Rebuilding Sustainable Communities: Assessing Post-Tsunami Resettlement Projects in Sri Lanka and India. It is in the interests of Australia and nations in our regions to improve strategic responses to natural disasters. In addition to their catastrophic short-term effects, disasters sharply reduce employment and output and strain limited state capacity, increasing poverty and inhibiting the prospects for longer-term economic growth and social stability. The development of measures which suppor ....Rebuilding Sustainable Communities: Assessing Post-Tsunami Resettlement Projects in Sri Lanka and India. It is in the interests of Australia and nations in our regions to improve strategic responses to natural disasters. In addition to their catastrophic short-term effects, disasters sharply reduce employment and output and strain limited state capacity, increasing poverty and inhibiting the prospects for longer-term economic growth and social stability. The development of measures which support the effective rebuilding of social structures and economic activity is key to minimising adverse outcomes. By enriching our understanding of how best to support sustainable resettlement programs, the study responds to the national research priority goal of 'Safeguarding Australia: understanding our region and the world'. Read moreRead less
Supply-side dynamics in the private rental housing market. Demographic and socio-economic trends, along with changes in housing policy, have resulted in increased reliance on the private rental sector. This has led to growing concerns about its capacity to respond. Our understanding of the supply dynamics of this tenure, and particularly that of low rent housing, is underdeveloped. This gap in our knowledge is due to lack of data and to methodological difficulties. Recent advances in econometric ....Supply-side dynamics in the private rental housing market. Demographic and socio-economic trends, along with changes in housing policy, have resulted in increased reliance on the private rental sector. This has led to growing concerns about its capacity to respond. Our understanding of the supply dynamics of this tenure, and particularly that of low rent housing, is underdeveloped. This gap in our knowledge is due to lack of data and to methodological difficulties. Recent advances in econometric techniques, in conjunction with the assembly of a unique data set, will be used to examine previously untested explanations, including microlevel filtering, behavioural,hazard function and spatial analyses.Read moreRead less
Older Workers and Labour Market Adjustment: The Case of Ansett Airlines. By tracing over 5 years the post-retrenchment careers of former Ansett Airlines employees, the study will advance knowledge of labour market adjustments for mature skilled workers from a global service industry. The work will improve understanding of labour market inequality, marginal employment and the relationship between age, household circumstances and workers' willingness to relocate in search of work. By addressing t ....Older Workers and Labour Market Adjustment: The Case of Ansett Airlines. By tracing over 5 years the post-retrenchment careers of former Ansett Airlines employees, the study will advance knowledge of labour market adjustments for mature skilled workers from a global service industry. The work will improve understanding of labour market inequality, marginal employment and the relationship between age, household circumstances and workers' willingness to relocate in search of work. By addressing two National Research Priorities - the barriers to labour market participation of older workers and the motivations of skilled workers who emigrate from Australia - the project will contribute to the development of labour market policies attuned to the demands of an ageing workforce in a globalising economy.Read moreRead less
Household innovation and the transition to the low waste city. Australia is experiencing an urban waste crisis. Long-term solutions require new strategies to reduce waste generation. To be effective, these will need to engage and actively involve households. This project examines the capacity for experimentation and innovation in households necessary to transition to low waste cities. It integrates studies of demographic profiles of household waste generation, household low waste experiments and ....Household innovation and the transition to the low waste city. Australia is experiencing an urban waste crisis. Long-term solutions require new strategies to reduce waste generation. To be effective, these will need to engage and actively involve households. This project examines the capacity for experimentation and innovation in households necessary to transition to low waste cities. It integrates studies of demographic profiles of household waste generation, household low waste experiments and policy rationales and co-design to propose realistic pathways for decreasing waste generation. The research outcomes are critical for understanding and supporting pathways to low waste cities. The knowledge developed will support urban sustainability transitions in Australia and internationally. Read moreRead less
