Restor(y)ing Aboriginal Parenting: Development And Evaluation Of A Culturally Relevant Program To Support Aboriginal Par
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,612,793.00
Summary
The Restor(y)ing Aboriginal Parenting Project involves the development and evaluation of a culturally relevant program for Aboriginal parents of young children. It aims to address the intergenerational effects of past policies of forced separation of children on the cultural and social transmission of parenting knowledge and skills. It seeks to restore identification with culture, promote parental confidence, knowledge and child rearing skills and enhance resilience in Aboriginal children.
Neural Trajectories Towards Vulnerability Versus Resilience: A Longitudinal Twin Study
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,258,288.00
Summary
Resilience not only defines the absence of mental disorder; it defines the ability to positively adapt in the face of adversity. Due to this conceptual ambiguity, little is known of its underlying neurobiology as compared to symptoms like depression and anxiety. This knowledge would aid the development of effective interventions following trauma exposure. We aim to define the first neural profile of resilience in 270 adults, using the twin method to decide novel gene-environment influences.
Keeping Kids On Track: An Initiative Developing The Resilience Of Aboriginal Students During A Critical Transition Phase
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,430,435.00
Summary
This initiative aims to build Indigenous children�s capacity to cope with life�s challenges and promote resilience through social and emotional skill development, cognitive development, community engagement and appropriate health provision. This will build children�s capacity as improved educational and employment outcomes accrue in the longer term. A model of the process will be developed. Indigenous researchers and community members will take part in governance and conduct of the study.
Resilient Brain Networks In Patients With Schizophrenia And Their Unaffected Siblings
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$474,226.00
Summary
An individual’s risk for schizophrenia is usually evaluated in terms of their familial, environmental and neurobiological risk factors. Our research indicates that factors conferring resilience to becoming ill are just as important. This study will use brain imaging techniques to study individuals with schizophrenia and their unaffected siblings, aiming to identify factors that have provided the unaffected siblings with resilience to becoming ill, despite their familial risk.
The need for this project is to activate and engage industry in viable options towards climate resilience by 2030. This includes the need to demonstrate that immediate options exist and are viable and meaningful, while also gaining support for a clear plan to transform the industry and supply chain with support both internally and beyond the sector. The key needs are:
01 | Industry awareness of the problems and solutions around climate change and resilience is below where it needs to be ....The need for this project is to activate and engage industry in viable options towards climate resilience by 2030. This includes the need to demonstrate that immediate options exist and are viable and meaningful, while also gaining support for a clear plan to transform the industry and supply chain with support both internally and beyond the sector. The key needs are:
01 | Industry awareness of the problems and solutions around climate change and resilience is below where it needs to be to activate broad transformation. There is little action towards climate resilience (1 player) in comparison to other agricultural sectors.
02 | There will be increasing competition within the protein market to validate and promote sustainable practices and positive contributions to the environment/climate.
03 | Leaders and innovators in the industry are attempting to act in isolation with few resources to support industry and supply chain coordination and acceleration.
04 | Change around the edges that can be achieved by some stakeholders operating alone will not deliver the transformation at a scale or pace that is required to meet growing and broadly felt consumer expectations that indicate demonstrable action on climate change.
05 | There is a surplus of tools, resources and research around climate change and resilience, but to this point, little of that work has been translated into forms fishers find usable and valuable.
06 | There is a need to identify early adopters and innovators in the space to lead new ways operating into the future.
07 | There is an FRDC funded project to undertake a Lifecycle Assessment being concluded early November. This work has been preliminarily identified fuel, transport, and refrigeration as key challenges requiring new solutions/opportunities for industry.
08 | Propulsion and fuel have been identified as key challenges in wild catch fisheries achieving climate resilience and reducing carbon emissions, and will be the focus of this project. Objectives: 1. To understand challenges facing the commercial wild-harvest sector relating to a changing climate 2. To determine opportunities to respond to those challenges, and validate solutions 3. To engage with industry leaders and innovators to explore and validate viable, feasible and scalable options towards climate resilience 4. To demonstrate rapid and practical progress towards climate resilience and elements of SIA’s Our Pledge 5. To build partnerships and relationships with global leaders to enable advancement of prioritised solutions that will enable improved climate resilience Read moreRead less
Translating Disaster Research Evidence Into Disaster Resilience And Recovery Decision-making Tools To Guide Policy And Practice
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$175,303.00
Summary
This project responds to needs that have been expressed repeatedly by government agencies, communities and service providers at local, state and national level for assistance with the challenge of translating complex disaster recovery research findings into information and resources that have immediate policy and service relevance. A series of evidence-based tools will be developed to guide decision making about how to promote disaster resilience and support disaster recovery.
Despite legislation requiring that the preservation of saltmarshes be considered prior to developments that could harm their ecological integrity, saltmarshes continue to be destroyed and altered. Part of the rationale for encouraging the conservation of saltmarshes has been their assumed importance as fish habitat, especially for juveniles of economically important species (Hyland & Butler 1989). This role needs demonstrating, with a view to strengthening demands that saltmarsh habitat be ret ....Despite legislation requiring that the preservation of saltmarshes be considered prior to developments that could harm their ecological integrity, saltmarshes continue to be destroyed and altered. Part of the rationale for encouraging the conservation of saltmarshes has been their assumed importance as fish habitat, especially for juveniles of economically important species (Hyland & Butler 1989). This role needs demonstrating, with a view to strengthening demands that saltmarsh habitat be retained in the face of increasing urbanisation.
