Queensland University of Technology

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2021 · 2021-01

Amplifying Voices from the Royal Commission into Aged Care. The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety is a singular opportunity to reform Australian aged care and redress the marginalisation of aged care residents—a vulnerable demographic whose voices too often go unheard. Using innovative arts-based forms of storytelling, this project explores how non-traditional approaches can provide older Australians with more visibility in aged care policy debates. Combining media analysis with poetic inquiry, participatory photography, citizen storytelling, and interactive art, this project amplifies the voices of residents and engages policy makers, providers, and the public in a reflexive, inclusive conversation about the past, present and future of aged care. Field of research: 1608 - Sociology This boundary-pushing project generates new knowledge of international importance. It uses creative arts-based methods as an innovative, evocative and provocative way to reach and engage people in a critical conversation on aged care, helping ensure the findings of the Royal Commission are heard, remembered, and acted upon. This project produces substantial social, societal, and policy benefits for the Australian and international community: it determines what aged care narratives dominate traditional and social media; it explores how arts-based approaches might make older Australians more visible in policy debates about aged care, resonating with, engaging and educating stakeholders about critical issues in aged care; and it develops educational resources to facilitate professional development of the aged care workforce. This project will deliver a major public benefit, ensuring that the stories aged care residents and their advocates have so bravely shared in front of the Commission are heard during the critical policy-formation period following the RC’s November 2020 final report.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2021 · 2021-01

Boosting Carbon Dioxide Reduction via Surface and Interface Engineering . This project will develop innovative catalysts for the reduction of CO2 into carbon fuels via cost effective computational design. The approach aims at engineering catalytic surface and interface to modulate the coordination environment around catalytic active copper atom. The expected outcomes will be high performance catalyst materials that can significantly boost the conversion of CO2 into valuable fuels. The new knowledge achieved in this project will dramatically advance the development of sustainable carbon cycle, providing solutions to the global energy supply and environmental issues. The smarter energy and environmental technologies will potentially result in the enhancements to the quality of the everyday lives of Australian. Field of research: 0307 - Theoretical and Computational Chemistry The success of this project will lead to innovative design of highly active and selective copper-based bimetallic alloy and hetero-interface catalysts for boosting the conversion of greenhouse gas CO2 into valuable carbon fuels. This cutting edge research will address three national research priorities on advanced manufacturing, energy and responding to environmental change. The expected outcome will be high performance catalytic materials for catalysing CO2 reduction. The smarter CO2 reduction technology will have significant economic and environmental impact on new knowledge-based environment and energy industries through the significant reduction of carbon emission and the production of valuable renewable energy source which can underpin the development of future green energy supply in Australia, potentially leading to the enhancements to the quality of the everyday lives of Australian. Additionally, the extensive training of PhD student and early career researchers is critical for Australian research and development in emergent energy and environmental technologies to be internationally competitive.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2021 · 2021-01

Making Australian TV in the 21st Century. Existing practices designed to enable Australian television to achieve national cultural and economic objectives have been deeply transformed by the impact of technological change and foreign ownership. This project investigates the intertwined implications of non-Australian ownership, technological adjustments, policy changes, and support adjustments enacted since the mid-00s that have challenged the making of ‘Australian’ television. The investigation will develop data and analysis relevant to policy debates, terms of trade, and collective agreements useful to national policymakers, producers, content providers, industry bodies, media and communication researchers, and audiences. Field of research: 2001 - Communication and Media Studies There is no longer any ambiguity around the national and international significance of media and its social, cultural, and political effects. Beyond our ability to 'tell Australian Stories', Australian drama is part of our soft power infrastructure. It provides means of identification, unification, national cohesion, and social inclusion. If left untended, it can achieve the opposite. The stories we tell about ourselves to ourselves and the world achieve economic goals by 'selling' ideas, values, attitudes, orientations, and products that are uniquely Australian. They add to our nation’s value as an international destination and influence the perception of Australia on the international stage. This last is of critical importance in a world in which geopolitical dynamics are as unpredictable as at any time in history. This research will identify the most effective means of safeguarding Australian drama, including children’s drama, in disrupted, digitised and increasingly globalised media markets.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2021 · 2021-01

