Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE220100265
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$417,000.00
Summary
A closed-loop human–agent learning framework to enhance decision making. This project aims to design a foundational human–agent learning framework to augment the decision making process, using reinforcement and closed-loop mechanisms to enable symbiosis between a human and an artificial-intelligence agent. It envisages significant new technologies to promote controllability and efficient and safe exploration of an environment for decision actions – drastically boosting learning effectiveness and ....A closed-loop human–agent learning framework to enhance decision making. This project aims to design a foundational human–agent learning framework to augment the decision making process, using reinforcement and closed-loop mechanisms to enable symbiosis between a human and an artificial-intelligence agent. It envisages significant new technologies to promote controllability and efficient and safe exploration of an environment for decision actions – drastically boosting learning effectiveness and interpretability in decision making. Expected outcomes will benefit national cybersecurity by improving our understanding of vulnerabilities and threats involving decision actions, and by ensuring that human feedback and evaluations can help prevent catastrophic events in explorations of dynamic and complex environments.Read moreRead less
Detecting and deciphering extinction dynamics under environmental change. This project aims to improve knowledge of extinction processes and impacts. It will use high-performance computing and museum collections to disentangle the ecological mechanisms that were integral in the initial decline and later extinction of Australia's unique mammals. Its significance is that it will establish the historical ranges and past population trajectories of Australian threatened mammals, pinpointing the combi ....Detecting and deciphering extinction dynamics under environmental change. This project aims to improve knowledge of extinction processes and impacts. It will use high-performance computing and museum collections to disentangle the ecological mechanisms that were integral in the initial decline and later extinction of Australia's unique mammals. Its significance is that it will establish the historical ranges and past population trajectories of Australian threatened mammals, pinpointing the combinations of ecological characteristics and threats that most affect risk of extinction from environmental change. Expected outcomes and benefits are new data and verified models to enrich conservation research and inform evidence-based solutions to better protect and recover some of Australia’s most threatened species.Read moreRead less
Clothes, fibres and filters that reduce pollution by micro and nano debris. This project aims to provide scientifically verified methods to avoid, intercept and redesign products that cause the most abundant type of marine plastic pollution – clothing fibres - which has increased by over 450% in 60 years. It will determine how natural and plastic fibres, clothing brands and washing machine filters, alter fibre emissions and ecological impacts. This will enable protocols to improve products and t ....Clothes, fibres and filters that reduce pollution by micro and nano debris. This project aims to provide scientifically verified methods to avoid, intercept and redesign products that cause the most abundant type of marine plastic pollution – clothing fibres - which has increased by over 450% in 60 years. It will determine how natural and plastic fibres, clothing brands and washing machine filters, alter fibre emissions and ecological impacts. This will enable protocols to improve products and the environment, and reduce health risks that will benefit the public, government regulation and companies in designing "eco-friendly" products.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE210100929
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$462,948.00
Summary
Using ancient DNA to uncover climate change impacts on Antarctica. This project aims to utilise ancient DNA preserved in the seafloor to investigate how past Antarctic marine ecosystems have responded to past climatic changes, with a focus on the Holocene (last ~11,700 years). The study will generate the first-ever picture of marine community changes across the entire marine food web and unravel adaptation mechanisms of key marine organisms to climate shifts. Expected project outcomes will inclu ....Using ancient DNA to uncover climate change impacts on Antarctica. This project aims to utilise ancient DNA preserved in the seafloor to investigate how past Antarctic marine ecosystems have responded to past climatic changes, with a focus on the Holocene (last ~11,700 years). The study will generate the first-ever picture of marine community changes across the entire marine food web and unravel adaptation mechanisms of key marine organisms to climate shifts. Expected project outcomes will include significant knowledge advances into the evolution and resilience of Antarctic ecosystems over geological timescales. This will position Australia at the forefront of marine sedimentary ancient DNA research, and also provide valuable guidance for the conservation of Antarctica during ongoing climate change.Read moreRead less
Threats to the water quality and ecosystem of Coffin Bay, South Australia. Coffin Bay (South Australia) is experiencing worsening environmental conditions despite its major economic and ecological importance. Research is needed to understand the cause of this decline, particularly in light of a recent bacterial outbreak that impacted the aquaculture industry. This multidisciplinary project aims to deliver world-leading scientific advice based on novel field techniques and innovative models of th ....Threats to the water quality and ecosystem of Coffin Bay, South Australia. Coffin Bay (South Australia) is experiencing worsening environmental conditions despite its major economic and ecological importance. Research is needed to understand the cause of this decline, particularly in light of a recent bacterial outbreak that impacted the aquaculture industry. This multidisciplinary project aims to deliver world-leading scientific advice based on novel field techniques and innovative models of this complex inverse estuary system and its surrounding catchment. The new understanding of the sources, fluxes and fate of nutrients within the bay and the surrounding catchment, arising from this project, is expected to benefit management decision-making and establish a new standard in estuarine water quality investigation.Read moreRead less