Australian Research Council Linkage Project Research Articles

LGBTQ+ collecting institutions: the culture of strategic management, motivation and professionalization

ABSTRACT This paper presents findings from an Australian Research Council Linkage Project investigating LGBTQ+ memory, migration and collecting institution practices. It analyses the ways in which minority LGBTQ+ collecting institutions (galleries, libraries, archives and museums) have professionalized in recent decades and adopted the use of strategic management documents such as strategic plans, mission statements and annual reports. Analysing documents from the 48 most prominent LGBTQ+ collecting institutions around the world, this article explores the ways in which such documents present narratives about the motivation and justification for minority collecting institutions, and how they represent themselves as professional rather than grassroots or activist organizations. Three core motivations emerged from the study: the preservation and celebration of the past, sustaining an ‘ethnic minority’ model of LGBTQ+ community through engagement in the present and aspiration for social change and justice for the future. The paper unpacks the underlying discourses to provide a perspective on the role of these cultural institutions in minority communities.

Taking a detailed look at early childhood educators’ worktime

Despite the acknowledged complexity and time pressures of early childhood educators’ work, very few studies have examined the nature of this work, minute-by-minute, over the working day. This paper reports on data gathered through 10,155 time-use diary (TUD) records provided by 321 educators participating in the Exemplary Early Childhood Educators at Work Australian Research Council Linkage Project. Participants were recruited from preschool/kindergarten and long day care centres that had achieved a rating of Exceeding the Australian National Quality Standard on all seven Quality Areas. Analyses of this extensive dataset illustrate the rhythm and diversity of educators’ work across a typical day and identify the similarities and differences in worktime distributions for educators working in preschool vs. long day care settings, and for educators with different qualifications and positional responsibilities. The findings suggest differential allocations of worktime that raise important considerations for achieving high quality early childhood education and care services.

Vibrational timber characterization through the use of model updating

The characterization of orthotropic materials has challenged the vibration and acoustics community for quite some time. Complex composite materials such as wooden structures require attention to factors including moisture, grain boundaries in addition to macroscopic features. Here we devise a basic model developed by measuring the vibrational response in two separate axes to determine the material characteristics of a timber dowel. A proposed benchtop procedure utilises vibrometers and accelerometers to gather data before the updating process, for which, FEMtools was used. Based on the input material parameters, uncovered by previous studies, provide a starting point for the model updating procedure where experimental mode shapes and frequency responses are correlated to the finite element model. With the focus on radiata pine, the results show radial and tangential values converge similar to previous literature but with variation in the longitudinal direction and shear planes. Overall, this study provides a solid foundation to the characterization process of orthotropic materials like timber which can be further expanded into fields of structural health monitoring, damage detection and potential use in digital twins. The authors acknowledge the support of the Australian Research Council Linkage Project LP200301196.

The architecture of mental health: identifying the combination of apartment building design requirements for positive mental health outcomes

Housing quality is a crucial determinant of mental health. While the construction of high-rise buildings is a popular policy strategy for accommodating population growth in cities, there is considerable debate about the health consequences of living in poorly designed apartments. Drawing on three Australian state government apartment design policies introduced to improve apartment design quality, this study aimed to identify the combination of design requirements that were optimally supportive of positive mental health. K-means cluster analyses identified groups of buildings (n=172) that were homogenous in their implementation of a mix of n=80 measured design requirements. Positive mental health was measured using the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS). Linear mixed-effects models controlling for demographic characteristics, self-selection factors and clustering of participants within buildings compared residents in the different clusters. Residents in the "high policy performance buildings", characterised by having a greater implementation of n=29 design requirements across nine design elements, had significantly higher (+1.96 points) WEMWBS scores compared with residents in the "low policy performance buildings". This study is the first to empirically identify a mix of policy-specific architecture design requirements that are associated with positive mental health in apartment residents. These findings provide vital empirical evidence to inform national and international apartment and high-rise housing policies, and design instruments and practices to protect people's health in apartment dwellings. The High Life project is funded by a Healthway Research Intervention Project grant (#31986) and an Australian Research Council (ARC), Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) (DE160100140). NE is supported by an Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage Project (LP190100558). SF is supported by an Australian Research Council (ARC) Future Fellowship (FT210100899).

The association between unpaid labour and mental health in working-age adults in Australia from 2002 to 2020: a longitudinal population-based cohort study.