Cost-effective metal selenide materials for solid-state devices. Thermoelectric materials, directly converting thermal energy into electrical energy, offer a green and sustainable solution for the global energy dilemma. This project aims to develop cost-effective metal selenide materials for high-efficiency solid-state devices using a novel industry-level approach, coupled with nanostructure and band engineering strategies. The key breakthrough is to design high-performance metal selenide thermoelectric materials with engineered chemistry and unique structures for new generation thermoelectrics. The expected outcomes will lead to an innovative technology for harvesting electricity from waste heat or sunlight, which will place Australia at the forefront of energy and manufacturing technologies. Field of research: 0912 - Materials Engineering Cost-effective and high-performance metal selenide thermoelectrics can efficiently convert heat or sunlight into useful electricity, which will bring tremendous economic and environmental benefits to our society. The outcomes of this project will be utilised in the power industry and automobile industry for harvesting electricity from waste heat and sun light. In this case, the consequence of this project will help to create new employment opportunities in the manufacturing, energy recovery, and power generation sectors, and will provide international recognition and wealth generation for Australia. Such expected outcomes will significantly release our dependence on fossil fuels and will ultimately contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. The success of this project will provide novel technology for waste heat recovery and provide the technological solution to enhance the sustainability and wellbeing for Australian Society, which will significantly enhance the international impact of Australia in the area of development of renewable energy for addressing climate change.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2021 · 2021-01

Eradicating bacterial biofilms with nitroxide-antimicrobial hybrids. This project aims to develop new antimicrobials to address the rise of drug-resistant infections and resilient bacterial communities called biofilms. We aim to break new ground in our fundamental knowledge of antimicrobial mechanisms and exploit this understanding by fusing cellular/molecular microbiology and synthetic chemistry approaches. We seek to gain an in-depth understanding of how nitroxides induce bacterial biofilm dispersal, which is critical for the discovery of anti-biofilm molecules that do not fail due to resistance development. These breakthroughs should induce a step-change in our ability to reduce the occurrence of biofilm-related infection in fields ranging from medical and veterinary to biotechnology and agriculture. Field of research: 0305 - Organic Chemistry The development of antimicrobials to address the vexed problem of drug-resistant infections driven by biofilm formation is a critical element in Australia's overall actions to combat antibiotic resistance, which has reached dangerously high levels worldwide. The OECD estimates that an average of 290 people die each year in Australia due to infections from resistant bacteria. By 2050, it is estimated that over 10,000 people will die due to antimicrobial resistance. Hospitals spend, on average, an additional AUD$14,000 to $56,000 to treat a patient infected by resistant bacteria.Social costs may be as high as healthcare costs, due to a loss of productivity and income. Thus, our in-depth approach taken herein to understand how to eradicate biofilms should lead to significant economic benefits for Australia by enabling effective treatment of antibiotic resistant infections. In addition, the fundamental knowledge and molecular design strategies pioneered herein will place Australia in a leading position to combat antibiotic resistant infections in medical, veterinary, biotechnological and agricultural fields.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2021 · 2021-01

Regulating and countering structural inequality on digital platforms. This project aims to find legal, ethical, technical, and commercial opportunities to counter inequality online. It uses machine learning and custom data collection tools to create new knowledge about how digital platforms—including search engines, social media, peer economy, and news platforms—can help to tackle misogyny, racism, and other forms of structural discrimination. It uses this knowledge to investigate the extent to which private sector digital platforms can be expected to monitor and regulate the actions of their users, what responsibilities they have to avoid contributing to discrimination, hatred, intolerance and abuse, and how the law should develop to ensure that our digital environment is more equal and fair. Field of research: 1801 - Law This project brings new data, theory, and analysis to the major challenge of addressing discrimination, abuse, hate and inequality online. Digital platforms have a great deal of influence over Australian society; peer economy or 'gig' platforms coordinate the way people work, search engines make decisions about the information we see, and social media platforms shape how we communicate. Under pressure from social movements like #metoo and #blacklivesmatter, many digital platforms have pledged to do more to combat sexism, racism, and other forms of discrimination on their networks. These are crucial issues, but we do not yet know what works to combat discrimination and inequality online, what exactly we should expect platforms to do, or how we might compel them to do it. This project is designed to produce new rigorous knowledge to understand how platforms can begin to effectively counter inequality and discrimination online. It uses this new knowledge to create evidence-based guides that can inform the development of public policy, law reform, and industry practice.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2021 · 2021-01

