Exploring Botanic Gardens Herbarium's value, via Environmental Aesthetics. . The project aims to aesthetically redefine engagement with the plant collection at Royal Botanic Gardens Herbarium (RBG) Sydney and to communicate its artistic, cultural and heritage value to the public through a Public Program of creative arts case studies. It's expected that new insights will arise from an environmental art methodology utilising the digitisation of the Herbarium specimens, so that audiences can intera ....Exploring Botanic Gardens Herbarium's value, via Environmental Aesthetics. . The project aims to aesthetically redefine engagement with the plant collection at Royal Botanic Gardens Herbarium (RBG) Sydney and to communicate its artistic, cultural and heritage value to the public through a Public Program of creative arts case studies. It's expected that new insights will arise from an environmental art methodology utilising the digitisation of the Herbarium specimens, so that audiences can interactively experience the plant archive through narratives that activate plants as underpinning ecosystems. Benefits to partners RBG, Bundanon Trust and Open Humanities Press will include the digital expansion of audience engagement with the Herbarium at RBG and Mt Annan and communication of collection’s significance.Read moreRead less
Curating Cities: the social and ecological potential of public art practice. This project researches the contribution of public art to eco-sustainable development, focusing on world’s best practice and potential benefits to Sydney and cities in general. It seeks to establish how the arts can promote environmentally beneficial behaviour change and the development of green infrastructure.
Extinction Imaginaries: Mapping Affective Visual Cultures in Australasia. This project aims to provide NGOs with new strategies for raising awareness of environmental change by investigating what animal extinction means to Australians. Australasia has the highest global extinction rates, yet despite the wide circulation of visual images of extinction little is known about how they affect people. The project expects to address this critical gap by bringing innovative methodologies to the analysis ....Extinction Imaginaries: Mapping Affective Visual Cultures in Australasia. This project aims to provide NGOs with new strategies for raising awareness of environmental change by investigating what animal extinction means to Australians. Australasia has the highest global extinction rates, yet despite the wide circulation of visual images of extinction little is known about how they affect people. The project expects to address this critical gap by bringing innovative methodologies to the analysis of public responses to images of extinction and how they affect social imaginaries. Expected outcomes include research translations with environmental NGOs which should provide significant benefits by addressing public concern for the deteriorating ecosystems that future generations will inherit.
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An investigation of meaning negotiation in electronic discourse. This project investigates the use of collaborative electronic exchanges between language students in Indonesian and Queensland schools to enhance language and inter-cultural development. The chief investigators will develop a new model of discourse appropriate to such asynchronous communication (e-mail and forums), as well as investigate developments in technological literacy. Other outcomes will include guidelines for creating pra ....An investigation of meaning negotiation in electronic discourse. This project investigates the use of collaborative electronic exchanges between language students in Indonesian and Queensland schools to enhance language and inter-cultural development. The chief investigators will develop a new model of discourse appropriate to such asynchronous communication (e-mail and forums), as well as investigate developments in technological literacy. Other outcomes will include guidelines for creating practical technology-mediated tasks, and protocols for establishing and maintaining electronic tandem exchanges with a developing country. Results will be reported to the Industry Partner and relevant educational authorities and published in national and international journals such as ARAL, Babel and CALL Journal.Read moreRead less
Bininj Gunwok Lexicography Project. This project will make a contribution to Aboriginal language maintenance and documentation via lexicography. Only about 20 of the original 200 or so Aboriginal languages remain viable. Bininj Gunwok is one of these languages. Very few dictionaries exist for Australian languages and for those languages such as Bininj Gunwok which linguists class as 'non-Pama-Nyungan', only a handful of dictionaries are available. The resulting Bininj Gunwok dictionary and cultu ....Bininj Gunwok Lexicography Project. This project will make a contribution to Aboriginal language maintenance and documentation via lexicography. Only about 20 of the original 200 or so Aboriginal languages remain viable. Bininj Gunwok is one of these languages. Very few dictionaries exist for Australian languages and for those languages such as Bininj Gunwok which linguists class as 'non-Pama-Nyungan', only a handful of dictionaries are available. The resulting Bininj Gunwok dictionary and cultural encyclopaedia will have applications for education, Aboriginal health, community development, land management and environmental science in Kakadu National Park and western Arnhem Land as well as applications for cross-cultural communication.Read moreRead less
