Deakin University

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2017 · 2017-01

How eating patterns interact with activity, sleep and mood. This project aims to understand temporal eating patterns (the timing and distribution of food intake and eating occasions across the day) among adults and how these eating patterns interact with activity and sleep patterns. Eating, activity and sleep patterns form a lifestyle triad which may be important for well-being and productivity. The project will study eating, activity and sleep patterns in daily life, to examine their social drivers, interactions and effect on mood. This project could enable these behaviours to be targeted, with the potential to promote healthy lifestyles and improve health, quality of life and productivity. Field of research: 1111 - Nutrition and Dietetics

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2017 · 2017-01

Transcending religion: Pre-Islamic heritage and cultural stability in Iran. This project aims to examine pre-Islamic heritage as a potential contributor to a more stable Middle East by studying its role in an emergent Iranian zone of cultural influence in the Middle East. Understanding contributing factors to stability in the Middle East is crucial to managing Australia’s cultural, economic, and security concerns. The project will develop a situated, multi-scalar method of analysis to establish the function of pre-Islamic heritage using the Parsa-Pasargadae region as an illustrative example. The project expects to deliver insights into the culture and collective identity formation within Muslim societies, and provide a platform for comparative research in the Middle East. Field of research: 2102 - Curatorial and Related Studies

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2017 · 2017-01

The effects of transnational mobility on youth transitions. This project aims to examine transnational mobility amongst young people and to understand its effects on their economic opportunities, social and familial ties, capacity for citizenship and transitions to adulthood. Young people increasingly migrate abroad for work and education, and Australia is a significant hub for sending and receiving. Migration and education policies encourage this mobility, which is expected to provide youth with enhanced competitive skills. Outcomes of this project include a significant dataset and online research database on how youth from various cultural backgrounds manage mobility and develop economic, social and civic benefits for themselves and the broader community. Field of research: 1608 - Sociology

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2017 · 2017-01

New Colombo Plan: Australian students’ learning in and engagement with Asia. This project aims to undertake a national investigation of Australian STEM students’ learning in and engagement with Asia through the New Colombo Plan and its effects on their identity, career directions and future aspirations. Australia’s future is increasingly connected with Asia with about 80 per cent of Australia’s trade and a majority of its biggest service export of over $22 billion, international education, with this region. The expected outcome of the project is to provide essential empirical knowledge and theoretical insights linked with Australia’s needs to develop policies and practices to optimise Australian students’ learning in Asia. The benefits include enhancing Australia’s human capital and relationships with Asia. Field of research: 1303 - Specialist Studies In Education

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2017 · 2017-01

Disaster, human suffering and Colonial photography. This project aims to investigate how photography shaped modern understandings of disaster. During the period modern European empires were at their most expansive, they became increasingly interventionist in indigenous environments and societies. The project will use rich but largely neglected sources from colonial Indonesia (c.1840-1950) to study how images of human suffering in different disaster contexts evolved since the invention of photography. Understanding how and why European expansion shaped modern ideas about disasters, and how photography has developed to communicate human suffering, is expected to benefit community and scholarly awareness of environmental disaster, war and their effects. Field of research: 2103 - Historical Studies

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2017 · 2017-01

The true potential and limitations of fibres. This project aims to understand the fibre spinning process of nanomaterials to identify their true potential and limitations in wearable applications. The project is expected to lead to multifunctional materials that allow design and production of smart functional fibres and textiles that store and convert energy and sense, monitor and respond to human activities and external environments. The project outcomes are expected to accelerate the transformation of the fibre industry, which will have far reaching implications across research disciplines and sectors critical to technology, health, social, and economic future. Field of research: 0910 - Manufacturing Engineering

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2017 · 2017-01

Bioethics in the Antipodes: A history of Australian bioethics since 1980. This project aims to provide a comprehensive account of bioethics in Australia. Since the 1980s, bioethics sought to address the medical, legal and social implications of Australian research in reproductive medicine. Australian bioethics is often assumed to share a similar history to American bioethics, but the debate about reproduction, euthanasia and the nature of moral authority in secular liberal democracy is distinctly Australian. To date, the history of these developments has not been examined. The project will use archival sources, interviews, and theoretical analysis. Potential benefits include a deeper understanding of the distinctive local and global contributions of Australian bioethics. Field of research: 2103 - Historical Studies

