Research
Deakin University
Faculty of Arts
School of Communication and Creative Arts
Faculty of Business and Law
Deakin Business School
School of Accounting and FinanceFaculty of Health and Behavioural Science
School of Health Sciences
Faculty of Science and Technology
School of Biological and Chemical Sciences
School of Ecology and Environment
School of Engineering and Technology
School of Information Technology
Title: Building cultural citizenship: Multiculturalism and children's literature
Prof CM Bradford; A/Prof W Ommundsen
2005 : $80,000
2006 : $63,000
2007 : $62,000
2008 : $62,000
Category: 4202 - LITERATURE STUDIES
Administering Institution: Deakin University
Summary: This project will generate new knowledge - theoretical, methodological and pedagogical - through its interdisciplinary approach, which brings critical and cultural theories to bear on Australian children's literature from 1990 to 2003, and specifically on how this literature represents and advocates cultural values and meanings concerning migration, citizenship, multiculturalism and community relations. It will result in the first major study of the production and reception of multicultural literature for Australian children, and will make an important contribution to pedagogy by informing the fields of primary, secondary and tertiary education through the concepts it develops and the teaching resources it produces.
Title:Environmental Management Systems, reporting systems, stakeholder engagement processes and environmental performance in Australian companies
Prof CA Adams; Reader RL Burritt; Dr G Frost
2005 : $35,000
2006 : $35,000
2007 : $35,000
Category: 3501 - ACCOUNTING, AUDITING AND ACCOUNTABILITY
Administering Institution: Deakin University
Summary: The achievement of
an environmentally sustainable Australia requires improved environmental performance
of Australian companies which have significant environmental impacts. This work
will lead to improved environmental performance, more effective stakeholder
engagement and accountability and reporting systems along with better environmental
management systems. This in turn will reduce environmental impacts, create more
responsive corporate cultures and increase the competitive advantage of Australian
industry.
Title: Australia's Regulatory Response to Recent Corporate Collapses and Perceived Auditing Deficiencies
Prof KA Houghton; A/Prof CA Jubb
2005 : $45,000
2006 : $30,000
2007 : $20,000
Category: 3501 - ACCOUNTING, AUDITING AND ACCOUNTABILITY
Administering Institution: The Australian National University
Summary: The corporate collapses of recent years have cost
shareholders and other stakeholders hundreds of millions of dollars. However,
various reforms in accounting and governance are coming into force. As these
reforms differ markedly from those in other jurisdictions (notably the USA),
Australian based research is essential in understanding the effectiveness of
the changes in moderating certain corporate behaviour. This research provides
a measure of efficacy of these reforms in terms of measures of "manipulation"
of corporate earnings. The results of the research will provide evidence of
the efficacy of the reforms and pointers to further enhancements
Title: Body image instability, disordered eating and muscle dysmorphia
Dr AJ Mussap; Prof MP McCabe; Dr LA Ricciardelli
2005 : $45,000
2006 : $45,000
2007 : $45,000
Category: 3801 - PSYCHOLOGY
Administering Institution: Deakin University
Summary: Body image is a serious public health
issue. Dissatisfaction with body shape promotes disordered eating in females
who fast and purge to lose weight, and muscle dysmorphia in males who over-exercise
and use steroids to gain muscle. We will test the idea that these psychological
disorders stem from an unstable body image. Our research will reveal the fundamental
risk factors associated with disordered eating and muscle dysmorphia and allow
us to identify at-risk individuals on the basis of their body image instability.
It will also predict patients' amenability to treatments that target body image,
thereby improving outcomes for these individuals.
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Title: Natriuretic peptide hormones and the stress response of fish
Dr T Toop; Dr JA Donald; Dr MD Powell; Dr Y Takei
2005 : $100,000
2006 : $80,000
2007 : $80,000
Category:2706 - PHYSIOLOGY
Administering Institution: Deakin University
Summary: There are two main
benefits of our research to Australia. Firstly, the team that we have assembled
have international reputations, and include scientists from overseas. This team
will be led by Australian Institutions and will put Australian science in the
forefront of a competitive field, internationally. Secondly, our research examines
questions that are critical in our understanding of how animals respond to stressful
events. The response to stress, if excessive, leads to ill-health in both humans
and other animals. Our research examines new connections between stress and
fish biology, which could lead to discoveries that are valuable in managing
stress and health in wild and farmed fishes.
Title: Socs proteins in development and disease
Dr AC Ward; Dr SE Nicholson
2005 : $75,000
2006 : $70,000
2007 : $70,000
Category: 3210 - CLINICAL SCIENCES
Administering Institution: Deakin University
Summary: Socs proteins are
a component of a pathway that is central to a range of developmental processes,
including embryonic development. In addition, there is evidence that these proteins
are perturbed in several disorders. This Project will enhance our understanding
of the Socs proteins and their role in disease, and ultimately provide an opportunity
to identify new therapeutic strategies.
