Developing group-based elicitation methods to improve decision making. This project aims to develop an elicitation methodology enabling multiple members of a team to contribute to the same technical problem - enabling expertise to be accurately combined while avoiding group and individual sources of bias. Good elicitation methods minimise bias in estimates and forecasts - which otherwise erode value and lead to sub-optimal decision making. Existing methods, however, ignore group structures; that ....Developing group-based elicitation methods to improve decision making. This project aims to develop an elicitation methodology enabling multiple members of a team to contribute to the same technical problem - enabling expertise to be accurately combined while avoiding group and individual sources of bias. Good elicitation methods minimise bias in estimates and forecasts - which otherwise erode value and lead to sub-optimal decision making. Existing methods, however, ignore group structures; that is that decisions made by, or on, the advice of teams have different characteristics than individual decisions and often preclude the use of methods designed to limit individuals' biases. By encoding the method into a computerised tool the project will assist public and private sector enterprises to improve group decision making.Read moreRead less
Creating perceptual experts in Australia's policing and security agencies. This project aims to create the next generation of experts in Australia’s policing and national security agencies, by improving crime scene evidence interpretation. Agencies are under pressure to develop more rigorous training practices that go beyond mere intuition and tradition. This project will use a novel approach that directs learning toward the most diagnostic perceptual cues. Expected outcomes include a solid empi ....Creating perceptual experts in Australia's policing and security agencies. This project aims to create the next generation of experts in Australia’s policing and national security agencies, by improving crime scene evidence interpretation. Agencies are under pressure to develop more rigorous training practices that go beyond mere intuition and tradition. This project will use a novel approach that directs learning toward the most diagnostic perceptual cues. Expected outcomes include a solid empirical basis for national training programs designed to create experts that are accurate, reliable, and continuously improving. Improving the training of experts will ensure the integrity of forensics as evidentiary tools available to police, lead to more reliable courtroom convictions and help safeguard Australia from terrorism and crime.Read moreRead less
Understanding, measuring and managing the benefits of urban waterways. This project aims to improve understanding of the contribution of urban waterways to enhanced liveability in cities. Australia needs better water resource management and the rapid growth of Australia’s cities places increased importance on managing natural assets in metropolitan areas. The project focuses on clarifying the link between the benefits of waterways and the measurement techniques used by economists, which in turn ....Understanding, measuring and managing the benefits of urban waterways. This project aims to improve understanding of the contribution of urban waterways to enhanced liveability in cities. Australia needs better water resource management and the rapid growth of Australia’s cities places increased importance on managing natural assets in metropolitan areas. The project focuses on clarifying the link between the benefits of waterways and the measurement techniques used by economists, which in turn inform management choices. The project aims to fill an important gap between the psychology and economics disciplines and outputs should significantly improve the way waterways are valued and managed. This is intended to offer benefits for urban residents and to improve the methodologies used for environmental valuation.Read moreRead less
Thinking brains and bodies: distributed cognition and dynamic memory in Australian Dance Theatre. Creative thinking, learning and memory - key features of human cognition - will be investigated in the context of dance in this project. Complementary quantitative and qualitative methods will shed light on process and communication in the Australian Dance Theatre and the arts more broadly, and inform new accounts of thinking as embodied and distributed.
Innovative approaches to managing and understanding taste and odour in drinking water systems. Taste and odour (T/O) problems resulting from Cyanobacteria can change consumers' perception of product safety, resulting in many complaints, soaring management and treatment costs, and large financial losses, yet little is known about how they arise.
This project will provide the Australian Water Industry with cost-effective, sensitive, specific, rapid and practical tools for managing and understandi ....Innovative approaches to managing and understanding taste and odour in drinking water systems. Taste and odour (T/O) problems resulting from Cyanobacteria can change consumers' perception of product safety, resulting in many complaints, soaring management and treatment costs, and large financial losses, yet little is known about how they arise.
This project will provide the Australian Water Industry with cost-effective, sensitive, specific, rapid and practical tools for managing and understanding T/O episodes, and will also benefit the aquaculture and food sectors, and the research community. An improved ability to manage geosmin in drinking water, will also have positive repercussions on the Australian environment, by eliminating the need to use environmentally controversial control methods such as copper sulphate dosing.
