Optimising disease surveillance to support decision-making. COVID-19 has demonstrated the critical role of epidemic data and analytics in guiding government response to pandemic threats, reducing disease and saving lives. The demand for epidemic analytics for response to threats of national significance will only grow. The goals of this project are to 1) determine the combination(s) of surveillance methods that provide the most useful data for epidemic analysis and 2) translate these findings in ....Optimising disease surveillance to support decision-making. COVID-19 has demonstrated the critical role of epidemic data and analytics in guiding government response to pandemic threats, reducing disease and saving lives. The demand for epidemic analytics for response to threats of national significance will only grow. The goals of this project are to 1) determine the combination(s) of surveillance methods that provide the most useful data for epidemic analysis and 2) translate these findings into the blueprint for a next-generation infectious disease surveillance system for Australia. We will use a simulation-evaluation approach, coupling methods from infectious disease modelling with those from information theory optimal design. Outcomes will enable more tailored and effective pandemic response.Read moreRead less
Sexualised Deepfakes: Predictors, Consequences, Responses and Prevention. Artificial Intelligence is changing how perpetrators sexually abuse. Yet little research has explored this, and laws and digital platforms are failing to keep pace. This project aims to identify the predictors, harms and consequences of sexualised deepfakes (a form of Artificial Intelligence-Facilitated Abuse) and produce evidence to inform legal, technological and social responses to this growing problem. Expected outcome ....Sexualised Deepfakes: Predictors, Consequences, Responses and Prevention. Artificial Intelligence is changing how perpetrators sexually abuse. Yet little research has explored this, and laws and digital platforms are failing to keep pace. This project aims to identify the predictors, harms and consequences of sexualised deepfakes (a form of Artificial Intelligence-Facilitated Abuse) and produce evidence to inform legal, technological and social responses to this growing problem. Expected outcomes include increased understanding of the drivers of abuse, the development of improved prevention resources and social, technological and legal responses for digital platforms, organisations and government. Expected benefits include improved laws, policies and practices to prevent Artificial Intelligence-Facilitated Abuse.Read moreRead less
Mid-infrared quantum dots for room temperature photodetectors and emitters. This project aims to develop new technologies for mid-wave infrared (MWIR) cameras based on quantum dots (QDs). These will include MWIR photodetectors based on QD-sensitised photodetectors and MWIR emitters based on QD electroluminescence devices.
This project expects to generate new knowledge in MWIR QDs and in devices that sense and emit infrared light.
Expected outcomes of the project include MWIR cameras that are ....Mid-infrared quantum dots for room temperature photodetectors and emitters. This project aims to develop new technologies for mid-wave infrared (MWIR) cameras based on quantum dots (QDs). These will include MWIR photodetectors based on QD-sensitised photodetectors and MWIR emitters based on QD electroluminescence devices.
This project expects to generate new knowledge in MWIR QDs and in devices that sense and emit infrared light.
Expected outcomes of the project include MWIR cameras that are smaller, lighter, lower in power consumption and cheaper than existing technologies.
This project is expected to provide significant benefits, such as dramatic reductions in the cost of infrared cameras and sensors. The high cost of infrared cameras currently limits their use in Australia largely to defence.
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Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE210100137
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$881,758.00
Summary
Australian Environmental Specimen Bank: advancing specimen bank capability. The aim of this LIEF is to advance Australia’s specimen banking capabilities through a new, enhanced national facility, the Australian Environmental Specimen Bank (AESB). The AESB would be founded on a unique current archive of human and environmental samples established by the partners to the LIEF. Importantly, the AESB would be managed as a nationally available (to all public sector researchers), operationally self-fun ....Australian Environmental Specimen Bank: advancing specimen bank capability. The aim of this LIEF is to advance Australia’s specimen banking capabilities through a new, enhanced national facility, the Australian Environmental Specimen Bank (AESB). The AESB would be founded on a unique current archive of human and environmental samples established by the partners to the LIEF. Importantly, the AESB would be managed as a nationally available (to all public sector researchers), operationally self-funded resource for integrated exposure research into the future. The archive is expected to support longitudinal and cross-sectional studies to assess trends in exposure to chemical and biological hazards in the Australian population, identify emerging hazards, and provide a scientific basis for policy and regulatory actions.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE230100730
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$448,000.00
Summary