Apart from direct loss of saltmarshes through urban development in southeast Qld and northern NSW, several other human activities are destroying or degrading saltmarshes. Anthropogenic changes to saltmarshes can result in loss of vegetation through changes in drainage regimes and salinity levels (Ruiz et al. 1993). While maps have been produced showing loss of saltmarshes in subtropical Australia (Hyland & Butler 1989), loss of vegetation from extant marshes has not been catalogued, despite the massive changes in drainage regimes, modification of marshes to control mosquitoes, grazing by stock, and use of marshes by off-road vehicles.
Debate about the role of vegetation in structuring fish communities of intertidal and subtidal habitats other than saltmarshes has been based on numerous comparisons of vegetated and unvegetated habitats (eg. in seagrass meadows, Connolly (1994b,c) and mangroves). In these habitats vegetated areas tend to have higher abundances and greater species richness. No attempt has been made in Australia to consider the role of vegetation in determining fish abundances on saltmarshes.
This proposal takes the first step towards determining the importance of saltmarsh habitat to fisheries by examining whether fish directly use inundated saltmarsh flats and whether vegetation plays a role in determining how many fish go there. Objectives: 1. To determine which fish species, in what abundance, directly use saltmarsh flats in subtropical east coast waters 2. To compare the use by fish of vegetated (saltcouch) and unvegetated (saltpan) habitats on the marsh flats 3. To make clear recommendations to managers of fisheries and the environment about the impacts on fisheries of human activities affecting saltmarsh habitat, and advise on the direction of future research Read moreRead less
Roots Of Resilience: Transformations Of Identity And Community In Indigenous Mental Health
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$15,000.00
Summary
We propose to develop a cross-country interdisciplinary research program on factors and processes that promote resilience in mental health among indigenous peoples across the lifespan, with an emphasis on early childhood, school age children, adolescence and young adulthood. We will carry out a set of linked projects to identify the distinctive characteristics of individual and collective resilience among indigenous peoples in the three countries. This linkage of studies will occur in three ways ....We propose to develop a cross-country interdisciplinary research program on factors and processes that promote resilience in mental health among indigenous peoples across the lifespan, with an emphasis on early childhood, school age children, adolescence and young adulthood. We will carry out a set of linked projects to identify the distinctive characteristics of individual and collective resilience among indigenous peoples in the three countries. This linkage of studies will occur in three ways: (1) developing a comprehensive model of resilience at individual, family, community and societal levels that can be applied across the three countries; (2) designing multi-method studies of the same population so that results can be triangulated for greater validity of interpretation of results; (3) using cross-national comparisons to examine potential social structural, cultural and historical differences in the processes of resilience. The projects will include clinical, community and population-based studies of resilience using both qualitative life history and ethnographic methods and quantitative analysis of epidemiological data. The collaborating investigators have developed specific methods for studies of resilience in different age groups, including: parenting and family environment during infancy and early childhood; school-based research on outcomes of performance and retention; community-based ethnographic research on individual life trajectories; social historical research on community responses to adversity; and population-based research on longitudinal datasets. Throughout these studies our emphasis will be on identifying what may be distinctive about the experience of indigenous peoples so that research on resilience can be appropriately interpreted and applied to improve the health of these populations.Read moreRead less
Research has shown that psychosocial and behavioural processes of networks can result in better health status among and between non-Indigenous populations. In Australia, Canada and New Zealand Indigenous health organizations and networks have formed to combat health disparities and advance opportunities for Indigenous populations. Little is know about the social, economic, cultural and political life-course of such networks in a �post-colonial� environment, or whether these contribute to �resili ....Research has shown that psychosocial and behavioural processes of networks can result in better health status among and between non-Indigenous populations. In Australia, Canada and New Zealand Indigenous health organizations and networks have formed to combat health disparities and advance opportunities for Indigenous populations. Little is know about the social, economic, cultural and political life-course of such networks in a �post-colonial� environment, or whether these contribute to �resiliency� in health workers, researchers and policy developers that is translated into improved health for Indigenous populations. Historically the resiliency literature has viewed resilience as a fixed attribute of individuals. Some inroads have been made in defining resilience relative to social and cultural collective contexts. However, no study defines resiliency from an Indigenous perspective or within the context of networks and resilience generally. This study will develop Indigenous constructs of �resiliency� from a decolonized and non-deficit perspective for Indigenous health workers, researchers and policy developers, and will examine how networks and �resiliency� intersect. It will further explore whether Indigenous health worker, researcher and policy developer networks may be important mediators in laying a foundation for good health throughout life for Indigenous peoples. Constructs of �resiliency� specific to each country and across countries will be identified from themes that arise from key informant interviews. Comparative projects in each country will be designed to evaluate the impact of these networks on improving health status and combating health problems such as diabetes mellitus. These Indigenous constructs of �resiliency� will inform the ICIHRP research program intended to improve Indigenous health status.Read moreRead less