MONASH UNIVERSITY

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2024 · 2024-01

Educator-child interactions and childhood social and emotional learning. This project aims to enhance educator-child interactions to support young children’s social and emotional learning in Early Childhood Education and Care. It expects to generate new knowledge about adult-child interactions for improved child outcomes by examining the effectiveness, theories of change and implementation of an online Social-Emotional Engagement and Development Program to promote educators' engagement with three tiers of social and emotional learning strategies. The intended outcome is a confirmed evidence base supporting the program at scale and aligned professional learning resources. This project has potential to mitigate against the financial and social costs associated with mental ill-health in early childhood. Field of research: 3903 - Education Systems Epidemiological studies highlight an increasing prevalence of emotional and behavioural challenges in young Australian children requiring targeted support. Robust evidence shows that the quality of educator-child interactions influences the social and emotional learning competencies that underpin a child's lifelong health and wellbeing. Strengthening the capability of early childhood educators to foster children’s social and emotional growth, through their interactions with children, is therefore essential. This project seeks to create new knowledge to support educators to embed strategies that foster children’s social and emotional learning (SEL) into their everyday interactions. The project will create new knowledge regarding: 1) tailored and responsive SEL supports that can be delivered at scale within the early childhood sector; 2) the pathways by which these supports influence domains of educator practice; and 3) the influence on children's subsequent social and emotional health. The study's use of co-design approaches involving leading early childhood education providers, and inclusion of a public education campaign, will support adoption of the research across the early learning community, to strengthen the capacity of the early childhood education and care sector to reverse the national burden associated with poor developmental outcomes in the early years.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2024 · 2024-01

Stronger, coarser-grained biodegradable zinc alloys. This project aims to develop stronger and more durable zinc alloys for a new generation of biodegradable metals for potential load-bearing orthopaedic applications. It expects to deliver a group of novel zinc alloys with better properties and a new technology for manufacturing them, and to use advanced experimental techniques to reveal deformation and strengthening mechanisms that underlie the unusual Hall-Petch and anomalous twinning phenomena and the unprecedented properties of these alloys. Expected outcomes are likely to form the technology and scientific basis for developing better biodegradable metallic alloys. This has the potential eventually to create a better life for thousands of Australian patients. Field of research: 4016 - Materials Engineering The traditional metal plates for internal fixation of fractured bone are made of non-biodegradable stainless steel or titanium. The presence of these implants inside human body may cause pain and discomfort of patients and often end up with an additional surgery to remove them once the broken bone is fully healed. This project will develop zinc alloys for fabricating biodegradable bone plates - the world-first metal that can be used on load-bearing bones and will dissolve over time in the human body without the side effects of permanent metal implants. The outcome of this research should be a revolutionary step in the design and development of internal fixation devices for broken bones that will avoid the discomfort associated with traditional permanent implants. Australia has over 173,000 broken bones each year. This project has the potential eventually to create a better life for thousands of patients in Australia. This project will also lead to invention of a new class of biodegradable materials and a new manufacturing technology to manufacturing them that will be patented, commercialised and clinically trialled. I will work with experts on biomedical engineers and clinicians to transform the technologies into biomedical products.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2024 · 2024-01

Advancing Policy Design for Robots in Public Spaces. Advances in robotics are set to transform service delivery, health care, and other social services. How will this affect our shared public spaces? Well-informed policy design will be critical. Experience with automobiles shows new technologies can profoundly reshape public spaces for all citizens; for good or ill. This project explores how policy design can ensure robots operate safely in public space and protect public interests. It will develop a feasible, flexible, and replicable method for incorporating citizen experience and insights into policy design to manage the growing presence of robots in Australian public spaces. The resulting method is intended to support successful technology adoption and inform human-centred robotics design. Field of research: 4407 - Policy and Administration Robots are increasingly appearing in public spaces in Australia, including on streets, in parks, in hospitals and in supermarkets. The benefits of robots to human wellbeing could be immense. But experiences with automobiles remind us that the introduction of new technologies can have profound impacts on public spaces, for good or ill. The presence of robots in public spaces will affect all citizens – not just their immediate users. A significant knowledge gap exists concerning the broader social impacts of the growing presence of robots in public spaces. This project will examine how people perceive and interact with robots in different public spaces. It will involve design workshops where researchers, citizens, and policy designers will together explore new means of guiding how robots impact on public spaces. Our research will generate new knowledge to inform policy design. That knowledge could assist Australian governments and regulators to better anticipate the effects of wider use of robots and plan policies to encourage good outcomes for all. The safe and effective operation of robots in public spaces could provide significant social and economic benefits by allowing more Australians to safely take advantage of major technological advances. The project could also provide important insights for Australia’s robot industry. Findings will be disseminated beyond academic via the co-design workshops central to the project, and via seminars, short papers, videos, and blogs.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2024 · 2024-01

