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Major research achievements in the area of humanities and social sciences

Across all disciplines

The Australian e-Humanities Network - an ARC-funded partnership with the Australian Academy of the Humanities and the University of Newcastle - helps humanities scholars apply smart technologies to those aspects of their research aimed at creating, safeguarding and making accessible digital collections of our common cultural heritage.

Citizenship and culture

Associate Professor Murray Print and Dr Saha, (Faculty of Education) have been awarded $480,000 over four years to look at why some 300,000 18-24 year old Australians are not enrolled to vote in federal elections, despite compulsory voting. This project is in conjunction with the Australian Electoral Commission and outcomes will include identification of non-enrolled youth and approriate interventions to engage young Australians to become active, democratic citizens.

Associate Professor R J Fletcher, Dr I R Johnson and Dr E M Bruce (Faculty of Arts/Faculty of Science) in conjunction with the Finnish Environmental Institute (FEI), APSARA Authority, UNESCO (UNESCO Phnom Penh Office), Ecole Francaise d'Extreme Orient (EFEO), Horizon Geoscience Consulting P/L, Department of Environment and Heritage, Godden Mackay Logan Pty Ltd, Concept Aviation and ESRI Australia received $955,000 over six years for "Living with Heritage: Integrating time, place, and culture for World Heritage conservation."

Creative, performing and visual arts

Lecturer Josephine Starrs from the Sydney College of the Arts was awarded SCA's first ARC Discovery Project grant. She will investigate new concepts aimed at designing digital games that appeal to girls, and explore the culture of digital games in Australia and internationally to find solutions that support gender equity.

Dr Jim Masselos (Faculty of Arts) has been awarded $195,000 over four years to undertake a project, in conjunction with the Art Gallery of NSW, to explore the 'couple' in the art and society of South and Southeast Asia. Research will be image-based, and outcomes are expected to include a publication, symposium and exhibition.

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History and archaeology

Associate Professor Roland Fletcher (Department of Archaeology) has been awarded an ARC Discovery Grant of more than $1 million to continue his research into the growth and decline of Angkor in Cambodia.

Dr Joseph Dortch (Archaeology) has received an ARC Discovery Grant for the project: "Late Pleistocene faunal change and the formation of fossil depositis: a taphonomic approach".

Professor Roy MacLeod (History) has received an ARC Linkage Projects for the project: "Empowering Australia: collecting and interpreting the material culture of Australian technology in New South Wales, 1880-1972".

Law and legal studies

Professor Terry Carney (Faculty of Law) has received an ARC Linkage Grant (~$300,000) to look at how mental health tribunals balance fairness, freedom, protection and the right to treatment.

The ARC Linkage Project Grant - funded jointly with the US-based philanthropic organisation, the MacArthur Foundation - was awarded to Dr Mary Crock for a project that will investigate the treatment of separated children and trafficked children in need of refugee protection in Australia.

2003 ARC Discovery grants awarded for the faculty include:

  • Dr Mary Crock and Associate Professor Helen Irving, The impact of migrants on Australian Public Law: An historical and cultural study;
  • Professor Reg Graycar, Legal responses to Systemic injuries: Towards a new paradigm for compensation;
  • Mr Luke Nottage, Mr Leon Wolff (UNSW) and Mr Kent Anderson (ANU), Traction or 'Turbulence' in Japanese Regulatory Style? An empirical analysis of Japanese commercial law reform since the 1990s;
  • Professor Patrick Parkinson, Family Law and the Indissolubility of parenthood;
  • Professor Don Rothwell and Associate Professor Belinda Bennett, Globalisation and Biomedicine: The harmonisation of local and global regulatory demands.

All research applications in Law submitted under the Sesqui New Staff Support Scheme received funding:

  • Ms Fleur Johns, Sydney: A legal geography. A pilot study of law shaping and being shaped by urban space;
  • Ms Rebecca Millar, GST and Retirement Villages;
  • Ms Emma Armson, The revitalised takeovers: A policy and comparative evaluation.
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Philosophy and society

Professor Huw Price (School of Philosophical and Historical Inquiry) was awarded an ARC grant of $745,000 for a project on time and perspective.

Dr Fiona Probyn (School of Philosophical and Historical Inquiry), young researcher, received an ARC grant of $132,000 for her research into post-colonialism, paternity and the stolen generations.

Associate Professor David Evans and Dr John Forster (Faculty of Education) project: "Quality teaching and learning for Gifted Learners", is funded by Telstra Foundation ($50,000). The project aims to develop, analyse, trial and evaluate model lessons and examples of teaching strategies that meet the learning needs of students with special gifts.

Associate Professor David Evans (Faculty of Education) has received funding from the New Children's Hospital and NSW Health ($42,000) for Linking Health and Education Programs through the Syllabus: Showing the Way. The program focuses on school progress and participation in regards to rehabilitation for children and adolescents with brain injury.

Honorary Professor Frances Christie has been awarded an ARC grant for the years, 2004-2006. It is called Key development indicators in adolescent writing. The study will investigate the hypothesis that there are important developmental changes in control of written language that must occur for students to succeed in secondary school, and that these can be described and used to guide teaching activity.

Associate Professor S D Rutland, Emeritus Professor S Encel (Faculty of Arts) in conjunction with the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ), Jewish Communal Appeal and Leibler Investments received $85,000 over four years for "The Political Sociology of the Australian Jewish Community".

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Work, economics and finance

Associate Professor Elizabeth Cowley (Discipline of Marketing Department) has received an ARC linkage grant (~$200,000) to investigate how gambling evolved from an economic benefit to a social cost.

Dr M Baird and Dr S Charlesworth (Faculty of Economics and Business) in conjunction with Holden Ltd and Sydney Water received $120,000 over three years for "Work-Life Integration: Developing the 'Dual Agenda' in Theory and Practice".

Dr C A Comerton-Forde, Professor Dr A Frino and Professor T H McInish (Faculty of Economics and Business) in conjunction with the Australian Stock Exchange Limited and ASX, and Securities Industry Research Centre of Asia received $366,388 over four years for "Equity Market Integrity and Liquidity".

The University recognised three Faculty of Economics and Business research 'clusters' of significant national and international strength and reputation in 2003. These were:

  • The World of Work: Organisational, Legal, Industrial and Public Policy Issues
  • Modelling Economic and Financial Behaviour, and
  • Globalisation and its Challenges

Each cluster received about $150,000 to conduct research and hold international research meetings.

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