Two-way Auslan: Automatic Machine Translation of Australian Sign Language. This project aims to develop an automatic two-way machine-translation system between Auslan (Australian Sign Language) and English by researching and leveraging advanced computer vision and machine learning technology. The project expects to advance research in AI technology on topics including visual recognition, language processing and deep learning. This will boost Australia's national research capacity and global com ....Two-way Auslan: Automatic Machine Translation of Australian Sign Language. This project aims to develop an automatic two-way machine-translation system between Auslan (Australian Sign Language) and English by researching and leveraging advanced computer vision and machine learning technology. The project expects to advance research in AI technology on topics including visual recognition, language processing and deep learning. This will boost Australia's national research capacity and global competitiveness. Expected outcomes of this project will help to break the communication barriers between the Deaf and hearing population. This should provide significant benefits to Deaf communities through enhanced communication and improved quality-of-life, leading to a fair, more inclusive and resilient Australian society.Read moreRead less
A Novel Automatic Neural Network Feature Extractor. This project aims to study feature extraction abilities of convolutional as well as traditional neural networks and develop a generic feature extractor which can be applied to wide variety of real-world image and non-image data. New concepts for automatic feature extraction, feature explanation, hybrid evolutionary algorithms and non-iterative ensemble learning will be introduced and evaluated. The expected outcomes are a generic feature extrac ....A Novel Automatic Neural Network Feature Extractor. This project aims to study feature extraction abilities of convolutional as well as traditional neural networks and develop a generic feature extractor which can be applied to wide variety of real-world image and non-image data. New concepts for automatic feature extraction, feature explanation, hybrid evolutionary algorithms and non-iterative ensemble learning will be introduced and evaluated. The expected outcomes are a generic feature extractor for automatically extracting features, an optimiser for finding optimal parameters and non-iterative ensemble learning technique for classification of features into classes. The impact of this project will be automatic feature extractors and classifiers for real-world applications.Read moreRead less
Lifelong robotic navigation using visual perception. Service robots are becoming a major part of our working and personal environments, in much the same way as personal computers already have. This project will develop new methods of practical and useful robot navigation that will enable Australia's industries and services to remain internationally competitive.
Solve it or Ignore it? The Challenge of Alignment Distortion and Creating Next Generation Automatic Facial Expression Detection. The last two decades have seen an escalating interest in automating the coding of facial expressions. Despite this keen interest, the promise of computer vision systems to accurately code facial expressions in natural circumstances remains elusive. Our interdisciplinary team will research a new paradigm to account for facial alignment distortion directly rather than ai ....Solve it or Ignore it? The Challenge of Alignment Distortion and Creating Next Generation Automatic Facial Expression Detection. The last two decades have seen an escalating interest in automating the coding of facial expressions. Despite this keen interest, the promise of computer vision systems to accurately code facial expressions in natural circumstances remains elusive. Our interdisciplinary team will research a new paradigm to account for facial alignment distortion directly rather than aiming to achieve invariance to it. The project will also research new data agnostic feature compaction capabilities to enable scalable learning on the world’s largest and challenging expression dataset available to us through international collaboration. Tackling these two major open problems will make accurate coding of facial expressions in natural environments achievable.Read moreRead less
Omniscient face recognition for uncooperative subjects. The outcomes of this project will enable effective video surveillance technology to be developed for use by law enforcement and national security agencies. It will lead to reliable identification of humans at a distance by automatically detecting and recognising faces, for use in counter-terrorism surveillance and commercial robot-human interfaces.
