Terahertz and optical coherence tomography for improved cancer imaging. This project aims to improve cancer imaging by combining two complimentary, novel techniques. Its success will create an internationally leading position for Australia in cutting-edge research in optical and terahertz biomedical imaging. This innovative, fundamental research will expand Australia's research capacity in imaging sciences. The nation will benefit from new medical diagnostic techniques that will improve the dete ....Terahertz and optical coherence tomography for improved cancer imaging. This project aims to improve cancer imaging by combining two complimentary, novel techniques. Its success will create an internationally leading position for Australia in cutting-edge research in optical and terahertz biomedical imaging. This innovative, fundamental research will expand Australia's research capacity in imaging sciences. The nation will benefit from new medical diagnostic techniques that will improve the detection and treatment of cancer; as well as aid the clinical assessment of burns. This multidisciplinary, internationally collaborative research has additional wide ranging benefits in biology, medicine, pharmaceutical science and national security.Read moreRead less
Contested Landscapes and Divided Communities. The Struggle for Place and Belonging in Papua New Guinea. PNG, as Australia's nearest neighbour and major recipient of Australian foreign aid, is facing major challenges including a weakening state capacity to govern, a breakdown in civil society and escalating law and order problems. These processes, which led to civil conflict in Fiji and Solomon Islands, for example, remain largely misunderstood. Nevertheless, such events have major implications f ....Contested Landscapes and Divided Communities. The Struggle for Place and Belonging in Papua New Guinea. PNG, as Australia's nearest neighbour and major recipient of Australian foreign aid, is facing major challenges including a weakening state capacity to govern, a breakdown in civil society and escalating law and order problems. These processes, which led to civil conflict in Fiji and Solomon Islands, for example, remain largely misunderstood. Nevertheless, such events have major implications for our region's political and economic security. By generating a greater understanding of the contexts and factors contributing to these tensions the project will contribute to better informed policy making by the Australian government, especially in the area of international assistance.Read moreRead less
Fundamentals and applications of continuous-flow microprocessing systems based on supercritical fluids and gas expanded liquids. Microchemical systems have considerable potential in the area of chemical discovery and development. Practical application of these systems requires fundamental understanding and strategies for conversion to appropriate scale. The aim of this project is to overcome such challenges in the development of microstructured continuous-flow technology.
Visualising vascular adaptation at the micro-scale in humans. The project aims to investigate fundamental issues in the mechanisms underlying vascular remodelling. It plans to develop novel optical scanning techniques to acquire high-resolution images of the cutaneous microvasculature, alongside absolute blood flow quantification. These novel tools would allow us to visualise and quantify functional and structural adaptations in the microvasculature in response to physiological stimuli such as h ....Visualising vascular adaptation at the micro-scale in humans. The project aims to investigate fundamental issues in the mechanisms underlying vascular remodelling. It plans to develop novel optical scanning techniques to acquire high-resolution images of the cutaneous microvasculature, alongside absolute blood flow quantification. These novel tools would allow us to visualise and quantify functional and structural adaptations in the microvasculature in response to physiological stimuli such as heat exposure and exercise. The non-invasive tool aims to enable us to assess adaptations in microvasculature health, improving our understanding of cardiovascular diseases and type 2 diabetes and potentially reducing the impact of costly and debilitating morbidities such as nephropathy, neuropathy, retinopathy, impotence and skin ulceration.Read moreRead less
Nutrition insecurity and livelihood decision-making in rural Myanmar. Global progress against malnutrition has been too slow to allow the Millennium Development Goals on hunger to be met. International research has proposed that these failures are due to the fact that the livelihood options available to poor households are increasingly misaligned from their traditional channels for ensuring food and nutrition security. This argument is highly influential in international development research, un ....Nutrition insecurity and livelihood decision-making in rural Myanmar. Global progress against malnutrition has been too slow to allow the Millennium Development Goals on hunger to be met. International research has proposed that these failures are due to the fact that the livelihood options available to poor households are increasingly misaligned from their traditional channels for ensuring food and nutrition security. This argument is highly influential in international development research, underpinning calls for nutrition-sensitive development interventions. The aim of this project is to test the proposition using original survey data collected from 1 600 households in rural Myanmar. This will be the first project of this kind, aiming to shed crucial insight into this issue at this vital moment in Myanmar's transition.Read moreRead less