Strategies to minimise the societal impacts of zoonotic pandemics. The continuing pandemic has had unprecedented effects across society. Population mobility restrictions have been effective in slowing transmission, but are only effective while in place and have dramatic adverse effects. Despite Australia’s relative success, we have lacked a clear national strategy to guide the optimal deployment of such restrictions. During this fellowship, I will use robust software development practices to dev ....Strategies to minimise the societal impacts of zoonotic pandemics. The continuing pandemic has had unprecedented effects across society. Population mobility restrictions have been effective in slowing transmission, but are only effective while in place and have dramatic adverse effects. Despite Australia’s relative success, we have lacked a clear national strategy to guide the optimal deployment of such restrictions. During this fellowship, I will use robust software development practices to develop a unified software platform that integrates semi-mechanistic, particle filter and agent-based methodologies. I will then use this platform to quantify the effects of mobility restrictions and define the optimal strategic response that should be selected based on the characteristics of a newly emerged pathogen.Read moreRead less
Reducing health disparities for culturally and linguistically diverse peoples. This project aims to develop a greater understanding of migrants and the factors that predict poor health outcomes related to blood-borne viruses and sexually transmitted infections. The delayed access by migrants to healthcare from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds results in late diagnosis, low treatment uptake, and poorer health outcomes, with enhanced risk of infection and increased burden on the h ....Reducing health disparities for culturally and linguistically diverse peoples. This project aims to develop a greater understanding of migrants and the factors that predict poor health outcomes related to blood-borne viruses and sexually transmitted infections. The delayed access by migrants to healthcare from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds results in late diagnosis, low treatment uptake, and poorer health outcomes, with enhanced risk of infection and increased burden on the health system. The data collected in this project will assist in developing health services to meet these needs.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE200100977
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$419,016.00
Summary
How ecology shapes the viromes of wild birds. This project will reveal the host factors associated with the diversity, evolution and dynamics of viruses using state-of-the-art metatranscriptomics in Australian wild birds. The structure of virus communities and their associated ecological drivers in wild animal hosts remain a black-box, even though they are the largest source of viral diversity in nature. This project expects to generate key insights into host-associated drivers of viral communit ....How ecology shapes the viromes of wild birds. This project will reveal the host factors associated with the diversity, evolution and dynamics of viruses using state-of-the-art metatranscriptomics in Australian wild birds. The structure of virus communities and their associated ecological drivers in wild animal hosts remain a black-box, even though they are the largest source of viral diversity in nature. This project expects to generate key insights into host-associated drivers of viral community dynamics and the subsequent effect of anthropogenic factors such as urbanisation and poultry production. Identifying host factors that affect viral ecology in wild birds will constitute a cornerstone in understanding the emergence of virulent viruses and/or their spread to poultry or humansRead moreRead less
Industrial Transformation Research Hubs - Grant ID: IH170100013
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$2,962,655.00
Summary
ARC Research Hub for Digital Enhanced Living. The ARC Research Hub for Digital Enhanced Living aims to address the growing challenges of aging people living in their own home or residential care. This will be through inventing new personalised medical technologies through an innovative approach, with a multi-disciplinary team leveraging diverse expertise. An enhanced capacity to create and deploy fit-for-purpose personalised health solutions will result in revenues from new and repurposed device ....ARC Research Hub for Digital Enhanced Living. The ARC Research Hub for Digital Enhanced Living aims to address the growing challenges of aging people living in their own home or residential care. This will be through inventing new personalised medical technologies through an innovative approach, with a multi-disciplinary team leveraging diverse expertise. An enhanced capacity to create and deploy fit-for-purpose personalised health solutions will result in revenues from new and repurposed devices, analytics and integration platforms. New jobs and improved care will see cost reductions, better use of resources and enhanced mental, physical and social well-being.Read moreRead less
Safeguarding Australia against vector-borne disease bio-incursions. Traditional diagnostic tests limited by their accuracy and ability to detect more than a few pathogens at one time, presents a major hurdle to protecting Australia's companion animals from a plethora of exotic and emerging vector-borne diseases (VBD). Many of these diseases also pose a major risk to public health. This project aims to develop, validate and verify a highly accurate, cost-effective, portable metabarcoding diagnost ....Safeguarding Australia against vector-borne disease bio-incursions. Traditional diagnostic tests limited by their accuracy and ability to detect more than a few pathogens at one time, presents a major hurdle to protecting Australia's companion animals from a plethora of exotic and emerging vector-borne diseases (VBD). Many of these diseases also pose a major risk to public health. This project aims to develop, validate and verify a highly accurate, cost-effective, portable metabarcoding diagnostic test capable of detecting known, emerging and novel parasitic, bacterial and viral VBD pathogens simultaneously, from clinical samples. The assay will represent a potential paradigm shift in the way VBD are tested, for the purpose of safeguarding Australia against VBD bio-incursions.Read moreRead less