Unpaid labour is a daily part of most people's lives, none more so than for women. Yet, in comparison to paid work, the effect of unpaid labour on mental health is an under-researched area. This study aims to address key gaps in the extant literature, examining how unpaid labour is associated with mental health in working-age men and women, and whether gender differences exist. In this longitudinal population-based cohort study, 19 waves of the Household, Income, and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey were used to employ a fixed effects regression analysis to examine the associations between unpaid labour and mental health in working-age (aged 25-64 years) Australian adults. Mental health was assessed using the MHI-5 scale. Both the individual and the combined effects of four different domains of unpaid labour (household work, childcare, care for adults, and outdoor tasks) were interrogated, as were the gender differences. Of the 37 352 participants (297 036 observations) in waves 2002-20 of the HILDA Survey, 22 832 people (190 207 observations) were aged 25-64 years, and after excluding participants with missing data, 21 014 participants (150 163 observations) were included in the analysis. Increasing time in household work was negatively associated with mental health in both men (β coefficient=-0·026 [95% CI -0·04 to -0·01]) and women (β coefficient=-0·009 [-0·02 to 0·001]), as was care for adults (disabled or older people) in women (β coefficient=-0·027 [-0·04 to -0·01]). Conversely, increasing time in childcare for women (β coefficient=0·016 [0·01 to 0·02]) and outdoor tasks for men, was positively associated with mental health (β coefficient=0·067 [0·04 to 0·09]). A null finding for the overall cumulative total unpaid labour exposure for both men and women was probably attributable to the opposing direction of effects between the individual domains that constituted the total load. This study reveals considerable variance and nuance in how different domains of unpaid labour affect mental health, as well as continued inequity in the division of unpaid labour in households, with women doing considerably more unpaid labour than men. This study also exposes important challenges associated with measuring and understanding total (combined) unpaid labour as a determinant of health. University of Melbourne Research Training Scholarship, Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Award, Australian Research Council Linkage Project.

Geographies, mobilities and politics for disabled people: power-assisted device practice

ABSTRACT In this paper, key findings are presented from an Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage project that investigated the geographies, mobilities and politics for disabled people who roll powered assisted devices (wheelchairs and mobility scooters). We offer a spatial framework to think about the politics of exclusion/inclusion from public space along three dimensions: as a distributed institutional decision-making process, as personal, and as an event/journey. We recruited 68 disabled people to collaborate in a multi-stage, mixed-method qualitative project from 2020–2022. Four themes emerged from our thematic analysis of everyday power-assisted device practices that offer insights to what enables or constrains access to public space: the desire for social connections and independence, normative assumptions of standing design, the built form when going places (steps, gutters and stairs) alongside the interdependencies of various care and transport networks. We point to the implications for policy, planning and future research.

Standards Setting in Religious Education: Addressing the Quality of Teaching and Assessment Practices

This paper describes a set of educational initiatives in Religious Education (RE). The paper addresses RE as an academic learning area and reserved for Kindergarten to Year 10 classrooms in Catholic schools. The initiatives described in the paper are evidence-based; they are guided by research and student achievement data addressing contemporary assessment reforms within the Australian educational context and considering the implications that the reforms have on the quality of student learning in RE. The reforms include quality assurance measures such as large-scale, standardised assessments (LSAs) and social moderation tools. The purpose of the measures is to establish standards that support the alignment of teaching and assessment practices. Such an alignment in the RE learning area has the potential to strengthen and improve student, as well as teacher, knowledge and understanding of the Catholic Faith Tradition. The paper draws from the Catholic RE school curriculum in Western Australia (WA), assessment principles outlined for schools in WA, an Australian Research Council Linkage project and local research about teacher perceptions of an LSA in RE. The paper supports local and national policy expectations recommending a review of the quality of RE as a learning area. Furthermore, given the prominence of the Catholic Church’s mission of evangelisation and the nature and role of RE in Catholic schools as part of that mission, the paper endorses the Church’s current stance on thoughtful dialogue and renewed efforts to bring a better understanding about Catholic culture and education to the world.

Who is studying what in Early Childhood Education and Care? Composite narratives of Australian educators engaging in further study

Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) in Australia is facing a workforce crisis. A knowledge gap around educators studying to pursue a career in ECEC, particularly in long day care (LDC), has prompted research with Australian educators who engage in further education and training while working in LDC services. The paper examines 32 biographical interviews from an Australian Research Council Linkage project Identifying Effective Strategies to Grow and Sustain a Professional Early Years Workforce. Research reported here applies a social constructivist framework to investigate the personal and structural characteristics of educators studying at Certificate III, Diploma, Bachelor and Master levels of Australia’s regulated qualifications and training system. An important finding is that the legislative provisions of Australia’s National Quality Framework is a key driver for educator engagement in education and training. The paper highlights the importance of clear qualification pathways in raising the professionalism of the ECEC workforce in Australia.