Fluid chemistry and critical mineral enrichment in salty metamorphic belts. Several geological regions in Australia are worth billions of dollars to our economy in their contained copper-goldcobalt and uranium-rare earth element mineral deposits. These regions will continue to be important to Australia as the world transitions to a renewable energy economy because they can provide some of the most critical metals needed for that transition: Cu, Co, rare earth elements. This project aims to provide a fundamental quatitative understanding of the geological processes that form these deposits. We will conduct experiments to generate quantitative models of the metamorphic and structural processes that control the liberation and migration of highly saline fluids, which are ideal for transporting a large range of metals. Field of research: 3705 - Geology 1. We aim to improve our fundamental understanding of the geological processes that formed critical element-rich mineral deposits. 2. Currently, we know that very salty fluids were generated during metamorphism in several economically important mineral belts in Australia. These fluids are ideal for transporting metals and were likely responsible for forming numerous critical element-rich mineral occurrences. But we currently have no quantitative constraints on the processes that control fluids and metal liberation and transport; this project aims to generate experimental data that allow quantitative modelling of the mineral deposit forming processes. 3. Mineral deposits in the regions of interest are worth billions of dollars to Australia's economy, and many new deposits need to be found for the renewable energy transition. By providing a foundation for mining companies to improve their mineral exploration approaches, this project will help to boost and consolidate Australia's economy in the longer term. 4. The Lead CI has established relationships with the minerals industry, ensuring translation of the research to that sector.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2024 · 2024-01

Where Gesture Meets Grammar: Crosslinguistic Multimodal Communication. This project aims to investigate both differences and universal tendencies in the interplay of speech and gesture across four languages of importance for Australia. The crucial role of gestures is often overlooked in the analysis of communication. In this project, specialists from linguistics, gesture and cultural studies, psychology and cognitive science collaborate using an innovative approach to generate new knowledge about how speech and gesture interact to communicate meaning. The project can provide significant benefits for our understanding of language and cognition, cross-cultural communication in multilingual Australia, and the documentation of endangered languages. Field of research: 4704 - Linguistics Communication involves spoken language in combination with gestures and body language. Despite their crucial link to language and thought, the importance of gestures has been overlooked in research on communication. Improvements in analytical and recording techniques mean that we are now able to fully investigate these connections. This project investigates the multimodal nature of communication by analysing data from four languages of importance in the Australian context: (a) Australian English, (b) Korean – spoken by one of Australia’s most important trade partners, (c) an Australian Aboriginal language, and (d) a language of Papua New Guinea – Australia’s neighbour and major recipient of aid. The research explores differences in what aspects of meaning are contributed by words vs. gestures in different languages. It will enhance understanding of how communication works, particularly within interactions in multilingual Australian society and in relations with our neighbours. The project will enrich existing archived data for endangered languages, unlocking important cultural recordings for new purposes. The project includes capacity building for community-based research, training of early career researchers, and public outreach. The outcomes are designed to promote better cross-cultural understanding of communication in multilingual Australia. In this way, this crosslinguistic project will strengthen Australia’s international leadership position in multimodal communication.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2024 · 2024-01

Geodesic arcs and surfaces for hyperbolic knots and 3-manifolds. This project aims to use recent breakthroughs in mathematics to determine explicit geometric information on mathematical spaces, namely knot complements and 3-manifolds. These spaces arise in applications across science and engineering. They break into pieces that admit geometry, where hyperbolic geometry is the most common. This project expects to generate new knowledge around a number of open questions and conjectures on the hyperbolic geometry of knots and 3-manifolds. Expected outcomes include development of theory, and improved geometric tools. It will benefit the mathematical community through new insights and improved methods, and possibly lead to downstream applications in other scientific fields that rely on geometry. Field of research: 4904 - Pure Mathematics A string with its ends welded together is a model of a mathematical knot. If the string is tied before its ends are welded, often there is no way to remove the crossings in the string without cutting the string. This is called nontrivial knotting. However, sometimes a string with complicated crossings can be unknotted, or moved so that all its crossings disappear without cutting. Given a ball of string, it is a challenging problem to determine whether the ball is nontrivially knotted or unknotted. Knot theory is the area of mathematics that studies such knots. It is an area of geometry whose mathematical study began in the 1800s, and continues today with applications to DNA knotting, protein folding, and quantum entanglement. Determining when two abstract knots are the same remains a very challenging problem. This project will use tools from geometry to address questions in knot theory, and to find properties of knots that help distinguish them. If successful, it will lead to better understanding of knots and of closely related spaces, and generate valuable new knowledge to stimulate further research in geometry. This, in turn, may have downstream applications in other scientific fields that use geometric techniques, in particular those that encounter knots.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2024 · 2024-01

