Parents' networks: the circulation of knowledge about children's literacy learning. Families' differential access to literacy knowledge and resources is a factor in children's unequal literacy outcomes. Networks are a means by which knowledge and resources are accessed. In investigating how parents' networks operate, how organisations' networks access parents, and ideas about children's literacy circulating through these networks, this study will inform policy and practice in community service ....Parents' networks: the circulation of knowledge about children's literacy learning. Families' differential access to literacy knowledge and resources is a factor in children's unequal literacy outcomes. Networks are a means by which knowledge and resources are accessed. In investigating how parents' networks operate, how organisations' networks access parents, and ideas about children's literacy circulating through these networks, this study will inform policy and practice in community service provision, family literacy and parent education. It will provide new knowledge about the impact of culture, gender, technology and globalisation on parents' access to ideas about children's literacy which will be valuable in developing programs and practices appropriate to different families and communities.Read moreRead less
Adolescence in Contemporary China: Social Change, Future Directions and Implications for Australia. China has one-fifth of the world's adolescents. In the last two decades, this age-group has become the focus of unprecedented public and policy debate across all areas of Chinese life. Yet the literature contains no scholarly synthesis of these debates that explains China's 'adolescent phenomenon' and its overall significance. This project offers the first, sustained analysis of contemporary Chine ....Adolescence in Contemporary China: Social Change, Future Directions and Implications for Australia. China has one-fifth of the world's adolescents. In the last two decades, this age-group has become the focus of unprecedented public and policy debate across all areas of Chinese life. Yet the literature contains no scholarly synthesis of these debates that explains China's 'adolescent phenomenon' and its overall significance. This project offers the first, sustained analysis of contemporary Chinese adolescence as both product and catalyst of social change. It provides new perspectives on Chinese society, economy and politics within local and global frameworks and has applied potential, especially for international education.Read moreRead less
Creativity and cultural production in the Hunter: an applied ethnographic study of new entrepreneurial systems in the creative industries. This project will be an applied study of key collaborative groups across all the major creative industries in the Hunter region in New South Wales. Mapping these industries' approach to creativity and cultural production in the digital realm will provide detailed insights into the dynamic systems at the heart of creative industries.
Fringe to Famous: Contemporary Australian Culture as an Innovation System. The project examines the crossover between ‘alternative’ and ‘mainstream’ cultural production in Australia, identifying ways in which a hybridisation between the avant garde and the popular promotes the development of cultural industries. It will conduct a detailed study of five cases: comedy (Working Dog and the Chaser), music (Mental as Anything, Paul Kelly and Nick Cave), visual arts/graphic design (Mambo Graphics), sh ....Fringe to Famous: Contemporary Australian Culture as an Innovation System. The project examines the crossover between ‘alternative’ and ‘mainstream’ cultural production in Australia, identifying ways in which a hybridisation between the avant garde and the popular promotes the development of cultural industries. It will conduct a detailed study of five cases: comedy (Working Dog and the Chaser), music (Mental as Anything, Paul Kelly and Nick Cave), visual arts/graphic design (Mambo Graphics), short film (Tropfest) and games development (Freeplay). It will identify the conditions which have allowed crossover between the avant-garde and the mainstream and produce recommendations for policy both in cultural development and the development of creative industries.Read moreRead less
The tensions for parents, educators and children in building a sustainable culture of ethical and respectful relationships early in life. This project will explore how parents, educators and primary age children understand sexual knowledge and develop skills in ethical and respectful relationships. This will involve analysing policy and curricula documents, interviews and focus groups with parents, educators and children from South Australia, Victoria and NSW.
