The role of location on the effectiveness of smoke alarms. Smoke alarms in buildings are required by the Building Code of Australia (BCA), but the current requirements are less than optimal. This project will provide the basis for optimisation of smoke alarms and the number, interconnection and positioning of smoke alarms in residential buildings. This is expected to lead to reductions in fire fatalities, injuries and property loss.
Waking up to a fire - optimising the smoke alarm signal. On any one night a significant proportion of the population is at risk of sleeping through the current smoke alarm in a fire emergency. Significant risk factors for not awakening include being a child, sleep deprivation, being a heavy sleeper, use of sleeping tablets, alcohol intoxication, and being aged over 60. Yet research suggests that a different alarm signal will awaken these groups more effectively at a lower volume. This innovati ....Waking up to a fire - optimising the smoke alarm signal. On any one night a significant proportion of the population is at risk of sleeping through the current smoke alarm in a fire emergency. Significant risk factors for not awakening include being a child, sleep deprivation, being a heavy sleeper, use of sleeping tablets, alcohol intoxication, and being aged over 60. Yet research suggests that a different alarm signal will awaken these groups more effectively at a lower volume. This innovative project will determine the best signal, with important implications for community public safety, fire safety engineers, the smoke alarm industry and our theoretical understanding of cognitive processing during sleep.Read moreRead less
Lifetime Affordable Housing in Australia: Integrating environmental performance and affordability. Existing dwellings and the locations of suburban housing with respect to employment centres result in significant greenhouse gas emissions. Water and other environmental issues are also important in housing performance, and there is currently a perceived trade-off between these factors and the affordability of housing. For the first time in Australia, this study will focus on overcoming this appare ....Lifetime Affordable Housing in Australia: Integrating environmental performance and affordability. Existing dwellings and the locations of suburban housing with respect to employment centres result in significant greenhouse gas emissions. Water and other environmental issues are also important in housing performance, and there is currently a perceived trade-off between these factors and the affordability of housing. For the first time in Australia, this study will focus on overcoming this apparent policy dilemma. The research will inform future housing policy in strengthening Australia's economic and social fabric, while contributing towards Australia's National Research Priority 1 'Environmentally Sustainable Australia'. Outcomes will provide significant national economic, social, water use and greenhouse gas benefits for Australia.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE160100221
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$367,000.00
Summary
Linked Data PolicyHub Stage II: Urban & Regional Planning & Communications. Linked data policy hub stage II: urban and regional planning and communications:
This project aims to build on existing investments in open access knowledge infrastructure to develop collections of policy documentation and data and new tools for problem solving and analysis. Australia's ability to respond effectively to future economic, social and environmental challenges depends on our national capacity to develop and ....Linked Data PolicyHub Stage II: Urban & Regional Planning & Communications. Linked data policy hub stage II: urban and regional planning and communications:
This project aims to build on existing investments in open access knowledge infrastructure to develop collections of policy documentation and data and new tools for problem solving and analysis. Australia's ability to respond effectively to future economic, social and environmental challenges depends on our national capacity to develop and implement efficient and effective public policy. By enabling efficient universal access to historical and archived policy material, the project aims to provide critical research infrastructure that supports innovative approaches to Australian public policy research. This is expected to affect areas such as urban and regional community development and sustainability, planning and design of built and natural environments, infrastructure development, communications, and social and economic innovation.Read moreRead less
Financing aged care in Australia: Mitigating fiscal gaps and maintaining intergenerational equity. Aged care has been identified as a significant contributor to the growing fiscal problems predicted for Australian government finances during the next 10 to 20 years. This project will develop the cutting-edge modelling tools needed to allow Australia to make informed decisions about possible reforms in aged care financing. It will create significant national benefits by allowing detailed assessmen ....Financing aged care in Australia: Mitigating fiscal gaps and maintaining intergenerational equity. Aged care has been identified as a significant contributor to the growing fiscal problems predicted for Australian government finances during the next 10 to 20 years. This project will develop the cutting-edge modelling tools needed to allow Australia to make informed decisions about possible reforms in aged care financing. It will create significant national benefits by allowing detailed assessment of the distributional impact of a wide range of possible reforms, including how the outcomes of any policy change will affect disadvantaged sections of our society, whether different generations will be fairly treated, and the impact by gender.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0668334
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$158,844.00
Summary
