Providing children with a healthy start to life: promoting physical activity and reducing sedentary behaviours during early childhood. Early childhood (0-5 yrs), when health behaviours develop and may track into later life, represents promise as a time to positively impact physical activity and sedentary behaviour. Yet study of these behaviours in 3-5 yr olds is only emerging, and is almost non-existent in younger children. This project aims to understand predictors of these behaviours using a s ....Providing children with a healthy start to life: promoting physical activity and reducing sedentary behaviours during early childhood. Early childhood (0-5 yrs), when health behaviours develop and may track into later life, represents promise as a time to positively impact physical activity and sedentary behaviour. Yet study of these behaviours in 3-5 yr olds is only emerging, and is almost non-existent in younger children. This project aims to understand predictors of these behaviours using a suite of longitudinal studies, including objective measures, and will commence as early as 3-mths of age. It will study strategies for promoting physical activity and reducing sedentary behaviours during early childhood, by investigating mechanisms of behaviour change in existing interventions to inform new strategies with potential to provide children with a healthy start to life.Read moreRead less
The structure and function of the human spinal connectome. This project will use complex network analysis to map the interactions between the brain and body, to understand how the central nervous system controls our movements. The project will provide fundamental insights into mechanisms that coordinate activity in the human motor system, and how the breakdown of coordination may lead to movement disorders. By integrating advanced computational analyses with state-of-the-art recording techniques ....The structure and function of the human spinal connectome. This project will use complex network analysis to map the interactions between the brain and body, to understand how the central nervous system controls our movements. The project will provide fundamental insights into mechanisms that coordinate activity in the human motor system, and how the breakdown of coordination may lead to movement disorders. By integrating advanced computational analyses with state-of-the-art recording techniques, the project will generate new knowledge of the neural basis of human motor coordination. Expected outcomes may support future applications to restore motor function through brain stimulation, prosthetics and robotics design.Read moreRead less
A new model of human speech production through computational modeling and human functional brain imaging. It is still largely a mystery how we convert our thoughts into fluent intelligible speech. This project will bring together experts in speech pathology, neuroscience, and computer modeling to create a new biologically-plausible model of speech production to advance understanding of speech development, ageing, and mechanisms of recovery after injury.
Investigating the effects and maximising the benefits of increased physical activity and reduced sedentary behaviour on wellbeing in youth. Lack of physical activity and the time that young people spend sedentary and alone staring into television and computer screens, are major public health issues. This project aims to explore how changes in physical activity and sedentary behaviour might influence health and wellbeing in young Australians. It will also involve the evaluation of an innovative s ....Investigating the effects and maximising the benefits of increased physical activity and reduced sedentary behaviour on wellbeing in youth. Lack of physical activity and the time that young people spend sedentary and alone staring into television and computer screens, are major public health issues. This project aims to explore how changes in physical activity and sedentary behaviour might influence health and wellbeing in young Australians. It will also involve the evaluation of an innovative school-based intervention targeting these outcomes. This project has the potential to bring physical and mental health benefits to current and future Australians.Read moreRead less
Sport, stories and survival: Reframing Indigenous sport history. This project aims to work with Indigenous communities to research and reframe their sport histories. Sport helped create identity in Australian Indigenous communities during the twentieth century amidst great social and cultural upheaval, particularly in institutionalised communities such as Government settlements and religious missions. This project will work with members of these communities in Queensland and the Torres Strait Is ....Sport, stories and survival: Reframing Indigenous sport history. This project aims to work with Indigenous communities to research and reframe their sport histories. Sport helped create identity in Australian Indigenous communities during the twentieth century amidst great social and cultural upheaval, particularly in institutionalised communities such as Government settlements and religious missions. This project will work with members of these communities in Queensland and the Torres Strait Islands to reveal untold stories about the sporting past. This project expects to help build community capacity and identity, bring social and cultural benefits, and contribute to national Reconciliation goals.Read moreRead less
A general framework for the stability and robustness of dynamical systems. Stability and robustness are crucial properties of well-engineered dynamical systems. This project aims to unify several notions of stability and robustness and to expand these notions to the emerging area of hybrid systems, which includes next generation electricity distribution networks.
