Research Projects
Seagrass Monitoring and Protection in Wuthathi Sea Country (Old ID 27656)
Catherine Collier
01 Mar 2022 - 14 Feb 2023
Wuthathi land and sea country in far northern Cape York extends from Captain Billy landing south to Temple Bay and includes Shelburne Bay and Raine Island. JCU will work with Wuthathi rangers to map coastal seagrass habitats in Wuthathi. A range of techniques will be adopted, including helicopter surveys and airborne/spaceborne imagery (UAV drone and satellite) for intertidal and shallow subtidal habitats and drop cameras in deeper subtidal waters. Wuthathi rangers will be trained in seagrass mapping and monitoring techniques to facilitate continued monitoring of seagrass habitats in Wuthathi sea country.
Monitoring the threatened fauna of the Wet Tropics mountains. (Old ID 30024)
Conrad Hoskin
25 Jun 2023 - 30 Sep 2025
The Wet Tropics mountaintops have many endangered species, threatened by climate change, invasive species, and disease. I am monitoring many of these to assess changes in distribution, threats, and potential conservation actions. I am now working on this collaboratively with the Threatened Species Group of Qld Gov. DES. As part of this collaboration, they are providing financial support to keep my monitoring activities going and to start new monitoring. This grant will fund the upland research project that I, and my PhD students, will continue over the coming years.
Bio-molecular studies for improved diagnosis and management of Australian children with fish allergy (Old ID 21592)
Ludwig Lopata
01 Jan 2015 - 30 Sep 2019
Allergy to fish among children is emerging as a significant healthcare issue in Australia and worldwide, with prevalence rates among children with food allergy as high as 16% in Australia. Our strong clinical-laboratory interface, bringing together a highly experienced senior team in the areas of molecular and immunological allergen characterization with leading clinicians in paediatric allergy, will significantly improve the management of fish-allergic children in Australia.
Autumn Technical Support to Enhance Allocative Efficiency of Country Tuberculosis Program (Old ID 22410)
Emma McBryde
01 May 2015 - 31 Dec 2016
Over late 2015 and all of 2016, develop transmission dynamic models of Tuberculosis and explore cost and impact of different program strategies. Apply to 3 Countries.
Lost at sea? Understanding adaptation and dispersal in spiny lobsters (Old ID 23173)
Jan Strugnell
17 Feb 2015 - 31 Dec 2018
Continual recruitment of young is fundamental to the replenishment of populations, especially when a stock is fished. Existing theory suggests that species with very long planktonic larval stages disperse widely, ensuring their genes are well mixed. However recently identified genetic differences between populations of rock l;obster challenge this paradigm and demonstrate that despite larvae mixing in the ocean for years, local recruitment and/or adaptation are at play. Recent developments in genomics and bioinformatics will allow this project to understand the ecological processes underpinning these genetic signatures and determine their evolutionary implications. Such findings would direct targeted rebuilding of depleted fisheries stocks.1/1/5
"Money on my Mind": Investigating the Dynamics of Financial Worry (Old ID 26950)
Riccardo Welters
01 Feb 2020 - 31 Dec 2021
We aim to (1) examine the extent to which financial worry is "dynamic", that is, the extent to which financial worry changes over time within individuals, for instance from week-to-week; (2) examine how intra-individual changes in financial worry associate with intra-individual changes in personal well-being, social and human capital, and labour market behaviour (3) identify moderating factors that mitigate the negative effects of financial worry; that is, factors that may offset the deleterious effects of financial worry and eventually help in breaking the poverty cycle. We will conduct bi-weekly surveys of individuals with various backgrounds, in three countries Netherlands, Belgium and Australia.
Sex determination of fruit fly pupa using Near Infrared Spectroscopy. (Old ID 26970)
Bronson Philippa
23 Sep 2020 - 31 Jan 2023
Implementation of an effective sterile insect program for fruit fly species Bactrocera tryoni requires that only sterile male insects be released. Therefore at some stage of the fly production process the females need to be removed. Hand sexing is very labour intensive and current automated systems based on colour and size are not effective in differentiating between male and female pupae for B. tryoni. Hence, a non-destructive, rapid method of sex separation is required that does not impact on the viability of the pupae and which can be incorporated into a mass rearing system. Preliminary research has demonstrated that Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) has great potential as an objective non-invasive method to sex B. tryoni pupae. The aim of this project is to develop and semi-automate a non-invasive rapid assessment technique to rapidly and consistently sort male and female B. tryoni pupae based on NIRS technology.
Reducing herbicide usage in the Burdekin and Proserpine reef catchment areas with precise robotic weed control in sugarcane (Old ID 26973)
Mostafa Rahimi Azghadi
25 Sep 2020 - 31 Dec 2025
The main objective of this project is to develop and build the world’s first robotic platform for selective weed control in sugarcane. Specifically, we aim to retrofit two 12-metre sugarcane booms for farmers in the Burdekin and Proserpine GBR catchment areas with state-of-the-art deep learning detection and spraying technology. The fundamental aim of this project is to significantly minimise the herbicide usage by selective spot spraying. We have set a target to reduce the knockdown herbicide usage on the chosen farms by 80% compared to the traditional blanket spraying that is performed during various stages of the crop cycle.
INDIGENOUS SCHOOL STEM PROJECT (Old ID 27068)
Martin Nakata
01 Jan 2020 - 31 Dec 2023
This project has been financially supported by the ARC-COE, Centre for Australian Biodiversity and heritage (CABAH), to measure the impact of a collaborative project between CABAH, IERC/JCU and Tagai State College to improve the educational performance of Indigenous students in the STEM curriculum areas from the early prep years through to Year 12.
Mecaflavo - Understanding the Anti-inflammatory Structure-Activity Relationships of Flavonoid Analogues [Compréhension des relations structures-activités dans les MECanismes Anti-inflammatoires d’analogues de FLAVOnoïdes] – MECAFLAVO (Old ID 27204)
Michael Oelgemoeller
01 Jul 2021 - 31 Dec 2023
Flavonoids are a class of natural compounds with various phenolic structures that are widely distributed in plants, including fruits and vegetables, tea or wine. The project MECAFLAVO will synthesize and evaluate the anti-inflammatory potential of pinocembrin and pinobanksin analogues in order to understand their mechanism of action, metabolism and therapeutic safety. Through derivatization it further aims to improve the therapeutic profile and applications of these semi-synthetic compounds.