High Performance Monolithic Perovskite Photocapacitors. Monolithic perovskite photocapacitor (MPPC) consisted of integrated energy harvesting perovskite solar cell and energy storage supercapacitor through an internally shared electrode can deliver stable electricity by harnessing solar energy. The performance of MPPC is dependent of properties of the shared electrode materials. This project aims to synthesis carbon materials with tailored surface, electrical and structure properties that are required to make a highly functioning shared electrode in MPPC. The goal is to fabricate stable, high performance MPPC. Successful achievement of the outcomes will enable cost-effective, reliable, solar electricity, placing Australia at the forefront of exploiting photovoltaics technologies. Field of research: 0912 - Materials Engineering One of the grand challenges in 21st century is how to make solar electricity more efficient, affordable and reliable to address the global issue of climate change and the increasing demand for energy in the society. Monolithic perovskite photocapacitor (MPPC) is a new technology that integrates cost-effective solar energy harvesting perovskite solar cells (PSCs) and energy storage supercapacitors (SC) through an internally shared electrode. The new technology can effectively address intermittent solar electricity generated by the PSCs and can deliver high areal energy density and power density. The main outcomes of high performance MPPCs enabled by highly functioning shared carbon electrode materials will place Australia at the forefront of exploitation of photovoltaics technologies for deployment of stable, cost-effective solar electricity. The outcomes of this research project align with the national Science and Technology Priority area of “Energy” through addressing Practical Research Challenge of “New clean sources and storage technologies that are efficient, cost-effective and reliable”.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2021 · 2021-01

Stretchable Organic Transistors for Wearable Electronics and Robotics. The project aims to address the challenges of fabricating stretchable organic transistors for applications in wearable electronics and robotics through the development of new semiconducting polymers with stretchability and integrating them into novel, stretchable organic transistor configurations. The project will take a molecular engineering approach to the complex needs of this challenge by combining appropriate chemical functionality which provides high charge carrier mobility with judiciously placed flexible spacers and side chains to provide mechanical dexterity. These novel polymers will be integrated into transistor structures and their fabricated arrays deposited on stretchable substrates will be used for a real world applications. Field of research: 0912 - Materials Engineering The global stretchable electronics market is expected to approximately reach USD 765 million by 2023, indicating rapid growth in smart wearable products and technologies. These technologies will drive innovation in smart medical technology, robotics, Internet of Things (IoT), automotive, smart manufacturing & consumer electronics. Australia is a global player in health and medical technologies, this projection only assists to boost the nation’s strong continued assurance to advance smart electronics. This project aims to produce an innovative new class of stretchable transistors through the development of mechanically deformable new low cost printable conjugated semiconductors. Constructing a new class of stretchable transistors is critical in the existing electronics race & it holds a great potential in wearable technologies including health monitoring, sensors, human-machine interface, circuits, memories and robotics. Besides producing new intellectual property (IP), stretchable transistor technology will provide commercialisation opportunities to our local wearable technology manufacturers in Australia.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2021 · 2021-01

Aerosol glassy states promote global warming, airborne toxins and pathogens. This project will improve our understanding of the role played by airborne particles in global climate, pollution and the transmission of influenza, corona virus and the common cold. It will do so by revealing the wider importance of "glassy states" of matter recently revealed in atmospheric aerosols. Glassy states are highly unpredictable quasi solids that abruptly form, interrupting the transition of a liquid to a solid. This interruption invalidates equilibrium assumptions of models of droplets as cloud nuclei and infection vectors. We will develop and validate a numerical tool for predicting glassy state formation and its impact in broad classes of aerosol that include particles critical to cloud formation and infection transmission. Field of research: 0401 - Atmospheric Sciences Global climate change is widely acknowledged to be an imminent existential threat to our civilisation and the role of aerosols is the greatest source of uncertainty in modelling that threat. Viral respiratory infections cost communities tens of billions of dollars annually and global pandemic is an acknowledged existential threat with a demonstrated capacity to disrupt global trade. We have very little understanding of the factors controlling airborne transmission and in particular the impact of air temperature and humidity on rates of airborne infection spread. This project aims to improve the accuracy of both global climate modelling and our ability to predict and control airborne infection spread. The training of PhD students within this project prepares future scientists who will understand the physics of aerosol behaviour and its influence on climate and the propagation of disease.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2021 · 2021-01

