Optimising the roles of online communities in rural resilience . This research will use data from online communities to identify roles they do, and could play, in rural resilience. It uses social media analytics and spatial methodology to taxonomise and map service topics and social resilience from online communities. Governments call for rural service innovation. To date, robust evidence about online versus local services needed, is lacking. This is partly due to lack of data about diverse cons ....Optimising the roles of online communities in rural resilience . This research will use data from online communities to identify roles they do, and could play, in rural resilience. It uses social media analytics and spatial methodology to taxonomise and map service topics and social resilience from online communities. Governments call for rural service innovation. To date, robust evidence about online versus local services needed, is lacking. This is partly due to lack of data about diverse consumers' priorities and gaps. Social media could offer latent insights, but ethical methodology producing useful de-identified policy insights has been lacking. This study exemplifies applying social media data analytics at scale to address policy problems and will produce up-to-date co-designed data use guidelines.Read moreRead less
Mapping the effect of social enterprise on regional city disadvantage. This project aims to explore how social enterprises affect wellbeing and community capacity in disadvantaged areas of regional cities. Governments increasingly invest in social enterprise to benefit individuals and places. This project will use a spatial methodology to map where and how benefits are realised. To date, robust evidence about how social enterprise affects disadvantage is lacking, partly due to inadequate researc ....Mapping the effect of social enterprise on regional city disadvantage. This project aims to explore how social enterprises affect wellbeing and community capacity in disadvantaged areas of regional cities. Governments increasingly invest in social enterprise to benefit individuals and places. This project will use a spatial methodology to map where and how benefits are realised. To date, robust evidence about how social enterprise affects disadvantage is lacking, partly due to inadequate research methodology. This project expects to provide web-based design tools and applications to assist regional city communities and councils in the development of social enterprises that can help disadvantaged people and places.Read moreRead less
Enabling social innovation for local climate adaptability. Climate variability and change is likely to be felt most acutely at the local scale in Australia. This is where inter/national and State policies are translated into practices to prepare for, and adapt to, anticipated impacts of heatwaves, bushfires and floods. This project will investigate tensions and potentialities between risk-based assessments by local governance agencies and innovations by local groups and Non-Government Organisati ....Enabling social innovation for local climate adaptability. Climate variability and change is likely to be felt most acutely at the local scale in Australia. This is where inter/national and State policies are translated into practices to prepare for, and adapt to, anticipated impacts of heatwaves, bushfires and floods. This project will investigate tensions and potentialities between risk-based assessments by local governance agencies and innovations by local groups and Non-Government Organisations. The research will utilise an innovative mixed-methods approach to investigate and to analyse the strategies and experiments of adaptation practices. It aims to develop new ways of identifying and implementing practical, local, adaptive responses that are contextually relevant, socially innovative and capacity building.Read moreRead less
Privatising neighbourhoods? Governance and social life in master-planned residential estates. Australian residential neighbourhoods are changing in the face of growing privatisation and privatism, with major implications for the strength of the social and economic fabric of cities. Master planned residential estates are emblematic of this change. This project empirically investigates the extent and nature of privatisation and privatism in these new residential environments. It will provide a rig ....Privatising neighbourhoods? Governance and social life in master-planned residential estates. Australian residential neighbourhoods are changing in the face of growing privatisation and privatism, with major implications for the strength of the social and economic fabric of cities. Master planned residential estates are emblematic of this change. This project empirically investigates the extent and nature of privatisation and privatism in these new residential environments. It will provide a rigorous analysis necessary to growing national debates about creating and sustaining urban social cohesion, and on the importance of social ties between people for producing a more prosperous Australia.Read moreRead less
Functional characterisation of contaminant-nanoparticle associations. Nanoparticles present in the environment modify the movement and toxicity of contaminants. This project targets key gaps that hinder the ability to predict the fate and behaviour of environmental contaminants; this will lead to the optimisation of legislative framework and the management/remediation of contaminated sites (for example, mine sites, landfills).