Defense against adversarial attacks on deep learning in computer vision. Computer vision applications rely heavily on deep learning, which is highly vulnerable to being fooled by adding subtle perturbations to object/image textures that are imperceptible to humans. This project aims to develop defense mechanisms to detect and remove adversarial patterns from the input images. The project expects to advance knowledge in understanding the vulnerabilities of deep learning, and to design deep learni ....Defense against adversarial attacks on deep learning in computer vision. Computer vision applications rely heavily on deep learning, which is highly vulnerable to being fooled by adding subtle perturbations to object/image textures that are imperceptible to humans. This project aims to develop defense mechanisms to detect and remove adversarial patterns from the input images. The project expects to advance knowledge in understanding the vulnerabilities of deep learning, and to design deep learning architectures that are inherently robust. The outcomes of this project will increase the security and reliability of computer vision by detecting, reporting and nullifying such attacks and will benefit the general public and industry on many fronts.Read moreRead less
The globalisation of the resources sector(s) in Australian cities. This project aims to understand how and why resources-related service firms cluster in Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth, and Sydney. Maintaining Australia’s competitive position in global affairs depends on delivering innovative services in established national areas such as mining, energy and agriculture. This project will approach Australian cities’ economies from a ‘global’ perspective using social network analysis, to understand ho ....The globalisation of the resources sector(s) in Australian cities. This project aims to understand how and why resources-related service firms cluster in Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth, and Sydney. Maintaining Australia’s competitive position in global affairs depends on delivering innovative services in established national areas such as mining, energy and agriculture. This project will approach Australian cities’ economies from a ‘global’ perspective using social network analysis, to understand how local firm clusters are internationally networked through branch office and affiliate corporate linkages. This project seeks to better direct urban and economic policy by positioning these sectors to deal with the challenges of the 21st century.Read moreRead less
Evolutionary Dynamics and the Transformation of Rural Australia. Understanding the ways in which Australia's rural heartland has been transformed is critical to constructing competitive regions. This project aims to pioneer the application and development of evolutionary economic geography and staples theory to an investigation of the transformation of south-east and south-western Australia, covering the long boom of the post-war period, through the restructuring 'crisis' of the 1980s and 1990s, ....Evolutionary Dynamics and the Transformation of Rural Australia. Understanding the ways in which Australia's rural heartland has been transformed is critical to constructing competitive regions. This project aims to pioneer the application and development of evolutionary economic geography and staples theory to an investigation of the transformation of south-east and south-western Australia, covering the long boom of the post-war period, through the restructuring 'crisis' of the 1980s and 1990s, to a multifunctional countryside. The explanatory power of the local modelling 'tools' that this project is expected to develop moves beyond the 'one size fits all' suite of policy prescriptions, with the specific potential to inform rural and regional policy and practice.Read moreRead less
“Beacons in the Night” unveiling how galaxies light up dark matter. How dark matter influences the formation and evolution of galaxies is to this day an outstanding question in astrophysics. To answer it, world-class facilities and a unique combination of observations and theory are required. This DP team, a world-class team of observers and theorists, will tackle this question by leveraging on two multi-million dollar projects: the MAGPI galaxy survey and the hydrodynamical simulations suite EA ....“Beacons in the Night” unveiling how galaxies light up dark matter. How dark matter influences the formation and evolution of galaxies is to this day an outstanding question in astrophysics. To answer it, world-class facilities and a unique combination of observations and theory are required. This DP team, a world-class team of observers and theorists, will tackle this question by leveraging on two multi-million dollar projects: the MAGPI galaxy survey and the hydrodynamical simulations suite EAGLE-XL. MAGPI will deliver exquisite kinematics for hundreds of galaxies in the middle ages of the Universe, providing a view to the effect of dark matter on galaxies at this critical time, while EAGLE-XL represents the technological frontier in simulations and provides the best interpretative framework for MAGPI.Read moreRead less
Using immersive virtual reality to enhance students’ science visualisation. This project aims to investigate the potential of advanced visualisation technology, immersive virtual reality, as a collaborative learning environment to support students to explore their ideas and learn a core chemistry concept, molecular structures and functions. Incorporating both data analytics and qualitative video analysis, the project will establish a deep understanding of how students learn about the molecular w ....Using immersive virtual reality to enhance students’ science visualisation. This project aims to investigate the potential of advanced visualisation technology, immersive virtual reality, as a collaborative learning environment to support students to explore their ideas and learn a core chemistry concept, molecular structures and functions. Incorporating both data analytics and qualitative video analysis, the project will establish a deep understanding of how students learn about the molecular world within an immersive virtual reality environment in relation to the learners’ experience, chemistry content, visual representations, learning tasks, and design features. The project will recommend evidence-driven design considerations for learning resources development and further educational research with advanced technologies.Read moreRead less