Measuring the benefits of reuse in the circular economy. The project will advance understanding of reuse commodity chains, their societal benefits and contributions to a more sustainable circular economy. Drawing on case study research with charitable and community reuse organisations, factors facilitating or inhibiting reuse will be identified, and rigorous methods developed for assessing the benefits of reuse organisations in terms of quantities of materials processed, employment, skills devel ....Measuring the benefits of reuse in the circular economy. The project will advance understanding of reuse commodity chains, their societal benefits and contributions to a more sustainable circular economy. Drawing on case study research with charitable and community reuse organisations, factors facilitating or inhibiting reuse will be identified, and rigorous methods developed for assessing the benefits of reuse organisations in terms of quantities of materials processed, employment, skills development and contributions to regional economic development. Research outputs will provide a sound evidence base for government policy and decision-making and strengthen conceptual understanding of drivers and enablers of reuse and links with broader economic activities. Read moreRead less
Australian Laureate Fellowships - Grant ID: FL0992397
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$2,467,253.00
Summary
Cultural environmental research: the missing link in multidisciplinary approaches to sustainability. Despite widespread calls for cultural change to enable Australia to craft an environmentally sustainable future, the nation lacks systematic investment in cultural environmental research. This proposal will establish a critical mass of internationally competitive researchers in the cultural dimensions of environmental sustainability and human-environment interactions, including climate change. Th ....Cultural environmental research: the missing link in multidisciplinary approaches to sustainability. Despite widespread calls for cultural change to enable Australia to craft an environmentally sustainable future, the nation lacks systematic investment in cultural environmental research. This proposal will establish a critical mass of internationally competitive researchers in the cultural dimensions of environmental sustainability and human-environment interactions, including climate change. This will facilitate more effective multidisciplinary research across the natural science/social science divide and improve the relevance of environmental policies. Our ethnographic and related research methods will strengthen community capacity to respond to and shape the complex interactions of environmental and social change ahead.Read moreRead less
A weed by any other name? Comparing local knowledge and uses of environmental weeds around the Indian Ocean. This project investigates the different ways in which indigenous and rural communities in Australia, India, Madagascar and South Africa perceive, classify and use weeds in their everyday livelihood and cultural activities. It provides an innovative framework for sharing local knowledge and new ways of managing environmental weeds.
Conserving Carbon in the Extractive Frontiers of Insular Southeast Asia: Risks or Opportunities? Increasingly global climate change governance uses market-based mechanisms to offer forest users financial incentives to maintain forest carbon in the frontiers of Southeast Asia. At the same time, these forest landscapes are rapidly being converted for ‘boom crop’ production such as oil palm and rubber. However, little is known about how carbon governance intersects with such monocropping to affect ....Conserving Carbon in the Extractive Frontiers of Insular Southeast Asia: Risks or Opportunities? Increasingly global climate change governance uses market-based mechanisms to offer forest users financial incentives to maintain forest carbon in the frontiers of Southeast Asia. At the same time, these forest landscapes are rapidly being converted for ‘boom crop’ production such as oil palm and rubber. However, little is known about how carbon governance intersects with such monocropping to affect local livelihoods, property rights and social relations. This project examines how the global market-driven approach, REDD+ (Reduced Emissions from Environmental Degradation and Deforestation+), governs forest carbon vis-à-vis commodity production, how this impacts rural livelihoods, and influences the viability of climate change governance. Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE180100901
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$348,273.00
Summary
Agricultural skill development in India: Assessing acquisition and impact. This project aims to investigate the impact of new agricultural vocational training programs in rural India on processes of skill acquisition and youth livelihood trajectories. As India rapidly expands its capacity for formal skill development in agriculture, this study will be among the first to employ an innovative qualitative longitudinal research design to assess these programs’ ground-level impacts. Expected outcomes ....Agricultural skill development in India: Assessing acquisition and impact. This project aims to investigate the impact of new agricultural vocational training programs in rural India on processes of skill acquisition and youth livelihood trajectories. As India rapidly expands its capacity for formal skill development in agriculture, this study will be among the first to employ an innovative qualitative longitudinal research design to assess these programs’ ground-level impacts. Expected outcomes include deeper understandings of how agricultural skill development occurs in social contexts over an extended period. Research will inform policy in India and other developing countries on how to maximise the social impact of these initiatives. It will also provide insights on how Australia can deepen engagement with India in areas of vocational training.Read moreRead less
The influence of conflict and migration on adaptation. This project will develop and test theories about the ways in which violent conflict and migration influence the capacity to adapt to climate changed using case studies from Fiji, Timor-Leste, and Tuvalu.