New Possibilities: Young People and Democratic Renewal. Vibrant democracies require generational renewal as norms, values and cultures evolve. This project is a systematic study of Australian students in the climate change movement. Examining who the students are, why they participate, how they organise, how they represent themselves and are represented by others in social and mainstream media, the project ethically advances ways of co-researching students’ civic and political participation in o ....New Possibilities: Young People and Democratic Renewal. Vibrant democracies require generational renewal as norms, values and cultures evolve. This project is a systematic study of Australian students in the climate change movement. Examining who the students are, why they participate, how they organise, how they represent themselves and are represented by others in social and mainstream media, the project ethically advances ways of co-researching students’ civic and political participation in offline and online settings. Expected outcomes include improved capacity for investigating student political action, new knowledge of the motivations, norms and practices that characterise student climate politics and concepts and tools for democratic renewal through engagement with young people.Read moreRead less
Knowledge integration for Torres Strait sustainability. This project aims to investigate how Torres Strait Islanders use context-specific local knowledge and research evidence to address environmental sustainability challenges. The Torres Strait is experiencing significant threats to its environment and there is a need to use research to identify strategies that can meet these challenges. However, at present significiant barriers exist in the translation of current research knowledge to the Torr ....Knowledge integration for Torres Strait sustainability. This project aims to investigate how Torres Strait Islanders use context-specific local knowledge and research evidence to address environmental sustainability challenges. The Torres Strait is experiencing significant threats to its environment and there is a need to use research to identify strategies that can meet these challenges. However, at present significiant barriers exist in the translation of current research knowledge to the Torres Strait context. The project will examine how knowledge is constructed (culturally) and develop new methods to allow research findings to be integrated into Torres Strait knowledge. This project will support the empowerment of Torres Strait Islander people to seek the research information that is most useful for their decision-making.Read moreRead less
Indigenous nationhood in the absence of recognition: Self-governance insights and strategies from three Aboriginal communities. Based on evidence that effective governance is a necessary precursor to Indigenous communities’ economic, social and cultural outcomes, this project aims to strengthen Australian Indigenous communities by learning and sharing lessons about sustainable and effective Indigenous governance. In collaboration with three Aboriginal communities in Victoria, South Australia and ....Indigenous nationhood in the absence of recognition: Self-governance insights and strategies from three Aboriginal communities. Based on evidence that effective governance is a necessary precursor to Indigenous communities’ economic, social and cultural outcomes, this project aims to strengthen Australian Indigenous communities by learning and sharing lessons about sustainable and effective Indigenous governance. In collaboration with three Aboriginal communities in Victoria, South Australia and New South Wales that are differentially engaged in Indigenous governance processes, the project aims to identify innovation in community governance, test the usefulness of Australian governance assessment tools, and foster an Indigenous Australian and global network to share successful strategies. In doing so, the project contributes to an emerging theory of Indigenous nation building.Read moreRead less
Challenging the neoliberal critique of deficit spending and public debt. This project aims to analyse the rhetoric of balanced budgets by examining its intellectual and political history and revisiting counterarguments. Expected outcomes from the project will include insights into the development of rhetoric based on analysis of archival, textual and interview-based data . Findings from the project will be published in online fora with wide readership in national and international policy circle ....Challenging the neoliberal critique of deficit spending and public debt. This project aims to analyse the rhetoric of balanced budgets by examining its intellectual and political history and revisiting counterarguments. Expected outcomes from the project will include insights into the development of rhetoric based on analysis of archival, textual and interview-based data . Findings from the project will be published in online fora with wide readership in national and international policy circles. The project has the capacity to provide insights into and benefits for policy discourse on government deficit-spending and public debt.Read moreRead less
Enhanced Humans, Robotics and the Future of Work. The aim of the project is to generate new and powerful understandings of the social consequences of robotics and artificial intelligence. The project aims to develop an understanding of technologically-mediated mobility processes and test their capacity to address such issues as social futures and the sorts of digital skills that Australians will require for future jobs. It plans to use social theory to explore technological scenarios and hypothe ....Enhanced Humans, Robotics and the Future of Work. The aim of the project is to generate new and powerful understandings of the social consequences of robotics and artificial intelligence. The project aims to develop an understanding of technologically-mediated mobility processes and test their capacity to address such issues as social futures and the sorts of digital skills that Australians will require for future jobs. It plans to use social theory to explore technological scenarios and hypotheses concerning possible societal futures in Australia and beyond. Project outcomes may inform social science and contribute to worldwide efforts to solve global policy problems from work and unemployment to lifestyle change.Read moreRead less