Mapping Australian Homemade, Amateur & Do-it-Yourself Cultural Economies. This project aims to fill a significant gap in the Australian Government’s National Cultural Policy to ‘Revive’ the cultural sector. The project expects to reveal the ignored sector of non-professional, homemade, amateur and do-it-yourself creativity. Intended outcomes include the first detailed study of the contribution of the 45% of Australians who creatively participate in the arts as producers of forms including poetry, music and fine art and their relationship with the professional cultural and creative industries. Participatory mapping methods that expand new knowledge should provide public benefits in broader recognition and understanding of the value of everyday Australian creativity, seeking to impact democratic policymaking. Field of research: 4702 - Cultural Studies This project speaks to a gap in the newly launched Australian Government’s National Cultural Policy and its ambition of expanding economic opportunities and providing avenues to deepen and showcase national identity and to ensure ‘A Place for Every Story’. This project reveals the ignored space and agency of the homemade, amateur and do-it-yourself that sits between the publicly-funded and commercial spheres of cultural and creative industries. It is the first detailed qualitative study of the activities, expressions, associations, and contribution to the economy and culture of the 45% of Australians who creatively participate in the arts as producers of forms as diverse as poetry, music, fine art and the interactions between them. Expected project outcomes are a new understanding of: (a) non-professional creatives and the contexts in which their activities take place; (b) the role of non-professional creativity in the wider cultural economy; (c) the function of everyday creativity in building contemporary community. The project aims to direct these outcomes in expanding and democratising policy priorities. Engaging policymakers, professionals and publics, the project aims to deliver benefits for the sustainability of Australia’s cultural identity, communities and economy. The outcomes will be achieved through scholarly research, creative collaboration, the production of policy papers and a legacy underwritten by a sustainable cultural mapping of non-professional creativity.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2024 · 2024-01

World Crime Fiction: Making Sense of a Global Genre. This project aims to generate new knowledge about the worldwide popularity of crime fiction by analysing the genre’s engagement with the major global challenges of our time, from climate change to the crisis of democracy. Using data from scholars and fans across all continents, and employing an innovative comparative methodology, it seeks to produce a new framework for analysing the global practice of crime fiction. Outcomes include a deeper understanding of the capacities of crime fiction to explore the complex relationship between crime, law and justice in various settings. The project will benefit Australia by creating new insights into the unique contribution of Australian, including Indigenous, crime writers to this truly global genre. Field of research: 4705 - Literary Studies In Australia, as in the rest of the world, crime fiction is one of the most popular and widely disseminated literary forms, yet the scholarship remains committed to British and American understandings of the genre. This bias means that the innovative contributions of Australian (including Indigenous) and other crime writers to the genre are often misrepresented as derivative and marginalised. The project aims to challenge this practice by offering a new way of understanding world crime fiction from the point of view of its engagement with five major global themes: the crisis of democracy; the climate emergency; gender and sexual identities; social and economic inequality; and colonial legacies. In doing so, the project will demonstrate how global crime fiction serves as a powerful medium for analysing crucial political and social issues with direct impact on Australian society. As a barometer of prevailing attitudes, crime fiction's localised explorations of crime, law, justice, policing, governance and ethics can provide important new perspectives on how the major global challenges of our time are perceived and addressed in Australia and around the world. The creation of online exhibition spaces, presenting how crime fiction engages with these issues, will be an important resource for scholars, educators, publishers and community reading groups.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2024 · 2024-01

Developing vitrimers: next generation reusable plastics. This project aims to develop a new class of advanced multifunctional polymer materials with the potential to underpin significant breakthrough capabilities for soft materials in general. The proposed work will relocate biological catalysts from their native, wet environment to solid organic engineering bio-sourced resins. Suitably selected enzymes will allow creation of polymer-based products that can be fully recyclable, with built-in properties such as self-healing, shape morphing, which are mechanically tunable, and have the ability to be reprocessed/recycled multiple times. This research will initiate a disruptive change in the application of biocatalysts for bio-based polymers. Field of research: 3403 - Macromolecular and Materials Chemistry Australia is facing a critical challenge with the increasing amount of plastic waste in the environment. Plastic waste has severe impacts on the environment, marine life, and human health, and poses significant economic costs to communities. Therefore, finding an effective solution to reduce plastic waste is essential to protect our environment and ensure the long-term sustainability of our economy. Our research project aims to develop a novel bio-based vitrimer material that has the potential to replace traditional plastics and contribute to a circular economy. This innovative material is created from renewable sources, such as plant-based polymers, and has superior properties to traditional plastics, including higher mechanical strength, toughness, and recyclability. The project has significant economic and environmental benefits for Australia. The adoption of the bio-based vitrimer material can create new opportunities for the domestic manufacturing industry, generate employment, and promote a sustainable and circular economy. This new material has a high potential for commercialization and can attract investment and collaborations from both local and international companies. The project also addresses Australia's commitment to reducing plastic waste and improving environmental sustainability. The bio-based vitrimer material has excellent properties for recyclability, and it can contribute to reducing plastic waste in the environment.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2024 · 2024-01