Integrated Piezoelectric Microsystems for Actuation and Sensing. Piezoelectric transducers provide the highest positioning accuracy of any known actuator and the highest dynamic force resolution of any known sensor. However, these capabilities are limited to macro scale applications since piezoelectric materials are not compatible with integrated circuit (IC) or Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems fabrication processes. This project aims to extend the use of piezoelectric materials to the meso- and ....Integrated Piezoelectric Microsystems for Actuation and Sensing. Piezoelectric transducers provide the highest positioning accuracy of any known actuator and the highest dynamic force resolution of any known sensor. However, these capabilities are limited to macro scale applications since piezoelectric materials are not compatible with integrated circuit (IC) or Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems fabrication processes. This project aims to extend the use of piezoelectric materials to the meso- and micro-scale by fabricating miniature piezoelectric positioning and sensor systems. These devices will include six-axis nano-positioners and ultra-high resolution accelerometers and gyroscopes. This technology will create a new market for devices that are lower cost than macro-scale systems but provide higher performance than silicon based microsystems.Read moreRead less
Advanced model-based control for ultra-fast and ultra-high-precision nanoscale positioning. Australia faces unique challenges due to its small population and distance from international markets. To maintain a high standard of living Australia needs to further develop its high-tech base particularly in emerging fields such as nanotechnology. This research program is aimed at placing Australia at the forefront of international research in nanoscale positioning systems by building a world-class tea ....Advanced model-based control for ultra-fast and ultra-high-precision nanoscale positioning. Australia faces unique challenges due to its small population and distance from international markets. To maintain a high standard of living Australia needs to further develop its high-tech base particularly in emerging fields such as nanotechnology. This research program is aimed at placing Australia at the forefront of international research in nanoscale positioning systems by building a world-class team of talented researchers and equipping them with world-class research infrastructure. The global market for nanotechnology is projected to be in the tens of billions of dollars by 2020. The proposed research will enhance Australia's competitive advantage through high-impact scientific and technological innovations in nanotechnology.Read moreRead less
Foundations of Vision Based Control of Robotic Vehicles. Automated and partially automated robotic vehicles are an emerging technology in society. The safety and performance of such systems depends crucially on their sensing and control algorithms. Vision sensing is one of the few sensor modalities that has the potential to adequately represent the complexity of a real world environment. By providing simple and effective vision based control algorithms this project develops Frontier Technologi ....Foundations of Vision Based Control of Robotic Vehicles. Automated and partially automated robotic vehicles are an emerging technology in society. The safety and performance of such systems depends crucially on their sensing and control algorithms. Vision sensing is one of the few sensor modalities that has the potential to adequately represent the complexity of a real world environment. By providing simple and effective vision based control algorithms this project develops Frontier Technologies for Building and Transforming Australian Industries by enabling a wide range of robotic vehicle applications, including aerial, submersible, and wheeled vehicles.Read moreRead less
Nonstochastic information flows in networked dynamical systems. Feedback control is a crucial element of manufacturing, vehicular and energy systems, and is needed to guarantee hard performance bounds in safety- and mission-critical environments. When these control systems are implemented over communication networks, the amount of information flowing through them becomes a critical determinant of performance. However, the nonprobabilistic control objectives make standard information theory inapp ....Nonstochastic information flows in networked dynamical systems. Feedback control is a crucial element of manufacturing, vehicular and energy systems, and is needed to guarantee hard performance bounds in safety- and mission-critical environments. When these control systems are implemented over communication networks, the amount of information flowing through them becomes a critical determinant of performance. However, the nonprobabilistic control objectives make standard information theory inapplicable. This project aims to develop a novel, nonstochastic theory of information in order to analyse and design networked dynamical systems that obey worst-case performance limits. This will yield robust, probability-free algorithms for distributed control, filtering and causality inference.Read moreRead less