Promoting transition metal complex catalysis with plasmonic antennae. This project aims to apply visible light photocatalysis to a wide range of chemical reactions by utilizing the intriguing effects of intense light absorption by plasmonic metal nanoparticles, such as generating energetic electrons, changing reactant adsorption and the chemical binding of reactant with the catalyst. These effects will promote catalysis at surface-bound metal complex reaction sites under mild reaction conditions. This is a part of our long-term effort to transform chemical production by heating into green photocatalytic process. This project expects to generate knowledge crucial for developing theories for catalysis, the design of efficient catalysts, green chemical synthesis methods, and enhance international collaboration. Field of research: 0306 - Physical Chemistry (Incl. Structural) The proposed research represents a versatile and advanced materials platform to convert homogeneous transition metal complex catalysts into efficient, heterogeneous photocatalysts. Beneficial outcomes are the generation of new knowledge and capabilities in synthetic catalysis and the conversion of solar energy to chemical energy. Significant impacts of this efficient photocatalyst concept on fine chemicals synthesis are the reduction of chemical waste and of energy consumption, made possible by these systems’ capability for selection of specific reaction pathways and their efficient operation at mild reaction conditions that can be harnessed to generate new, value-added, chemical products by a green process. This work has far reaching significance in terms of both fundamental research and its applied, practical application.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2021 · 2021-01

Urban flood modelling at speed and scale. Frequent floods in urban areas cause damages comparable to extreme floods. This is likely to intensify with future urbanisation and climate change. Although Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD) offers sustainable urban drainage solutions, there are no models that can select an optimal WSUD system to deliver on a set urban flood mitigation target. The project aims to develop a new generation of fast urban flood models and the-first-of-its-kind WSUD planning tool to support industry and governments to effectively reduce the urban flooding damages. The project outcomes are also applicable for advancing early warning systems and real-time control of floods. Field of research: 0905 - Civil Engineering Climate change and urbanisation will continue to increase the risk of urban flooding. Building or upgrading large flood protection infrastructure is costly and often not feasible. We must therefore rethink our flood protection strategies. The popular stormwater management systems, known as Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD) are multi-functional technologies that use small-scale retention and infiltration mechanisms to reduce stormwater runoff peaks and volume, augment water supply, and treat pollution. Unfortunately, the focus in Australia has been entirely on using WSUD for stormwater pollution mitigation, while neglecting its proven benefits for mitigating frequent urban floods. This project will solidify Australia’s worldwide leadership in WSUD research field, by developing computationally efficient (fast) flood models, as well as the first modelling tool for planning WSUD systems for flood mitigation at scale. By integrating this tool with the existing WSUD pollution mitigation models, the project will allow Australia to maximise its investments in WSUD implementation, while minimising flooding costs.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2021 · 2021-01

Enabling Situated Immersive Science Collaboration with Remote Sensing Data . This project aims to help scientists communicate and collaborate in immersive environments. Fieldwork is more valuable to scientists than looking at abstract remote data, but expense, danger, or inaccessible locations often stand in the way. This project will address this issue by researching and designing immersive environments that combine remote data with visualisations and new interaction tools for science teams to make sense of spatial and temporal aspects of data. Outcomes will include new presentation and interaction methods, an evaluation with geoscientists, and a framework for designing interactive systems that enable situated interactions. Benefits will include helping Australian scientists overcome distance in their research. Field of research: 0806 - Information Systems This project will strengthen Australia's global standing working with remote sensing data and help overcome barriers that distance creates for Australian scientists and educators. In the context of distributed geoscience teams of multinational experts, it will develop new interaction tools and approaches that will improve scientific inquiry and explorations. Initial focus will be on determining how scientists conduct collaborative fieldwork, allowing them to perform in-situ collaborations remotely in an immersive environment using VR/AR technology. This will make geological research better, cheaper and more accessible for Australian stakeholders in business (eg mining, space exploration). In education, such “virtual field trips” will engage students in 21st century learning experiences that were previously inaccessible, preparing them for future scientific collaborations. Building on growing expertise and capacity in immersive technologies at a national and international level, this project will enhance Australia’s ability to become a global leader in developing immersive scientific technologies.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2021 · 2021-01

