Changing your mind by changing your brain: An interventionist perspective on cognitive neuroscience. Functional neuroimaging provides a tremendous amount of information about the brain, but what it shows about the mind is less clear. Addressing this fundamental philosophical question requires developing a detailed account of theory-testing in cognitive neuroscience. This project aims to connect neuroimaging to theories of explanation that focus on the way one variable can make a difference to an ....Changing your mind by changing your brain: An interventionist perspective on cognitive neuroscience. Functional neuroimaging provides a tremendous amount of information about the brain, but what it shows about the mind is less clear. Addressing this fundamental philosophical question requires developing a detailed account of theory-testing in cognitive neuroscience. This project aims to connect neuroimaging to theories of explanation that focus on the way one variable can make a difference to another. By linking neuroimaging to facts about manipulable relationships between the brain and the mind, it will also provide a bridge between neuroimaging and complementary technologies for directly intervening on the brain. This, in turn, will provide a platform from which to explore the theoretical and ethical consequences of direct brain manipulation.Read moreRead less
Judicially Speaking: An Oral History of the High Court of Australia. This project will leave a basic research legacy by creating a history of the High Court in the words of those closest to it. The Court is among our most under-researched national institutions. By deepening understanding of how the High Court has operated in the past, including in response to social and political change, the project will enrich debate about how it should function in the future. It will provide new insights into ....Judicially Speaking: An Oral History of the High Court of Australia. This project will leave a basic research legacy by creating a history of the High Court in the words of those closest to it. The Court is among our most under-researched national institutions. By deepening understanding of how the High Court has operated in the past, including in response to social and political change, the project will enrich debate about how it should function in the future. It will provide new insights into the evolution of Australian law to meet the challenges of tomorrow and will preserve vital national heritage in the form of the recollections of prominent national figures.Read moreRead less
Producing Biodiversity: A History of Science in Australia's Desert Lands. Biodiversity conservation is regarded by most people as desirable, but its historical and cultural aspects are poorly understood. It is not just about scientific understanding of animals and plants, but also a matter of practice and negotiation. People and places are changed through conservation and these changes in turn shape the ways nature is imagined and managed. Producing Biodiversity documents historical and contempo ....Producing Biodiversity: A History of Science in Australia's Desert Lands. Biodiversity conservation is regarded by most people as desirable, but its historical and cultural aspects are poorly understood. It is not just about scientific understanding of animals and plants, but also a matter of practice and negotiation. People and places are changed through conservation and these changes in turn shape the ways nature is imagined and managed. Producing Biodiversity documents historical and contemporary initiatives in biodiversity management on six very different pastoral properties on the margins of the Australian desert. We provide a long-term perspective on national and local conservation imperatives in different eras, and explore how they affect pastoral, Aboriginal and scientific communities.Read moreRead less
Understanding Australia in The Age of Humans: Localising the Anthropocene. The project aims to undertake a comprehensive investigation of Australia as a distinctive locality within the global idea of the new epoch of humanity known as the Anthropocene. It aims to analyse and narrate how human interventions have come to transform Australian environments in fundamental and enduring ways, showing the history, impact and implications of human-influenced biophysical planetary change within our distin ....Understanding Australia in The Age of Humans: Localising the Anthropocene. The project aims to undertake a comprehensive investigation of Australia as a distinctive locality within the global idea of the new epoch of humanity known as the Anthropocene. It aims to analyse and narrate how human interventions have come to transform Australian environments in fundamental and enduring ways, showing the history, impact and implications of human-influenced biophysical planetary change within our distinctive and vulnerable continental and ocean environments. It also plans to use both print and museum environments to develop new understandings of the cultural dimensions of the ‘Age of Humans’.Read moreRead less
Australia's Post World War II War Crimes Trials of Japanese Defendants. Contemporary war crimes trials regularly refer to historical precedent - particularly post-WWII war crimes trials. One virtually unknown group of trials were those conducted by Australian Military Tribunals - the primary sources for which are readily available (Australian War Memorial and National Archives) but under-studied. Australian Tribunals sat in judgment over 814 Japanese Defendants in 296 separate trials and yet th ....Australia's Post World War II War Crimes Trials of Japanese Defendants. Contemporary war crimes trials regularly refer to historical precedent - particularly post-WWII war crimes trials. One virtually unknown group of trials were those conducted by Australian Military Tribunals - the primary sources for which are readily available (Australian War Memorial and National Archives) but under-studied. Australian Tribunals sat in judgment over 814 Japanese Defendants in 296 separate trials and yet there has never been a systematic study of this chapter of Australian Legal and Military History. This project is intended to provide the first study of the trials and will also "unlock" the under-utilised but vast documentary resource for future researchers.Read moreRead less
The Empire of New Idealism?: Civilisation and Australian New Idealism, 1850-1950. Philosophies, like people and commodities, travel the globe. This project traces the movement of British 'New Idealist' philosophy to Australia in the mid-nineteenth century, its transformation into 'Australian New idealism', and return to Britain. It shows how the hopes of these first Australian philosophers for a global community overlapped with politicians and policy makers, and uncovers their shaping role in th ....The Empire of New Idealism?: Civilisation and Australian New Idealism, 1850-1950. Philosophies, like people and commodities, travel the globe. This project traces the movement of British 'New Idealist' philosophy to Australia in the mid-nineteenth century, its transformation into 'Australian New idealism', and return to Britain. It shows how the hopes of these first Australian philosophers for a global community overlapped with politicians and policy makers, and uncovers their shaping role in the formulation of many social policies that remain with us today. It places Australian history and research at the heart of a new global vision of New Idealist studies and offers scholars, policy makers and educators the necessary background to more fully articulate Australian understandings of citizenship and civilisation.Read moreRead less
Nature and Nation: Science, Environment and National Identity in Australia. Nature and Nation combines interviews and archival research to explore the intersection of three worlds in Australia:
· the natural world
· the scientific world that speaks for nature in settler society, and
· the cultural world that fosters and constrains science and other ways of knowing about nature.
