The Consequences of the Mental Load for Australian Families. This project aims to investigate the mental load; a structure of household work that combines cognitive and emotional labour. While there are theoretical understandings of the mental load, there is a dearth of quantitative research. This project expects to develop a consistent and reliable measure of the mental load and an understanding of its impacts on Australian families. The expected outcomes of the project include a comprehensive ....The Consequences of the Mental Load for Australian Families. This project aims to investigate the mental load; a structure of household work that combines cognitive and emotional labour. While there are theoretical understandings of the mental load, there is a dearth of quantitative research. This project expects to develop a consistent and reliable measure of the mental load and an understanding of its impacts on Australian families. The expected outcomes of the project include a comprehensive measurement of the mental load both in Australia and abroad. This will allow for the development of policy alleviating its impacts on caregivers, particularly mothers, and assist workplaces and Government in incorporating women into employment to reduce gender inequality.Read moreRead less
Policy frameworks and market/non-market activity of young and older adults . The project intends to compare the social and economic participation of young adults and older people across nations to reveal best practice policy in engaging both ends of the age spectrum in productive activity. Population ageing has implications for the wellbeing and prosperity of both the older and younger generations. This project intends to investigate how contemporary young adults and older people spend their tim ....Policy frameworks and market/non-market activity of young and older adults . The project intends to compare the social and economic participation of young adults and older people across nations to reveal best practice policy in engaging both ends of the age spectrum in productive activity. Population ageing has implications for the wellbeing and prosperity of both the older and younger generations. This project intends to investigate how contemporary young adults and older people spend their time in productive activities across countries with contrasting policy frameworks. This may yield important policy-relevant information for Australia on how to both protect the old and invest in the young, while balancing financial sustainability and the principles of social justice and fairness.Read moreRead less
The 'long arm of the job': Improving parents' jobs and child development. This project aims to identify the priority job stressors that impact working families' wellbeing and child development, and to generate innovative job-based strategies to reduce work-family conflicts for working parents. Conflicts between work and family are common in Australia, reported by one in three parents. These affect productivity, family relationships and ultimately, child development. Evidence reveals that employe ....The 'long arm of the job': Improving parents' jobs and child development. This project aims to identify the priority job stressors that impact working families' wellbeing and child development, and to generate innovative job-based strategies to reduce work-family conflicts for working parents. Conflicts between work and family are common in Australia, reported by one in three parents. These affect productivity, family relationships and ultimately, child development. Evidence reveals that employers have struggled to implement family-friendly practices despite recent national policy initiatives. Using national cohort data and industry partnerships, this project investigates solutions to this urgent national dilemma to benefit those most affected by parents' job stressors – working parents and their children.
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Prospects for quality work and gender equality in frontline care work. Despite policy concerns about unmet demand for paid care, frontline care workers generally have poorer conditions than workers in other feminised sectors. This project will investigate the regulatory options to improve the quality of care work to build Australian expertise and knowledge about the links between job quality and quality of care services.
Young Workers and the Future of Service Employment. This project aims to understand how the social and political relations of service employment are transforming, and how workers' participation can support the future viability of the service economy. It explores how young service workers negotiate their status, conditions and working relationships, and how service employment facilitates or limits their social and political participation. This evidence base supports efforts to improve the resilie ....Young Workers and the Future of Service Employment. This project aims to understand how the social and political relations of service employment are transforming, and how workers' participation can support the future viability of the service economy. It explores how young service workers negotiate their status, conditions and working relationships, and how service employment facilitates or limits their social and political participation. This evidence base supports efforts to improve the resilience and productivity of the service economy and enhance the social relations of service labour at a time of economic crisis. It will benefit policymakers, employers and worker representatives aiming to engage and support this diverse labour force.Read moreRead less
Regional dimensions of the transition to a low carbon economy. This project's examination of the impacts of carbon-reduction policies in two vulnerable regions will identify the social, political, economic and cultural changes needed to promote the revitalisation of regional economies and communities.
Mental health, job quality and workforce participation: evidence from population health research to address complex problems and conflicting policies. Mental disorders such as depression are a major cause of disability. Improving mental health can increase productivity and workforce participation. However, the psychosocial quality of work is a factor that overlays the relationship between work and health. Poor quality work (for example, unreasonable time pressure, insecurity) increases the risk ....Mental health, job quality and workforce participation: evidence from population health research to address complex problems and conflicting policies. Mental disorders such as depression are a major cause of disability. Improving mental health can increase productivity and workforce participation. However, the psychosocial quality of work is a factor that overlays the relationship between work and health. Poor quality work (for example, unreasonable time pressure, insecurity) increases the risk of poor mental health, absenteeism, and exit from the workforce. This project will analyse data following people over time to investigate the long-term health and employment consequences of poor psychosocial job quality, and consider the special case of mature age workers. It will identify those individuals at greatest risk, and factors that can buffer against the adverse effects of poor quality work.Read moreRead less
Young people bereaved by domestic homicide. Far-reaching decisions are made about the future of a child bereaved by domestic homicide, including where they should live and whether they should have contact with the perpetrator. Practitioners and policymakers lack empirical and theoretical input to guide these decisions. This fellowship draws upon young people's, caregivers' and professionals' perspectives on children's living arrangements, relationships and identity development post-homicide. It ....Young people bereaved by domestic homicide. Far-reaching decisions are made about the future of a child bereaved by domestic homicide, including where they should live and whether they should have contact with the perpetrator. Practitioners and policymakers lack empirical and theoretical input to guide these decisions. This fellowship draws upon young people's, caregivers' and professionals' perspectives on children's living arrangements, relationships and identity development post-homicide. It expects to generate a theoretical model of children's outcomes as well as actionable advice for policymakers and practitioners. The main benefit will be enhanced capacity to support children, families and professionals in the context of domestic homicide in Australia and abroad. Read moreRead less
Cannabis and the brain: the good, the bad and the unknown. Cannabis is the most widely used illicit drug but much remains unknown about how it affects the brain. This research will examine effects on brain cells through to whole brain function in humans to determine how cannabis use may lead to impaired thinking or psychological symptoms and why cannabis might affect individuals in different ways.
In search of relevant things: A novel approach for image analysis. This project aims to investigate how experts’ cognitive processes may be transferred to computers for the automatic recognition of visual features. By merging computer and brain sciences, the project will characterise the way the brains of experts understand what is seen, in order to translate such a process in a new computer vision tool. This should provide significant benefits, such as automatic detection of threats or diseases ....In search of relevant things: A novel approach for image analysis. This project aims to investigate how experts’ cognitive processes may be transferred to computers for the automatic recognition of visual features. By merging computer and brain sciences, the project will characterise the way the brains of experts understand what is seen, in order to translate such a process in a new computer vision tool. This should provide significant benefits, such as automatic detection of threats or diseases in satellite and diagnostic imaging, respectively, among other applications. For the first time, the combination of how a computer analyses an image and how an expert interprets it will be used as a common language to enable machines to process visual information in a manner that mimics the way human brains do.Read moreRead less