Developing an innovative entertainment-evaluation model to evaluate the efficacy of digital comedy in engaging young men with sexual health knowledge. This project aims to develop an innovative methodology to evaluate the efficacy of using digital comedy to reach young men with information about healthy sexual development. Rates of sexually transmitted infections are rising among young people aged 16-29 in Australia and research shows that young men are poorly informed about healthy sexual devel ....Developing an innovative entertainment-evaluation model to evaluate the efficacy of digital comedy in engaging young men with sexual health knowledge. This project aims to develop an innovative methodology to evaluate the efficacy of using digital comedy to reach young men with information about healthy sexual development. Rates of sexually transmitted infections are rising among young people aged 16-29 in Australia and research shows that young men are poorly informed about healthy sexual development. This project takes an entertainment-education approach, evaluating the use of digitally-distributed entertainment videos to reach young men with this information.Read moreRead less
Voyages of Myth: Captain Cook in the Popular Australian Imagination. The approaches and writings that will be produced from this project can be taken up by national institutions such as museums and libraries and used as a vehicle to promote a different kind of national debate beyond fact or fiction or even right and wrong. Our outcomes should influence the collection design of national archives and suggest original and incisive frameworks for staging national displays of identity and the past. P ....Voyages of Myth: Captain Cook in the Popular Australian Imagination. The approaches and writings that will be produced from this project can be taken up by national institutions such as museums and libraries and used as a vehicle to promote a different kind of national debate beyond fact or fiction or even right and wrong. Our outcomes should influence the collection design of national archives and suggest original and incisive frameworks for staging national displays of identity and the past. Providing a contemporary account of how Cook was and is currently understood qualitatively by a cross section of Australians will provide a powerful set of national connections between an iconic historical figure and the everyday world.
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Social Memory and Historical Justice: How Democratic Societies Remember and Forget the Victimisation of Minorities in the Past. We will analyse how the victimisation of minorities is publicly and collectively remembered in a range of countries, including Australia, New Zealand, Spain, the Ukraine, Austria, Germany, Peru, Chile and the USA. We will identify key factors that enable democratic societies to work towards historical justice. By exploring how memories are contested and how communities ....Social Memory and Historical Justice: How Democratic Societies Remember and Forget the Victimisation of Minorities in the Past. We will analyse how the victimisation of minorities is publicly and collectively remembered in a range of countries, including Australia, New Zealand, Spain, the Ukraine, Austria, Germany, Peru, Chile and the USA. We will identify key factors that enable democratic societies to work towards historical justice. By exploring how memories are contested and how communities actively negotiate the legacies of the past, we will address issues of crucial contemporary concern. The project will provide research training and international experience for a postdoctoral fellow and three doctoral students in an area at the cutting edge of the humanities and social sciences.Read moreRead less
Making a Spectacle of Disagreement: Media and Controversy in Modern Chinese Thought. Polemical and combative rhetoric, as well as tactics of dispute and provocation, are an integral part of key debates that have shaped a century of modern Chinese thought. This study is the first attempt to survey and analyse intellectual contestations and controversies in twentieth-century and contemporary China in relation to their publication in different forms of media (especially electronic media) that have ....Making a Spectacle of Disagreement: Media and Controversy in Modern Chinese Thought. Polemical and combative rhetoric, as well as tactics of dispute and provocation, are an integral part of key debates that have shaped a century of modern Chinese thought. This study is the first attempt to survey and analyse intellectual contestations and controversies in twentieth-century and contemporary China in relation to their publication in different forms of media (especially electronic media) that have been available to Chinese intellectuals and the concerned public. We expect to provide a new critical account of Chinese intellectual history and contribute to knowledge of the socio-political and cultural impacts of new media in a non-Western context.Read moreRead less
The Just-in-Time Self: Young Men, Skill and Narratives of Aspiration in the New Economy. Employers and policy-makers frequently lament the 'skills gap': the shortage of workers with the skills required to perform the available jobs. This cannot be solved simply by funding more vocational training courses. To improve participation in training it is important to understand how vocational aspirations are formed. This research will demonstrate how, through their involvement in collective creative pr ....The Just-in-Time Self: Young Men, Skill and Narratives of Aspiration in the New Economy. Employers and policy-makers frequently lament the 'skills gap': the shortage of workers with the skills required to perform the available jobs. This cannot be solved simply by funding more vocational training courses. To improve participation in training it is important to understand how vocational aspirations are formed. This research will demonstrate how, through their involvement in collective creative projects, young men from poor backgrounds, develop skills and inclinations that might move them beyond the traditional model of manual labour to develop the flexibility required of workers in the 'new economy'.Read moreRead less