Cycle Aware: Driving with Bikes. This project focuses on the education and training required by drivers to interact safely with cyclists. It uses two ontologically diverse methodologies to examine how Australian drivers become cyclist aware and the education and training necessary to foster safe driver–cyclist interactions. The project aims to provide a critical knowledge base for state and territory driver education policies and a cycle-aware module for learner drivers. These outcomes are inten ....Cycle Aware: Driving with Bikes. This project focuses on the education and training required by drivers to interact safely with cyclists. It uses two ontologically diverse methodologies to examine how Australian drivers become cyclist aware and the education and training necessary to foster safe driver–cyclist interactions. The project aims to provide a critical knowledge base for state and territory driver education policies and a cycle-aware module for learner drivers. These outcomes are intended to reduce cyclist road trauma and on-road tensions between cyclists and drivers, and to improve opportunities for active travel to tackle the growing issue of inactivity.Read moreRead less
Home internet for remote Indigenous communities. While mainstream communications policies focus on the home, programs for remote Indigenous communities rely on shared community facilities. This project will analyse the benefits and complexities of home internet in three remote Indigenous communities by examining the social, economic, cultural and technical factors influencing take-up and use.
ARC Molecular and Materials Structure Research Network. The Network will build powerful e-Science resources for the structural sciences. Collaborative remote access will be developed for sophisticated instrumentation, including instruments planned for the Replacement Research Reactor and Australian Synchrotron. A structure database service with cross disciplinary content and versatile visualisation and analysis capabilities will further exemplify smart information use. The internet services will ....ARC Molecular and Materials Structure Research Network. The Network will build powerful e-Science resources for the structural sciences. Collaborative remote access will be developed for sophisticated instrumentation, including instruments planned for the Replacement Research Reactor and Australian Synchrotron. A structure database service with cross disciplinary content and versatile visualisation and analysis capabilities will further exemplify smart information use. The internet services will ultimately harness the Grid, enabling linkage into other national and international Grid systems. Encompassing physics, computer science, applied mathematics, chemistry and biochemistry, and catalysing interaction across these disciplines, the MMSN will impact all five National Research Priority 3 goals.Read moreRead less
Arresting declines of arboreal mammals in the tropical savannas. This project aims to evaluate the hypothesis that arboreal species are limited by the abundance of tree hollows, and that historical increases in the frequency of intense fires may be reducing hollow abundance. Northern Australia’s mammals are in severe decline, and arboreal species are among those that have fared worst. There is abundant anecdotal evidence that a decline in hollow abundance is the cause. Working with the Western A ....Arresting declines of arboreal mammals in the tropical savannas. This project aims to evaluate the hypothesis that arboreal species are limited by the abundance of tree hollows, and that historical increases in the frequency of intense fires may be reducing hollow abundance. Northern Australia’s mammals are in severe decline, and arboreal species are among those that have fared worst. There is abundant anecdotal evidence that a decline in hollow abundance is the cause. Working with the Western Australian Department of Parks and Wildlife in the Kimberley, the last region on the Australian mainland with an intact mammal fauna, the project aims to explore management options for increasing the availability of hollow denning sites for arboreal mammals (e.g. fire management, artificial nest boxes), and evaluate the likely impact of such actions on mammal populations across northern Australia.Read moreRead less
Creating fauna-friendly cities and towns - The ecology and conservation of insectivorous bats in Melbourne. Urbanisation is a principal threat to the conservation of biodiversity worldwide. Information on the response of plants and animals to an increasingly urbanized world is essential to prevent the loss of natural assets, ensure environmental sustainability and promote human health and well-being. This research will combine extensive field surveys with state-of-the art modeling to identify th ....Creating fauna-friendly cities and towns - The ecology and conservation of insectivorous bats in Melbourne. Urbanisation is a principal threat to the conservation of biodiversity worldwide. Information on the response of plants and animals to an increasingly urbanized world is essential to prevent the loss of natural assets, ensure environmental sustainability and promote human health and well-being. This research will combine extensive field surveys with state-of-the art modeling to identify their ecological requirements. Importantly, the research will engage with local councils, park managers and community organizations to educate the wider community and ensure research outcomes are adopted. The study design will ensure that the findings are applicable to other urban areas across Australia and around the world. Read moreRead less
Movement ecology of granivores: informing fire management of savannas. This project aims to examine the decline in granivorous finches across north Australia and test the hypothesis that an increasingly nomadic lifestyle, associated with tracking grass seed availability over larger spatial scales, is the cause. The project also aims to evaluate how fire affects rangeland functioning, particularly grass diversity, to improve fire management of tropical savannas in northern Australia. This project ....Movement ecology of granivores: informing fire management of savannas. This project aims to examine the decline in granivorous finches across north Australia and test the hypothesis that an increasingly nomadic lifestyle, associated with tracking grass seed availability over larger spatial scales, is the cause. The project also aims to evaluate how fire affects rangeland functioning, particularly grass diversity, to improve fire management of tropical savannas in northern Australia. This project will provide new tools and technologies that will monitor mobile small vertebrates. Expected outcomes will improve the understanding of tropical savanna functioning and fire management. The research aligns with ‘savanna burning’ methodologies and carbon sequestration goals in north Australia.