Title: Plant Protein Signalling Networks
Dr HR Irving; Dr DM Cahill; Dr CA Gehring
2005 : $75,000
2006 : $70,000
2007 : $70,000
Category:2704 - BOTANY
Administering Institution: Monash University
Summary: We will assess the functional role of PNPs (novel
plant protein hormones) at a biochemical, molecular and cellular level. Importantly,
as stresses from climatic extremes are increasing, this will lead to new insights
and critical appreciation of the processes plants use to regulate their water
status. Since water and solute status underpins the regulation of plant growth
and development, these findings will have a major impact on both agriculture
and horticulture in Australia. The new insights that we gain can be used to
directly accelerate progress towards the development of plants with improved
drought and salinity tolerance that will lead to better crop and pasture productivity
under harsh Australian conditions.
Title: Evolutionary, macroecological and phylogenetic patterns in Australasian freshwater crayfish
A/Prof AM Richardson; Dr CM Austin; A/Prof P Horwitz; Dr KA Crandall
2005 : $80,000
2006 : $75,000
2007 : $75,000
Category: 2705 - ZOOLOGY
Administering Institution: University of Tasmania
Summary: This project connects Australian systematists to a
worldwide project that involves all of the world's living experts on freshwater
crayfish evolution in a coordinated effort to answer some very important evolutionary
questions. It involves a group of invertebrate animals that are not only readily
recognisable, but which in Australia includes the world's largest and the world's
most terrestrial crayfish species. Information gained from the project will
contribute to the management of crayfish biodiversity, identification of threatened
species and tools to identify these prominent and important members of Australian
freshwater ecosystems.
Title: Parallel-Link Mechanism Control using new Concept and Techniques
Prof S Nahavandi; Dr HM Trinh
2005 : $60,000
2006 : $58,000
2007 : $60,000
Category: 2903 - MANUFACTURING ENGINEERING
Administering Institution: Deakin University
Summary: The new knowledge
and techniques, as a result of this research project, will have direct relevance
to many Australian industries. In particular, they provide opportunities to
improve Australia's competitiveness through innovations for the manufacturing
sector. For this sector, increasing global competition and tariff reductions
pose serious challenges to its continuing international competitiveness. There
is an urgent need to develop cost effective innovative products. The outcomes
of this research will produce a faster, more accurate, cheaper and optimally
controlled parallel-link robot than currently available.
Title: Modelling the stability and efficiency of ring
spinning
Prof X Wang; Dr WB Fraser; Dr Z Tang
2005 : $76,522
2006 : $69,000
2007 : $71,322
Category: 2903 - MANUFACTURING ENGINEERING
Administering Institution: Deakin University
Summary: This research will
benefit the animal fibre industry, particularly the multi-billion dollar wool
industry. Low spinning efficiency adds a significant cost to the conversion
of animal fibres into textile products, which reduces the competitive position
of these natural fibres. The proposed research will lead to improvement in the
efficiency of ring spinning. It has been estimated that a 1% improvement in
spinning efficiency will add about $16 million to the wool industry alone.
Title: MICROFORMING: effects of microstructural scale on metal formability
Dr CH Davies; Dr E Pereloma; Prof PD Hodgson;
Dr RY Lapovok; Prof YS Estrin
2005 : $140,000
2006 : $135,000
2007 : $140,000
Category: 2913 - METALLURGY
Administering Institution: Monash University
Summary: Microforming is a rapidly growing industry, and already
enjoys considerable activity in Germany, Japan, the US, and Korea, all of which
are major trading partners of Australia. This project couples fundamental insight
into the effects of microstructural and geometric scale with the frontier technology
of microforming. Thus, the project will place Australian researchers at the
frontier of microforming research, with the capacity to be involved in shaping
the industry. In the course of this work, new process routes will be developed,
new materials may be created, and new opportunities will certainly emerge.
Title: Exploiting Database Technologies for the Visualization and Analysis of Measured and Simulated Plant Structures in Bioinformatics
A/Prof Y Chen
2005 : $50,000
2006 : $50,000
2007 : $50,000
Category: 2801 - INFORMATION SYSTEMS
Administering Institution: Deakin University
Summary: The project will
contribute to both bioinformatics and database research at both the national
and international levels, although this project is specifically focusing on
plant architecture but it has great potential other fields such as solving computationally
difficult problems of branching in nature such as DNA and crystal related research.
The results of this research can be applied to all kinds of plants such as rice,
cotton, rose etc.
Title: Self Discovery, Self Configuration and Self Healing of Enterprise Grids
Prof AM Goscinski; Dr JJ Silcock; Dr MJ Hobbs; Dr RA Dew
2005 : $81,000
2006 : $81,000
2007 : $81,000
Category: 2803 - COMPUTER SOFTWARE
Administering Institution: Deakin University
Summary: Firstly, the project will assist the elevation of grid computing into mainstream computing, and by this provide a direct response to some problems identified by the working party on the Australia's ICT research and research training. Secondly, our country is an excellent consumer of IT technology. But, it needs software artifacts that could be sold. A set of proposed services will be a saleable commodity of great commercial value. A software company that will develop its commercial version could be set up. Thirdly, the project will help Early Career Researchers in gaining an experience necessary to carry out independent research and assist in training new researchers: Postdocs, PhDs and Masters.