Living with personal data: Australians' understandings and practices. This project aims to involve citizens and other stakeholders in generating new knowledge about Australians' practices and understandings related to their personal data and data futures. Personal digital data have possible benefits not just for the individuals from whom the data are generated, but also for society, government and the economy. Yet there are also potential harms, such as challenges to civil rights, life opportuni ....Living with personal data: Australians' understandings and practices. This project aims to involve citizens and other stakeholders in generating new knowledge about Australians' practices and understandings related to their personal data and data futures. Personal digital data have possible benefits not just for the individuals from whom the data are generated, but also for society, government and the economy. Yet there are also potential harms, such as challenges to civil rights, life opportunities and data privacy. The project intends to develop applied and theoretical insights into the nature of people’s understandings of and engagements with their data. Its findings are expected to contribute knowledge relevant to policy development and data privacy advocacy.Read moreRead less
Managing and mitigating social risks of major infrastructure projects. This project aims to reduce social risks of major infrastructure projects by generating an evidence-based social risk management framework. It brings together leading ANU researchers with top organisations in Australia's infrastructure sector, already working together via the ANU Institute for Infrastructure in Society. The project seeks to improve social risk management in a multi-billion dollar sector, vital to all Australi ....Managing and mitigating social risks of major infrastructure projects. This project aims to reduce social risks of major infrastructure projects by generating an evidence-based social risk management framework. It brings together leading ANU researchers with top organisations in Australia's infrastructure sector, already working together via the ANU Institute for Infrastructure in Society. The project seeks to improve social risk management in a multi-billion dollar sector, vital to all Australians. The project is significant because it adopts a sector-wide view to systematically define social risk, co-create a social risk management framework and implement it via a new social risk management toolkit. This should lessen harm to communities, reduce delays and costs and benefit national infrastructure delivery.Read moreRead less
Household Vulnerability and the Politics of Social Protection in Indonesia: Towards an Integrated Approach. Despite rapid economic growth in the middle income countries of Asia, rural populations face multiple shocks and new sources of stress, and significant pockets of chronic poverty remain. While states have instituted new social protection policies to deal with household vulnerability, these programs have had limited effectiveness. This project addresses the weaknesses in diagnostic approach ....Household Vulnerability and the Politics of Social Protection in Indonesia: Towards an Integrated Approach. Despite rapid economic growth in the middle income countries of Asia, rural populations face multiple shocks and new sources of stress, and significant pockets of chronic poverty remain. While states have instituted new social protection policies to deal with household vulnerability, these programs have had limited effectiveness. This project addresses the weaknesses in diagnostic approaches to poverty and vulnerability in Indonesia. Combining case-study analyses of poverty drivers, investigations of social protection practices, and an analysis of the politics of social protection, it will develop a new integrated framework for conceptualising vulnerability and social protection programs. Read moreRead less
Veteran suicide: investigating the historical and social dimensions . This project aims to address veteran suicide by conducting an historical and cultural analysis of the ways government, the military and the community have understood, governed, and serviced veterans from 1914-present. This project will generate new knowledge, moving beyond orthodox medical and cultural assessments to explore wider historical, cultural and sociological relations of veteran suicide, including civil military rela ....Veteran suicide: investigating the historical and social dimensions . This project aims to address veteran suicide by conducting an historical and cultural analysis of the ways government, the military and the community have understood, governed, and serviced veterans from 1914-present. This project will generate new knowledge, moving beyond orthodox medical and cultural assessments to explore wider historical, cultural and sociological relations of veteran suicide, including civil military relations, and the influence of the veteran sector and families and community. The project will develop an innovative survey that will form the foundation of a longitudinal social health and wellbeing dataset on veterans, and contribute to policy and service provision to reduce veteran suicide and improve their wellbeing.Read moreRead less
Caring at end of life: understanding the nature and effect of informal community care networks for people dying at home. This project will provide an understanding of the function and purpose of caring networks for people at the end of their life, specifically for people who are dying at home. This understanding will enable the development of communities capacity in addition to informing a national health promotion approach to palliative care.