Side-Hustles: Young People and Employment-Adjacent Entrepreneurship. This project aims to understand new working biographies created by young people that combine employment with entrepreneurial activities. 'Side-hustles' are increasingly common amongst young workers, but while entrepreneurship is promoted globally as a policy solution to youth unemployment there is no comprehensive evidence base about the nature of young workers' entrepreneurial activities or the outcomes they experience. The ev ....Side-Hustles: Young People and Employment-Adjacent Entrepreneurship. This project aims to understand new working biographies created by young people that combine employment with entrepreneurial activities. 'Side-hustles' are increasingly common amongst young workers, but while entrepreneurship is promoted globally as a policy solution to youth unemployment there is no comprehensive evidence base about the nature of young workers' entrepreneurial activities or the outcomes they experience. The evidence created by this project supports efforts to facilitate youth entrepreneurship, address youth unemployment, and enhance Australia's future labour force. Outcomes include policy papers and reports, a policy forum, academic outputs, and a project website, offering benefit to policymakers, educators and employers.Read moreRead less
Youth, religion and sexuality: digital media, school cultures, exemptions. This project aims to understand the knowledges and practices about sexuality and religion that form the everyday worlds of young people who are religious. This should provide significant new knowledge about a key time in the development of a young person’s identity via a nationwide, deep yet comparative approach. Expected outcomes include strategic health policy and curriculum development advice that responds to current d ....Youth, religion and sexuality: digital media, school cultures, exemptions. This project aims to understand the knowledges and practices about sexuality and religion that form the everyday worlds of young people who are religious. This should provide significant new knowledge about a key time in the development of a young person’s identity via a nationwide, deep yet comparative approach. Expected outcomes include strategic health policy and curriculum development advice that responds to current debates around religious exemptions to anti-discrimination law and creates better education and health care for religious and LGBTIQ+ youth. Benefits will include increased wellbeing for religious LGBTIQ+ youth, conservatively religious and newly arrived youth communities in Australia.Read moreRead less
Evolutionary signficance of sexual conflict in orb-web spiders. Multiple mating by females creates intense competition between ejaculates over the fertilisation of her eggs, and has a profound influence on male and female life history and mating strategies. In orb-web spiders, sexual cannibalism creates further conflicts of interest because the male may forfeit future matings. This project examines how life-history and mating strategies interact in these spiders, by identifying the mechanisms t ....Evolutionary signficance of sexual conflict in orb-web spiders. Multiple mating by females creates intense competition between ejaculates over the fertilisation of her eggs, and has a profound influence on male and female life history and mating strategies. In orb-web spiders, sexual cannibalism creates further conflicts of interest because the male may forfeit future matings. This project examines how life-history and mating strategies interact in these spiders, by identifying the mechanisms that determine the outcome of sperm competition; the selection pressures favouring sexual size dimorphism and male size variation; the influence of sexual cannibalism on male mating strategies; and the relationship between female feeding history and her mating behaviour.Read moreRead less
Experimental evolution in the mitochondrion. This project aims to discover if the genetic variation in mitochondria (our energy centres) contributes to evolutionary adaptation. This is a long-debated hypothesis in evolutionary biology. This project will take an inter-disciplinary approach, involving experimental evolution, an ecological framework, the measurement of organismal physiologies, and fruit fly genetics. The outcomes could change how biologists view the mitochondria, reveal mitochondri ....Experimental evolution in the mitochondrion. This project aims to discover if the genetic variation in mitochondria (our energy centres) contributes to evolutionary adaptation. This is a long-debated hypothesis in evolutionary biology. This project will take an inter-disciplinary approach, involving experimental evolution, an ecological framework, the measurement of organismal physiologies, and fruit fly genetics. The outcomes could change how biologists view the mitochondria, reveal mitochondria’s role in adaptation to climatic stress, and their contribution to shaping evolutionary trade-offs and conflict between the sexes.Read moreRead less
Mitochondria, maternal inheritance and the evolution of male life-histories. This project aims to unravel the extent to which maternal inheritance of the mitochondrial DNA renders it susceptible to accumulating mutations that are harmful only to males; an evolutionary theory called ‘Mother’s Curse’. Left unchecked, Mother’s Curse could threaten the long-term viability of populations. This project will combine experimental techniques in ecology, fruit fly genetics and a platform for measuring phy ....Mitochondria, maternal inheritance and the evolution of male life-histories. This project aims to unravel the extent to which maternal inheritance of the mitochondrial DNA renders it susceptible to accumulating mutations that are harmful only to males; an evolutionary theory called ‘Mother’s Curse’. Left unchecked, Mother’s Curse could threaten the long-term viability of populations. This project will combine experimental techniques in ecology, fruit fly genetics and a platform for measuring physiological phenotypes to test three hypotheses central to the theory. By testing these hypotheses, the project intends to understand the causes of sex differences in physiology, longevity and reproductive health, and improve awareness of evolutionary concepts that may ultimately affect human health.Read moreRead less
