Research Projects
Building the capabilities of mid-level health service managers in leading and supporting the health workforce (Old ID 30050)
Zhanming Liang
04 Jan 2024 - 03 Jan 2026
Building the capabilities of and empowering hospital mid-level managers in fulfilling their management responsibilities can improve quality care provision, maximise service efficiency and improve retention. Via an evidence-based process, the project will capture the strengths and identify weaknesses of mid-level managers and confirm factors that affect building such capabilities. The project will guide partner organisations in developing mechanism to tackle isolation and lack of support experienced by mid-level managers from widely- spread regional and rural locations, ultimate improving retention and resulting in better leadership to manage and support care managers and staff.
Supercharging barramundi production through advanced selective breeding for improved disease resistance, growth and fillet traits
Dean Jerry
01 Jan 2021 - 31 Dec 2025
Barramundi, or Asian seabass, Lates calcarifer, is the major aquaculture species farmed in Singapore and has wide consumer acceptance
due to its white, firm flesh. The barramundi currently farmed in Singapore, however, have not been significantly improved through
simultaneous selection to be resistant to major diseases (like scale drop disease), faster growth, or fillet characteristics. This project will use
gold standard breeding methodologies that utilise genomics, industrial-scale phenotyping and cutting-edge digital technologies to select for
barramundi that are more productive, have whiter flesh and possess a lower risk to farming due to disease in Singaporean waters.
Outcomes from the project will be barramundi that have average survival to scale drop disease of 60%, grow 15% faster, and have
increased fillet yields and white flesh colouration.
Re-Curating the Tropics in the era of climate change: Indigenous relationships with natural science collections in the Queensland Museum (Old ID 23071)
Rosita Henry
01 Dec 2016 - 31 Dec 2017
That Aboriginal people have made significant contributions to natural science collections in museums is little known and poorly understood. We explore relationships between natural species collectors and Aboriginal people who often helped create those collections. Our focus is no culturally significant tropical species in museum collections and how these species are represented in artefact collections. We will explore ideas about environmental change evidenced in museum practices (collecting, archiving, curating) and Aboriginal artists' responses to these ways of representing nature. In collaboration with Aboriginal artists and curators, we will begin to develop an analytical exhibition concerning environmental change in the tropics.
Communication and coordination of collective behaviour across spatial scales in animal societies (Old ID 26191)
Ben Hirsch
01 Dec 2019 - 30 Nov 2024
We will test commonalities and differences in group coordination tasks using spatial movement and active communication in three species of social mammals.
Internet of Things and Big Data Analytics for Cairns Marine (Old ID 26460)
Wei Xiang
29 Apr 2019 - 28 Apr 2020
This project will assist to analyse the large repository of data held by Cairns marine in relation to its full operations, i.e., from harvest to husbandry, inventory tracking and sales fulfilment. The physical systems currently in use at Cairns Marine are extensive and complex, involving a range of activities in Northern Australia, all activities on site (including R&D) in Cairns and full product (marine animals) stewardship to destination. A deep and informed understanding of data is required by the business to meet its growing global product commitments.
Who’s steering the ship? A case comparison of the governance of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Workers across Northern Australia (Old ID 26650)
Steph Topp
01 Jan 2020 - 31 Dec 2021
Using a qualitative cross-case design, this project will expand on current Queensland-based work to address this gap in knowledge by exploring the governance arrangements that shape the work practices of A&TSIHW across both Queensland and the Northern Territory. Continuing the first systematic work relating to A&TSIHW governance carried out in Queensland as part of a 2019 with Hot North support, this project will: a) extend the project scope and characterize both the formal and informal rules and norms that influence A&TSIHW roles in the Top End Health Service of the NT, and b) through cross-case analysis of QLD and NT data, develop new insights into the influence of different geographic, social and administrative structures on A&TSIHW performance. The outcomes are expected to support efforts to strengthen Indigenous health workforce planning across Northern Australia.
Genomics for Australian Plants – Phylogenomics Project (Old ID 26702)
Darren Crayn
01 Jan 2020 - 30 Jun 2022
The Genomics for Australian Plants initiative aims to develop genomics resources to enhance our understanding of the evolution and conservation of the unique Australian flora. We will (1) sequence and assemble representative Australian plant genomes across the plant tree of life to enable better conservation, utilisation and understanding of Australia’s unique plant diversity; (2) build genomic capacity across Australian Botanic Gardens and Herbaria to create networks collaborating in the collection, management, dissemination and application of genomic data for Australian plants; and (3) provide tools to enable genetic data to be used to identify and classify biodiversity at a range of scales and to use these tools to inform conservation management and enable better decision making.
Monitoring the Wet Tropic's endangered upland frogs (Old ID 27742)
Conrad Hoskin
01 Dec 2021 - 31 Dec 2023
This grant will fund equipment and fieldwork costs for two PhD students, working on upland frog population monitoring in north Qld. The project involves setting up monitoring techniques to assess population trends in threatened species on the Wet Tropics mountain-tops, and conduct that monitoring at regular intervals.
Improving the flood resilience of a tropical urban catchment using hydraulic modelling approaches, tribal science and historical sources of information (Old ID 27749)
HanShe Lim
01 Jul 2022 - 01 Dec 2023
This project uses hydrological modelling to assess flood mitigation strategies under different climate change conditions for a tropical urban catchment in Cairns (Saltwater Creek). Model predictions are validated against field measurements and non-traditional sources of information including Traditional Owner knowledge and experiences of past floods and archival documents. The project involves ranger training in flow measurement and water quality assessment. The use of multiple lines of evidence to validate the flood model predictions decreases the risk associated with decision making around flood protection measures and urban development. The project outcomes will guide Cairns Regional Council and local communities in adaptive land use and investment planning under climate change for Saltwater Creek and similar coastal urban catchments.This is a collaborative project between Cairns Regional Council, Gimuy Walubara Yidinji Elders Aboriginal Corporation and Abriculture.
NESP 3.4 Better management of catchment runoff to marine receiving environments in northern Australia. (Old ID 28969)
Nathan Waltham
01 Feb 2023 - 30 Jun 2024
Runoff from catchments in northern Australia has the potential to carry large amounts of sediment and nutrients. These available nutrients are important in driving coastal and estuary productivity, including many commercially and recreationally targeted species. Water resource development in northern Australia could reduce the supply of freshwater flow to the coast, thereby limiting supply of nutrients. This research project will examine the potential risks water resource development presents to Gilbert (QLD), Daly (NT) and Ord (WA) marine and coastal areas. We will complete a literature review, undertake flood plume modelling and examine vegetation damage along these coastal areas.