Institutional abuse and organisational reform in the Australian defence force. This project aims to investigate institutional abuse within the Australian Defence Force (ADF) since 1969. It will collect survivor accounts of Defence abuse and the formal ADF institutional responses to abuse. The focus is to uncover the experiences of survivors of Defence abuse within the historical context of the military at the time. The research intends to analyse the processes of change to policies and practic ....Institutional abuse and organisational reform in the Australian defence force. This project aims to investigate institutional abuse within the Australian Defence Force (ADF) since 1969. It will collect survivor accounts of Defence abuse and the formal ADF institutional responses to abuse. The focus is to uncover the experiences of survivors of Defence abuse within the historical context of the military at the time. The research intends to analyse the processes of change to policies and practices, matched to wider cultural shifts influencing the ADF to diversify its workforce. It is intended the project outcomes will inform wider questions about how institutions respond to social change.Read moreRead less
Precision inertial sensing with cold atoms. Many advances in our technology-driven society rely on precision measurement. The project will provide the Australian industrial and government sectors with new and better inertial sensors to measure acceleration, rotation and gravity. The technology will find application in navigation, defence, mineral exploration, earth science and fundamental physics.
Expectations and commitments in the Australia-USA alliance. This project aims to investigate the gap between the high expectations of mutual support and the lack of detailed security commitments in the Australia-US Alliance. The project intends to use a focused approach that captures thematic aspects of the alliance through project frames and historical slices across time. Expected outcomes can advance understanding of how alliances operate as security institutions. The outcomes can help to prom ....Expectations and commitments in the Australia-USA alliance. This project aims to investigate the gap between the high expectations of mutual support and the lack of detailed security commitments in the Australia-US Alliance. The project intends to use a focused approach that captures thematic aspects of the alliance through project frames and historical slices across time. Expected outcomes can advance understanding of how alliances operate as security institutions. The outcomes can help to promote a more informed national conversation about the costs and benefits of Australia's security relationship with the United States of America (USA) and contribute to debates over the future of the Australia-USA Alliance during a period of strategic uncertainty.Read moreRead less
Discerning China’s Foreign Policy Playbook: Goals and Strategies. This project aims to unpack China’s foreign policy decisions and policy making through exploring the agency of Chinese scholars. By conceptualising a new theoretical model of Chinese scholars’ perceptions, signals and debates, this project expects to generate new knowledge on the goals and strategies of China’s foreign policy in the economic, trade, political, and security dimensions through elite interviews, textual analysis, an ....Discerning China’s Foreign Policy Playbook: Goals and Strategies. This project aims to unpack China’s foreign policy decisions and policy making through exploring the agency of Chinese scholars. By conceptualising a new theoretical model of Chinese scholars’ perceptions, signals and debates, this project expects to generate new knowledge on the goals and strategies of China’s foreign policy in the economic, trade, political, and security dimensions through elite interviews, textual analysis, and focus group research. The outcomes will include analyses for use by Australian policy, academic and business communities. During times of difficult communications, attaining a realistic understanding of China’s current and future policy orientations can enable more constructive and effective China policy.Read moreRead less
Managing the risks posed by Artificial General Intelligence. It is widely acknowledged that a failure to implement appropriate controls for the next generation of Artificial Intelligence, Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), could have catastrophic consequences, including in the worst case - the extinction of the human race. This research aims to forecast the risks associated with AGI systems and identify the controls required to ensure that risks and existential threats are minimised. The exp ....Managing the risks posed by Artificial General Intelligence. It is widely acknowledged that a failure to implement appropriate controls for the next generation of Artificial Intelligence, Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), could have catastrophic consequences, including in the worst case - the extinction of the human race. This research aims to forecast the risks associated with AGI systems and identify the controls required to ensure that risks and existential threats are minimised. The expected outputs will provide designers, organisations, regulators and governments with a framework to support the design, implementation, and management of safe and efficient AGI systems. This will ensure that the potential far-reaching benefits of AGI are realised without undue threat to society.Read moreRead less
Developing Australia's legal response to military and security applications of nanotechnology. A critical regulatory gap exists for military applications of nanotechnology under international law. This project will provide a conceptual framework and policy options to develop Australia's legal response to the use of nanotechnology in military and security settings through collaborations with experts in the United States.