Early start arts programmes to counter radicalisation. This project aims to strengthen interfaith relationships, through youth arts workshops that generate positive images of Muslim and non-Muslim Australian youth belonging together. Anxiety about violent extremism can stigmatise Muslim-Australian youth, but the arts can transform negative effects and amplify feelings of belonging. This project will create early childhood and primary interfaith arts intervention workshops to develop interfaith b ....Early start arts programmes to counter radicalisation. This project aims to strengthen interfaith relationships, through youth arts workshops that generate positive images of Muslim and non-Muslim Australian youth belonging together. Anxiety about violent extremism can stigmatise Muslim-Australian youth, but the arts can transform negative effects and amplify feelings of belonging. This project will create early childhood and primary interfaith arts intervention workshops to develop interfaith bonds at crucial developmental stages. It will also develop a public art campaign featuring images from the workshops about Muslim children belonging to Australian culture. The project has potential economic, social and cultural benefits for Australia.Read moreRead less
Optimising Volunteer Management Strategy at the Australian Red Cross Blood Service (Victoria). This project reconceptualises volunteering as a ?cultural practice? (de Certeau 1984) to enable the Australian Red Cross Blood Service (ARCBS) to optimise its volunteer management through an enhanced understanding of who its volunteers are and why they volunteer for the ?blood bank?. Its operating premise is that knowing one's volunteer workforce is essential to their effective management. It builds on ....Optimising Volunteer Management Strategy at the Australian Red Cross Blood Service (Victoria). This project reconceptualises volunteering as a ?cultural practice? (de Certeau 1984) to enable the Australian Red Cross Blood Service (ARCBS) to optimise its volunteer management through an enhanced understanding of who its volunteers are and why they volunteer for the ?blood bank?. Its operating premise is that knowing one's volunteer workforce is essential to their effective management. It builds on the platform of volunteer studies established by social research and extends it via a critical reconsideration of the work of Michel de Certeau.Read moreRead less
Creative industries pathways to youth employment in the COVID-19 recession. This project aims to accredit 21st century skills developed through youth arts. The significance of this project lies in our response to the increase in Australia’s youth unemployment caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and industry demand for 21st century skills. Outcomes include pathways from arts to employment and job-ready skill development, through micro-creds that showcase skills to employers. Benefits align with UN Su ....Creative industries pathways to youth employment in the COVID-19 recession. This project aims to accredit 21st century skills developed through youth arts. The significance of this project lies in our response to the increase in Australia’s youth unemployment caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and industry demand for 21st century skills. Outcomes include pathways from arts to employment and job-ready skill development, through micro-creds that showcase skills to employers. Benefits align with UN Sustainable Development Goals 4, 5 and 8: to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all, achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls, and promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all. Read moreRead less
Understanding marine life-history patterns: an eco-energetics approach. This project aims to determine how temperature affects the energetics of development in marine invertebrates and explain why global distributions of marine organisms show the patterns they do. This project will provide new insights into whether Australia's temperate marine fauna are uniquely vulnerable to future change. Leveraging a new framework, eco-energetics, the project will determine the relative performance of differe ....Understanding marine life-history patterns: an eco-energetics approach. This project aims to determine how temperature affects the energetics of development in marine invertebrates and explain why global distributions of marine organisms show the patterns they do. This project will provide new insights into whether Australia's temperate marine fauna are uniquely vulnerable to future change. Leveraging a new framework, eco-energetics, the project will determine the relative performance of different larval types across every stage of the life history. The project will provide significant benefits such as a new powerful and comprehensive framework for understanding current and predicting future patterns in marine life, providing inferences that extend beyond the species studied in this project.Read moreRead less
Understanding diet designs that break life history trade-offs. The aim of this project is to understand the mechanisms by which organisms use nutrition to enhance fitness. Food availability is a key predictor of evolutionary fitness. Surprisingly, recent data shows that some key assumptions informing how these predictions are realised are not strictly correct, thus exposing a lack of important mechanistic knowledge. This project seeks to understand these mechanisms. The project plans to use nove ....Understanding diet designs that break life history trade-offs. The aim of this project is to understand the mechanisms by which organisms use nutrition to enhance fitness. Food availability is a key predictor of evolutionary fitness. Surprisingly, recent data shows that some key assumptions informing how these predictions are realised are not strictly correct, thus exposing a lack of important mechanistic knowledge. This project seeks to understand these mechanisms. The project plans to use novel genomics techniques to develop diets that support or improve fitness under circumstances such as stress or ageing, and to understand the molecular underpinnings of these improvements. Project outcomes may expand academic knowledge of fundamental nutritional biochemistry, and improve predictions of species’ responses to environmental change.Read moreRead less