Care and Repair: Rethinking Contemporary Curation for Conditions of Crisis. This project aims to address the significant challenge of how to curate contemporary art under conditions of crisis, made acute by the pandemic. It expects to generate new knowledge in the growth areas of contemporary art and curatorial practice, which will be translatable to creative industries seeking solutions to similar challenges. Anticipated outcomes include new models for sustainable, future-oriented creative practice; a stronger international profile for Australian artists and curators; and the establishment of a regional network of artists and curators between Australia and Southeast Asia. This should significantly aid our understanding of how to meet current and future challenges to producers and audiences of contemporary art. Field of research: 3606 - Visual Arts The creative industries are beset by multiple crises, from climate change to the legacy of colonialism. The pandemic alone resulted in more than 10 million jobs lost in creative industries worldwide and countless cancelled cultural events. This project aims to respond to the significant challenge of how to curate contemporary art in these conditions of crisis. By identifying new models and tools for cultural practice, the project is expected to increase understanding about the profound challenges facing the cultural sector while contributing to Australia’s capacity to meet such challenges. Contemporary art is a popular and successful cultural form in Australia, and the public leadership role of the curator has never been more crucial. The project will benefit Australia by developing translatable frameworks for Australian curators and the broader creative industries. The project's learnings are also expected to increase resilience in the Australian cultural sector in times of crisis. Lastly, the project benefits Australia by strengthening regional collaborations and networks between Australia and Southeast Asia, including through an important new partnership being established between curatorial and cultural entrepreneurship research programmes in Melbourne and Singapore.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2024 · 2024-01

Consumer and Community Involvement Process Implementation Model . The project aims to examine the barriers and enablers to Consumer and Community Involvement. We will generate new knowledge via innovative methods from narrative medicine and economic and marketing studies including establishing the first Community of Practice for consumers and stakeholders in dementia research as the example. The outcomes include the creation of a process implementation model for Consumer and Community Involvement to inform policies and guidelines for research systems and funding. This process model will propel research forward and generate opportunities to maximise the health and social benefits of research, including significant translation of research into practice. Field of research: 4407 - Policy and Administration Internationally, people affected by a condition and unpaid caregivers (i.e. Consumers), and the general public and stakeholders (i.e. Community) are involved in the design and conduct of research. However, the ‘how to’ of Consumer and Community Involvement in research where consumers may have physical or cognitive impairments has not been examined in the Australian context, and there is limited guidance for researchers on how to do this well. Using dementia research as an example, this project aims to address the significant knowledge gaps in Australia on how to involve consumers and the community in ageing research in a meaningful way across research disciplines and research phases. With further government funding projected for health and aged care, the Community of Practice and how to guide this project will create will serve as an exemplar of best practice Consumer and Community Involvement to inform policy and facilitate improved research relevance, outcomes, and translation into practice that will cross disciplines and health conditions.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2024 · 2024-01

The developmental and evolutionary origins of vertebrate fins and limbs. This project aims to investigate the origin of paired appendages, a major event in early vertebrate history that changed ecological opportunity and fuelled the radiation of jawed vertebrates. This project expects to generate new knowledge on the mechanism that drove this innovation, which despite over a century of debate, remains one of the great unknowns of comparative vertebrate evolution. Expected outcomes of this project include uncovering the anatomical changes underpinning the origin of the vertebrate appendicular system. This should provide significant benefits as it will inform our own natural history and provide a paradigm for studying gene network conservation, phylogenetic modifications, and the acquisition of novel structures. Field of research: 3104 - Evolutionary Biology This project uses unique Australian aquatic animals to address the fundamental question of how the vertebrate body plan formed. Our research highlights the richness and diversity of Australian species and the importance their place in the tree of life holds to answering questions that could not otherwise be addressed. Our use of unique Australian living and extinct fossils will shed light on how evolutionary changes in the way embryos develop can result in the diversity we see in nature. Furthermore, inventing techniques for working with "primitive" species such as sharks will allow study of the embryology of a previously inaccessible group of animals. This will benefit the national and international community of evolutionary biologists, and facilitate future work to gain insight into those aspects of vertebrate development that are deeply conserved. Elephant fish are important Australian fauna, being the most “primitive” living jawed vertebrate. This funding will provide the world’s only access to their embryos. In addition, this proposal makes use of another uniquely Australian natural resource, the fossils of the GoGo fauna, in which soft tissues are preserved from the Devonian age. Beyond academic publication and meetings our results will be communicated through ARMI’s strong social media presence. Furthermore Gogo fossil discoveries have been consistently featured in popular media and international documentaries, an approach we will continue to embrace.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2024 · 2024-01

