A study of Australia's ability to train soldiers to be effective and ethical. This project addresses the ARC's priority goals Protecting Australia from Terrorism and Crime and Transformational Defence Technologies. In the fight against terrorism and as defence technologies evolve it is crucial to uphold the Australian military's ethical commitments and international reputation. Australian soldiers must be responsive to rapidly changing threats in ways that maintain the military's core ethical co ....A study of Australia's ability to train soldiers to be effective and ethical. This project addresses the ARC's priority goals Protecting Australia from Terrorism and Crime and Transformational Defence Technologies. In the fight against terrorism and as defence technologies evolve it is crucial to uphold the Australian military's ethical commitments and international reputation. Australian soldiers must be responsive to rapidly changing threats in ways that maintain the military's core ethical commitments. By assessing current military practices in light of these commitments this project enhances the military's ability to train soldiers to be effective and ethical fighters. The internationally important outcomes of this project will also enhance Australia's high standing in the area of applied ethics.Read moreRead less
Norms, Reasons & Values. Social norms often come adrift from the reasons and values that they are supposed to serve. Strengthening Australia'a social and economic fabric (a National Research Priority) requires understanding how norms work and revising them in changing circumstances. This project explores such ideas in relation to crucial issues-democracy, terrorism (another NRP), historical injustice and sexuality-and interjects practical suggestions into the public debate over how norms ought ....Norms, Reasons & Values. Social norms often come adrift from the reasons and values that they are supposed to serve. Strengthening Australia'a social and economic fabric (a National Research Priority) requires understanding how norms work and revising them in changing circumstances. This project explores such ideas in relation to crucial issues-democracy, terrorism (another NRP), historical injustice and sexuality-and interjects practical suggestions into the public debate over how norms ought be revised. It also furthers Australia's world standing in political science and philosophy and, by enlisting international scholars to help explore these issues, focuses the intellectual firepower of the world on problems of national importance to Australia.Read moreRead less
Humanitarian intervention and the conflict between national and international responsibility. The project will address the question of how the Australian government can maintain its reputation as a good global citizen without compromising its ethical standing with the Australian people. It will provide valuable insights into the privatization of military force and the increasingly common use of civilian contractors, and may provide information to the Australian Defence Force on the ethically app ....Humanitarian intervention and the conflict between national and international responsibility. The project will address the question of how the Australian government can maintain its reputation as a good global citizen without compromising its ethical standing with the Australian people. It will provide valuable insights into the privatization of military force and the increasingly common use of civilian contractors, and may provide information to the Australian Defence Force on the ethically appropriate level of force protection for future humanitarian and peace-keeping missions, in addition to motivating the more efficient use of ADF resources. Finally, the project will further Australia's reputation as the source of high quality innovative research in applied philosophy, and especially military ethics.Read moreRead less
Infectious diseases, security and ethics. This project will benefit the nation directly by promoting greater understanding within the community of the national security and ethical implications of infectious disease threats; recommending policies for responding in ways that achieve better public health, national security and human rights outcomes for Australians; helping to strengthen Australia's social and economic fabric; and creating national and international linkages between academics, PhD ....Infectious diseases, security and ethics. This project will benefit the nation directly by promoting greater understanding within the community of the national security and ethical implications of infectious disease threats; recommending policies for responding in ways that achieve better public health, national security and human rights outcomes for Australians; helping to strengthen Australia's social and economic fabric; and creating national and international linkages between academics, PhD students and non-academic professionals.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE140101123
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$393,359.00
Summary
Through their eyes: Rethinking the role of information operations in counterinsurgency scholarship and strategy. Western counterinsurgency forces regularly lose the 'information battle' to militarily and economically inferior insurgent forces. This project explores why and how insurgent adversaries often prove superior in shaping the perceptions of local populations and winning their support. Through case studies of East Timor, Iraq and Afghanistan, the project identifies the key strategic pilla ....Through their eyes: Rethinking the role of information operations in counterinsurgency scholarship and strategy. Western counterinsurgency forces regularly lose the 'information battle' to militarily and economically inferior insurgent forces. This project explores why and how insurgent adversaries often prove superior in shaping the perceptions of local populations and winning their support. Through case studies of East Timor, Iraq and Afghanistan, the project identifies the key strategic pillars in insurgent information operations in order to critically analyse and revise the role of information operations in counterinsurgency theory and practice. This research will advance scholarly understanding of the psychosocial dynamics of influence during conflict and challenge dominant trends in counterinsurgency theory and practice.Read moreRead less
