UNESCO - Agency of Cultural Globalisation? Analysis of the Conflict between Universal Values and Local Cultural Identity in the Asia-Pacific Region. Economic globalisation is accompanied by cultural globalisation. Whether to accept or attempt to resist this impact on local cultures is a critical issue for communities and governments throughout the Asia-Pacific region. This project will identify and evaluate those activities of UNESCO and its associated bodies, ICOMOS, ICOM and ICCROM, that tend ....UNESCO - Agency of Cultural Globalisation? Analysis of the Conflict between Universal Values and Local Cultural Identity in the Asia-Pacific Region. Economic globalisation is accompanied by cultural globalisation. Whether to accept or attempt to resist this impact on local cultures is a critical issue for communities and governments throughout the Asia-Pacific region. This project will identify and evaluate those activities of UNESCO and its associated bodies, ICOMOS, ICOM and ICCROM, that tend to impose a common stamp on cultures across the world, as well as the local resistance to those activities. Four fields covering tangible and intangible culture will be investigated: heritage places, museums, folklife and heritage education. Outcomes include improved heritage management; outputs include a book and refereed journal articles.Read moreRead less
Historical Records of Australia. To re-vitalize the research base of early Australian history by resuming the research, editing and publication of Historical Records of Australia, Series III and also to initiate, in similar form, the research, editing and publication of Historical Records of Australia Series I (Despatches and Documents relating to New South Wales), with the aim of completing Historical Records of Australia in approximately 60 volumes. The expected outcome will be to establish a ....Historical Records of Australia. To re-vitalize the research base of early Australian history by resuming the research, editing and publication of Historical Records of Australia, Series III and also to initiate, in similar form, the research, editing and publication of Historical Records of Australia Series I (Despatches and Documents relating to New South Wales), with the aim of completing Historical Records of Australia in approximately 60 volumes. The expected outcome will be to establish a new research base for the writing and interpreting of 19th century Australian history as well as completing the objective of the original founder of the series, Frederick Watson, who in 1914 observed that "history in its truest form can be founded only on a careful and studied examination of the records themselves".Read moreRead less
An Analysis of the Cultural, Social and Symbolic Performance of Computer-Generated, Post-Euclidean, Architecture in Australia. Computer Aided Design software has recently provided architects with the ability to use post-Euclidean geometry for the creation of buildings. As the first of these buildings are only now being completed the social, cultural and symbolic performance of this new approach to design remains unknown.
The present research seeks to redress this situation by analysing computer ....An Analysis of the Cultural, Social and Symbolic Performance of Computer-Generated, Post-Euclidean, Architecture in Australia. Computer Aided Design software has recently provided architects with the ability to use post-Euclidean geometry for the creation of buildings. As the first of these buildings are only now being completed the social, cultural and symbolic performance of this new approach to design remains unknown.
The present research seeks to redress this situation by analysing computer-generated public buildings, completed in Australia after 1998. These buildings represent a substantial outlay of public funding and a significant social investment in Australian cities.
This research will result in a critical evaluation strategy for public and institutional bodies interested in procuring such buildings.Read moreRead less
Novel mathematics and numerical methods for ferromagnetic problems. This project aims to develop novel mathematical theories and numerical methods for ferromagnetic problems. These problems arise from many real-life applications, for example in storage devices and magnetic sensors, which are often affected by random (thermal) noise. Since thermal noise limits the data-retention time of the devices, analysing the effect of noise is highly significant. Expected outcomes will be novel computational ....Novel mathematics and numerical methods for ferromagnetic problems. This project aims to develop novel mathematical theories and numerical methods for ferromagnetic problems. These problems arise from many real-life applications, for example in storage devices and magnetic sensors, which are often affected by random (thermal) noise. Since thermal noise limits the data-retention time of the devices, analysing the effect of noise is highly significant. Expected outcomes will be novel computational techniques to solve the underlying equations and deal with randomness. The project aims to put Australia in the forefront of international research in numerical methods in micromagnetism. The new computational methods are expected to be used to advance technology in magnetic memory devices.Read moreRead less
Old brains, new data - early evolution of structural complexity in the vertebrate head. Of the all the complex structures biology has provided, the evolution of the vertebrate brain and its sensory organs is perhaps the most enigmatic. The fossil record occasionally provides a chance to trace this evolution, but only with the use of novel X-ray scanning techniques can these secrets be detailed in three dimensions. Exploiting the exceptional fossil record from Australia and China, this team will ....Old brains, new data - early evolution of structural complexity in the vertebrate head. Of the all the complex structures biology has provided, the evolution of the vertebrate brain and its sensory organs is perhaps the most enigmatic. The fossil record occasionally provides a chance to trace this evolution, but only with the use of novel X-ray scanning techniques can these secrets be detailed in three dimensions. Exploiting the exceptional fossil record from Australia and China, this team will for the first time collect a vast comparative data base which will yield clues on the early evolution of the ear, eye and brain. Read moreRead less