Genetic code expansion of a eukaryotic in vitro translation system. The genetic code programs biosynthesis of polypeptides with efficiency vastly superior to chemical engineering. As the chemical diversity of natural amino acids in proteins is limited, finding ways to include “unnatural” amino acids can supercharge biology with a range of new protein activities. While the genetic code can be expanded to make space for unnatural amino acids, the rarity of free codons and reliance on prokaryotic organisms limit the applicability of this approach. We will develop a new higher-organism cell-free protein production system that can incorporate multiple unnatural amino acids into defined points of proteins. This, enabling and broadly applicable technology, will be tested by constructing opioid biosensors. Field of research: 0601 - Biochemistry and Cell Biology The project explores new biochemical methods that allow combining of natural and synthetic chemistries in one protein. These have the potential to put Australia in the forefront of a broad range of areas of national interest such as development of novel industrial catalysts, bio-pesticides, pharmaceuticals and diagnostic agents. This will accelerate Australian economic growth while reducing its environmental and social cost. The power of the proposed technology will be tested by developing a new method for detection of synthetic opioids. Statistics for Australia show a constant increase in opioid-related poisonings, overdoses and deaths. At present there is no generic method for detecting these substances and the constant stream of new synthetic opioids overwhelms the ability of law enforcement and medical systems to adequately respond to their use. The proposed technology will create much needed analytical methods for detection of the constant stream of new synthetic opioids providing much needed tool for medical and law enforcement systems.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2021 · 2021-01

Unlocking Urban Airspace for Drone Transport. This project aims to accurately quantify the mid-air collision risk associated with low-altitude unmanned operations in urban airspace through the creation of new data-driven collision risk modelling techniques. Without such techniques, drone operations remain suppressed so their true potential cannot be realised. The collision risk models address this by providing the key missing knowledge that can underpin/enable vital unmanned traffic management applications, including airspace design and the development of separation standards. This can ultimately enable greater access to urban airspace without compromising air safety such that we unlock the commercial and societal benefits of drone use and help modernise urban air transportation. Field of research: 0901 - Aerospace Engineering Air transportation systems have the potential to be revolutionized worldwide by drone (unmanned aircraft) technologies that could bring huge commercial (trillion dollar value), economic and social (improved security, emergency services etc.) benefits. To unlock these benefits, drones require regular and safe access to low-altitude urban airspace which is currently restricted due to mid-air collision risk concerns. New collision risk modelling techniques backed by real data are crucial to enhancing our understanding of the collision risk associated with drone operations and provide the key enabling capability to unlock our airspace and underpin new automated unmanned traffic management services. This research will derive such models and deploy them for applications such as low-level airspace design and separation standard development to modernize air transport in our cities and help shape the future urban airspace.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2021 · 2021-01

How social and trade networks influence adoption of sustainable practices. Adoption of agricultural practices to reduce the impacts of land-based run-off on water quality is necessary to ensure that ecosystems that deliver substantial economic and social benefits, such as the Great Barrier Reef, are preserved. But up-take is currently limited by lack of behaviour change. Using novel network modelling and mixed methods, this interdisciplinary project will measure the importance of international trade and peer influence on the adoption of sustainable practices. Outcomes are expected to drive cost-effective stakeholder engagement solutions that will increase uptake of sustainable practices. At stake are natural ecosystems whose health is critical for delivering economic value, and social and ecological benefits. Field of research: 0502 - Environmental Science and Management The outcomes of this research will enhance the economic, social, and environmental benefits delivered by the tourism and fishing industries in the Great Barrier Reef (GBR), which contributes $6.4 billion annually to Australia’s economy. The knowledge generated by this research will lead to the development of cost-effective stakeholder engagement programs that harness the most important sources of social influence driving farming decisions. Expected benefits will be an increased uptake of sustainable agricultural practices to meet water quality targets in the GBR. Ultimately, this project will lead to increased capacity of actors at state and national levels to manage the impacts on water quality from agricultural activities in the GBR catchments, thereby increasing the future viability of the economic, social, and environmental benefits delivered by the GBR.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2020 · 2020-01

