A national framework for managing malignant plastics in museum collections. A national framework for managing malignant plastics in museum collections. This collaborative project between three universities, four museums and an art gallery aims to discover how to predict and increase the lifespan of malignant plastics or polymers by studying their identification, deterioration and conservation. 5 to 80% of museum collections, composed of growing numbers of plastic or polymer-based materials, need ....A national framework for managing malignant plastics in museum collections. A national framework for managing malignant plastics in museum collections. This collaborative project between three universities, four museums and an art gallery aims to discover how to predict and increase the lifespan of malignant plastics or polymers by studying their identification, deterioration and conservation. 5 to 80% of museum collections, composed of growing numbers of plastic or polymer-based materials, need better preservation. Conservators do not have much expertise in preserving plastics, which are contemporary and have a relatively short life expectancy. This project intends to provide museums with a model for prioritising and effectively allocating resources to preserve a vulnerable group of collections for future generations.Read moreRead less
Diversifying Australian Regional Art Museums. Regional art museums need to diversify to maintain relevance to the communities they serve as these communities are increasingly Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) resulting from humanitarian resettlement programs. However, their strategies are limited to diversifying audiences rather than including CALD people in leadership positions in the museum. Working with the Murray Art Museum Albury, situated in Albury-Wodonga, this project creates ....Diversifying Australian Regional Art Museums. Regional art museums need to diversify to maintain relevance to the communities they serve as these communities are increasingly Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) resulting from humanitarian resettlement programs. However, their strategies are limited to diversifying audiences rather than including CALD people in leadership positions in the museum. Working with the Murray Art Museum Albury, situated in Albury-Wodonga, this project creates a new museological method to generate structural change, training future CALD cultural leaders and prototyping an inclusive museum. It proposes that regional art museums, embedded in sites with shifting populations, are able to lead structural diversification in Australian art.Read moreRead less
Curating Museum Collections for Climate Change Mitigation. The Project aims to investigate how museum collections, many of which have histories entangled in Australia’s high emission sectors that supported the nation’s economic growth, can be curated to support climate change mitigation. Drawing together the disciplines of biogeochemistry, museology, environmental humanities, Indigenous knowledge and education, the Project anticipates enhancing the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences' capacity f ....Curating Museum Collections for Climate Change Mitigation. The Project aims to investigate how museum collections, many of which have histories entangled in Australia’s high emission sectors that supported the nation’s economic growth, can be curated to support climate change mitigation. Drawing together the disciplines of biogeochemistry, museology, environmental humanities, Indigenous knowledge and education, the Project anticipates enhancing the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences' capacity for climate action through innovative programs. Its benefits include developing new collections-based climate research which incorporate the perspectives of multi-stakeholders, including Indigenous Australians, and builds museums' capacity to grow public climate literacy.Read moreRead less
Everyday Heritage. This project aims to uncover everyday but overlooked forms of Australian heritage. Working collaboratively to bridge academic and industry practice, it seeks to develop innovative methods with outcomes expected to include enhanced collaboration between heritage, digital humanities, and historical research, and new resources for communities and the heritage sector. This should provide significant social and cultural benefits such as more inclusive forms of heritage, and broader ....Everyday Heritage. This project aims to uncover everyday but overlooked forms of Australian heritage. Working collaboratively to bridge academic and industry practice, it seeks to develop innovative methods with outcomes expected to include enhanced collaboration between heritage, digital humanities, and historical research, and new resources for communities and the heritage sector. This should provide significant social and cultural benefits such as more inclusive forms of heritage, and broader intellectual and practical understandings of shared history and citizenship. The project will promote public debate on the role of the past in modern Australia through a range of new forms of history and heritage, digital resources and heritage management tools.