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2017 · 2017-01

Pre-natal communication in adaptation to hot climate. This project aims to reveal how birds programme their offspring for a warming world, by communicating acoustically with their embryos. Most animals, including humans, can hear external sounds before birth, but it is not known what function this plays. An Australian bird calls to its eggs at high ambient temperatures, which alters nestling growth and survival. This project will show the physiological effects involved and the consequences for adaptation to heat in wild birds. This project will elucidate whether the global reduction in animal body size is an adaptive response to rising temperatures, and research the therapeutic benefits of pre-natal sounds. Field of research: 0608 - Zoology

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2017 · 2017-01

Accountability and global education policy networks in the Indo-Pacific. This project aims to investigate how contemporary education reforms unfold in low-income contexts through contrasting assessment approaches in Bangladesh and Cambodia, Australia’s Indo-Pacific aid partner nations. Globally, 250 million children cannot read or count, and inequities are increasing. In response, global policy networks are investing in assessment and accountability measures to improve outcomes. This study aims to understand policy relevant to these reform efforts, contributing to Australia’s strategic goal of improving education in the Indo-Pacific. The expected outcome is the development of principles for sustainable, participatory accountability practices with wide relevance in social policy. Field of research: 1605 - Policy and Administration

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2017 · 2017-01

Australia's foreign aid since 1945: National values and aid allocation. This project aims to analyse Australian motives and their connectedness to the allocation of foreign aid since the Second World War. In addition to reducing poverty and lifting living standards abroad, aid has always been linked to other interests such as the promotion of security, economic opportunity and other outcomes. This project will research relationships between identified values and geographical priorities in Australia's aid programme. In reconnecting history with the social science of applied economics, it will provide methodological paths for further research, including comparable studies of other governments giving aid. This project expects to add to understanding of Australia's role in world affairs and the significance of aid in Australia's international reputation. Field of research: 2103 - Historical Studies

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2017 · 2017-01

Pattern analysis for accelerating scientific innovation. This project aims to determine how pattern recognition can be harnessed to accelerate and expand the capability of experimental optimisation that underpins scientific innovation. Disrupting current experimental methods, this new framework will use data-driven models to guide humans through experimental complexity. The expected outcomes of the project include advancing the theory and practice of pattern recognition in Bayesian optimisation by solving both fundamental and translatory problems, totally transforming the way complex experimental explorations can be done. The project will establish Australia as a leader in innovation-led productivity in the 4th industrial revolution, which will include ground-breaking investigations into the use of pattern recognition to navigate complexity in the experimental process. Field of research: 0801 - Artificial Intelligence and Image Processing

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2017 · 2017-01

Biodiversity indicators for better conservation decisions. This project aims to test, design and select biodiversity indicators to support conservation. Reliable and sensitive biodiversity indicators are critical to track progress towards conservation targets, but the ability of most biodiversity indicators to reveal trends needed by decision-makers is untested. This project will test indicators to monitor biodiversity change at local to global scales, by sampling ecosystem models to evaluate how indicator design, data bias and environmental variability affect performance. Project outcomes are expected to ensure that that data collected to monitor and assess the state of Australia’s environment are informative, cost-effective and robust. This is expected to have implications for predicting and measuring effects of policy such as the Convention on Biological Diversity. Field of research: 0502 - Environmental Science and Management

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2017 · 2017-01

ARC Research Hub for Digital Enhanced Living. The ARC Research Hub for Digital Enhanced Living aims to address the growing challenges of aging people living in their own home or residential care. This will be through inventing new personalised medical technologies through an innovative approach, with a multi-disciplinary team leveraging diverse expertise. An enhanced capacity to create and deploy fit-for-purpose personalised health solutions will result in revenues from new and repurposed devices, analytics and integration platforms. New jobs and improved care will see cost reductions, better use of resources and enhanced mental, physical and social well-being. Field of research: 0803 - Computer Software