The effect of unconventional advocates on public support for climate policy. This project aims to discover whether the presence of unconventional climate advocates in public debate can foster broad-based support for climate policy in Australia. Unconventional advocates include political conservatives, farmers, resource industry workers, and businesspeople. The project expects to generate new knowledge about the role of intersectional social identities in contentious policy debates. Expected outc ....The effect of unconventional advocates on public support for climate policy. This project aims to discover whether the presence of unconventional climate advocates in public debate can foster broad-based support for climate policy in Australia. Unconventional advocates include political conservatives, farmers, resource industry workers, and businesspeople. The project expects to generate new knowledge about the role of intersectional social identities in contentious policy debates. Expected outcomes of this project include evidence-based insights on how to reduce social division about climate policy. This should provide significant benefits such as guidance for policy actors for how to overcome social cleavages to implement climate policy, with relevance to other contentious policy domains.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE110100049
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$600,000.00
Summary
Establishment of the Australian data archive: an integrated research facility for the social sciences and humanities. The Australian data archive will enable Australia's leading researchers to address complex social, economic and environmental problems, leading to the development of evidence based policy. The archive will have an open access policy which will ensure that the general public, media and government and non-government agencies are able to examine the data used by researchers to arriv ....Establishment of the Australian data archive: an integrated research facility for the social sciences and humanities. The Australian data archive will enable Australia's leading researchers to address complex social, economic and environmental problems, leading to the development of evidence based policy. The archive will have an open access policy which will ensure that the general public, media and government and non-government agencies are able to examine the data used by researchers to arrive at their conclusions.Read moreRead less
Community Rule-Making in the Pacific Islands as Regulatory Innovation. Our study investigates the widespread phenomena of ‘community rule-making’ in Pacific Island countries, in which local communities engage in deliberative processes oriented towards development of new normative orders. Occurring largely outside of state-sanctioned authority, such processes may address social problems such as gender based violence, crime and poverty, and frequently occur in the context of other locally-driven ....Community Rule-Making in the Pacific Islands as Regulatory Innovation. Our study investigates the widespread phenomena of ‘community rule-making’ in Pacific Island countries, in which local communities engage in deliberative processes oriented towards development of new normative orders. Occurring largely outside of state-sanctioned authority, such processes may address social problems such as gender based violence, crime and poverty, and frequently occur in the context of other locally-driven attempts at community regeneration. Through collaborative empirical research in PNG, Solomon Islands and Samoa, our project will build an evidence base to better understand the potential and the dangers of community rule-making, and develop ‘responsive hybridisation’ as a new analytical framework to theorise about it.
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Women in Local Government: Understanding their Political Trajectories. This project aims to investigate the chronic under representation of women in Australian politics through a local government lens. It expects to generate new knowledge about barriers to female political representation, their political performance and pathways to higher tiers of elected office. By following men and women councillors across an election cycle, this research seeks to robustly compare and measure women's experienc ....Women in Local Government: Understanding their Political Trajectories. This project aims to investigate the chronic under representation of women in Australian politics through a local government lens. It expects to generate new knowledge about barriers to female political representation, their political performance and pathways to higher tiers of elected office. By following men and women councillors across an election cycle, this research seeks to robustly compare and measure women's experiences of local politics to develop a new framework to map and address obstacles preventing political equity. Expected outcomes include theoretical advances and a 'best practice' guide for achieving parity.This should provide significant public benefits by advancing female participation across all levels of governments.
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Reconciling nations: what can Australia learn from the international experience of democratic dialogue? This project will draw on international experience to explore the capacity for facilitated, democratic dialogue to revitalise the Australian reconciliation process. Using innovative case study research and an original applied theoretical approach, the project will develop new methods for resolving intercultural conflict in Australia.