Research Projects

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Mindful Warriors Full-Day Retreat (2025)
Community mindfulness retreat funded through Queensland Mental Health Week. The 2024 and 2025 retreats reached 70 participants across two survey reports and contributed to high satisfaction and recommendation outcomes.
Mindful Warriors Full-Day Retreat (2024)
Community mindfulness retreat funded through Queensland Mental Health Week, supporting accessible mental-health and wellbeing activity for veterans, family members and community participants.
Predicting Mental Health Risk in Young Adults
Three-year multidisciplinary project using neurobiological, cognitive, biological and socio-environmental data to identify trajectories of risk and resilience and develop low-cost, clinically feasible screening and risk-stratification approaches for regional settings. Marc contributes psychological and cognitive assessment expertise as a co-investigator.
Strengthening Sense of Control in Later Life: A Mindfulness-Supported Control-Enhancement Pilot Study in Australia and China
Australia–China pilot examining whether mindfulness-supported control enhancement can strengthen wellbeing and adaptive functioning among older adults. The original award is US$20,000; the A$314,438 portfolio total uses the workbook conversion of A$29,000.
The KidGen National Kidney Genomics Program – improving genomic outcomes for Australian families with genetic kidney disease (Old ID 27287)
Andrew Mallett - Medicine
01 Jun 2021 - 31 Dec 2026
The KidGen National Kidney Genomic Program is an Australian national and translational genomics program addressing the clinical need to urgently improve identification and diagnosis of novel monogenic rare kidney diseases. Our vision is to improve the diagnostic and clinical outcomes of Australian patients and families affected by genetic kidney disease (GKD) through personalised application of novel genomic approaches at national scale and within a multidisciplinary context. We will materially increase the genetic diagnosis rate in this space towards 70% by 2025 whilst enabling earlier and more efficient genomic diagnosis of rare kidney disorders. World-leading genomic approaches will be utilised to improve connection and capacity, including the application of advanced research and functional genomics to identify and validate novel gene variants in our extensive patient cohort. Through our established national network of multidisciplinary clinics this will inform clinical options and pathways for affected Australian families and accelerate translation and integration of genomics knowledge and technology into kidney clinical practice.
MBCSR: Co-Designing a Mindfulness-Based Climate Stress Reduction Group Intervention to Improve Climate-Related Mental Health
Co-designs a mindfulness-based climate stress reduction group intervention to improve climate-related mental health and generate accessible, culturally responsive intervention evidence.
Marine plant survey of the Half Tide Tug Harbour Hay Point (Old ID 27445)
Paul York - Tropical Water & Ecosystems
01 Sep 2021 - 31 Dec 2021
North Queensland Bulk Ports (NQBP) have engaged the TropWATER to undertake a survey to determine the presence/absence of marine plants within the Half Tide Tug Harbour, located at the Port of Hay Point. Specifically, the survey requires assessment of marine plant distribution in the area proposed for expanded maintenance dredging, as well as a contemporary survey of marine plants in the area currently approved for dredging.
Fingerprinting environmentally sustainable ores using neodymium isotopes (Old ID 27841)
The rare earth elements (REE) are a critical resource as the world transitions to an energy system dominated by green energy. However, current extraction methods rely on strong acid leaching, which has the potential to create environmental contamination. Alternative REE extraction methodologies, including phyto‐extraction (using plants) and bacteria induced bioleaching are currently being investigated. This project aims to utilise radiogenic and stable neodymium isotopes to characterise the isotopic fractionations induced during different REE extraction techniques. This isotopic fingerprinting will provide a method to verify more sustainably generated REE concentrates, enabling the Australian REE industry to be positioned as a world leading environmental producer.
Seafood Consumption and Production Trends – Singapore Market Study
The research project seeks to provide WWF-Singapore with detailed information around trends in seafood supply and apparent consumption in Singapore, with a focus at the species level. The analysis will also involve the calculations around the volume of certified and non-certified seafood imported into and exported from Singapore, disaggregated by species. The analysis will also seek to both identify the sectors and respective major buyers that are importing seafood, and calculate seafood import volume (down to species level) for each identified sector/buyer. Finally, the analysis will also seek to cover total production volume of local aquaculture farms, disaggregated by species, and the market share of individual farms. The results from this study will be used to inform WWF-Singapore’s seafood strategy
Fish tissue proteomics as baseline evaluation for safer cultivated seafood with known allergen profile
Ludwig Lopata - Marine Biology & Aquaculture
20 Nov 2022 - 19 Nov 2023
Cultivated seafood is far less researched than traditional livestock alternatives. We will address this critical knowledge gap through high throughput proteomic analysis of various tissues from different fish species, used for cultivation, with a focus on comparative composition of allergenic proteins (allergens), and directly compare with cultivated meat. Closing this lack of industry-wide target product, protein, and allergen profiles is essential for success in the alternative protein field and will promote regulation of safe cultivated foods.