Sex-specific epigenetic atlas across lifespan . This project aims to uncover sex-specific molecular marks that either predict or mediate healthy ageing across multiple tissues in humans. This project expects to generate new knowledge of cellular heterogeneity and epigenetic control of phenotype and healthy ageing. Further, we anticipate to uncover age-associated changes that differ between males and females, an area of chronic research under representation. These outcomes will lead to a comprehensive understanding of fundamental biological processes across lifespan, and our development of an open access atlas will underpin evidence-based personalised health strategies to keep Australians healthier for longer. Field of research: 3105 - Genetics Approximately 15% of Australians are over 65, and this proportion is expected to rise to 23% by 2050. The expenditure for an average patient over 65 is 3-5 times higher than for an average patient under 65. “Ageing well” must be a global priority both from an economic and a population health perspective. This project aims to uncover novel molecular indicators that slow the ageing process in males and females, and those which predict ‘faster’ ageing. This will lead to a much better understanding of how humans respond to changing environments during their lifetime, and will underpin future evidence-based personalised and targeted health interventions to keep Australians healthier for longer. Further, the National Action Plan for Critical Technologies includes in its List of Critical Technologies in the National Interest: Genome and genetic sequencing and analysis (Next Generation Sequencing). Our novel analyses and pipelines, ALL made publicly accessible will promote Australia’s expertise in this area and build the capacity of local researchers. The outcomes of this project will therefore have significant economic and social benefits to the Australian community.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2024 · 2024-01

Controllable quantum phases in two-dimensional metal-organic nanomaterials. This project aims to design novel two-dimensional metal-organic nanomaterials and to control electronic quantum phases therein. The project expects to generate new fundamental knowledge in advanced materials, solid-state physics and quantum nanoscience. It will rely on supramolecular chemistry to synthesise new atomically precise functional materials. Expected outcomes include the fabrication of new advanced nanomaterials, as well as the observation and control of new quantum phenomena therein. The project should provide significant benefits, such as advancing basic research in quantum nanomaterials, and aiding to lay the foundation for next-generation electronics and information technologies. Field of research: 5104 - Condensed Matter Physics Modern digital information technologies rely on the efficient control of electrical signals in electronic devices. Conventional methods for improving the advanced materials and fabrication processes involved in such technologies are fast approaching their inherent limits. As a result, next-generation information technologies will require novel functional materials and device functioning mechanisms. This project aims to contribute to this need by designing new functional nanomaterials based on organic molecules, benefitting from their versatility, flexibility and efficiency as building blocks. It will pave the way for new devices and device functioning mechanisms based on the quantum physics of such materials. This project falls within the Government’s National Science and Research Priority of “advanced manufacturing”, and within the new National Quantum Strategy. It will stimulate innovation in advanced materials, solid-state physics, nanoelectronics and quantum science. It will leverage and ensure a leading role of Australia’s resources and cutting-edge expertise in these fields of the highest global research priority. It will exploit platforms already in place at the investigators’ institutions for knowledge transfer, from fundamental research outcomes to the potential development of intellectual property, applications and commercialization.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2024 · 2024-01

On the origin of very massive back holes. This project aims to investigate the origin of massive black holes observed in recent years by gravitational wave detectors. This project expects to generate new knowledge in the area of very massive stars utilising stellar evolution models, hydrodynamic simulations, light curve calculations and supernova observations, in order to explain the unexpected absence of a gap in the black hole mass distribution. Expected outcomes of this project include a better understanding of mass loss and the collapse of very massive stars as key factors for the observed black hole mass distribution.This should provide significant benefits for gravitational wave astronomy, but also for observations of stellar explosions by informing future survey strategies. Field of research: 5101 - Astronomical Sciences Australia is investing hundreds of millions of dollars in facilities such as the SKA and the ARC CoE for gravitational wave astronomy. This proposal aims to provide theoretical modelling for some the the key science questions they pursue, such as the nature of the first stars in the universe and the origin of very massive black holes. It allows to leverage these investments by providing the underling theory to allow understanding the data they take, which is an essential step in optimal use of these Australian investments. The proposal intends to also involve graduate and undergraduate students and train them in techniques of computer-based modelling and data analysis, based on broad questions as found in astronomy and obtain skills well sought-after in the Science, Engineering, Mathematics and Technology (STEM) field as well as in industry. Most of our graduates find move to expert positions with Australian technology companies or government positions such as the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) or in the defence and national security sectors.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2024 · 2024-01