THE UNWRITTEN HISTORY OF AUSTRALIAN MODERNISM. Most histories treat modernism in Australia as a phenomenon of ?fine art,? or simply painting. This project will instead reveal modernism's highly public impact across a range of media (design, photography, advertising, architecture and art). This new history will better explain how modernist visual idioms became ubiquitous in everyday contemporary design and our built environment after their initial, often hostile reception. The project will provid ....THE UNWRITTEN HISTORY OF AUSTRALIAN MODERNISM. Most histories treat modernism in Australia as a phenomenon of ?fine art,? or simply painting. This project will instead reveal modernism's highly public impact across a range of media (design, photography, advertising, architecture and art). This new history will better explain how modernist visual idioms became ubiquitous in everyday contemporary design and our built environment after their initial, often hostile reception. The project will provide an integrated research analysis of the extensive, but disparate, archives on Australian modernism. It will communicate its research findings through a new scholarly study, a major large-scale travelling public exhibition, a CD, and a website.Read moreRead less
Speaking Greek in diaspora: language contact, survival, and maintenance. Australia is a highly multilingual and multicultural country, speaking several hundred different indigenous and immigrant languages across the nation. Greek is the second largest language spoken in Australia (the second largest country of Greek diaspora in the world). A systematic investigation of the Greek language spoken in Australia by various generations, and its comparison with Greek as spoken in critical locations in ....Speaking Greek in diaspora: language contact, survival, and maintenance. Australia is a highly multilingual and multicultural country, speaking several hundred different indigenous and immigrant languages across the nation. Greek is the second largest language spoken in Australia (the second largest country of Greek diaspora in the world). A systematic investigation of the Greek language spoken in Australia by various generations, and its comparison with Greek as spoken in critical locations in South America, will enhance cross-cultural understanding and communication within Australia and world-wide. The project will fortify the scientific and economic links with the European community already established by the National Centre for Hellenic Studies and Research, in terms of social and economic benefit.Read moreRead less
The Role of Communication in Sino-Australian Business Negotiations: An Appraisal. Communication difficulties together with the lack of cultural understanding are a major barrier preventing many Australian businesses from succeeding in the Chinese market, a primary estination for Australian exports. Yet up til now, the study of Australian-Chinese cross-cultural communications has been largely unattended. This project addresses this need by integrating an emotions perspective on communication wi ....The Role of Communication in Sino-Australian Business Negotiations: An Appraisal. Communication difficulties together with the lack of cultural understanding are a major barrier preventing many Australian businesses from succeeding in the Chinese market, a primary estination for Australian exports. Yet up til now, the study of Australian-Chinese cross-cultural communications has been largely unattended. This project addresses this need by integrating an emotions perspective on communication with a well-established communication theory. Using a grounded theory approach, the proposed project will result in a model that will assist businesses to identify points where communications may falter and formulate strategies for dealing with such intricacies in the context of Sino-Australian business negotiations.Read moreRead less
Visual Anthropology of settlement among newly arrived refugee youth. The majority of refugees currently arriving in Australia are youth from the middle-East and the Horn of Africa. These young people face major challenges to successful settlement, often having histories of little or no schooling, exposure to violence, and long-term residence in refugee camps. There is a lack of evidence to inform policy and practice on how to best support these young people. This project will give refugee youth ....Visual Anthropology of settlement among newly arrived refugee youth. The majority of refugees currently arriving in Australia are youth from the middle-East and the Horn of Africa. These young people face major challenges to successful settlement, often having histories of little or no schooling, exposure to violence, and long-term residence in refugee camps. There is a lack of evidence to inform policy and practice on how to best support these young people. This project will give refugee youth the opportunity to learn technical, creative and interpersonal skills, enabling them to share their stories with both researchers and the general public and producing understandings about how they cope with the resettlement process. Read moreRead less
Home Lands: Displaced youth and the development of positive transnational identities in a supportive local context. Home Lands will provide insights into how service providers working with refugee youth can best capitalise on the existing skills and knowledge of displaced youth to assist them in developing positive identities and futures. This will facilitate more positive relationships between refugee youth and the Australian community, and enable Australia to more quickly benefit from the exis ....Home Lands: Displaced youth and the development of positive transnational identities in a supportive local context. Home Lands will provide insights into how service providers working with refugee youth can best capitalise on the existing skills and knowledge of displaced youth to assist them in developing positive identities and futures. This will facilitate more positive relationships between refugee youth and the Australian community, and enable Australia to more quickly benefit from the existing cultural and social capital of new arrivals who currently experience marginalisation. The investigation of the process will also contribute to improved community development and refugee service delivery.Read moreRead less