Building on rural knowledges to unlock the potential of rural students. This project aims to advance understanding of the distinctive knowledges that rural students bring to school and develop teaching practices that build on these rural knowledges to unlock the potential of this significant student population. The project involves collaborating with rural primary schools, teachers, students and communities to identify rural knowledges, study classroom practices in detail, and develop sustainabl ....Building on rural knowledges to unlock the potential of rural students. This project aims to advance understanding of the distinctive knowledges that rural students bring to school and develop teaching practices that build on these rural knowledges to unlock the potential of this significant student population. The project involves collaborating with rural primary schools, teachers, students and communities to identify rural knowledges, study classroom practices in detail, and develop sustainable teaching practices that help students connect rural knowledges and school knowledge. Expected outcomes include a framework of place-based teaching practices and resources that will benefit rural schooling, teacher education, and the education of communities crucial to the nation’s future wealth and welfare.Read moreRead less
Social and geographical location and its impact on mathematics teaching and learning. Too many students from poor urban backgrounds or from rural communities are at risk of underperforming in school mathematics. This project identifies the critical factors that contribute to this failure and seeks to develop improved practices to enable greater access to school mathematics.
The digitisation of school health and physical education. While there is growing enthusiasm for using digital technology in school health and physical education (HPE), this is happening in the absence of systematic empirical research. This project aims to describe the forms digital HPE is taking, analyse the commercial and ideological forces shaping it, and discuss its impacts. It aims to provide educational stakeholders with a knowledge base on which to anchor debate, policy and further researc ....The digitisation of school health and physical education. While there is growing enthusiasm for using digital technology in school health and physical education (HPE), this is happening in the absence of systematic empirical research. This project aims to describe the forms digital HPE is taking, analyse the commercial and ideological forces shaping it, and discuss its impacts. It aims to provide educational stakeholders with a knowledge base on which to anchor debate, policy and further research concerning the complex ethical and philosophical issues raised by the digitisation of HPE. As the first HPE research grounded in theories of digital culture, the project also aims to challenge the intellectual foundations of HPE teacher training as well as widely held views about the public health role of schools.Read moreRead less
A Future Beyond the Wall: Improving Post-release Employment Outcomes for People Leaving Prison. Engaging in meaningful work has been shown to reduce re-offending by ex-prisoners, but few prison releasees internationally or in Australia gain employment, and successful pathways to employment for this group are poorly researched and understood. This study aims to gather and analyse, for the first time, comparative data from Australian jurisdictions and employment agencies on the relationship betwee ....A Future Beyond the Wall: Improving Post-release Employment Outcomes for People Leaving Prison. Engaging in meaningful work has been shown to reduce re-offending by ex-prisoners, but few prison releasees internationally or in Australia gain employment, and successful pathways to employment for this group are poorly researched and understood. This study aims to gather and analyse, for the first time, comparative data from Australian jurisdictions and employment agencies on the relationship between in-prison and post-prison vocational education and employment programs, employment and recidivism. It aims to identify effective elements, strategies, program and policy directions in offender training and employment. This is a unique partnership amongst key academics in the field, peak national bodies, correctional and employment organisations.Read moreRead less
Observe, Reflect, Improve: a tool to enrich Children’s Learning (ORICL). This project aims to address long-standing concerns about the quality of education and care for children during their critical first two years. It will introduce a promising, future-focused digital tool, co-designed with practitioners and providers of early childhood services, to support infant-toddler educators’ planning and practice. Building on ground-breaking pilot work, we will undertake a national implementation and e ....Observe, Reflect, Improve: a tool to enrich Children’s Learning (ORICL). This project aims to address long-standing concerns about the quality of education and care for children during their critical first two years. It will introduce a promising, future-focused digital tool, co-designed with practitioners and providers of early childhood services, to support infant-toddler educators’ planning and practice. Building on ground-breaking pilot work, we will undertake a national implementation and evaluation of the Observe, Reflect and Improve Children’s Learning (ORICL) tool. Expected outcomes include: enhanced pedagogical practices; enriched learning experiences for children birth-two; effective communication with families; and improved resourcing for providers of early childhood education and care services. Read moreRead less