Australian Policy Online Development Project. Australian Policy Online provides easy access to a large selection of research reports, papers and articles from centres and institutes throughout Australia. In 2006, the scope of APO's listings and its related research resources will be significantly broadened, increasing the value of the site to its users, including researchers in universities and the public service, journalists, teachers and students. Australia's relations with its neighbours in S ....Australian Policy Online Development Project. Australian Policy Online provides easy access to a large selection of research reports, papers and articles from centres and institutes throughout Australia. In 2006, the scope of APO's listings and its related research resources will be significantly broadened, increasing the value of the site to its users, including researchers in universities and the public service, journalists, teachers and students. Australia's relations with its neighbours in Southeast Asia will be a particular focus of this expansion, and the APO Briefings series of short, topical books will provide an additional, innovative publishing option for researchers. Read moreRead less
The Distributional Impact of Health Outlays: Developing the Research and Modelling Infrastructure for Policy Makers. The Commonwealth recently concluded that the projected increase in health outlays over the next few decades is unaffordable. Policy makers are therefore going to face difficult decisions about health funding, the balance between government and consumer contributions to health costs, and about taxes (which fund public health outlays). They do not currently have adequate modelling t ....The Distributional Impact of Health Outlays: Developing the Research and Modelling Infrastructure for Policy Makers. The Commonwealth recently concluded that the projected increase in health outlays over the next few decades is unaffordable. Policy makers are therefore going to face difficult decisions about health funding, the balance between government and consumer contributions to health costs, and about taxes (which fund public health outlays). They do not currently have adequate modelling tools to help them make sound decisions. This project aims to redress this situation, by constructing a microsimulation model of the health sector, with a capacity to assess the likely distributional impact of possible policy changes and their revenue or expenditure implications.Read moreRead less
Protecting while they prosper? Organisational responses to whistleblowing. This project aims to examine the adequacy of organisational responses to whistleblowing (employee reporting of wrongdoing). So far, research into public-interest whistleblowing has revealed much about the incidence, significance and experience of whistleblowers. This project now extends the research to the other side of the issue — the organisations. By comparing employee and managerial experience in multiple public and p ....Protecting while they prosper? Organisational responses to whistleblowing. This project aims to examine the adequacy of organisational responses to whistleblowing (employee reporting of wrongdoing). So far, research into public-interest whistleblowing has revealed much about the incidence, significance and experience of whistleblowers. This project now extends the research to the other side of the issue — the organisations. By comparing employee and managerial experience in multiple public and private sector organisations in Australia and New Zealand, the project intends to identify the factors that influence good and bad responses across a range of institutions; provide a clearer basis for reform of policies, procedures and law; and set benchmarks for comparative research worldwide.Read moreRead less
The utilisation of social science research in policy development and program review. This project will enhance the use of evidence in social policy and improve the relevance of applied social research. It will produce new insights into factors affecting the success of evidence-based decision-making by examining social research utilisation within various agencies at federal and state levels. National and community benefits centre on how to improve the policy uptake of social research. This will c ....The utilisation of social science research in policy development and program review. This project will enhance the use of evidence in social policy and improve the relevance of applied social research. It will produce new insights into factors affecting the success of evidence-based decision-making by examining social research utilisation within various agencies at federal and state levels. National and community benefits centre on how to improve the policy uptake of social research. This will contribute to the development of improved support systems to enhance the consideration of evidence-based policy. Outcomes will be applicable to governments, policy-makers and academics in Australia and abroad. Ways to improve research partnerships between academic social scientists and public sector agencies will be identified. Read moreRead less
More than a Roof Overhead: Meeting the Need for a Sustainable Housing System in Remote Indigenous Communities. Many Indigenous Australians live in substandard and over-crowded accommodation, and experience poor health, education, family stability and child-safety outcomes as a result. The lack of improvement in this situation is largely due to levels of funding and approaches to construction and management inadequate to the scale of the problem. This situation is changing and new funding and po ....More than a Roof Overhead: Meeting the Need for a Sustainable Housing System in Remote Indigenous Communities. Many Indigenous Australians live in substandard and over-crowded accommodation, and experience poor health, education, family stability and child-safety outcomes as a result. The lack of improvement in this situation is largely due to levels of funding and approaches to construction and management inadequate to the scale of the problem. This situation is changing and new funding and policies are being established. The researchers will work alongside housing providers and selected Indigenous communities in Western Australia and Northern Territory to develop procurement, construction and housing management practices that will meet the critical need for more affordable, appropriate and sustainable housing.Read moreRead less