Fate of micropollutants in water recycling: influence of dissolved organic matter. Access to safe drinking water is essential for the economic and social development of Australia. There is increasing interest in applying advanced water treatment processes, such as membrane filtration or ozonation, to treat secondary effluent to a potable standard. This project promotes improved organic pollutant removal and monitoring during advanced water treatment and will contribute to the National Research P ....Fate of micropollutants in water recycling: influence of dissolved organic matter. Access to safe drinking water is essential for the economic and social development of Australia. There is increasing interest in applying advanced water treatment processes, such as membrane filtration or ozonation, to treat secondary effluent to a potable standard. This project promotes improved organic pollutant removal and monitoring during advanced water treatment and will contribute to the National Research Priority goal, water - a critical resource, by providing the increased protection of receiving waters including rivers and seawater. Further, as very few studies consider the role of dissolved organic matter for organic pollutant fate in water reuse internationally, this project will help to advance Australia's position in science.Read moreRead less
Australian Laureate Fellowships - Grant ID: FL120100108
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$2,849,770.00
Summary
Surrogate ecology: when and where can it work to improve environmental management? New empirical analyses and new ecological theory will be used to discover where, when and how to best apply surrogates. New capacity will be built in surrogate ecology and the results used to significantly enhance the effective management and monitoring of environments and biodiversity both in Australia and worldwide.
Early Career Industry Fellowships - Grant ID: IE230100441
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$474,443.00
Summary
Sounds of change: using ecological knowledge to advance acoustic monitoring. To recover biodiversity, conservation actions must be informed by robust ecological data. In partnership with Bush Heritage Australia, this project aims to transform ecological monitoring with eco-acoustic technologies by developing new acoustic metrics to measure biodiversity at various levels, from individual species through to whole communities. This project will combine advanced computer methods with theories of ani ....Sounds of change: using ecological knowledge to advance acoustic monitoring. To recover biodiversity, conservation actions must be informed by robust ecological data. In partnership with Bush Heritage Australia, this project aims to transform ecological monitoring with eco-acoustic technologies by developing new acoustic metrics to measure biodiversity at various levels, from individual species through to whole communities. This project will combine advanced computer methods with theories of animal sounds and communities to generate metrics that are informed by animal ecology and directly address monitoring needs of conservation organisations. By experimentally testing the metrics on long-duration real-world sound data, this project will provide new tools to measure conservation impact and prioritise actions.Read moreRead less
Advancing vegetation classification and mapping to meet conservation needs. The project aims to develop advanced statistical and modelling techniques to classify and map vegetation over very large areas, using the most extensive and detailed vegetation data set in Australia and new methods to evaluate these classifications. Such classifications and maps provide the data needed to make biodiversity conservation decisions, yet current operational methods are limited over very large areas, and cann ....Advancing vegetation classification and mapping to meet conservation needs. The project aims to develop advanced statistical and modelling techniques to classify and map vegetation over very large areas, using the most extensive and detailed vegetation data set in Australia and new methods to evaluate these classifications. Such classifications and maps provide the data needed to make biodiversity conservation decisions, yet current operational methods are limited over very large areas, and cannot deal with varied sources of uncertainty. Expected outcomes and benefits include a fine-scale vegetation classification and map for almost a million square kilometres, and associated analytical tools and guidelines for large-scale vegetation classification and global mapping.Read moreRead less
The melioidosis agent Burkholderia pseudomallei in the anthropogenic environment of northern Australia. This project will analyse environmental factors contributing to the persistence of the soil bacterium and melioidosis agent, Burkholderia pseudomallei in the anthropogenic environment. This will increase understanding of the consequences of land use manipulations upon these bacteria and will suggest remediation measures to reduce the risk of exposure.
