School retention through alternative schooling: towards a socially just approach to education. This project is concerned with how mainstream schools may become more socially just and inclusive of all young people through an analysis of alternative schools specifically designed for this purpose. Such a concern is critical for lifting school retention rates of marginalised young people and improving practices in all schools.
Profit and Loss: The commercial trade in Indigenous human remains. This project will be the first to investigate the global commercial trade in Indigenous human remains. It will employ a multi-disciplinary approach involving history, economic anthropology, economic history, and data science. The project will generate new knowledge about the 19th century global marketplace in Australian Indigenous human remains, and will reveal whether and how these are involved in the trade’s modern manifestati ....Profit and Loss: The commercial trade in Indigenous human remains. This project will be the first to investigate the global commercial trade in Indigenous human remains. It will employ a multi-disciplinary approach involving history, economic anthropology, economic history, and data science. The project will generate new knowledge about the 19th century global marketplace in Australian Indigenous human remains, and will reveal whether and how these are involved in the trade’s modern manifestations from 1950 to the present. The project will uncover an unknown history, assist repatriation practice, provide information to help reduce the modern trade, and contribute to truth-telling as a precondition of healing and reconciliation.Read moreRead less
Talking Maths: Bridging the gap through talk in Early Years mathematics . The study aims to address the gap in mathematical performance in Australia in relation to socioeconomic status (SES) by focusing on language and learning in mathematics. The study will design and evaluate a school-based intervention that positions language through talk as a key resource in teaching mathematics in Grades 1 and 2. Outcomes of the study will be empirical evidence of the effect of a language-based pedagogy on ....Talking Maths: Bridging the gap through talk in Early Years mathematics . The study aims to address the gap in mathematical performance in Australia in relation to socioeconomic status (SES) by focusing on language and learning in mathematics. The study will design and evaluate a school-based intervention that positions language through talk as a key resource in teaching mathematics in Grades 1 and 2. Outcomes of the study will be empirical evidence of the effect of a language-based pedagogy on young students' achievement in mathematics and further understanding of the relationship between talk and learning. These outcomes will inform policy and teacher education and have a long lasting impact on low SES students' educational and work opportunities with ultimate impact on economic and cultural prosperity.
Read moreRead less
Shifting the Culture of Out-of-field Professional Education for Teachers. This project aims to model an education system that would diversify the expertise of teachers as part of attending to long-term teacher shortage. It responds to a pressing national need for a system of valued and accessible professional education (PE) for out-of-field teachers. The project draws on perspectives from schools, governments and PE providers to expose current practices, cultural norms, and policies; propose an ....Shifting the Culture of Out-of-field Professional Education for Teachers. This project aims to model an education system that would diversify the expertise of teachers as part of attending to long-term teacher shortage. It responds to a pressing national need for a system of valued and accessible professional education (PE) for out-of-field teachers. The project draws on perspectives from schools, governments and PE providers to expose current practices, cultural norms, and policies; propose an 'ideal' PE ecosystem that values re-specialisation in the core subjects; and develop principles to inform policy and practice needed to attain this ideal. The evidence-based framing of PE will inform efforts by schools, PE providers and policy makers to sustain a highly capable, adaptive and specialised teaching workforce.Read moreRead less
New Electronic Archives for Australian Literature. Information capacity in Australian literary studies has been dramatically expanded by national investment in electronic archives, while trends in the discipline increasingly demand empirical support for claims about literary history and literary value. At the same time, research about Australian literature remains primarily theoretical, insufficiently informed by newly available data. This project aims to further enrich the new data sets, and to ....New Electronic Archives for Australian Literature. Information capacity in Australian literary studies has been dramatically expanded by national investment in electronic archives, while trends in the discipline increasingly demand empirical support for claims about literary history and literary value. At the same time, research about Australian literature remains primarily theoretical, insufficiently informed by newly available data. This project aims to further enrich the new data sets, and to use them in an innovative return to the classical issues in Australian literary criticism and history. It will provide demonstration applications of data in new electronic archives.Read moreRead less