Sandwich Structures with Folded Core under Impact and Blast Loading. This project aims to support the development of new materials resistant to impacts. Novel sandwich panels making use of Miura-ori folded cores have superior performance relative to monolithic solid plates, in terms of stiffness and strength. They have great potential to be used in commercial and military vehicles as well as protective structures, which can be subjected to impact and blast loading. This project aims to systemat ....Sandwich Structures with Folded Core under Impact and Blast Loading. This project aims to support the development of new materials resistant to impacts. Novel sandwich panels making use of Miura-ori folded cores have superior performance relative to monolithic solid plates, in terms of stiffness and strength. They have great potential to be used in commercial and military vehicles as well as protective structures, which can be subjected to impact and blast loading. This project aims to systematically investigate the impact and blast response of such sandwich panels by establishing theoretical models and conducting experiments and advanced simulations. The findings may provide an insight into the fundamental mechanics of sandwich panels with folded cores under impact and blast loading, as well as guidelines for optimum design of these novel structures.Read moreRead less
Decoding Revisionist Challenges to the International Institutional Order . This project aims to systematically examine the policy strategies that great powers can employ to challenge international institutions during a period of international order transition. This project expects to develop a new theoretical framework to shed light on how the United States and China compete and cooperate in the different issue areas of global governance. The outcomes of this project will be an in-depth understa ....Decoding Revisionist Challenges to the International Institutional Order . This project aims to systematically examine the policy strategies that great powers can employ to challenge international institutions during a period of international order transition. This project expects to develop a new theoretical framework to shed light on how the United States and China compete and cooperate in the different issue areas of global governance. The outcomes of this project will be an in-depth understanding of revisionism in world politics and practical policy recommendations to cope with the dynamics of international order transition. This knowledge should provide significant benefits to Australia’s policy community for making sensible policies against the background of US-China competition in the 21st century. Read moreRead less
Next Generation Batteries: Exploiting Divalent Magnesium. This project aims to develop magnesium-based batteries with higher capacities and longer lifetimes. Modern society is increasingly demanding batteries that are safer, have higher capacities, and importantly, are cheaper than the ones available today. Magnesium-based batteries offer a tantalising prospect due to their intrinsic higher capacities and lower costs. And yet, their large-scale uptake continues to be a formidable challenge due t ....Next Generation Batteries: Exploiting Divalent Magnesium. This project aims to develop magnesium-based batteries with higher capacities and longer lifetimes. Modern society is increasingly demanding batteries that are safer, have higher capacities, and importantly, are cheaper than the ones available today. Magnesium-based batteries offer a tantalising prospect due to their intrinsic higher capacities and lower costs. And yet, their large-scale uptake continues to be a formidable challenge due to the poor reliability and lifetime of magnesium electrodes. This project plans to use the latest computational, electrochemical and metallurgical techniques synergistically to overcome the technical barriers in mitigating these issues. This work may lead to a targeted development of a new family of reliable, low-cost and high performance magnesium batteries.Read moreRead less
InterFET and East Timorese independence. InterFET was the first international military campaign led by Australia since WW2, and its largest deployment since Vietnam. It also marked a crucial moment in East Timor's transition to independence. Yet there is no significant scholarly research on the troops who served, nor has there been any substantive scholarly analysis of the InterFET deployment itself. The central aim of this project is thus to investigate the latter by means of the former. It aim ....InterFET and East Timorese independence. InterFET was the first international military campaign led by Australia since WW2, and its largest deployment since Vietnam. It also marked a crucial moment in East Timor's transition to independence. Yet there is no significant scholarly research on the troops who served, nor has there been any substantive scholarly analysis of the InterFET deployment itself. The central aim of this project is thus to investigate the latter by means of the former. It aims to provide a substantive scholarly analysis of InterFET primarily through means of an oral history of participants. The project endeavours to dramatically enhance Australian and international understanding of this seminal event and what it signified in military, political, social and personal terms.Read moreRead less