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2016 · 2016-01

Intergenerational Prediction of Social and Early Emotional Development. This project aims to investigate multi-generational influences on child psychosocial development. It plans to take advantage of a not-to-be-repeated opportunity to follow offspring born to one of Australia’s oldest longitudinal studies of social and emotional development. The Australian Temperament Project has followed around 2000 parents and offspring across 30 years from birth in 1983. Third-generation babies have been followed across the peak period of first births to females. This project plans to continue recruitment across the peak period of first births for males in 2016–18. This would create one of the most extensive and well-powered three-generation resources worldwide, yielding unique data on intergenerational pathways through mother and father lines. It expects to inform targeting of interventions and psychosocial resources to promote wellbeing within and across generations. Field of research: 1701 - Psychology

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2016 · 2016-01

Multi-Colour Electrogenerated Chemiluminescence. This project plans to explore a new approach to chemical detection, in which molecules that emit different coloured light can be selectively switched on or switched off via the applied electrode potential. This would enable unprecedented numbers of simultaneous (multiplexed) detection events for time-critical analytical applications such as clinical diagnostics, environmental monitoring and biodefense assays. These assays could be performed on low-cost microfluidic platforms operated by portable consumer devices such as mobile phones. Expected outcomes may provide new capabilities in rapid screening for disease biomarkers, environmental pollutants and bioterrorism agents, using simple, low-cost, portable instrumentation. Field of research: 0301 - Analytical Chemistry

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2016 · 2016-01

International students in secondary schools. This longitudinal project aims to analyse the forms and effects of international secondary students’ transnational connectedness with different people and places in physical and online environments. It plans to examine how and why students’ relationships change across Years 10–12 of school, and the implications for students’ experience of school, Australia, and post-school pathways. The findings may provide the empirical knowledge and theoretical insights to support the development of policies and practices to support international school students, protect their social, emotional and physical wellbeing, and improve the economic competitiveness of Australia’s international education sector. Field of research: 1301 - Education Systems

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2016 · 2016-01

Caring for older parents: Investigating the role of attachment security. The project aims to investigate the relationship between child–parent bonds and care for older parents. Children of older parents provide extensive and often unrecognised care to thousands of Australians, and many report excessive burden. The project aims to investigate how attachment bonds between adult children and older parents influence the parental care provided by children in later life, the carer burden and parents’ satisfaction with care; and the effects of enhancing carers’ attachment security on caregiving interactions and carer burden. This project is expected to provide insights into strategies to strengthen family bonds and services required to support caregivers and care recipients and improve the sustainability of aged care in the community. Field of research: 1701 - Psychology

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2016 · 2016-01

Investigating why malaria parasites have a unique translocon. This project aims to explore the mechanism that enables malaria parasites to thrive in their host cells. Parasites that cause the disease malaria reside inside erythrocytes, a very basic cell that lacks a vesicular trafficking pathway. To survive and thrive in this environment, the parasite has evolved a completely unique cell biological phenomenon termed PTEX to transport its proteins into the host cell. The aim of this project is to determine how this novel PTEX machinery exports proteins into erythrocytes and whether PTEX is also required for parasite survival during the initial stages of a host infection when malaria reside in hepatocytes. Field of research: 0605 - Microbiology

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2016 · 2016-01

Advanced Na battery technology; key to transforming society's energy use. This project aims to advance energy storage technology based on low cost and sustainable sodium chemistry through understanding new electrode and electrolyte materials combinations, particularly to enhance the way charge is moved across the electrolyte–electrode interface. Sodium batteries represent a low-cost alternative to existing lithium devices and their development will affect a broad range of technologies. This is especially relevant to electric vehicles and renewable energy where large, expensive batteries are needed. Field of research: 0912 - Materials Engineering