Reaching new frontiers of quantum fields and gravity through deformations. This project aims to reach new frontiers in quantum field and gravity theories. These underpin systems ranging from semi-conductors to particle collisions and the quantum behavior of black holes. An obstacle is that these theories are notoriously hard to solve. This project proposes to tackle this longstanding problem by using new deformations, symmetries and dualities that have attracted widespread attention. Expected ou ....Reaching new frontiers of quantum fields and gravity through deformations. This project aims to reach new frontiers in quantum field and gravity theories. These underpin systems ranging from semi-conductors to particle collisions and the quantum behavior of black holes. An obstacle is that these theories are notoriously hard to solve. This project proposes to tackle this longstanding problem by using new deformations, symmetries and dualities that have attracted widespread attention. Expected outcomes will include innovative techniques that will greatly enhance and interconnect our knowledge of field theories and quantum gravity, together with new discoveries in quantum-corrected geometries. A new network of domestic and international experts will largely benefit the fields of theoretical and mathematical physics.Read moreRead less
Bringing Indigenous voices into judicial decision-making. This project aims to show how judgments can be written so as to be inclusive of Indigenous people's voices and histories. This project will extend methodologies created by international scholars for correcting the absence of women’s voices, and produce the missing Indigenous judgment in twenty decisions of Australian superior courts. The gulf between judge-made law and the lived experience of Indigenous litigants will also be explored thr ....Bringing Indigenous voices into judicial decision-making. This project aims to show how judgments can be written so as to be inclusive of Indigenous people's voices and histories. This project will extend methodologies created by international scholars for correcting the absence of women’s voices, and produce the missing Indigenous judgment in twenty decisions of Australian superior courts. The gulf between judge-made law and the lived experience of Indigenous litigants will also be explored through an in-depth examination of four test case exemplars. This project’s benefits include building a new relationship between Australian judges and Indigenous people and contributing to Australia's jurisprudence on Indigenous people and the law.Read moreRead less
More than a Roof Overhead: Meeting the Need for a Sustainable Housing System in Remote Indigenous Communities. Many Indigenous Australians live in substandard and over-crowded accommodation, and experience poor health, education, family stability and child-safety outcomes as a result. The lack of improvement in this situation is largely due to levels of funding and approaches to construction and management inadequate to the scale of the problem. This situation is changing and new funding and po ....More than a Roof Overhead: Meeting the Need for a Sustainable Housing System in Remote Indigenous Communities. Many Indigenous Australians live in substandard and over-crowded accommodation, and experience poor health, education, family stability and child-safety outcomes as a result. The lack of improvement in this situation is largely due to levels of funding and approaches to construction and management inadequate to the scale of the problem. This situation is changing and new funding and policies are being established. The researchers will work alongside housing providers and selected Indigenous communities in Western Australia and Northern Territory to develop procurement, construction and housing management practices that will meet the critical need for more affordable, appropriate and sustainable housing.Read moreRead less
Development of a multivariate physiologic state space analysis framework for characterising functional properties of the cardiovascular system. Pathologies of the cardiovascular system arising from heart diseases make a major contribution to morbidity and mortality in the Australian community. This project will provide new diagnostic modalities based on advanced noninvasive bioinstrumentation, signal processing and model-based analytical methods to identify early signs of developing disease or t ....Development of a multivariate physiologic state space analysis framework for characterising functional properties of the cardiovascular system. Pathologies of the cardiovascular system arising from heart diseases make a major contribution to morbidity and mortality in the Australian community. This project will provide new diagnostic modalities based on advanced noninvasive bioinstrumentation, signal processing and model-based analytical methods to identify early signs of developing disease or the acute exacerbation of existing disease. The impact of these new technologies on the early diagnosis and improved triaging of patients in emergency departments is potentially profound and could result in improved healthcare outcomes for the patients and reduced admissions to hospital as well as the development of a substantial international market.Read moreRead less
School principals’ diminishing wellbeing. School principals’ diminishing wellbeing. This project aims to investigate the effect of State Education Departments’ policy interventions designed to improve school principals’ flagging wellbeing. Increasing competition, accountability and public scrutiny make principals stressed; since their influence on students is second only to teachers’, this threatens Australia’s socioeconomic outcomes. The project will map policy interventions to changes in princ ....School principals’ diminishing wellbeing. School principals’ diminishing wellbeing. This project aims to investigate the effect of State Education Departments’ policy interventions designed to improve school principals’ flagging wellbeing. Increasing competition, accountability and public scrutiny make principals stressed; since their influence on students is second only to teachers’, this threatens Australia’s socioeconomic outcomes. The project will map policy interventions to changes in principals’ motivation and wellbeing, and share information about the most productive and cost effective interventions with key stakeholders across Australia. This research could reverse the declining wellbeing of Australia’s school leaders.Read moreRead less