Governing during an ocean climate crisis: Building integrative capacity . This project aims to investigate how strengthening institutional integrative capacity will lead to more effective integrated oceans management (IOM). Integration across sectors and jurisdictions will enhance cooperation, coordination and policy coherence. This project expects to identify new and innovative approaches to implement IOM by identifying which components of integrative capacity can be improved. Expected outcomes ....Governing during an ocean climate crisis: Building integrative capacity . This project aims to investigate how strengthening institutional integrative capacity will lead to more effective integrated oceans management (IOM). Integration across sectors and jurisdictions will enhance cooperation, coordination and policy coherence. This project expects to identify new and innovative approaches to implement IOM by identifying which components of integrative capacity can be improved. Expected outcomes of this project include practical new directions for IOM in Australia and Canada that will increase collaboration between governments, industry, Indigenous groups and communities. This study will improve oceans governance and benefit countries' efforts to mitigate climate change impacts on the marine environment. Read moreRead less
Catching capital: Understanding and influencing corporate tax strategy. This project aims to analyse the factors which influence the tax strategies of large multi-national corporations, and explain variations in behaviour between firms and industry sectors. Identifying reforms that exert the greatest influence over corporate behaviour will enable reforms which refine and improve the efficacy of international tax regimes. The expected outcomes will provide an evidence base for policy makers to ev ....Catching capital: Understanding and influencing corporate tax strategy. This project aims to analyse the factors which influence the tax strategies of large multi-national corporations, and explain variations in behaviour between firms and industry sectors. Identifying reforms that exert the greatest influence over corporate behaviour will enable reforms which refine and improve the efficacy of international tax regimes. The expected outcomes will provide an evidence base for policy makers to evaluate and refine corporate tax reform initiatives.Read moreRead less
Interdependence, transnational institutions and the governance of international taxation in the 21st Century. The global financial crisis is placing national tax systems under unprecedented competitive pressures. In such an environment the need for international tax cooperation has never been greater. Using comparative analysis this project will seek to establish which transnational institutions and governance systems best support international tax cooperation. By doing so it will enhance both t ....Interdependence, transnational institutions and the governance of international taxation in the 21st Century. The global financial crisis is placing national tax systems under unprecedented competitive pressures. In such an environment the need for international tax cooperation has never been greater. Using comparative analysis this project will seek to establish which transnational institutions and governance systems best support international tax cooperation. By doing so it will enhance both the ability of state and non-state actors to develop and refine strategies for participating in such systems and the prospects for achieving cooperation in this critical aspect of world affairs.Read moreRead less
Australia's changing urban tree estate: a socio-ecological study of patterns, causes and consequences. The project will significantly advance social and environmental understanding of the patterns, causes and consequences of changes in the Australian urban tree estate, therefore having immediate relevance to the home-environment of the majority of Australians. This knowledge will be of direct benefit to researchers, planners, land managers and residents in improving the sustainability of Austral ....Australia's changing urban tree estate: a socio-ecological study of patterns, causes and consequences. The project will significantly advance social and environmental understanding of the patterns, causes and consequences of changes in the Australian urban tree estate, therefore having immediate relevance to the home-environment of the majority of Australians. This knowledge will be of direct benefit to researchers, planners, land managers and residents in improving the sustainability of Australian cities. In particular, better informed decisions about the urban tree estate will help to maintain Australia's biodiversity, mitigate local and global climate change effects, manage fire risk, contribute to water conservation, improve air quality, enhance environmental amenity, reduce tree-related social conflict and enhance sense of place. Read moreRead less
Place and parametricism: Provocations for the rethinking of design. This project aims to explore whether quantitative methods of digital and parametric design can adequately encompass place. Quantitative digital and parametric approaches increasingly dominate contemporary architecture, but people assume architectural design should be essentially oriented to questions of place. The project will operate through a set of studio provocations based on the fictional places of Mervyn Peake's Gormenghas ....Place and parametricism: Provocations for the rethinking of design. This project aims to explore whether quantitative methods of digital and parametric design can adequately encompass place. Quantitative digital and parametric approaches increasingly dominate contemporary architecture, but people assume architectural design should be essentially oriented to questions of place. The project will operate through a set of studio provocations based on the fictional places of Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast novels. The project is expected to clarify the nature of place and parametricism, and rethink what design itself might be.Read moreRead less