Optimising disease surveillance to support decision-making. COVID-19 has demonstrated the critical role of epidemic data and analytics in guiding government response to pandemic threats, reducing disease and saving lives. The demand for epidemic analytics for response to threats of national significance will only grow. The goals of this project are to 1) determine the combination(s) of surveillance methods that provide the most useful data for epidemic analysis and 2) translate these findings in ....Optimising disease surveillance to support decision-making. COVID-19 has demonstrated the critical role of epidemic data and analytics in guiding government response to pandemic threats, reducing disease and saving lives. The demand for epidemic analytics for response to threats of national significance will only grow. The goals of this project are to 1) determine the combination(s) of surveillance methods that provide the most useful data for epidemic analysis and 2) translate these findings into the blueprint for a next-generation infectious disease surveillance system for Australia. We will use a simulation-evaluation approach, coupling methods from infectious disease modelling with those from information theory optimal design. Outcomes will enable more tailored and effective pandemic response.Read moreRead less
Patients' preference for participation in patient safety activities. This study will identify patient and nurse perceptions of involving patients in patient safety activities. Priorities for implementing strategies to support patient participation in patient safety activities will be identified, which will influence both health policy and practice.
Microeconomic effects of Australian natural disasters. This project aims to describe and identify the effects of Australian natural disasters – such as the Black Saturday bushfires and the Brisbane floods – on important microeconomic outcomes, including health, education and employment. Natural disasters have profound economic and social effects on individuals and communities. This project intends to bring evidence on how disasters affect individuals and how the effects can be lessened. The proj ....Microeconomic effects of Australian natural disasters. This project aims to describe and identify the effects of Australian natural disasters – such as the Black Saturday bushfires and the Brisbane floods – on important microeconomic outcomes, including health, education and employment. Natural disasters have profound economic and social effects on individuals and communities. This project intends to bring evidence on how disasters affect individuals and how the effects can be lessened. The project expects to inform policy-makers on these critical issues by analysing field, survey and administrative data on individuals before and after past disasters.Read moreRead less
Revealing the evolutionary and ecological dynamics of avian influenza virus. This project aims to understand how avian influenza virus (AIV) emerges, evolves and spreads in wild birds. AIV has the potential to devastate the poultry industry and cause human pandemics, but the factors that shape the genetic diversity of AIV in its wild bird reservoir are poorly understood. The project plans to combine genomic, ecological and phylogenetic approaches to reveal key aspects of AIV evolution, as well a ....Revealing the evolutionary and ecological dynamics of avian influenza virus. This project aims to understand how avian influenza virus (AIV) emerges, evolves and spreads in wild birds. AIV has the potential to devastate the poultry industry and cause human pandemics, but the factors that shape the genetic diversity of AIV in its wild bird reservoir are poorly understood. The project plans to combine genomic, ecological and phylogenetic approaches to reveal key aspects of AIV evolution, as well as the risk for future viral emergence. Using sampling sites in Australia and Antarctica, it plans to investigate AIV diversity, the evolutionary dynamics of AIV in wild birds and poultry, and the role played by environmental transmission in AIV ecology.Read moreRead less
Engineering approaches towards atomic imaging of bacterial cells. This project aims to develop novel approaches for analysis of single biological cells at atomic scale. The project will first develop an approach by utilising nanoscale ion beam to interact with the frozen cells in a controllable manner, followed by performing nanoscale dissection and analyses. By introducing engineered two-dimensional materials, namely graphene, atomic resolution three-dimensional imaging of the cellular chemistr ....Engineering approaches towards atomic imaging of bacterial cells. This project aims to develop novel approaches for analysis of single biological cells at atomic scale. The project will first develop an approach by utilising nanoscale ion beam to interact with the frozen cells in a controllable manner, followed by performing nanoscale dissection and analyses. By introducing engineered two-dimensional materials, namely graphene, atomic resolution three-dimensional imaging of the cellular chemistry will become feasible, which will shed light on various fundamental mechanisms inside the cells. This will provide significant benefits upon success, and will impact a wide spectrum of fields from understanding cellular functions to developing effective drugs.Read moreRead less
A real-time modelling of crowd dynamics for disaster prevention. This project aims to develop methods and technologies to enable urban planners to design infrastructures to ensure public safety in emergency situations and to enable emergency management to optimise effective response plans. Rapid population growth creates major challenges for urban management, which has a responsibility to ensure the safety of citizens in the case of emergencies. This project aims to develop a methodology to stud ....A real-time modelling of crowd dynamics for disaster prevention. This project aims to develop methods and technologies to enable urban planners to design infrastructures to ensure public safety in emergency situations and to enable emergency management to optimise effective response plans. Rapid population growth creates major challenges for urban management, which has a responsibility to ensure the safety of citizens in the case of emergencies. This project aims to develop a methodology to study pedestrian crowd dynamics under panic or extreme emergency conditions, using innovative experimental approaches with new multi-scale online simulation methods and optimisation techniques. The resultant methodology would support planning and prediction of pedestrian crowd movements based on data from past events as well as adaptive planning for live events as they unfold.Read moreRead less
Combating HIV/AIDS in Indonesia: understanding the behaviour of sex workers and their clients. The aim of this project is to improve our understanding of the behaviour of sex workers and their clients in Indonesia, which has the fastest growing HIV epidemic in Asia. A comparison of the behavioural characteristics of sex workers and their clientele will tell us which groups are likely to be more responsive to particular types of policies.
Communicating to promote engagement in using electronic medical records. This reflexive ethnographic and co-design project aims to examine how patient and family participation occurs with health professionals in using the electronic medical record within hospitals, especially for patients with complex needs. Its significance involves working with patients and families to consider how they could take part in decision making activities across transitions of care and influence health care activitie ....Communicating to promote engagement in using electronic medical records. This reflexive ethnographic and co-design project aims to examine how patient and family participation occurs with health professionals in using the electronic medical record within hospitals, especially for patients with complex needs. Its significance involves working with patients and families to consider how they could take part in decision making activities across transitions of care and influence health care activities. Outcomes are new knowledge and practices about how communication occurs with the electronic medical record and strategies adopted for effective engagement. Benefits are increased understanding of how and under what circumstances, engagement can take place in using the electronic medical record.Read moreRead less
Using a biosocial approach to advance pandemic influenza control. This project investigates Australia's capacity to cope with pandemic influenza outbreaks, with a special focus on the lives of everyday citizens. By consulting members of the general public and professionals, this project will advise governments on how Australians can be assisted to prepare for the next outbreak of pandemic influenza.
Optimising progress towards elimination of malaria. The project aims to advance mathematical knowledge by developing novel tools appropriate for modelling disease elimination. We will apply these new mathematical tools to the significant problem of malaria elimination in Vietnam. The expected outcomes are new tools for modelling disease elimination on a fine spatial resolution with heterogeneities in individual patient characteristics, calibrating models to household level data on disease transm ....Optimising progress towards elimination of malaria. The project aims to advance mathematical knowledge by developing novel tools appropriate for modelling disease elimination. We will apply these new mathematical tools to the significant problem of malaria elimination in Vietnam. The expected outcomes are new tools for modelling disease elimination on a fine spatial resolution with heterogeneities in individual patient characteristics, calibrating models to household level data on disease transmission and designing intervention strategies for maximum effect on disease transmission. The innovative combination of modelling, inference and optimisation ensures that the mathematical methods developed will be broadly applicable to modelling elimination strategies for other infectious diseases.
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