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Improving aged care with memory conversations. This project aims to investigate conversational techniques known as "elaborative reminiscing" as a tool for aged care staff to practice relationship-based care in their day-to-day interactions with older clients. The project expects to generate new knowledge about which specific techniques increase reminiscing during routine care, and how these tools have ongoing benefits for aged care clients. Expected outcomes include an evidence-based training pr ....Improving aged care with memory conversations. This project aims to investigate conversational techniques known as "elaborative reminiscing" as a tool for aged care staff to practice relationship-based care in their day-to-day interactions with older clients. The project expects to generate new knowledge about which specific techniques increase reminiscing during routine care, and how these tools have ongoing benefits for aged care clients. Expected outcomes include an evidence-based training program and improved understanding of facilitators and barriers to meeting aged care clients' social needs. This should provide significant benefits by improving wellbeing of clients in aged care, reducing hospitalisations, and enabling aged care providers to meet new industry standards.Read moreRead less
Designing a Holistic Model of Advice to Improve Retirement Planning. We aim to improve retirement planning through the design and application of a new model integrating financial advice with career and health planning to optimise financial and psychological outcomes. We will test a multidisciplinary, holistic model of advice combining specialist knowledge in careers, health, and finances. Expected outcomes of the project include evaluating the use of a broader range of experts during retirement ....Designing a Holistic Model of Advice to Improve Retirement Planning. We aim to improve retirement planning through the design and application of a new model integrating financial advice with career and health planning to optimise financial and psychological outcomes. We will test a multidisciplinary, holistic model of advice combining specialist knowledge in careers, health, and finances. Expected outcomes of the project include evaluating the use of a broader range of experts during retirement planning and developing a model for the future training and development of financial advisers.By optimising the timing of workplace exit, we aim to decrease reliance on pensions and encourage earlier and on-going engagement in the retirement planning process. This will provide significant social and economic benefits.Read moreRead less
Heritage of the air: how aviation transformed Australia. This project aims to generate new understandings of how aviation has transformed Australian society over the last hundred years, and how the technology of global mobility has shaped people, cultures and communities. Whilst aviation has transformed Australian society over the last hundred years, its heritage is under-appreciated and at risk. The project will build a partnership between the aviation industry, community groups, museums and a ....Heritage of the air: how aviation transformed Australia. This project aims to generate new understandings of how aviation has transformed Australian society over the last hundred years, and how the technology of global mobility has shaped people, cultures and communities. Whilst aviation has transformed Australian society over the last hundred years, its heritage is under-appreciated and at risk. The project will build a partnership between the aviation industry, community groups, museums and a multidisciplinary academic team to develop fresh insights from under-utilised sources of aviation heritage, communicate their unique stories to the public through innovative exhibitions and publications, and help conserve it for future generations. As a result, the project will make an important contribution to culture and society by enabling community access to neglected and at-risk sources of aviation heritage, and engage the public’s fascination with aviation through new interpretations of its extraordinary social and cultural impact.Read moreRead less
Laser cleaning processes for Roads and Maritime Services bridges. This project aims to develop innovative laser cleaning processes to conserve the structural integrity and iconic status of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. New laser technologies offer the opportunity to remove lead-based paint and clean the bridge’s metal structures and granite pylons offering advantages unavailable with current techniques. The expected outcomes will be new best-practice laser conservation techniques usable for both ha ....Laser cleaning processes for Roads and Maritime Services bridges. This project aims to develop innovative laser cleaning processes to conserve the structural integrity and iconic status of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. New laser technologies offer the opportunity to remove lead-based paint and clean the bridge’s metal structures and granite pylons offering advantages unavailable with current techniques. The expected outcomes will be new best-practice laser conservation techniques usable for both hand-held and automated systems to preserve one of the most iconic bridges in the world. This will reduce maintenance frequency and cost, restore the beauty of the bridge, retain its engineering significance and provide a baseline process for cleaning of other historical large scale metal and stone heritage objects.Read moreRead less
Heritage-making among recent migrants in Parramatta. The project aims to elucidate how recent migrants experience and interact with existing heritage places in Parramatta and how they generate heritage places and attachments of their own. It aims to narrow the current gap between the majority migrant population and the heritage of such urban areas. Capitalising on heritage-making theory, the project will advance knowledge, policy and practice by generating a new approach to the inclusion of migr ....Heritage-making among recent migrants in Parramatta. The project aims to elucidate how recent migrants experience and interact with existing heritage places in Parramatta and how they generate heritage places and attachments of their own. It aims to narrow the current gap between the majority migrant population and the heritage of such urban areas. Capitalising on heritage-making theory, the project will advance knowledge, policy and practice by generating a new approach to the inclusion of migrants in the public field of heritage. It will enable heritage managers to build programs and policies to achieve this inclusion and familiarise recent migrants with the language and mechanism of heritage and assist them in sourcing funds for heritage recording and conservation.Read moreRead less
High performance polymer fibres for recyclable composites . The project aims to develop novel drawn polymer fibres with aligned carbon nanotubes incorporated inside and also grafted nanotubes on their surface. Such polymer fibres can be used to reinforce thermoplastics to make high performance composites with effective recyclability. This is important as the existing thermosetting composites are not recyclable and significant property enhancement require high loading (>30%) of reinforcing fibres ....High performance polymer fibres for recyclable composites . The project aims to develop novel drawn polymer fibres with aligned carbon nanotubes incorporated inside and also grafted nanotubes on their surface. Such polymer fibres can be used to reinforce thermoplastics to make high performance composites with effective recyclability. This is important as the existing thermosetting composites are not recyclable and significant property enhancement require high loading (>30%) of reinforcing fibres. The outcomes of this project will be novel technology for making high stiffness polymer fibres and their use in thermoplastic composites. The benefits will be to allow easy processing and recycling. They will be used in down-sizing of high volume products and high value automotive or aerospace products.Read moreRead less