Integrated depression management: a trial of a new model of care in a low vision rehabilitation setting. The project will integrate depression management into Vision Australia services and evaluate the impact of this new model of care. We anticipate that this new approach will lead to sustained improvements in clients’ quality of life.
Development and evaluation of a web-based decision and safety planning aid for women experiencing domestic violence (I-DECIDE). This project will develop and evaluate a web-based intervention process which enables women experiencing domestic violence to consider their safety planning and support options, reach a carefully thought through decision (reflecting their personal priorities) and then make appropriate plans safely for themselves and their children.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE200101100
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$425,613.00
Summary
Towards Robotic Empathy: A human centred approach to future AI machines. The project aims to equip future robots with empathy by developing computational models which can leverage from verbal and non-verbal cues. With recent advances in artificial intelligence research, robots now have better cognitive and function skills, but they lack socio-emotional skills. Since these robots are expected to provide assistance to humans across different domains including rehabilitation, education and health c ....Towards Robotic Empathy: A human centred approach to future AI machines. The project aims to equip future robots with empathy by developing computational models which can leverage from verbal and non-verbal cues. With recent advances in artificial intelligence research, robots now have better cognitive and function skills, but they lack socio-emotional skills. Since these robots are expected to provide assistance to humans across different domains including rehabilitation, education and health care, empowering them with empathetic abilities is important for their success. The project will advance fundamental research in machine learning, affective computing and artificial intelligence to model human behavior, personality traits and emotions for an empathetic human-robot interaction.Read moreRead less
Humans as animals and objects: the psychology of dehumanisation. This project will clarify how some individuals and groups as perceived as less than human. It will examine how some groups are subtly seen as animal-like and how some media images objectify individuals. It will yield a deeper understanding of how people may be degraded, dismissed, vilified and dehumanised.
Interactive companion robot with nanowire-based electronic skin. Interactive companion robot with nanowire-based electronic skin. This project aims to design an interactive companion robot with electronic skin which can communicate with people by touch and enhance their psychological development. Interactive companion robots can improve the social life quality of people with communication disorders and help elderly people. Although touch is extremely important in human communication, most compan ....Interactive companion robot with nanowire-based electronic skin. Interactive companion robot with nanowire-based electronic skin. This project aims to design an interactive companion robot with electronic skin which can communicate with people by touch and enhance their psychological development. Interactive companion robots can improve the social life quality of people with communication disorders and help elderly people. Although touch is extremely important in human communication, most companion robots lack haptic sensing, which degenerates the human-robot interaction. The anticipated outcome is a touchable robot with developmental benefits for autistic children and psychological benefits for elderly people.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE240100950
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$459,051.00
Summary
Identifying hypothalamic circuits that integrate stress and metabolism. This project aims to investigate how the brain integrates threat during hunger. Using cutting-edge technology to manipulate and record neural activity this project will elucidate the brain circuits that integrate threat and appetite to minimize stress exposure during foraging. This will expand our knowledge on how the brain perceives and responds to hunger and may provide relevant information for a large number of basic biol ....Identifying hypothalamic circuits that integrate stress and metabolism. This project aims to investigate how the brain integrates threat during hunger. Using cutting-edge technology to manipulate and record neural activity this project will elucidate the brain circuits that integrate threat and appetite to minimize stress exposure during foraging. This will expand our knowledge on how the brain perceives and responds to hunger and may provide relevant information for a large number of basic biological processes controlling the brain. Expected outcomes of this project will contribute to a better understanding of the circuitry controlling more complex decisions from food selection through to social interactions. This should provide significant benefits for Australia’s competitiveness within neuroscience research.Read moreRead less
The socioeconomic determinants and dynamics of mental health and disorders in Australia and the United Kingdom: evidence from childhood to the elderly years. Poor mental health and specific mental disorders are prevalent in Australia, and have severe consequences for the social and economic functioning of individuals, families and communities. This project will shed new light on the long-term socio-economic determinants and dynamics of mental health, using data that tracks individuals over time.
Investigating the dynamics of migration and health in Australia: a longitudinal study. This project will investigate the dynamics of changes in health and the factors that moderate or otherwise influence those changes over time among immigrants relative to non-immigrants in Australia. This understanding will contribute to several areas of policy formulation, in turn allowing the question 'how can we best intervene' to be answered.
Bushfires, social connectedness and mental health. The 2009 Victorian bushfires caused much loss of life, property destruction, and community disturbance. It is important for Promoting Better Health and Strengthening the Social and Economic Fabric that an accurate understanding is achieved of the factors that contribute to optimal recovery from natural disasters. This project will survey people affected by the fires over 5 years to both profile adaptation after the fires and to identify the i ....Bushfires, social connectedness and mental health. The 2009 Victorian bushfires caused much loss of life, property destruction, and community disturbance. It is important for Promoting Better Health and Strengthening the Social and Economic Fabric that an accurate understanding is achieved of the factors that contribute to optimal recovery from natural disasters. This project will survey people affected by the fires over 5 years to both profile adaptation after the fires and to identify the individual and community processes that influence outcome. This project being undertaken in partnership by academic, disaster management, health and community organisations will provide crucial information for shaping policy for disaster management in the years ahead.Read moreRead less
Attentional asymmetries for navigation in healthy and clinical groups. This project plans to investigate how differences in attentional capacity between the left and right sides of the brain affect the ability to walk or manoeuvre vehicles between obstacles. To navigate our environment and avoid obstacles, we need to attend to stimuli that are important and ignore those that are not. Unfortunately, the brain’s attentional capacity is limited, which can result in errors and collisions. Using the ....Attentional asymmetries for navigation in healthy and clinical groups. This project plans to investigate how differences in attentional capacity between the left and right sides of the brain affect the ability to walk or manoeuvre vehicles between obstacles. To navigate our environment and avoid obstacles, we need to attend to stimuli that are important and ignore those that are not. Unfortunately, the brain’s attentional capacity is limited, which can result in errors and collisions. Using the techniques of cognitive neuroscience, the project aims to provide a better understanding of the cognitive and neural mechanisms that govern attention in an applied setting. It expects to identify the factors that exacerbate lapses in attention and collisions. The effect of everyday impediments such as mobile phones, alcohol and fatigue will be investigated together with means of minimising these attentional lapses and improving safety.Read moreRead less