Novel Multilevel Modelling Framework to Design Advanced Food Drying Process. In this project, a novel multilevel modelling framework for food drying will be developed by integrating the micro, macro, and dryer scale transport process and considering the dynamic changes in the drying environment under the intermittent application of microwave energy (IMCD). This modelling framework will be the first comprehensive scientific tool for industry for developing next-generation food drying systems, which are expected to deliver significant improvement in energy efficiency and product quality and reduction in drying time and food waste. Finally, based on the outcomes of the modelling framework, a smart IMCD drying system will be developed to demonstrate the feasibility of the framework in industry application. Field of research: 0908 - Food Sciences Food processing is the largest manufacturing industry and has a huge economic potential in Australia. However, lack of proper post-harvest processing results in the wastage of agricultural products worth $20 billion/year. The Australian Federal Government has committed to reduce 50% of this waste by 2030. Drying is the dominant food preservation method and one of the major processes in food industry. Conventional food drying is a very energy intensive and lengthy process and results in significant food quality deterioration. The proposed multiscale modelling framework will contribute towards the resolution of these food industry problems by developing a next generation efficient drying system with intelligent control. Moreover, food drying is a largely untapped area; new innovative products can be introduced by drying fruits and vegetables. A cost- and energy-efficient dryer has the potential to trigger the establishment of many drying/food processing industries in Australia. This modelling framework can also be extended to other important industrial processes including pharmaceutical and timber industries.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2020 · 2020-01

The evolution of disability arts in Australia. This project aims to create the first archive documenting, analysing and theorising disability arts in Australia. Australian disability arts is recognised globally for its innovation and impact. However, the historical legacy this celebrated contemporary work builds on is largely undocumented. This project aims to address this gap by studying archival records, conducting oral history interviews, and then co-designing a disability arts archive with artists and other stakeholders. It should benefit scholars, arts organisations, artists and government by creating a comprehensive, curated, culturally respectful record to inform present and future policy initiatives designed to make the arts industry more inclusive of people with disabilities. Field of research: 1904 - Performing Arts and Creative Writing The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (Article 30) emphasises the importance of representation, employment and participation in the arts in the realisation of human rights for people with disabilities. The Australian government has confirmed its commitment to its obligations under the UNCRPD via the National Arts and Disability Strategy (2009), and the Meeting of Cultural Ministers recent endorsement of plans to update this strategy (2018). However, while Australia’s contemporary disability arts practices are celebrated globally, there is no archive, history or analysis articulating how initiatives in Australian culture, disability policy and arts policy over the last 50 years have directly led to the development of this influential body of work. This project aims to address this gap by using participatory design to develop an online archive documenting the evolution of disability arts in in Australia. It should provide the historical and theoretical base of evidence required to support implementation of future policy by government agencies, arts organisations and artists.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2020 · 2020-01

Delivering Benefits from Nature in a Highly Connected World . This project aims to improve knowledge of the implications of global flows of ecosystem services (the benefits people receive from nature) for achieving sustainable land use by developing novel predictive models and decision tools. The project is significant because it will resolve the complex challenge of assessing land use strategies when land use change has impacts on ecosystem service provision locally and globally. Expected outcomes will be new evidence for the effect of land use change on the global distribution of ecosystem service benefits and how ecosystem services trade-off against each other. This should provide significant benefits by enabling better assessment of land use policy in an increasingly highly connected world. Field of research: 0502 - Environmental Science and Management Australia’s economy, society, and natural systems are highly connected to the rest of the world through trade, information flow, and the movement of biophysical material. Flows of ecosystem services to and from Australia are therefore major drivers of the enormous benefits Australian’s receive from nature (e.g., through agriculture, fisheries, and nature-based tourism). Better understanding of how land use change, within and external to Australia, influences these flows of ecosystem services is critical for informing land use policy to ensure the country’s long term prosperity. This project will contribute to this by developing new tools to inform land use policy in a highly connected world and directly address the Australian Government’s priorities for research to guide sustainable development to meet the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. The project has the potential to generate significant economic, environmental, and social benefits through a new interdisciplinary ecosystem service approach to sustainable land use policy across broad regions.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2020 · 2020-01

