Success in latest round of ARC grants
- Author: Ebony Preen
- Posted: 9th November 2012
UNSW Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences research projects have benefited from the latest round of Australian Research Council major grants.
Arts and Social Sciences researchers have been awarded over $1.6 million for seven projects across a broad range of disciplines.
Funding was announced for four Discovery Projects and three Discovery Early Career Research Awards (DECRAs), which will commence in 2013.
"The awarding of these grants exemplify the strength of the research we do across the social sciences, performing and creative arts and the humanities." said the Associate Dean of Research, Associate Professor Kristy Muir.
Discovery Projects
- Bruce Bradbury, Social Policy Research Centre, (with Corak, Waldfogeland Washbrook), Growing unequal: diverging childhood outcomes in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States, $225,911
POLICY AND ADMINISTRATION - How and why do the outcomes of children from rich and poor families differ in the early and middle school years? This study will compare Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States and help to explain why mobility between generations is greater in some countries than others. - Melissa Merritt, School of Humanities, Enlightened judgment: reflection and cognitive virtue in Kant’s critical philosophy, $135,000
HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY OF SPECIFIC FIELDS - This project aims to explain our cognitive practices: what is sound judgment and how does it depend on the ability to be critical about our concepts? What is intellectual creativity, and what makes it possible? The answers are provided through a new interpretation of the philosophical ideal of enlightenment, with special attention to the work of Kant. - Stephen Muecke, Erin Brannigan and Edward Scheer, School of the Arts and Media, Towards the experimental humanities, $210,000
PERFORMING ARTS AND CREATIVE WRITING - Growth in the creative arts in universities is demanding the discovery of new methods of research and teaching. This project will develop experimental methods to broaden the humanities so that they can engage with the disciplines that effectively harness human creativity to solve problems. - Laura Shepherd, School of Social Sciences, Gender, peacebuilding and the politics of space: a critical examination of United Nations peacebuilding practices, $133,150
POLITICAL SCIENCE - More than half of all peace agreements fail within five years. In response to this dismal statistic, the United Nations (UN) recently began to prioritise gender matters in peacebuilding operations, recognising that gender equality is key to building sustainable peace. This project examines how gender justice is addressed in United Nations peacebuilding policy and practice. - Eileen Baldry, School of Social Sciences, is part of a team lead by Chris Cuneen at James Cook University (with Schwartz, Goldson and Brown), A comparative analysis of youth punishment in Australia and the United Kingdom
This project is a comparative Australian and United Kingdom investigation of penal policy and the punishment of juvenile offenders. The research analyses the changing approaches to juvenile incarceration, particularly in the context of perceived effects on crime and the substantial public and social costs of incarceration.
Discovery Early Career Research Awards (DECRAs)
- Tanya Jakimow, School of Social Sciences, Decentralisation in India and Indonesia: how non-government organisations affect citizens' encounters and experiences oflocal level governance, $365,144
ANTHROPOLOGY - This project critically examines how local non-government organisations affect decentralisation in India and Indonesia. It offers new understandings of the potential for development agencies to transform the meanings, practices andidentities that shape how citizens experience local governance. - Jae Yup Jung, School of Education, It’s our future at stake: the career decision-making processes of high ability youth from low socio-economic status backgrounds, $333,623.00
SPECIALIST STUDIES IN EDUCATION - This project will investigate the processes associated with how our bright but underprivileged youth go about choosing their future careers. The findings will help to inform how various stakeholders may support this group, so that they make career decisions that fully utilise their potential. - Abigail Powell, Social Policy Research Centre, Promoting work-life balance: do flexible work arrangements really work for employees in Australia?, $369,720
POLICY AND ADMINISTRATION - The research investigates the impact of flexible work arrangements available in the workplace on the time use and work-life balance of employees. It establishes which arrangements most effectively support employees to balance work and non-work time, with significant implications for social and organisational policy.
A full list of funded projects is available on the ARC website.
