philosophy. This project aims to provide a new understanding of how New Confucian philosophy was constructed in modern China. It proposes to debunk the prevailing myth that modern Chinese philosophy owes its identity as a continuation of Confucianism, to the exclusion of the fundamentally ‘foreign’ influence of Buddhism. It is anticipated that this project will substantially advance the knowledge base of Chinese philosophy both in Australia and internatio ....The Awakening of Faith and New Confucian Philosophy. This project aims to provide a new understanding of how New Confucian philosophy was constructed in modern China. It proposes to debunk the prevailing myth that modern Chinese philosophy owes its identity as a continuation of Confucianism, to the exclusion of the fundamentally ‘foreign’ influence of Buddhism. It is anticipated that this project will substantially advance the knowledge base of Chinese philosophy both in Australia and internationally, and will also contribute to a more informed understanding of the philosophical and religious traditions our neighbours use to define national and cultural identity.Read moreRead less
The Buddhist roots of neo-Confucian philosophy. This project will: show for the first time how Buddhist philosophy shaped the intellectual construction of neo-Confucian philosophy; demonstrate that Chinese philosophy owes far more to its engagement with other philosophical traditions than has hitherto been demonstrated; and enable us to view Chinese philosophy as part of a global enterprise.