The brain in real-time: predicting the present, reconstructing the past. This proposal aims to understand how the brain compensates for its own internal delays to function in real-time. Because it takes time for information from the senses to reach the brain, it takes time for us to become aware of an event that occurs in the outside world. This project will use an innovative combination of techniques to study how prediction and reconstruction mechanisms work together in the brain. Expected outcomes of this project include a fundamental understanding of how we function in the present. This should provide significant benefits, such as an important theoretical advance in our understanding of how conscious awareness is realised in the brain, placing Australia at the cutting edge. Field of research: 1701 - Psychology This project aims to answer a question that is critical not only to understand how our brain allows us to function in our dynamic world, but also to understand the very nature of our conscious experience. As innovative and internationally competitive research, this fellowship will build multidisciplinary collaborations with leading experts and institutions both nationally and internationally, strengthen Australia’s research capacity, and cement its position as a world-leader in fundamental cognitive neuroscience research. In addition, it will inform the development of the next generation of bionic and biology-inspired cloud-based electronic devices. Understanding how the brain compensates for its delays will enable us to implement similar mechanisms in these integrated devices to address the system and network delay incurred by communication. Being at the forefront of research in this field will give an important commercial and economic advantage to Australian electronic engineering.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2020 · 2020-01

Physics-informed Computational Framework for Optimised Microfluidic Systems. The miniaturisation of chemical and biological processes requires microfluidic tools for the precise manipulation of complex fluids at the microscale. This project aims to integrate new computational methods that enable unprecedented control over the design and optimisation of these tools. The project will deliver a cornerstone framework to elucidate the complex microscopic fluid physics that currently poses a challenge for the advancement of microfluidic technologies. The outcomes of this project will establish physical principles to guide the design of microfluidic systems and provide the computational capabilities that can potentially transform the way researchers and engineers design, optimise and use microfluidic technologies. Field of research: 0915 - Interdisciplinary Engineering This project will address the lack of knowledge in physics of fluids in the microscale and computational challenges that curtail the practical design and optimisation of microfluidic technologies. The project is expected to integrate advanced computational methods into an innovative framework and to make significant impact on the optimisation of low-cost microfluidic tools. The project aims to generate new knowledge on complex fluid physics underpinning current microfluidic technologies. The highly efficient and affordable computational design tools will benefit chemical, pharmaceutical and biological industries by greatly facilitating the development and application of novel microfluidic technologies. The cutting-edge computational methods are expected to lead Australia to an international leadership position and to add value to its economy, in particular to the fast-growing Asia-Pacific markets for microfluidics and advanced manufacturing. The outcome will ultimately provide Australian industries the basis for high-quality jobs, sustained competitiveness, and a definite advantage on the world stage.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2020 · 2020-01

ARC Training Centre for Collaborative Robotics in Advanced Manufacturing. The Centre aims to build the human and technical capability Australia needs to underpin our global competitiveness in advanced manufacturing. The Centre will unite manufacturing businesses, including SMEs, and universities to develop collaborative robotics applications which combine the strengths of humans and robots in shared work environments. The Centre will train researchers, engineers, technologists and manufacturing leaders with the expertise industry needs to boost safety, quality assurance, production efficiency, and workforce readiness. The intended outcome is to support Australian manufacturers to shift toward higher-potential markets, compete globally and attract and retain a digitally-capable workforce for the future. Field of research: 0910 - Manufacturing Engineering Australian manufacturing has an opportunity to be more globally competitive by improving manufacturing processes which lower production costs and boost productivity. The Centre for Collaborative Robotics in Advanced Manufacturing will achieve wins for Australian businesses and the economy by developing our capability for new forms of human-robot interaction in manufacturing environments. This will benefit Australian companies, especially small businesses (who will win on process innovation and lower costs), manufacturing workers (whose jobs will become safer and higher-skilled), and the economy (through the growth of jobs and exports). The Centre will achieve this by training the next generation of manufacturing leaders, researchers, and technicians with collaborative robotics expertise to make Australian manufacturing safer, more efficient and globally competitive. We will enhance this capability by researching and sharing with industry new knowledge to improve skills, workforce diversity and readiness to power Australian manufacturing with the digitally-capable workforce of the future.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2020 · 2020-01