Improving Legal Frameworks to Support Online Child Sex Abuse Prosecutions. This project aims to gain a deeper understanding of the nature and extent of online child sexual abuse prosecutions in Australia. Using empirical studies to draw on the practical experience of law enforcement and other stakeholders, it will generate new knowledge concerning the suitability of Australia's legal and policy frameworks to effectively investigate and prosecute such offences, with a particular focus on the Asia-Pacific region and the use of new technologies. Expected outcomes include evidence-based recommendations on criminal law reform and enforcement policy that aim to improve the international enforcement of online child sexual abuse offences, and to provide a model for other forms of serious transnational online crime. Field of research: 4805 - Legal Systems There is no greater responsibility for law enforcement than the protection of children from harm. Australia is a world leader in the investigation and prosecution of online child sexual abuse offences. However, laws and policies must be able to keep pace with emerging technological developments and the challenges of international cooperation. This innovative research will contribute to Australia's national interest by ensuring that Australia's legal and policy frameworks effectively support the investigation and prosecution of online child sexual abuse offences. This helps to protect Australian children from harm and protect children overseas from Australian offenders. The focus on cooperating with our Asian and Pacific neighbours is aligned with Australia's regional focus, and the inclusion of the darknet provides insights into the increasing misuse of emerging technologies. The lessons learned from this research may also be adapted to the investigation and prosecution of other forms of serious online crime and are aligned with Australia's role as a global leader in addressing the challenges of cybercrime. Expected outcomes include evidence-based recommendations on criminal law reform and enforcement policy that aim to improve the international enforcement of online child sexual abuse offences, and to provide a model for other forms of serious transnational online crime.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2024 · 2024-01

How do stem cells get specified during embryonic muscle development? This project aims to investigate the mechanisms by which muscle stem cells first form in the embryo. This project expects to generate new knowledge on the mechanism that patterns cell types in the embryonic myotome. Expected outcomes of this project include uncovering the developmental mechanisms of cell type specification in the myotome with specific reference to the generation of stem cells. This should provide significant benefits as it will inform how long lived tissue resident stem cells can be made in the first instance, knowledge that is critical for making stem cells on demand outside the animal and manipulating stem cells in living tissue. Field of research: 3105 - Genetics This grant will provide information on how tissue resident stem cells are made in living tissues, knowledge that will have impact in the field of stem cell science generally. This information is critical to the ability to manipulate, grow and make stem cells, inside and out side the body, information that is important in generating stem cell technologies, a science and industry area that Australia leads in globally. It would also be foundational knowledge for the growing cellular agriculture industry, with which CI PC has established links and IP. This industry chiefly uses tissue-derived muscle stem cells as their starting material for culturing in vitro to generate laboratory based meat. Knowing what specific muscle stem cell source provides muscle growth in vivo and the signals that trigger maximal stem cell proliferation will speed up efficient muscle stem cell culture and production in vitro, the single most significant hurdle to the scale up required for the success of this nascent industry. Finally knowledge generated during the tenure of this grant is also is important in understanding how embryos generate specific cell types and tissues, and shed light how animals are built from an embryonic template, the fundamental aim of the field of Developmental Biology.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2024 · 2024-01

Human models for accelerated robot learning and human-robot interaction. This project aims to develop novel approaches to teach robots to proficiently interact with humans in a safe and low-cost manner. To achieve this aim, this project will develop novel models from which various human behaviours can be generated and used to train human-robot interaction policies in simulation. Expected outcomes of this project include new computational models of human behaviour built using cognitive science theories and limited data and new training schemes for robot learning in simulation. By training robots in simulation with accurate human models, this research will enable fast and safe robot training to support the deployment and adoption of robots in human contexts such as healthcare facilities, homes, and workplaces. Field of research: 4602 - Artificial Intelligence Robotics and AI have the potential to provide innovative solutions for critical societal issues (e.g. ageing populations, climate change, energy transformation) in a wide range of applications including healthcare, agriculture, space, home, and service. In Australia, robotics and AI could add $2.2 trillion to the economy over the next 15 years by raising productivity and creating jobs that are safer and more satisfying. However, robots will only be successful and accepted in these new contexts if they can interact effectively with people. This project will address this issue by developing computational models of human behaviour that can be used to teach robots how to safely interact with others in a low-cost manner. The outcomes of this research have the potential to deliver significant economic and social benefits, particularly by contributing to the design, development, and deployment of robotic systems that can support declining workforces in the health, service, and home care sectors.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2024 · 2024-01

Australian Journalism, Trauma and Community. This project aims to investigate the professional and personal costs of reporting on trauma for Australian journalists and the communities they engage with, by undertaking a groundbreaking historical study of journalists’ exposure to trauma over the past century. It seeks to generate new knowledge by transforming our understanding of the relationship between journalism and trauma and the wider implications for the profession and the public. Expected outcomes of this project include scholarly, education and public resources which will inform and broaden ongoing debates about Australian journalism. This will provide significant benefits for journalists and the public, creating urgent awareness and better support and training initiatives. Field of research: 4303 - Historical Studies The project aims to support the Australian Government’s commitment to health by understanding how Australian journalists, as first responders, have been impacted by the experience of reporting on trauma, and in turn, how survivors of traumatic events view their treatment by the media. The project will contribute to building a healthy and resilient community by developing new approaches to create greater awareness in the profession, educate journalists on the consequences of reporting on trauma, and allow for communities to be better informed when interacting with the media during traumatic events. The project includes a substantial public program collaborating with media, mental health organisations, and the public to communicate our findings. The project will strengthen support for journalists and the community by producing ground-breaking new scholarship combining archival and media analysis with oral interviews and fieldwork, alongside innovative and accessible public and policy outcomes to guide contemporary debates about trauma.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2024 · 2024-01

