Healthy infant and young child diets from sustainable first-food systems. Breastfeeding, breastmilk and other first foods consumed during infancy and early childhood, are currently neglected in food systems research and policy action, despite their importance to establishing life-long dietary preferences, health and sustainability. This project addresses this gap, by developing a novel 'first-food systems' conceptual framework, describing global, regional and national changes in infant and young ....Healthy infant and young child diets from sustainable first-food systems. Breastfeeding, breastmilk and other first foods consumed during infancy and early childhood, are currently neglected in food systems research and policy action, despite their importance to establishing life-long dietary preferences, health and sustainability. This project addresses this gap, by developing a novel 'first-food systems' conceptual framework, describing global, regional and national changes in infant and young child diets, and generating end-user knowledge to generate political commitment for early-life nutrition. This research will deliver economic, social and environmental benefits for Australia and international communities, by helping to reduce the ill-health and environmental harms linked with unhealthy early-life diets.Read moreRead less
Improving quality of life in chronic aphasia: reducing depression and increasing social connection and life participation through community aphasia groups. Aphasia, a communication disability resulting from brain injury and experienced by over 80,000 Australians, impacts significantly on social connection, well being and mental health. This program of research defines excellent community aphasia groups, an important preventative health measure and investigates their impact for Australians with a ....Improving quality of life in chronic aphasia: reducing depression and increasing social connection and life participation through community aphasia groups. Aphasia, a communication disability resulting from brain injury and experienced by over 80,000 Australians, impacts significantly on social connection, well being and mental health. This program of research defines excellent community aphasia groups, an important preventative health measure and investigates their impact for Australians with aphasiaRead moreRead less
Redesigning apartment policy standards for health and wellbeing. This project aims to examine the impact of apartment design standards on residents’ health and wellbeing. It seeks to (1) identify a refined set of evidence-informed quantifiable policy standards that protect residents’ health and wellbeing; and (2) evaluate their uptake by industry and barriers to implementation. Many design standards are based on intuition and experience rather than empirical evidence, and little is known about w ....Redesigning apartment policy standards for health and wellbeing. This project aims to examine the impact of apartment design standards on residents’ health and wellbeing. It seeks to (1) identify a refined set of evidence-informed quantifiable policy standards that protect residents’ health and wellbeing; and (2) evaluate their uptake by industry and barriers to implementation. Many design standards are based on intuition and experience rather than empirical evidence, and little is known about whether the standards and thresholds stipulated are sufficient to support health. Expected outcomes include tailored policy-specific recommendations for design policy and the planning of apartment precincts. Benefits include the delivery of convivial, equitable, healthy and sustainable apartment housing.Read moreRead less
Closing the gap in Aboriginal maternal and child health outcomes. This project will build the evidence base needed to design and implement effective strategies to close the gap in Aboriginal maternal and child health outcomes and reduce Indigenous disadvantage across the life course.
Building social infrastructure in settings of locational disadvantage. This project will generate improved understanding the ways in which locational disadvantage influence residents’ social networks. A national study will generate an evidence-base for understanding the extent and contours of place-based social exclusion, and inform effective policies, programs and processes targeting locational disadvantage.
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
Investigating Bushfire Evacuation Travel Behaviour in High-risk Communities. This project aims to investigate how and why people in popular bushfire-prone communities make travel-related decisions during bushfire evacuation. Rapid bushfire spread and limited transport capacity in densely populated areas at the rural interface create the ‘perfect storm’ for deaths and injuries. Missing from our knowledge is the role of human behaviour in such outcomes. Applying insights from social and computer s ....Investigating Bushfire Evacuation Travel Behaviour in High-risk Communities. This project aims to investigate how and why people in popular bushfire-prone communities make travel-related decisions during bushfire evacuation. Rapid bushfire spread and limited transport capacity in densely populated areas at the rural interface create the ‘perfect storm’ for deaths and injuries. Missing from our knowledge is the role of human behaviour in such outcomes. Applying insights from social and computer sciences to engineering models, this project expects to generate new theory on resident and visitor evacuation travel behaviour in vulnerable areas during bushfires. Expected outcomes of this project include improvements to the tools used for community preparedness and response to increase Australia’s resilience to bushfires. Read moreRead less
Twenty-first century urban renewal: rethinking Australian planning and building regulations and their effects on the life of the city. This project compares legislative, regulatory and financing approaches to large scale urban renewal projects in Germany, Canada and Australia. It assesses their varying capacities to enable socially diverse uses of inner cities, and will advise on ways of reducing the place-based social divisions that are increasing as Australian cities expand.
Evaluating the Quality of Scientific Research in Psychology. Buttressing public trust in science has never been more important, yet many sciences are experiencing a crisis of confidence. The current system of relying on journal prestige to calibrate our confidence in individual research findings has created corrupt incentives for scientists, and risks undermining public trust in science. Thousands of scientists and institutions around the world have indicated that research evaluation needs an ov ....Evaluating the Quality of Scientific Research in Psychology. Buttressing public trust in science has never been more important, yet many sciences are experiencing a crisis of confidence. The current system of relying on journal prestige to calibrate our confidence in individual research findings has created corrupt incentives for scientists, and risks undermining public trust in science. Thousands of scientists and institutions around the world have indicated that research evaluation needs an overhaul by signing the Declaration on Research Assessment. One solution is to create a public, transparent, and valid process for producing and sharing expert evaluations of individual papers. This project aims to launch this reform in psychology, and partner with PREreview to help it spread to other fields.Read moreRead less
Enhancing Australia's Social Connectedness and Emotional Well-being. This project aims to redefine scientific understanding of why social connections are good for well-being, conceptualizing it as a process that involves successful regulation of emotions and behaviour. Effective social interventions require precise understanding of psychological process: the project will supply this understanding and leverage it to develop evidence-based interventions that grow social and emotional skills. Expec ....Enhancing Australia's Social Connectedness and Emotional Well-being. This project aims to redefine scientific understanding of why social connections are good for well-being, conceptualizing it as a process that involves successful regulation of emotions and behaviour. Effective social interventions require precise understanding of psychological process: the project will supply this understanding and leverage it to develop evidence-based interventions that grow social and emotional skills. Expected outcomes include generation of a novel literature at the intersection of social- and self-regulation and methodological innovations in the study of social connections. Significant benefits include creation of applied interventions with the potential to provide a ‘social cure’ for Australia’s loneliness problem.Read moreRead less