A novel and theoretically consistent method for correcting systematic errors in earth observation data and earth system model results. For a correct interpretation of satellite-based earth observation data and/or Earth system model results, it is very important that these data are free of systematic errors, commonly referred to as bias. It is well known that both these data sources are prone to a significant bias, which is currently neglected in many environmental impact and prediction studies. ....A novel and theoretically consistent method for correcting systematic errors in earth observation data and earth system model results. For a correct interpretation of satellite-based earth observation data and/or Earth system model results, it is very important that these data are free of systematic errors, commonly referred to as bias. It is well known that both these data sources are prone to a significant bias, which is currently neglected in many environmental impact and prediction studies. This project will present a method to develop models for these biases. A state update technique, the Ensemble Kalman Filter, will be adapted to correctly take into account bias in the merging of the two data sources. The project outcomes will be of high importance for long-term environmental studies, since these strongly rely on physically-based models and remote sensing data.Read moreRead less
Smart passive sampling of heavy metals in aquatic systems. Smart passive sampling of heavy metals in aquatic systems. This project aims to construct smart devices with extracting polymeric membranes for advanced passive sampling of heavy metal ions. These devices should improve the passive sampling of pollutants such as heavy metals by overcoming the effect of the variability of water temperature, composition and velocity during sampling, which substantially reduces the reliability of analytical ....Smart passive sampling of heavy metals in aquatic systems. Smart passive sampling of heavy metals in aquatic systems. This project aims to construct smart devices with extracting polymeric membranes for advanced passive sampling of heavy metal ions. These devices should improve the passive sampling of pollutants such as heavy metals by overcoming the effect of the variability of water temperature, composition and velocity during sampling, which substantially reduces the reliability of analytical data. These devices are expected to reliably identify sources of heavy metal pollution in urban municipal wastewaters and stormwaters without the need for labour intensive monitoring operations, thus saving considerable time and expense to the Australian water industry.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE240100260
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$457,378.00
Summary
Refugee moral injury: Linking interpersonal trauma and social functioning. This project aims to understand how moral beliefs about past interpersonal traumatic experiences (e.g., torture, rape) are associated with social outcomes considered to be crucial in successful refugee resettlement. This project will investigate the causal impact of these moral beliefs on social adaptation and whether these beliefs are malleable. The project will be a better understanding of how moral beliefs can impact r ....Refugee moral injury: Linking interpersonal trauma and social functioning. This project aims to understand how moral beliefs about past interpersonal traumatic experiences (e.g., torture, rape) are associated with social outcomes considered to be crucial in successful refugee resettlement. This project will investigate the causal impact of these moral beliefs on social adaptation and whether these beliefs are malleable. The project will be a better understanding of how moral beliefs can impact refugees' abilities to navigate and engage with novel social environments. The outcomes of this project will assist service providers and policy makers to understand why some refugees are able to adapt more successfully than others and provide practical tools for improving social outcomes. Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE210100137
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$881,758.00
Summary
Australian Environmental Specimen Bank: advancing specimen bank capability. The aim of this LIEF is to advance Australia’s specimen banking capabilities through a new, enhanced national facility, the Australian Environmental Specimen Bank (AESB). The AESB would be founded on a unique current archive of human and environmental samples established by the partners to the LIEF. Importantly, the AESB would be managed as a nationally available (to all public sector researchers), operationally self-fun ....Australian Environmental Specimen Bank: advancing specimen bank capability. The aim of this LIEF is to advance Australia’s specimen banking capabilities through a new, enhanced national facility, the Australian Environmental Specimen Bank (AESB). The AESB would be founded on a unique current archive of human and environmental samples established by the partners to the LIEF. Importantly, the AESB would be managed as a nationally available (to all public sector researchers), operationally self-funded resource for integrated exposure research into the future. The archive is expected to support longitudinal and cross-sectional studies to assess trends in exposure to chemical and biological hazards in the Australian population, identify emerging hazards, and provide a scientific basis for policy and regulatory actions.Read moreRead less
'Streamlining search and destroy': development of a robust prioritisation framework for weed eradication using Hawkweed species. Introduced species are one of the greatest threats to our biodiversity and agriculture, as evidenced by the ARC’s National Research Priority: Safeguarding Australia. This project will advance Australia’s ability to protect itself from invaders by developing tools that guide cost-effective detection and response. Our project will have a direct effect on the planning a ....'Streamlining search and destroy': development of a robust prioritisation framework for weed eradication using Hawkweed species. Introduced species are one of the greatest threats to our biodiversity and agriculture, as evidenced by the ARC’s National Research Priority: Safeguarding Australia. This project will advance Australia’s ability to protect itself from invaders by developing tools that guide cost-effective detection and response. Our project will have a direct effect on the planning and management of Hawkweed control in Victoria and New South Wales. The framework delivered will have direct application to numerous other weeds (and relevance to other pests and diseases) within and beyond Australia. Read moreRead less