Special Research Initiatives - Grant ID: SR0354797
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$20,000.00
Summary
The Australian Tissue Engineering Network. Driven by four key nodes across the country, the Initiative aims to bring together geographically and financially separated groups into a critical mass of cell and tissue engineering research. This new and rapidly-growing field uses a bio-synthetic approach to replace, repair or regenerate damaged tissues and organs. The Initiative will build the framework which will enable the Network to: identify appropriate expertise, manage duplication, enhance co ....The Australian Tissue Engineering Network. Driven by four key nodes across the country, the Initiative aims to bring together geographically and financially separated groups into a critical mass of cell and tissue engineering research. This new and rapidly-growing field uses a bio-synthetic approach to replace, repair or regenerate damaged tissues and organs. The Initiative will build the framework which will enable the Network to: identify appropriate expertise, manage duplication, enhance communication, bring together innovative skill sets, create linkages, generate focussed research programs and foster novel commercial opportunities. Ultimately the Initiative and Network will deliver an improved quality of life, reduced healthcare costs, and increased productivity to Australia.Read moreRead less
Criminalisation of poverty and homelessness in Australia: A national study. The project aims to assess the policing and enforcement of public order crimes and related offences (e.g. obstruct/disobey police, breach of bail, and minor property offences) on individuals experiencing poverty and homelessness. The project endeavours to collect and analyse qualitative data from across Australia on the lived experience of people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness, regarding the impact of crimin ....Criminalisation of poverty and homelessness in Australia: A national study. The project aims to assess the policing and enforcement of public order crimes and related offences (e.g. obstruct/disobey police, breach of bail, and minor property offences) on individuals experiencing poverty and homelessness. The project endeavours to collect and analyse qualitative data from across Australia on the lived experience of people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness, regarding the impact of criminal laws and police powers concerned with presence in, and movement around public places. It will particularly focus on the impact on women, children and Indigenous peoples. The outcomes will seek to reduce the criminalisation of homeless people, by identifying law and policy reform options, and comparing their cost with that of 'business as usual'.Read moreRead less
ARC Centre of Excellence - Vision Science. This Centre will generate important new knowledge of the performance, logic and stability of vision and visual behaviour. This knowledge will help reduce the burden of vision impairment in Australia, increasing productivity, promoting healthy ageing and reducing the community costs of visual impairment (ca. $9.85 billion in 2004). The knowledge produced will also make possible world-class innovations in robotics, leading to novel automated vision system ....ARC Centre of Excellence - Vision Science. This Centre will generate important new knowledge of the performance, logic and stability of vision and visual behaviour. This knowledge will help reduce the burden of vision impairment in Australia, increasing productivity, promoting healthy ageing and reducing the community costs of visual impairment (ca. $9.85 billion in 2004). The knowledge produced will also make possible world-class innovations in robotics, leading to novel automated vision systems with applications in industry and national security. Other knowledge will develop novel diagnostic technologies, for application in health delivery.Read moreRead less
CENTRE for INTEGRATIVE LEGUME RESEARCH. Legumes are essential for environmental sustainability and are important for maintaining human health. The Centre combines innovative genomic approaches to investigate the causal phenotypic links required for regulation of legume growth. The unique coexistence of multiple pluripotent meristems in shoots, roots, flowers and nodules permits the discovery of new paradigms governing legume architecture, reproductive differentiation and root-nodule developmen ....CENTRE for INTEGRATIVE LEGUME RESEARCH. Legumes are essential for environmental sustainability and are important for maintaining human health. The Centre combines innovative genomic approaches to investigate the causal phenotypic links required for regulation of legume growth. The unique coexistence of multiple pluripotent meristems in shoots, roots, flowers and nodules permits the discovery of new paradigms governing legume architecture, reproductive differentiation and root-nodule development. New knowledge of the plant growth processes through mechanistic analysis of organ induction provides the tools to optimise the legume's productivity, quality, and environment adaptation.Read moreRead less
GBR as a significant source of climatically relevant aerosol particles. Every cloud drop is formed from a microscopic aerosol particle, known as a cloud condensation nuclei (CCN). In unpolluted environments the CCN particles originate from biogenic sources. Determining the magnitude and driving factors of biogenic aerosol production in different ecosystems is crucial to the development and improvement of climate models. This project aims to determine the mechanisms of new particle production fro ....GBR as a significant source of climatically relevant aerosol particles. Every cloud drop is formed from a microscopic aerosol particle, known as a cloud condensation nuclei (CCN). In unpolluted environments the CCN particles originate from biogenic sources. Determining the magnitude and driving factors of biogenic aerosol production in different ecosystems is crucial to the development and improvement of climate models. This project aims to determine the mechanisms of new particle production from one of the biggest ecosystems in Australia, the Great Barrier Reef. It is expected that the project will establish whether marine aerosol along the Queensland coast is coral-derived and show that this aerosol can affect the CCN concentration and therefore cloud formation and the hydrological cycle.Read moreRead less
How does your garden grow? Scaling functional traits to whole-plant growth. Understanding how the traits of leaves and stems influence plant growth is important because plant growth drives emergent ecosystem properties such as rates of water use and carbon and nitrogen cycling. The project will build a new understanding of trait-growth relationships, focusing on species from four Australian forest types.