Reactivity Enhanced Low-Valent Alkaline Earth Metal Compounds. The project aims to develop highly activated low oxidation state alkaline earth metal complexes as cheap and sustainable alternatives to toxic/expensive late transition metal complexes, that currently dominate the transformation of inert small molecule substrates into value-added organic chemicals. The project expects to generate major fundamental and applied advances in chemistry, using innovative synthetic and computational approaches, and a multidisciplinary collaborative team. Expected outcomes include building of academic and, later, industrial research capacity, knowledge, an international network, and a highly trained workforce. Success should see substantial economic, environmental and societal benefits flowing to Australia. Field of research: 3402 - Inorganic Chemistry The project will develop new classes of highly reactive chemical compounds, using cheap, non-toxic base metals, such as magnesium. These will be exploited for the value-added transformation of simple molecules into more complex fine chemicals (e.g. pharmaceuticals). Although such chemical reactions are critical to the national economy, they are currently problematic, typically requiring very expensive and toxic heavy metals (e.g. platinum) to proceed. By solving this problem, the project will help maintain Australia’s leading position in the emerging field of sustainable base metal chemistry. It will also be of significant economic and environmental benefit to chemical industry, leading to substantially reduced costs, and decreased need for toxic metals in fine chemical production. Through its advances, the project will ultimately enable the commercial translation of valuable intellectual property to industries and institutions, both Australian and international, which are focussed on the sustainable production of high value fine chemicals from cheap and abundant feedstocks.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2024 · 2024-01

From foraging to farming. Human adaptations during major transitions. This project aims to investigate the causes that led to the human demographic explosion occurred during the Neolithic Revolution by analysing dental tissues through cutting-edge methods. This project expects to generate novel insights about the diet, health and weaning practices in Mediterranean human populations from the last 30,000 years. Expected outcomes of this project include the creation of new data on early life dietary transitions in archaeological populations, enhancing capacity to build interdisciplinary collaborations, and refining methods and concepts to study the diet of the past. This should provide significant benefits to Australian research in evolutionary anthropology, nutrition and in dentistry. Field of research: 4401 - Anthropology The aim of this project is to reconstruct the diet, health and lifestyle of prehistoric humans that lived during one of the most extraordinary phases in our evolutionary history, the Neolithic Revolution. This was a period marked by major cultural innovations which witnessed a dramatic increase in population size. Our innovative approach will help to resolve the longstanding questions about the evolution of human diet, and to investigate how changes in diet and cultural practices caused major demographic shifts in human populations. This project will provide new insights about the relationship between nutrition, health and fertility, which ultimately may have played a pivotal role in the reproductive biology and success of our species. The outcomes of this project may eventually have the capacity to shape national strategies in the nutrition science, dentistry, public health and in the food industry.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2024 · 2024-01

Fractional decomposition of graphs and the Nash-Williams conjecture. Nash-Williams' conjecture is a famous unsolved problem about decomposing graphs (abstract networks). Breakthrough results achieved in recent years have shown that the conjecture, along with other major graph decomposition problems, could be solved if only more were known about fractional decomposition. This project aims to clear this bottleneck to progress by dramatically expanding the state of knowledge on fractional decomposition. Expected outcomes include major progress on Nash-Williams' conjecture and related graph decomposition problems. This should enhance Australia's research reputation in pure mathematics and provide benefits in downstream applications areas including statistics, data transmission, and fibre-optic networks. Field of research: 4904 - Pure Mathematics This project aims to make breakthroughs on important mathematical questions regarding graph decomposition. Roughly speaking, graph decomposition involves dividing abstract networks into smaller networks. Questions of this type have significance in many vital real-world applications including in the design of efficient and powerful statistical studies, in data transmission and compression, and in managing traffic in fibre-optic networks. We expect our work will lead to significant benefits, including the following. - A better understanding of graph decomposition through more powerful results and techniques that will have real impact on future research. - Major advances on famous open mathematical problems that will add to Australia's already strong reputation for research excellence in pure mathematics. - More efficient algorithms for tackling graph decomposition problems that may be of use in the applications mentioned above. - Strengthening existing collaborations and fostering new ones between researchers in Australia, Canada and the UK. - Cutting edge experience and training for a number of young researchers in an area that is foundational to modern information and communication technology. Outcomes from the project will be disseminated through publications in leading mathematical journals and presentations at major mathematical conferences.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2024 · 2024-01