Read moreRead less
Fertility Management of Koalas, Kangaroos and Wallabies. The aims of this work are to test a commercially available long-acting contraceptive on large populations of kangaroos and koalas, and to devise efficient, economic and practical ways of delivering these contraceptives to the animals. The outcome will be a system of controlling the number of these animals which is economically realistic and acceptable to national and international communities. The contraceptive is administered as a small, ....Fertility Management of Koalas, Kangaroos and Wallabies. The aims of this work are to test a commercially available long-acting contraceptive on large populations of kangaroos and koalas, and to devise efficient, economic and practical ways of delivering these contraceptives to the animals. The outcome will be a system of controlling the number of these animals which is economically realistic and acceptable to national and international communities. The contraceptive is administered as a small, subcutaneous implant in the back of the neck. It can be inserted very quickly and has no harmful side effects. A further outcome may be its adoption in other parts of the world, to the advantage of the company which manufactures it.Read moreRead less
Aboriginal rock art and cultural heritage management in Cape York Peninsula. The Laura Sandstone Basin of Cape York Peninsula hosts one of the richest bodies of rock art in Australia and the world. It documents the life-ways of generations of Aboriginal Australians from their original settlement, through major environmental changes, to European invasion. This vast area, much of which is now jointly managed as National Parks by Traditional Owners, remains virtually unexplored archaeologically. Th ....Aboriginal rock art and cultural heritage management in Cape York Peninsula. The Laura Sandstone Basin of Cape York Peninsula hosts one of the richest bodies of rock art in Australia and the world. It documents the life-ways of generations of Aboriginal Australians from their original settlement, through major environmental changes, to European invasion. This vast area, much of which is now jointly managed as National Parks by Traditional Owners, remains virtually unexplored archaeologically. This project aims to record this unique rock art so that its testimony remains for future generations. This will provide a framework for its sustainable management and findings will have profound implications for our understandings of the cultural behaviour and dispersal of the earliest modern humans to colonise Australia.Read moreRead less
A Roadmap for Greening Existing Australian Housing. The project will minimise the impact of the Greenhouse Pollution Reduction Scheme and anticipated rises in water costs on the householders. It will assist the consumers and the building industry in evaluating the environmental and economic costs and benefits of specific retrofitting actions for building envelope and major fixed appliances (thermal insulation, glazing, air infiltration, hot water, heating/cooling, lighting, low water flow and wa ....A Roadmap for Greening Existing Australian Housing. The project will minimise the impact of the Greenhouse Pollution Reduction Scheme and anticipated rises in water costs on the householders. It will assist the consumers and the building industry in evaluating the environmental and economic costs and benefits of specific retrofitting actions for building envelope and major fixed appliances (thermal insulation, glazing, air infiltration, hot water, heating/cooling, lighting, low water flow and water reuse appliances, and solar photovoltaic systems). In addition to assisting a burgeoning renovation industry, the project will enable accurate assessment of the impacts of the Green Loans Program and guide future national and local energy and water reduction policies. Read moreRead less
Predicting seed lifespan for improved curation of conservation seed banks. This project aims to improve the practice of seed banking for the conservation of the Australian flora. Recent evidence points to diverse and complex storage behaviour for wild seeds and to seeds of many species being shorter-lived than anticipated. Predicting seed storage behaviour and viability decline is central to effective seedbanking. This project expects to develop new high throughput technologies and data interrog ....Predicting seed lifespan for improved curation of conservation seed banks. This project aims to improve the practice of seed banking for the conservation of the Australian flora. Recent evidence points to diverse and complex storage behaviour for wild seeds and to seeds of many species being shorter-lived than anticipated. Predicting seed storage behaviour and viability decline is central to effective seedbanking. This project expects to develop new high throughput technologies and data interrogation techniques for predicting seed lifespan in storage, and alternative storage protocols for problematic seeds. Results will allow seed bank managers to more efficiently triage and curate their seed collections and will benefit seed banks globally.Read moreRead less
Optimising seed sourcing for effective ecological restoration. This project aims to address the sourcing of native seed for ecological restoration under global change. The great demand for native seed to deliver ecological restoration provides a clear need and responsibility to use this seed as efficiently as possible. This project expects to develop detailed new knowledge that links plant and environmental genomics, plant physiology, seed and soil biology in embedded experiments at post-mining ....Optimising seed sourcing for effective ecological restoration. This project aims to address the sourcing of native seed for ecological restoration under global change. The great demand for native seed to deliver ecological restoration provides a clear need and responsibility to use this seed as efficiently as possible. This project expects to develop detailed new knowledge that links plant and environmental genomics, plant physiology, seed and soil biology in embedded experiments at post-mining rehabilitation sites. Expected outcomes include clear industry guidelines that refine seed sourcing strategies for ecological restoration for current and future climates. This should provide significant benefits for improved ecological restoration outcomes when using native seed today and into the future.Read moreRead less