Working the Land: Women's Rural Labour and the Making of a Nation, Australia, 1901-1945. Dr Ford's research delivers social, cultural and economic benefits to Australia, particularly for rural Australia, for women and for aging Australians. Her work will increase community understanding about working life in rural Australia; the relationship between land, agriculture, gender and national identity; and the ways women combined family responsibilities with farm work - issues central to debates abou ....Working the Land: Women's Rural Labour and the Making of a Nation, Australia, 1901-1945. Dr Ford's research delivers social, cultural and economic benefits to Australia, particularly for rural Australia, for women and for aging Australians. Her work will increase community understanding about working life in rural Australia; the relationship between land, agriculture, gender and national identity; and the ways women combined family responsibilities with farm work - issues central to debates about the role of rural Australia and work/life balance. Her project will contribute to rural communities' sense of identity, as well as promote heritage tourism, important to regional economic development. It will also develop partnerships between universities and rural communities and improve the global visibility of Australian research.Read moreRead less
Overturning the Ediacara biota: community structure of the oldest animal ecosystems. The first systematic excavation of serial fossil beds of South Australia's famous Ediacara biota will lead to an integrated study of the oldest diverse macroscopic assemblages of life on Earth. Once the preservational and biological components of the record have been separated, Ediacaran fossil beds can be treated as 'snap-shots? of benthic marine communities. This will enable the use of palaeoecological tools t ....Overturning the Ediacara biota: community structure of the oldest animal ecosystems. The first systematic excavation of serial fossil beds of South Australia's famous Ediacara biota will lead to an integrated study of the oldest diverse macroscopic assemblages of life on Earth. Once the preservational and biological components of the record have been separated, Ediacaran fossil beds can be treated as 'snap-shots? of benthic marine communities. This will enable the use of palaeoecological tools to determine which if any of these Precambrian fossils were members of animal groups that heralded the Cambrian explosion of animal life.Read moreRead less
Origin of jaws - the greatest unsolved mystery of early vertebrate evolution. The 2008 discovery of an unborn embryo in the 380 million-year-old "Mother Fish" from the famous Gogo fossil deposit in NW Australia has attracted a collaboration of Australian, American and Chinese scientists to a new international collaboration. The team will study spectacular new fossils from central Australia and southern China, the oldest known back-boned animals with jaws and a hard skeleton. Innovative 3D X-ray ....Origin of jaws - the greatest unsolved mystery of early vertebrate evolution. The 2008 discovery of an unborn embryo in the 380 million-year-old "Mother Fish" from the famous Gogo fossil deposit in NW Australia has attracted a collaboration of Australian, American and Chinese scientists to a new international collaboration. The team will study spectacular new fossils from central Australia and southern China, the oldest known back-boned animals with jaws and a hard skeleton. Innovative 3D X-ray computer tomography, and the Australian synchrotron, will be used to investigate ancient cells and preserved soft tissue structures, to search for evidence that copulation and internal fertilization, as in modern mammals, might have originated when jaws first evolved. Read moreRead less
New Approaches to Modelling and Analysing Long-Memory Random Processes. The project aims to develop new approaches using infinite-dimensional Markov processes to solving important long-standing problems from the theory of long memory random processes and their applications. It aims to: construct a class of new representations of random processes; derive inequalities for the key numerical characteristics; and, devise and investigate numerical methods for computing the characteristics and for perf ....New Approaches to Modelling and Analysing Long-Memory Random Processes. The project aims to develop new approaches using infinite-dimensional Markov processes to solving important long-standing problems from the theory of long memory random processes and their applications. It aims to: construct a class of new representations of random processes; derive inequalities for the key numerical characteristics; and, devise and investigate numerical methods for computing the characteristics and for performing statistical inference on the long memory models. The accuracy of numerical approximations will be analysed using simulations on supercomputers. Expected outcomes include models and results of practical importance with applications such as intrusion detection problems, cell motility for biological data and telecommunication.Read moreRead less
Remembering Places of Pain and Shame: Conservation of the Asia-Pacific Region's 'Difficult' Heritage of Imprisonment Sites. This project will contribute to theoretical and practical discourses relevant to Australia's cultural heritage industry. Its findings will have implications for the work of national and state industry bodies (Australian Heritage Council, Australian Dept of Environment and Heritage, Heritage Victoria) and professional organisations (Australia ICOMOS). The project findings ma ....Remembering Places of Pain and Shame: Conservation of the Asia-Pacific Region's 'Difficult' Heritage of Imprisonment Sites. This project will contribute to theoretical and practical discourses relevant to Australia's cultural heritage industry. Its findings will have implications for the work of national and state industry bodies (Australian Heritage Council, Australian Dept of Environment and Heritage, Heritage Victoria) and professional organisations (Australia ICOMOS). The project findings may lead to concrete results such as the addition of new places to international, national and state heritage registers and their protection for the benefit of the community at large. The project will also provide Early Career Researcher training and enhance possibilities for future research collaboration with heritage and tourism industry partners. Read moreRead less