“It takes a village”: the sources and types of support in development of male cricket players

ObjectivesTo explore the different types of support (e.g., financial, informational) and support providers (e.g., fathers, siblings) in the development of male cricket players across different levels of skill expertise. MethodsA quantitative questionnaire (developed as a part of a broader Australian Research Council Linkage project) assessing support providers and types of support accessed by players was distributed to participants through involvement with a national sporting organisation. Descriptive trends across support types for each provider were explored for the total cohort of athletes, n=1383 (as relative percentages), and community and elite differences were explored using chi-squared analyses (p<0.05). ResultsMothers and fathers were primary providers of financial and emotional support (>80%), mentors offered meaningful sport-specific informational and technical (or coaching related) support, and siblings and peers played an integral development role in acting as fellow participants for practice and play. Access to coaching emerged as a dominant point of difference between community and elite players consistently across all support providers (p<0.05). Mentors and siblings also featured more frequently for elite players across broader ranges of support factors (p<0.05). ConclusionRegardless of level of skill expertise, there were unique context-specific roles that different providers played in supporting cricket players. When differentiating between levels of expertise, elite players drew on more “contact” points to assist them in accessing the right type of coaching. Mentors and siblings also featured more frequently for elite players across a broader range of support factors. Taken together, these findings show that elite players are distinguished in their reliance on multiple components within a complex family system, bolstered by additional significant others. This work further underscores the previously limited exploration of social networks in athlete development, highlighting avenues for continued enquiry and action in sport development systems.

Desert Harmony: Exploring the Cultural, Social, and Economic Value of a Multi-Arts Festival in the Remote Barkly Region

This article examines the role that the arts sector plays in supporting and sustaining communities in one of Australia’s remotest regions, the Barkly (Northern Territory). Drawing on findings from a three-year Australian Research Council Linkage project, ‘Creative Barkly’, the article outlines how artistic and creative activities in very remote regions, such as the Barkly, constitute significant cultural, social, and economic value. To illustrate this, the article explores one such example, the annual Desert Harmony Festival, run by Barkly Regional Arts. This example demonstrates how an event such as this can provide a site of diverse intercultural expression that promotes both social and economic linkages and networks and generates cultural vitality in the region.

“Dad! Let's go have a hit…”: Sources and types of support in female cricket players

Objectives: To explore the different types of support and different support providers in female cricket players (n=101), and to understand whether these support types or providers differ relative to level of skill expertise. Method: A quantitative questionnaire (developed as a part of a broader Australian Research Council Linkage project) was distributed to participants through involvement with a national sporting organisation. Descriptive trends across support types for each provider were explored for the total cohort of athletes (as relative percentages) and community and elite differences were explored using chi-squared analyses (p<0.05). Results: Mothers and fathers were primary givers of financial and emotional support (>70% for both parents across the entire cohort), mentors offered meaningful sport specific informational and technical (or coaching related) support and siblings and peers played integral roles acting as fellow participants for practice and play. Access to coaching also emerged as a dominant point of difference between community and elite cricket players consistently across all support providers (p<0.05). The father emerged as a dominant provider of support for elite players across five different dimensions of support (p<0.05). Conclusion: Several characteristics related to support provider and support type for female players were consistent with male players (general parental financial and emotional support provision and access to quality coaching present across all support providers). A key outcome from this study was evidence of the specific role that fathers play in the development of elite female cricket players.

Rethinking Tasmania’s Regionality from an Antarctic Perspective: Flipping the Map

Tasmania hangs from the map of Australia like a drop in freefall from the substance of the mainland. Often the whole state is mislaid from Australian maps and logos (Reddit). Tasmania has, at least since federation, been considered peripheral—a region seen as isolated, a ‘problem’ economically, politically, and culturally. However, Tasmania not only cleaves to the ‘north island’ of Australia but is also subject to the gravitational pull of an even greater land mass—Antarctica. In this article, we upturn the political conventions of map-making that place both Antarctica and Tasmania in obscure positions at the base of the globe. We show how a changing global climate re-frames Antarctica and the Southern Ocean as key drivers of worldwide environmental shifts. The liquid and solid water between Tasmania and Antarctica is revealed not as a homogenous barrier, but as a dynamic and relational medium linking the Tasmanian archipelago with Antarctica. When Antarctica becomes the focus, the script is flipped: Tasmania is no longer on the edge, but core to a network of gateways into the southern land. The state’s capital of Hobart can from this perspective be understood as an "Antarctic city", central to the geopolitics, economy, and culture of the frozen continent (Salazar et al.). Viewed from the south, we argue, Tasmania is not a problem, but an opportunity for a form of ecological, cultural, economic, and political sustainability that opens up the southern continent to science, discovery, and imagination.