Expectations and commitments in the Australia-USA alliance. This project aims to investigate the gap between the high expectations of mutual support and the lack of detailed security commitments in the Australia-US Alliance. The project intends to use a focused approach that captures thematic aspects of the alliance through project frames and historical slices across time. Expected outcomes can advance understanding of how alliances operate as security institutions. The outcomes can help to prom ....Expectations and commitments in the Australia-USA alliance. This project aims to investigate the gap between the high expectations of mutual support and the lack of detailed security commitments in the Australia-US Alliance. The project intends to use a focused approach that captures thematic aspects of the alliance through project frames and historical slices across time. Expected outcomes can advance understanding of how alliances operate as security institutions. The outcomes can help to promote a more informed national conversation about the costs and benefits of Australia's security relationship with the United States of America (USA) and contribute to debates over the future of the Australia-USA Alliance during a period of strategic uncertainty.Read moreRead less
Radical right populist parties. This project aims to explain why some radical right-wing populists in Western democracies enter governmental alliances with mainstream parties while others remain isolated. The emergence, spread and electoral success of radical right populists is a problem facing liberal democracy in the twenty-first century. While these parties’ policies, ideologies and rhetoric are similar, their relationships with mainstream parties are different. By examining explanatory facto ....Radical right populist parties. This project aims to explain why some radical right-wing populists in Western democracies enter governmental alliances with mainstream parties while others remain isolated. The emergence, spread and electoral success of radical right populists is a problem facing liberal democracy in the twenty-first century. While these parties’ policies, ideologies and rhetoric are similar, their relationships with mainstream parties are different. By examining explanatory factors that Political Science studies have so far been neglected, this project seeks to explain this variation and explore its implications for coalition theory.Read moreRead less
The impact of political reconciliation in the Asia-Pacific. Focusing on the cases of East Timor, Bougainville and the Solomon Islands, this project will examine the contribution that political reconciliation processes, practices and events make to the pursuit of peace and security in the Asia-Pacific. Using a highly contextual, interpretive approach grounded in intensive in-country fieldwork, it will provide an empirically grounded assessment of regional reconciliation processes that not only co ....The impact of political reconciliation in the Asia-Pacific. Focusing on the cases of East Timor, Bougainville and the Solomon Islands, this project will examine the contribution that political reconciliation processes, practices and events make to the pursuit of peace and security in the Asia-Pacific. Using a highly contextual, interpretive approach grounded in intensive in-country fieldwork, it will provide an empirically grounded assessment of regional reconciliation processes that not only contributes to the development of scholarly literature on transitional justice, peacebuilding and security, but also to contemporary policy debates concerning Australia’s engagement with states within its immediate regional neighbourhood.Read moreRead less
Amnesties and peace accords in the Asia-Pacific. This project aims to produce a comprehensive empirical study of peace-settlement amnesties and their impact on democracy, human rights and long-term peace in the aftermath of violent con?ict. It combines a large-scale global study of all amnesties included in peace accords from 1980 to 2005 with four case studies drawn from the Asia-Paci?c region: Indonesia/Aceh; Papua New Guinea/Bougainville; East Timor; and the Solomon Islands. It will provide a ....Amnesties and peace accords in the Asia-Pacific. This project aims to produce a comprehensive empirical study of peace-settlement amnesties and their impact on democracy, human rights and long-term peace in the aftermath of violent con?ict. It combines a large-scale global study of all amnesties included in peace accords from 1980 to 2005 with four case studies drawn from the Asia-Paci?c region: Indonesia/Aceh; Papua New Guinea/Bougainville; East Timor; and the Solomon Islands. It will provide an original contribution to scholarship concerned with amnesties and peace- settlements as well as crucial and as yet unavailable insights into the effectiveness and broader rami?cations of offering amnesties in exchange for peace that will inform future peacemaking practice.Read moreRead less
Extended Nuclear Deterrence and the Restraint of Non-Nuclear Allies: Material Cooperation and Strategic Dialogue. Extended nuclear deterrence is central to the security commitments offered by the US to its European and Asian allies, but little is known about why non-nuclear allies ask for the nuclear assurances they do and how they influence the assurances they ultimately receive. Using the lenses of intra-alliance bargaining, the role and composition of assurances, and domestic and internationa ....Extended Nuclear Deterrence and the Restraint of Non-Nuclear Allies: Material Cooperation and Strategic Dialogue. Extended nuclear deterrence is central to the security commitments offered by the US to its European and Asian allies, but little is known about why non-nuclear allies ask for the nuclear assurances they do and how they influence the assurances they ultimately receive. Using the lenses of intra-alliance bargaining, the role and composition of assurances, and domestic and international interactions, the project investigates why non-nuclear allies often seek modest extended nuclear deterrence guarantees when they could push for more ambitious commitments. The outcomes of the project will advance theoretical understanding of alliances, assurance and nuclear strategy, with direct relevance to foreign policy and nuclear disarmament.Read moreRead less