The Courtroom, Lawyers and the Press: Negotiating Justice in the Age of the Public Sphere. The origins of modern Australian systems of justice are derived from institutions and cultures developed in Britain, and this project will contribute a deeper understanding of their nature and provenance. It will illuminate the roots of the modern trial as an instrument of governance that involves largely symbolic, rather than substantive, popular participation, and trace its equally significant role as a ....The Courtroom, Lawyers and the Press: Negotiating Justice in the Age of the Public Sphere. The origins of modern Australian systems of justice are derived from institutions and cultures developed in Britain, and this project will contribute a deeper understanding of their nature and provenance. It will illuminate the roots of the modern trial as an instrument of governance that involves largely symbolic, rather than substantive, popular participation, and trace its equally significant role as a form of popular entertainment. Besides their obvious relevance to questions about active citizenship in modern Australia, scholarly studies of these issues will contribute in a major way to Australia's international reputation for producing high-quality scholarly contributions to British studies.Read moreRead less
Genre worlds: Australian popular fiction in the 21st century. This project intends to conduct a systematic examination of 21st-century Australian popular fiction, the most significant growth area in Australian trade publishing since the turn of the century. Its three areas of investigation are the publishing of Australian popular fiction; the interrelationships between Australian popular fiction and Australian genre communities; and the textual distinctiveness of Australian popular novels in rel ....Genre worlds: Australian popular fiction in the 21st century. This project intends to conduct a systematic examination of 21st-century Australian popular fiction, the most significant growth area in Australian trade publishing since the turn of the century. Its three areas of investigation are the publishing of Australian popular fiction; the interrelationships between Australian popular fiction and Australian genre communities; and the textual distinctiveness of Australian popular novels in relation to genre. Research is designed to centre on 30 novels across three genres, building a comprehensive picture of the practices and processes of Australian popular fiction through detailed examination of trade data, close reading of texts, and interviews with industry figures.Read moreRead less
Statistical literacy in the primary school: beginning inference. Australia is committed to building a stronger foundation for school mathematics and science. This project will introduce primary school students to beginning inference, a core component of statistical literacy and an increasingly important life skill. Foundations for secondary mathematics study and productive societal participation will be laid.
Sibling influence on development of children with autism spectrum disorder. This project aims to investigate how typically-developing siblings affect the development of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). ASD involves difficulties with language, executive functions and social understanding. For typically-developing children, growing up with siblings gives an advantage in these cognitive functions. Yet little is known about how having siblings’ impacts on cognitive development of childr ....Sibling influence on development of children with autism spectrum disorder. This project aims to investigate how typically-developing siblings affect the development of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). ASD involves difficulties with language, executive functions and social understanding. For typically-developing children, growing up with siblings gives an advantage in these cognitive functions. Yet little is known about how having siblings’ impacts on cognitive development of children with ASD. The project intends to longitudinally explore the mechanisms of sibling impact in families with and without a child with ASD. The outcomes will deepen understanding of child development, providing an evidence base for effective interventions to increase child competence and aiming ultimately to reduce the social costs of ASD.Read moreRead less
Lost at sea? Understanding adaptation and dispersal in spiny lobsters. Continual recruitment of young is fundamental to the replenishment of populations, especially when a stock is fished. Existing theory suggests that species with very long planktonic larval stages disperse widely, ensuring their genes are well mixed. However, recently identified genetic differences between populations of rock lobster challenge this paradigm and demonstrate that despite larvae mixing in the ocean for years, loc ....Lost at sea? Understanding adaptation and dispersal in spiny lobsters. Continual recruitment of young is fundamental to the replenishment of populations, especially when a stock is fished. Existing theory suggests that species with very long planktonic larval stages disperse widely, ensuring their genes are well mixed. However, recently identified genetic differences between populations of rock lobster challenge this paradigm and demonstrate that despite larvae mixing in the ocean for years, local recruitment and/or adaptation are at play. Recent developments in genomics and bioinformatics should allow this project to understand the ecological processes underpinning these genetic signatures and determine their evolutionary implications. Such findings could direct targeted rebuilding of depleted fisheries stocks.Read moreRead less