Speech perception precedes, indexes, and is changed by language acquisition. What is exceptional about human infants is not their sophisticated speech perception (for animals perceive human speech similarly) but their use of speech to regulate linguistic attention and bootstrap language. Using a new validated measure, language specific speech perception (discrimination ability for native minus non-native speech sounds), we can ascertain children's distribution of resources in linguistic tasks. T ....Speech perception precedes, indexes, and is changed by language acquisition. What is exceptional about human infants is not their sophisticated speech perception (for animals perceive human speech similarly) but their use of speech to regulate linguistic attention and bootstrap language. Using a new validated measure, language specific speech perception (discrimination ability for native minus non-native speech sounds), we can ascertain children's distribution of resources in linguistic tasks. This measure will be used in conjunction with a raft of experimental psycholinguistic techniques to investigate speech perception bases of phoneme perception, tone perception, word meaning, reading, and their vestiges in adulthood, to arrive at a dynamic new conception of language development. Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE200100803
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$405,763.00
Summary
Slicing dead stars to reveal the origin of heavy elements in the Universe. This project aims to improve our understanding of how massive stars forge heavy elements like oxygen, that are key to life. It will use state-of-the-art spectrographs on Australian and Chilean telescopes to observe the ashes of dead stars, and test recent theoretical models. Expected outcomes include spectral maps of young supernova remnants, new observational constraints for theoretical models of massive stars and core-c ....Slicing dead stars to reveal the origin of heavy elements in the Universe. This project aims to improve our understanding of how massive stars forge heavy elements like oxygen, that are key to life. It will use state-of-the-art spectrographs on Australian and Chilean telescopes to observe the ashes of dead stars, and test recent theoretical models. Expected outcomes include spectral maps of young supernova remnants, new observational constraints for theoretical models of massive stars and core-collapse supernovae, and innovative visualization solutions for complex 3D datasets. This project is expected to largely refine our grasp of the formation of heavy elements in the Universe, and thus provide significant cultural benefit in enhancing our understanding of mankind's cosmic origin in the heart of massive stars. Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE220100379
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$420,582.00
Summary
Missing link in the chain: Gateway to the Satellite-Internet Constellations. This project aims to develop affordable and compact, reconfigurable antenna systems for satellite-terminals. With unprecedented performance, the wide bandwidth of operation, and low cost of production, the resulting antenna systems will act as the ‘enabling’ chip in providing internet connectivity to millions of people, who are unconnected or poorly connected at present. High-speed internet is not a reality outside dens ....Missing link in the chain: Gateway to the Satellite-Internet Constellations. This project aims to develop affordable and compact, reconfigurable antenna systems for satellite-terminals. With unprecedented performance, the wide bandwidth of operation, and low cost of production, the resulting antenna systems will act as the ‘enabling’ chip in providing internet connectivity to millions of people, who are unconnected or poorly connected at present. High-speed internet is not a reality outside densely populated areas, even today. The outcomes will close the digital divide, increase Australia’s economic and intellectual standing internationally, generate socio-economic benefits by empowering regional populations, increase the economic viability and remote-jobs outside metropolitan cities, and develop tourism.Read moreRead less
High resolution warm ocean records from laminated sediment. This project will produce environmental records during ocean warming events in the geologic past to reveal processes associated with warm oceans similar to those anticipated in the coming century. New Australian technology allows investigation of sediment records at unprecedented time resolution providing insight into processes operating on societally relevant time scales of decades to centuries. This work will open an archive of climat ....High resolution warm ocean records from laminated sediment. This project will produce environmental records during ocean warming events in the geologic past to reveal processes associated with warm oceans similar to those anticipated in the coming century. New Australian technology allows investigation of sediment records at unprecedented time resolution providing insight into processes operating on societally relevant time scales of decades to centuries. This work will open an archive of climate information revealing feedback, thresholds and tipping points from past events previously inaccessible because of technical and conceptual limitations. It will provide critical inputs into models predicting future climate and to illuminate the risks and compensating feedbacks occurring with warming.
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A fast comparative method for historical linguistics. Linguists are able to infer ancient histories of languages by a procedure known as the Comparative Method. Its results are used in related studies of human genetic and cultural change. However, the Comparative Method is a manual-only process and thus currently is a bottleneck for the science of unravelling the human past. This project aims to overcome this limitation and significantly accelerate linguistic discovery, by combining recent advan ....A fast comparative method for historical linguistics. Linguists are able to infer ancient histories of languages by a procedure known as the Comparative Method. Its results are used in related studies of human genetic and cultural change. However, the Comparative Method is a manual-only process and thus currently is a bottleneck for the science of unravelling the human past. This project aims to overcome this limitation and significantly accelerate linguistic discovery, by combining recent advances in computational language processing, statistics and cultural-evolutionary modelling. By producing innovative mathematical means for rapidly discovering ancient language relationships, it will enable a breakthrough in our capacity to uncover human linguistic, genetic and cultural heritage worldwide.Read moreRead less
Australian Laureate Fellowships - Grant ID: FL200100176
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$3,128,080.00
Summary
Theoretical Foundations of Ethical Machine Learning. The project will develop a systematic theory of ethical machine learning. Machine learning is a powerful and pervasive technology that is already having a huge impact on Australia. When applied to data about people there are a range of ethical harms that can arise (fairness, and privacy are two of them). The project will develop a rigorously grounded foundation for managing such ethical harms. For example it will allow the quantification of t ....Theoretical Foundations of Ethical Machine Learning. The project will develop a systematic theory of ethical machine learning. Machine learning is a powerful and pervasive technology that is already having a huge impact on Australia. When applied to data about people there are a range of ethical harms that can arise (fairness, and privacy are two of them). The project will develop a rigorously grounded foundation for managing such ethical harms. For example it will allow the quantification of the inevitable trade-offs between fairness and utility. The benefits of the project will include the best possible ways of managing these trade-offs, competitive advantage for Australian firms developing the technology, and will ensure that the country retains a social license to use the technology.Read moreRead less