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Aboriginal patch burning and the quest for sustainable fire management. This project aims to document historical changes in the spatial grain of the patch burning mosaic in an Arnhem Land savannah with an unbroken history of management by Aboriginal people, and in adjacent areas where traditional management has ceased. The mosaic's spatial grain will be inferred by mapping the individual ages of the long-lived conifer Callitris intratropica. Prior research has shown that Callitris individuals c ....Aboriginal patch burning and the quest for sustainable fire management. This project aims to document historical changes in the spatial grain of the patch burning mosaic in an Arnhem Land savannah with an unbroken history of management by Aboriginal people, and in adjacent areas where traditional management has ceased. The mosaic's spatial grain will be inferred by mapping the individual ages of the long-lived conifer Callitris intratropica. Prior research has shown that Callitris individuals can be reliably aged, and population structures are very sensitive to fire regimes: saplings only establish if unburnt for 10 years. This research is expected to provide the first direct test of the hypothesis that Aboriginal people maintained fine-grained fire mosaics in savannas, and inform bushfire policy debates.Read moreRead less
Investigating social, built and physical environment factors for remote Indigenous communities, and their relationships with cardiometabolic outcomes. This study with 74 remote Indigenous communities will be the first to evaluate features of their social, built and physical environments in relation to cardiometabolic risks and diseases. Policy-relevant results will identify features of environments to be targeted to assist reducing chronic diseases for Indigenous peoples in remote communities.
Re-integrating Central Australian community cultural collections. This project aims to apply current research on archiving and community access to find practical solutions to managing the large amounts of recorded cultural material of interest to the Central Land Council, the peak Indigenous representative body covering the southern half of the Northern Territory. The project aims to identify and integrate information in a common database, work with community members to create a prioritised list ....Re-integrating Central Australian community cultural collections. This project aims to apply current research on archiving and community access to find practical solutions to managing the large amounts of recorded cultural material of interest to the Central Land Council, the peak Indigenous representative body covering the southern half of the Northern Territory. The project aims to identify and integrate information in a common database, work with community members to create a prioritised list of any at-risk materials and apply locally meaningful categories for managing the archival materials relevant to their community, and deliver appropriate documentation of process, permissions and reports to support ongoing sustainability of the collections.Read moreRead less
School drug education for junior high school students in Victoria - Assessing the impact of a state-wide, evidence-based intervention
. Young people are faced with numerous and powerful influences to use both legal and illicit drugs, and drug education can play an important counterbalancing role in shaping a normative culture of safety, moderation and informed decision making in this group. The research will develop, implement and evaluate one all encompassing, evidence-based, drug education pr ....School drug education for junior high school students in Victoria - Assessing the impact of a state-wide, evidence-based intervention
. Young people are faced with numerous and powerful influences to use both legal and illicit drugs, and drug education can play an important counterbalancing role in shaping a normative culture of safety, moderation and informed decision making in this group. The research will develop, implement and evaluate one all encompassing, evidence-based, drug education program for junior high school students across Victoria. The study is unique in its size and scope and will be of national benefit because its findings will influence the nature of future drug education in all secondary schools in Australia.Read moreRead less