Changing Institutions to Mitigate Gender Leadership Gaps: Power of Defaults. This project aims to improve diversity in organisations by investigating a simple yet novel institutional change that can increase women’s participation in leadership. This involves a change in the default used for leadership selection, from an opt-in to an opt-out mechanism. This project expects to generate new knowledge in the area of diversity and inclusion by showing how appropriate choice of defaults can reduce labour market gaps and inequality. Expected outcomes include understanding mechanisms underlying the gender default effect both in the short and long run which will help identify appropriate interventions that can be scaled up. Insights gained should provide significant benefits by improving workplace diversity and productivity. Field of research: 3801 - Applied Economics Gender inequality in key leadership roles is a critical problem across almost all industries in Australia. Despite the resources allocated to achieve gender equality, the glass ceiling remains intact and continues to be an impediment for the Australian economy. Evidence shows that it significantly reduces national productivity, economic growth, and living standards. This project confronts the challenge of gender inequality by studying how biases embedded in institutional structures, specifically in leadership selection processes, can contribute to the creation of gender gaps. By using insights from behavioural economics and experimental methodology, we aim to investigate a simple yet novel institutional change, from an opt-in to an opt-out system, that can increase women’s participation in leadership positions. Successful institutional change requires an in-depth understanding of its short-run and long-run implications. The insights we gain through this research will show how gender gaps can be mitigated through appropriate institutional change. The results will have immediate implications for industry practitioners and policy makers. They will benefit current and future generations of Australians by overcoming an institutional factor that contributes to gender gaps. We plan to communicate our results through workshops and policy papers to government, community, and industry organisations, such as the Workplace Gender Equality Agency and Diversity Council Australia.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2024 · 2024-01

Engaging residents and families in aged care facilities. This project aims to investigate resident and family engagement in communicating about medicines that affect the mind, emotions and behaviour, by developing and testing creative strategies in aged care facilities. This project expects to generate new knowledge about resident and family communication within a dynamic context of sociocultural, environmental and interpersonal challenges and opportunities. Expected outcomes of this project include enhanced capacity to enable resident and family participation in bridging communication gaps. This should provide significant benefits, in terms of increased understandings about how and under what circumstances, medicines decision making can occur with residents and families in diverse situations. Field of research: 4203 - Health Services and Systems Breakdown in communication and lack of engagement are often the source of medicine-related problems in aged care facilities, which cause major harm and involve large costs of care. Major problems are often experienced with medicines that affect the mind, emotions and behaviour in aged care facilities, which are called psychotropic medicines. New knowledge will be developed in understanding the different communication situations that are faced by residents and their families in aged care facilities in the use of psychotropic medicines. The project will be undertaken in different geographical locations, and in various aged care facilities. The project will incorporate the views of residents and their families with diverse characteristics, including those of non-English speaking backgrounds. The outcomes of this broad range approach will therefore benefit the wider Australian community. The project will determine by whom, how, and under what circumstances, engagement with residents and families can take place. Strategies will be identified and tested that focus on upholding the rights of residents and their families in having a say in managing psychotropic medicines, especially in the cases where safer alternatives are available. Engagement of residents and families in psychotropic medicine decisions is likely to result in reduced medicine-related problems and lower costs in care.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2024 · 2024-01

Medical Internationalism: Cuba and Eastern Europe, 1959-1999. This project aims to understand the history of medicine as an instrument of soft power during and after the Cold War. Taking Cuba as a case study, it expects to generate new knowledge about the socialist East's fight to win ‘hearts and minds’ in the global South by analysing the professional and interpersonal relationships that developed among Cuban, Soviet, and Czechoslovak medical students, clinical practitioners, researchers and public health officials. Expected outcomes include refined methods of transnational history and medical history. This should provide significant benefits, such as enhancing Australia's visibility as a site of historical discovery and innovation, and offering historical context for contemporary diplomacy. Field of research: 4303 - Historical Studies Cuba has recently expanded its use of medicine to project influence in the Asia-Pacific. As a gesture of goodwill, it has trained medical workers in Nauru and other Pacific Island States. In response to the current pandemic, it is donating 10 million doses of the vaccine to Vietnam. To manage Australia’s role in the region, we need a better understanding of Cuba’s long and significant history of medicine's instrumental use. This project fills this knowledge gap by revealing the history of medical cooperation and exchange between Eastern Europe and Cuba (1959-99). This project will benefit Australians by offering an opportunity to reflect on and assess Australia’s contemporary practice of the mobilisation of medical personnel, goods, and knowledge to promote our national interests abroad. The support of Eastern Europe for Cuba, and Cuba’s own effort to offer aid elsewhere in the global South, is the quintessential success story of medicine as a diplomatic tool A deeper understanding of these efforts’ successes and failures offers clues for how to maximally leverage these assets to promote goodwill abroad in our own foreign policy. By bridging an analysis of state policy with the lived experience of state agents on the ground, this study suggests a template for assessing the contemporary efficacy of Australia’s regional policy initiatives. The findings will be communicated to the wider Australian public via writings of engaged scholarship to appear in popular venues.