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2016 · 2016-01

ARC Training Centre in Alloy Innovation for Mining Efficiency. ARC Training Centre in Alloy Innovation for Mining Efficiency. This centre aims to make Australian manufacturers dominant in the multi-billion dollar mining equipment sector by training innovators to design the world’s best highly customized long-life, wear resistant components. It intends to rapidly develop customized alloys that excel in severe mining conditions, using three-dimensional printing, novel characterisation and its networked training environment. It expects these innovations will enable much needed efficiencies after the end of the mining super-cycle. Anticipated outcomes are the design of products with superior alloy design and material selection; jobs growth and security in the mining component production sector; and increased mining efficiency and cost reduction. Field of research: 0912 - Materials Engineering

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2016 · 2016-01

Optimal management of coastal ecosystems for blue carbon sequestration. Optimal management of coastal ecosystems for blue carbon sequestration. This project aims to develop decision tools to predict how different management plans could affect the persistence of coastal ecosystems and their capacity to sequester carbon. Coastal ‘blue carbon’ ecosystems (seagrasses, saltmarshes, mangroves) are among Earth’s most efficient carbon sinks, but coastal development and climate change threaten their capacity to sequester carbon. Resource managers urgently need guidance to manage coasts to minimise carbon losses and maximise gains. This project is expected to develop knowledge of how to manage blue carbon ecosystems to achieve maximum carbon sequestration capacity, and to put Australia at the forefront of international efforts to incorporate coastal carbon within carbon dioxide mitigation strategies. Field of research: 0502 - Environmental Science and Management

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2016 · 2016-01

Howitt & Fison’s anthropology. Howitt & Fison’s anthropology. This project will systematically analyse nineteenth century anthropologists Lorimer Fison and A.W. Howitt’s accounts of Indigenous kinship, social organisation, and local languages, and historical encounters between settlers and Indigenous people. This project will assemble Fison and Howitt’s meticulous records into best-practice digital formats, with widely accessible interactive data presentation, and bring these extraordinary records to the broadest possible community. This research, which integrates anthropology, history and linguistics, is expected to open up new dimensions in Australian history, anthropological theory, and Australian linguistics. Field of research: 1601 - Anthropology

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2016 · 2016-01

Development of novel high performance aluminium alloys containing scandium. Development of novel high performance aluminium alloys containing scandium. This project aims to develop a new generation of aerospace aluminium alloys containing scandium. Over 30 million tonnes of high performance aluminium alloys are produced annually. Early investigations showed many beneficial effects of scandium on alloy behaviour, but research was abandoned due to scandium’s high cost. Australia has the largest deposit of scandium in the world, and Australian sustainable extraction technology will markedly lower the price. This project believes that now is an ideal time to capitalise scandium’s beneficial effects and be at the forefront of this new alloy development strategy. Anticipated outcomes are the creation of a new market with economic and sustainable opportunities for the Australian mining sector. Field of research: 0912 - Materials Engineering

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2016 · 2016-01

An assessment of late night alcohol restrictions in Queensland. An assessment of late night alcohol restrictions in Queensland. This project aims to assess the effect of 2.00am cease of alcohol service for licensed venues across Queensland, identify modifiable elements and develop policy advice. Alcohol-related harm is a major social order issue which requires evidence-based policy. Using the most sophisticated models to date—including outlet density, enforcement, demographic variables and other variables—this project will build unique datasets, including archival data, foot-traffic counting, key stakeholder and patron interviews, to evaluate the effect of alcohol restrictions and identify policy lessons for other jurisdictions in Australia and internationally. Field of research: 1117 - Public Health and Health Services

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2016 · 2016-01

The development of the social brain in early childhood. This project aims to understand how the human brain develops social and emotional understanding. The brain has remarkable abilities for understanding our social environment, such as inferring other people’s thoughts and feelings. This project will use neuroscience techniques to investigate how brain networks combine to produce social understanding, how this changes throughout child development, and how it relates to complex social behaviours. This project’s findings could be used to develop educational programmes that enhance empathy and co-operation, strengthen family relationships, promote social inclusion and reduce maladaptive behaviours. It could also guide intervention in brain disorders that affect social understanding. Field of research: 1701 - Psychology