Building sustainable portfolio careers in music: insights and implications for higher education

ABSTRACTThis article discusses a range of significant issues for consideration by music higher education institutions when preparing their students for a portfolio career in music. Drawing on insights from a review of literature undertaken as part of an Australian Research Council Linkage Project, Making Music Work: Sustainable portfolio careers for Australian musicians, the article explores the dynamic structure of the music sector and the ways in which musicians are undertaking a portfolio of roles in order to ensure financial and creative sustainability. In particular, the article focuses on five career and educational issues of importance: enterprise and entrepreneurship, mobility, digitisation, gender parity, and health and wellbeing – when preparing graduates for a portfolio career reality.

Government Funding of University-Industry Collaboration: Exploring the Impact of Targeted Funding on University Patent Activity

Government investment in university research results in greater output and impact. To better capture economic benefits stemming from university research, governments have developed funding programs specifically targeting university-industry collaboration. However, little is known about the success of university-industry targeted (U-I targeted) grants. In this study we evaluate the effect of one such scheme, the Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage Project scheme, by comparing it to its non-targeted sister scheme, the ARC Discovery Project scheme. Having in common selection criteria, grant assessors, awardees, magnitude of funding and duration, the schemes differ in the requirement for an industry partner. We measure capture of economic benefit by patent applications filed and granted. Interrogating the effect of targeted funding at a university level we find award of U-I targeted grants coincides with increased patent activity compared to non-targeted grants. Exploring the dynamics of the relationship, we observe the effect of U-I targeted grants on patent activity is short lived at an inventor level. Further, the propensity for patent activity is influenced by the ratio of U-I targeted to non-targeted grants held at a university level, but not at an inventor level.

Understanding the work of FLOs through a recovery framework lens

ABSTRACT This paper examines the value of a recovery theory framework for understanding the practices employed by teachers at Flexible Learning Option (FLO) schools. Recovery theory is a psychological framework with an empowerment focus that looks to assist people to live a satisfying, contributing and hopeful life. Key elements of the recovery theory framework include an emphasis on connectedness, hope and optimism, identity, meaning in life and empowerment [Anthony, W. A. 1993. ‘Recovery from mental illness: the guiding vision of the mental health service system in the 1990’s.’ Psychosocial Rehabilitation Journal 16: 11–23]. This framework has been used to examine interview data gathered through an Australian Research Council Linkage Project with staff and students across a range of Australian FLOs, to better understand ‘what works’ in relation to achieving positive well-being outcomes for students in the FLO environment. Results of the study demonstrate that students respond positively to the use of key elements of the recovery framework. Thus, use of the recovery framework might have wider implications for guiding the work of schools in supporting young people at risk of disengagement.

Measuring the impact of knowledge loss: a longitudinal study

PurposeKnowledge loss caused by employee exit has become a significant corporate risk. This paper aims to explore how to measure the impact of knowledge loss. The paper is based on empirical evidence from a five-year longitudinal study.Design/methodology/approachThis paper is based on a longitudinal change project for a large Australian Research Council Linkage Project grant in the period 2008-2013. The method was a single case study using a critical realism paradigm. The project was a transformational change programme which aimed to help make the partner organization a learning organization to minimize the impact of knowledge loss. The partner organization was a large Australian Government Department, which faced the threat of knowledge loss caused by its ageing workforce. The sample was 118 respondents, mainly engineering and technical workers. A total of 150 respondents were invited to participate in the study which involved an annual survey and attendance at regular training workshops and related activities, with a participation rate of 79 per cent.FindingsThe results found that knowledge loss has most negative impact in terms of organizational problems including low productivity (morale), strategic misalignment of the workforce (capability gaps), resource cuts (stakeholders unhappy with performance), decreased work quantity and quality (inexperienced employees), work outputs not being used (customers mistrust), longer time to competence (learning cost) and slow task completion (increased search cycle time). The second most significant impact was increased sense of risk associated with work activities and declining capacity to manage the risk. The third main impact was decreased organizational knowledge base: knowledge loss creates knowledge deficit which is unlikely to be filled over time, as shown by the knowledge accounts of surviving employees which remained stable overall. The two remaining measurement constructs – psychological contract and learning organizational capacity – improved, which suggests that the negative impact of knowledge loss may be addressed with appropriate knowledge management.Research limitations/implicationsThe research is based on a single case study in a public sector organization. While the longitudinal nature of the study and the rich data collected offsets this issue, it also presents good opportunities for researchers and practitioners to test the ideas presented in this paper in other industry contexts. The complexity and range of the constructs, concepts and scale items is acknowledged. Tables have been used wherever possible to help the reader access the findings.Practical implicationsKnowledge loss is perhaps the greatest corporate risk facing organizations today. This paper provides a method to measure the impact of knowledge loss. Managers may use this to assess the significance of the risk and use this as a business case to take action to minimize the impact of knowledge loss.Originality/valuePrior research has found knowledge loss has caused decreased psychological contract, lost organizational memory, inefficiency and ineffectiveness and declining capability; however, these concepts are discussed in broad terms only. This paper addresses the need for measurement concepts which helps us understand the nature of the impact of knowledge loss. Five knowledge loss concepts are developed: knowledge resources, psychological contract, learning organization capacity, risk management and organizational problems. The results are based on a large-scale longitudinal study providing empirical evidence of change over a three-year period, situated within the context of a research intervention, i.e. knowledge management programme.