The primary focus is the workings of science in northern Australia, where the frontier has never closed. The a ....Nature and Nation: Science, Environment and National Identity in Australia. Nature and Nation combines interviews and archival research to explore the intersection of three worlds in Australia:
· the natural world
· the scientific world that speaks for nature in settler society, and
· the cultural world that fosters and constrains science and other ways of knowing about nature.
The primary focus is the workings of science in northern Australia, where the frontier has never closed. The aim is to elucidate the past, present and future roles of environment and science in Australia's nation-building. Outcomes will include public lectures, journal articles and a major book for a general audience.
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Discipline, Morale and Winning Wars: Understanding the Relationships Between Discipline and Combat Performance in Low-Intensity Conflict. Discipline and morale are key elements in combat performance, particularly in Low-Intensity Conflict (LIC). This project examines the relationships between discipline, morale and combat performance using the Australian Army in Vietnam as a case study. It provides insights into better understanding and managing discipline and morale to produce and sustain comba ....Discipline, Morale and Winning Wars: Understanding the Relationships Between Discipline and Combat Performance in Low-Intensity Conflict. Discipline and morale are key elements in combat performance, particularly in Low-Intensity Conflict (LIC). This project examines the relationships between discipline, morale and combat performance using the Australian Army in Vietnam as a case study. It provides insights into better understanding and managing discipline and morale to produce and sustain combat performance. It assists the Army to avoid the negative effects of failures in discipline and morale that produced the My Lai massacre and the Abu Ghraib fiasco. It also helps position Australia internationally as a contributor to the better understanding of LIC, and fills a gap in Australian historiography of war.Read moreRead less
Understanding Low-Intensity Conflict. Since 1945, Low-Intensity Conflict (LIC) has become the dominant form of warfare. Conventional armies have a poor record of success in fighting LIC. This project uses the records of the Australian Army's operations in the Vietnam War to better understand it's operational performance there and to unearth insights into the conduct of LIC. The project has the potential to reduce casualties, both military and civilian, and assist the Army in selecting new war-fi ....Understanding Low-Intensity Conflict. Since 1945, Low-Intensity Conflict (LIC) has become the dominant form of warfare. Conventional armies have a poor record of success in fighting LIC. This project uses the records of the Australian Army's operations in the Vietnam War to better understand it's operational performance there and to unearth insights into the conduct of LIC. The project has the potential to reduce casualties, both military and civilian, and assist the Army in selecting new war-fighting technologies, designing training and developing doctrine for future LIC. The project will raise Australia's profile in theorising about this troubling but increasingly common form of warfare.Read moreRead less
Australia's Post World War II War Crimes Trials: A systemic and comprehensive Law Reports Series. The publication of the project's Law Reports Series will, in effect, constitute the official history of this extensive Australian war crimes trial experience - in itself, an important national benefit. However, ready access to the previously buried historical primary source material also has profound potential for contemporary application. The proliferation of new international criminal tribunals ....Australia's Post World War II War Crimes Trials: A systemic and comprehensive Law Reports Series. The publication of the project's Law Reports Series will, in effect, constitute the official history of this extensive Australian war crimes trial experience - in itself, an important national benefit. However, ready access to the previously buried historical primary source material also has profound potential for contemporary application. The proliferation of new international criminal tribunals with a concomitant explosion of case law has created a hunger for access to past judicial precedent. Reliance on the results of this project in war crimes trials around the world is guaranteed.Read moreRead less