ARC/NHMRC Research Network in Ageing Well. The ARC Research Network on Ageing Well will support interdisciplinary, high quality research in the National Research Priority Goal of Ageing Well, Ageing Productively. It will build scale and focus on Australia's notable research strengths in ageing, promote collaborative research, and extend research capacities. The Network will link outstanding researchers from many disciplines, nurture developing researchers, relate social to health researchers, s ....ARC/NHMRC Research Network in Ageing Well. The ARC Research Network on Ageing Well will support interdisciplinary, high quality research in the National Research Priority Goal of Ageing Well, Ageing Productively. It will build scale and focus on Australia's notable research strengths in ageing, promote collaborative research, and extend research capacities. The Network will link outstanding researchers from many disciplines, nurture developing researchers, relate social to health researchers, strengthen international collaboration, and involve and inform end-point users. It will foster research which responds to the aspirations and needs of older Australians and informs action that can improve experiences of individual and population ageing.Read moreRead less
Combating rising sexually transmitted infections among older Australians. This project aims to explore older Australians' knowledge of, and safe sexual practices in regards to, sexually transmitted infections (STIs). STI rates have increased rapidly amongst older age groups in recent years, yet there is a significant research gap concerning older Australians' knowledge of STIs and the preventative sexual practices they engage in. This project is understood to be the only known Australian study c ....Combating rising sexually transmitted infections among older Australians. This project aims to explore older Australians' knowledge of, and safe sexual practices in regards to, sexually transmitted infections (STIs). STI rates have increased rapidly amongst older age groups in recent years, yet there is a significant research gap concerning older Australians' knowledge of STIs and the preventative sexual practices they engage in. This project is understood to be the only known Australian study considering older people's knowledge and practices in relation to STI prevention. In examining this issue the project aims to contribute towards the development of policy and educational resources for older Australians, and is expected to work towards enabling optimal sexual health for older individuals.Read moreRead less
A new quality of life instrument with older people for economic evaluation. This project aims to develop and validate a new preference-based quality-of-life instrument with applications in aged-care. The new instrument will be developed with older people receiving aged care services, and will focus upon incorporating their values into the measurement and valuation of quality of life for economic evaluation. The new instrument will have immediate applications in quality assessment and economic ev ....A new quality of life instrument with older people for economic evaluation. This project aims to develop and validate a new preference-based quality-of-life instrument with applications in aged-care. The new instrument will be developed with older people receiving aged care services, and will focus upon incorporating their values into the measurement and valuation of quality of life for economic evaluation. The new instrument will have immediate applications in quality assessment and economic evaluation, improving the quality of life and wellbeing of older Australians, and will assist in determining the relative cost effectiveness of new and existing services.
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Understanding the koala microbiome: unlocking the secrets of koala health and dietary specialisation, and successful husbandry and translocation. This project aims to discover how the composition and function of koala gastrointestinal microbial communities differ in space and time in response to the varying nutritional quality and chemical composition of koala diets. Using detailed chemical analysis, cutting edge metagenomic and bioinformatic pipelines and powerful approaches to study enzyme fun ....Understanding the koala microbiome: unlocking the secrets of koala health and dietary specialisation, and successful husbandry and translocation. This project aims to discover how the composition and function of koala gastrointestinal microbial communities differ in space and time in response to the varying nutritional quality and chemical composition of koala diets. Using detailed chemical analysis, cutting edge metagenomic and bioinformatic pipelines and powerful approaches to study enzyme functions in the koala’s gut, the investigators aims to reveal the role of microbes in detoxification of plant toxins and degradation of recalcitrant fibre fractions. The outcomes aim to facilitate the use of faecal transplants to improve digestive function for translocated and rehabilitated koalas, enhancing options for koala management and conservation.Read moreRead less