Achieving gender equality in STEMM hospital and health service research. This project addresses the crucial and vexed question of why gender inequality remains pervasive and persistent in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Medicine (STEMM) workforces, despite substantial and wide-ranging efforts to effect change. Specifically, it examines the systemic causes of gender inequality in hospital and health research environments, a highly under-researched area of national significance. The project will result in critically-informed, pragmatic strategies that enable health service organisations to detect and redress gender inequality. The research advances inclusive and effective STEMM workforces and, ultimately, world-leading health research practice and gender equality in Australia. Field of research: 1699 - Other Studies In Human Society Australia cannot afford to neglect the intellectual contributions of half its population; to do so wastes public investment and poses a threat to the international competitiveness of its translational research. Three quarters of the fastest-growing occupations require STEMM capabilities and the need for a STEMM-qualified workforce is expected to increase in the future. Persistent gender inequalities are at odds with these shifts in labour market and intellectual demands. The results of this project will serve as a call to action in science policy nationally in order to harness the power of gender diversity for expanding the scope of knowledge production, add new perspectives to management and health solutions, and promote collective innovations and discoveries. Significant knowledge translation with project partners and co-development of pragmatic strategies ensures the project will improve gender equality, optimise STEMM research outcomes, and contribute to sustainable health research practice for the benefit of all Australians.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2020 · 2020-01

Advancing digital inclusion in low income Australian families. This ethnographic investigation explores the complex relationship between digital and social inclusion, and social infrastructure's role (education facilities, charities, government services) in supporting low-income families' social and economic participation. It gathers insights from families in six diverse communities from Far North Queensland to Tasmania, across diverse urban, regional and rural locations. It focuses on the digital inclusion implications of children's home and school learning experiences, school leavers' transitions into work, and parenting in digital times. The project is a collaboration with Australia's leading digital inclusion organisations and will develop new practices, policies and sector wide solutions. Field of research: 2001 - Communication and Media Studies The digital exclusion of low-income families is a significant problem for Australia, with over 3 million Australians living below the poverty line, and with research from the Australian Digital Inclusion Index (Thomas et al. 2019) showing that people living on low incomes are amongst the least digitally included Australians. Australia’s Tech Future report (Australian Government, 2018) says “All Australians need access to the technologies and the skills required to use them if they’re to fully take part in social and economic life”. The project’s findings will strongly position the Australian charity sector to develop policy, programs and capacity-building activities to empower families at the community level to participate in the digital economy, providing a significant benefit to national productivity across life domains. The project’s outcomes have the potential to increase low-income families’ social and economic benefits throughout their lives since digital participation has been shown to substantially increase opportunities for, and pathways to, civic engagement, financial stability and wellbeing.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2020 · 2020-01

Reducing young women’s offending through improved service delivery . Young women’s contact with justice and welfare agencies has increased rapidly across Australia and the world, creating a crisis that is costly and harmful, especially for young Indigenous women. Pathways into these systems are gendered; but the systems were designed to address the needs of young male offenders. This project therefore aims to discover how these systems could be better designed to improve outcomes for young women. The project uses a novel approach that gives young women a voice in how five Anglicare end-users (the research partners) and other end-users can enhance their service provision in the welfare and justice sectors and become models of best practice. Field of research: 1605 - Policy and Administration The project will have the social benefit of reducing the contact of young women with the youth justice and community services systems, and improve outcomes for young women involved in these systems. It will significantly impact on the rapidly-increasing economic and social costs of current ineffective responses to young women in the youth justice ecosystem. The POs will be the first point of impact, and will advocate for the uptake of project recommendations for better practice and policy. The project will benefit a wide range of end-users from government and nongovernment service providers across related sectors (eg child protection, education, homelessness) by providing the first insight into how services for at-risk young women can produce better outcomes.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2020 · 2020-01

Time-Use, Time Poverty and Teachers’ Work. Education systems and teacher unions have long expressed concern regarding the intensification of the demands of teaching and school leadership. Challenges with retaining early career teachers and recruiting new teachers are often blamed on increasing teacher workload and associated burnout. The primary aim of this study is to investigate teachers’ work intensification. This will provide important information for systems, unions and schools and suggest areas for intervention at the school and system level. The secondary aim of this study is to examine how teachers manage the intensification of their work, with a particular emphasis on commercial digital tools marketed to them as time saving devices. Field of research: 1303 - Specialist Studies In Education Quality teachers are an integral part of a quality education system. There is ongoing concern in Australia regarding the recruitment and retention of high-quality teachers, with research evidence suggesting that workload issues are a significant factor in people either choosing not to pursue a teaching qualification or choosing to leave the profession in the first 5 years of their practice. This project will provide important granular information about teacher workload and work intensification and suggest how schools and systems could respond. It is clearly in the national interest to recruit and retain high-quality teachers.