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Regenerative Agriculture: understand the intent, practices, the benefits and disbenefits
Regenerative agriculture, while definitions vary, broadly relates to agriculture that not only aims to be but also aims to regenerate the socio-ecological systems that the farm influences. Exactly what components or functions of the socio-ecological system that are being regenerated vary considerably, often reflecting farmer values and goals, and that of the broader community. For example, some farmers may focus on regenerating soil ecosystems within their paddocks, while others might be more interested in regenerating a local waterway or having a thriving a community. Regardless of the goal, effectively managing a farming system towards these goals requires regular assessment and monitoring towards the goals, followed by as evaluation of practice efficacy and responding accordingly - ie adaptive management. In partnership with lead organisation, Southern Cross University, and funded by the Grains Research & Development Corporation (GRDC), this project aims to: (1) understand the goals pursued by regenerative grain growers across Australia; (2) identify suitable monitoring indicators for a wide range of goals spanning agronomic, soil health, ecological, social, and economic domains; and (3) trial those indicators over three years with at least 60 regenerative growers across the nation.
Concurrent Validity & Client Acceptability of a Portable Mat for Clinical Assessment of Balance in Older Adults.
This is an observational study in a sample of 100 community dwelling older adults with varying falls risk.
We will report convergent validity of a portable, low-cost Balance assessment tool in reference to a force plate and two clinical balance assessment methods, and will include a study of client acceptability of the Balance assessment tool assessed using a mixed methods questionnaire.
Reliability and validity of salivary cortisol levels of healthy adults measured using a point of collection analysis method (POCSS)
This research will test out the reliability and validity of IPRO©, a collection and analysis method for human saliva. This method calculates how much of the hormone known as cortisol is present in saliva, and this is one of several indicators of how much stress a person is experiencing. IPRO© is a ‘point of collection’ method, meaning that collection and analysis can be conducted in places where this sort of testing has not traditionally been possible. By comparing the IPRO© method to a traditional laboratory-based saliva analysis method we hope to find out if this ‘point of collection’ method is valuable for future research and clinical use.
The presence and severity of episodic disability, and frailty, in people living with HIV in regional Australia: a cross-sectional study with a nested reliability and validity study of the HIV Disability Questionnaire.
This is a cross sectional study of people living with HIV. The study will report how much difficulty people living with HIV in a regional area such as Townsville have doing everyday tasks, hobbies, sports, their jobs, memory, emotion, or participating in social events. Together, these difficulties are known as disability and frailty. This research project will also test if the way these difficulties are measured in other parts of the world, such as north America and Africa, are suitable for regional northern Australia. Finding out the
difficulties that people living with HIV have, will tell us if changes are needed in health and community services to improve the lives of people living with HIV in the Townsville area or other regional areas of Australia.
Evaluation of the psychometric properties of the short form Episodic Disability Questionnaire (EDQ) among women living with HIV in the United Kingdom: A self-reported repeated measure study
This study is funded by a British HIV Association research grant and it will assess the measurement properties, specifically internal consistency reliability, precision of measurement, construct validity, and test-retest reliability, of the EDQ for its ability to measure disability experienced by women living with HIV in the UK. We will also aim to measure disability prevalence amongst the sample and report foundational disability data among women living with HIV in the UK.
Mind your own business, you are a pest! A study on workplace nosiness and its impact on employees
Workplace nosiness has been increasingly recognized as a detrimental factor affecting employee mental health and productivity. Studies have shown that intrusive behaviors lead to higher stress levels, decreased job satisfaction, and lower productivity. Despite this recognition, there is a lack of comprehensive research that systematically examines the antecedents, types, and impacts of workplace nosiness across different organizational contexts. This study aims to fill this gap by providing a detailed analysis of workplace nosiness and its effects. The research will contribute to the existing body of knowledge by identifying specific behaviors and practices that constitute workplace nosiness, demonstrating the direct and indirect impacts of nosiness on key employee outcomes, and offering practical recommendations for managers and organizations to address and reduce nosiness.
An integrated multi-omics approach to expedite diagnosis and management of inborn errors of immunity
Australia wide grant to develop national program to identify and manage nborn errors of immunity using multi-omic techologies