WE‐DE‐BRA‐06: Evaluation of the Imaging Performance of a Novel Water‐Equivalent EPID

Purpose:To evaluate the megavoltage imaging performance of a novel, water‐equivalent electronic portal imaging device (EPID) developed for simultaneous imaging and dosimetry applications in radiotherapy.Methods:A novel EPID prototype based on active matrix flat panel imager technology has been developed by our group and previously reported to exhibit a water‐equivalent dose response. It was constructed by replacing all components above the photodiode detector in a standard clinical EPID (including the copper plate and phosphor screen) with a 15 × 15 cm2 array of plastic scintillator fibers. Individual fibers measured 0.5 × 0.5 × 30 mm3. Spatial resolution was evaluated experimentally relative to that of a standard EPID with the thin slit technique to measure the modulation transfer function (MTF) for 6 MV x‐ray beams. Monte Carlo (MC) EPID models were used to benchmark simulated MTFs against the measurements. The zero spatial frequency detective quantum efficiency (DQE(0)) was simulated for both EPID configurations and a preliminary optimization of the prototype was performed by evaluating DQE(0) as a function of fiber length up to 50 mm.Results:The MC‐simulated DQE(0) for the prototype EPID configuration was ∼7 times greater than that of the standard EPID. The prototype's DQE(0) also increased approximately linearly with fiber length, from ∼1% at 5 mm length to ∼11% at 50 mm length. The standard EPID MTF was greater than the prototype EPID's for all spatial frequencies, reflecting the trade off between x‐ray detection efficiency and spatial resolution with thick scintillators.Conclusion:This study offers promising evidence that a water‐equivalent EPID previously demonstrated for radiotherapy dosimetry may also be used for radiotherapy imaging applications. Future studies on optimising the detector design will be performed to develop a next‐generation prototype that offers improved megavoltage imaging performance, with the aim to at least match that of current clinical EPIDs.Funding for this project was provided by an Australian Research Council Linkage Project grant (2015) between The University of Sydney, South Western Sydney Local Health District and Perkin‐Elmer Pty Ltd.

Conclusion

This conclusion discusses some recent examples of racism in AFL in order to explore the question of ‘how far have we come in the AFL when it comes to racism?’ This paper also discusses what the potential future trajectories are for Rule 35 and the findings from the Australian Research Council Linkage project that this book came from.

Teaching and learning in an era of time-based access targets: Impact of a new model of care on junior medical officers.

Teaching and learning in an era of time-based access targets: Impact of a new model of care on junior medical officers.

Opportunities for capacity building and integration in community based health promotion

Introduction: Health promotion is a complex interdisciplinary field and health promotion workforce capacity is influenced by the skills, knowledge and work practices of those doing health promotion work. Place based and settings based approaches to health promotion offer a framework for grounding the complexity of health promotion practice in context. This presentation reports on the baseline capacity of community based health promotion practitioners by exploring the nature and extent of their health promotion practice. This study is one part of an Australian Research Council linkage project, the overall aim of the project was to improve health promotion workforce capacity. Methods: Five focus groups were conducted with participants in roles including: Hospital based nurse practitioner; school based health nurse; community health home care; multidisciplinary community health; and dedicated health promotion practitioners. Results: Thematic analysis of the data illustrated tensions between health promotion roles, resources and capacity. Additionally there were contrasting disciplinary approaches to similar problems and contrasting understandings and use of evidence in practice. Practitioners from different sectors and roles approach health promotion in different ways, even in the context of existing collaborations. Health promotion practitioners have insight into opportunities for service improvement and integration. Conclusion: This research highlights that although contrasting philosophies underpin health promotion practice in the community there is an opportunity and a need to work with practitioners to find innovative ways to collaborate across sectors, and thus improve the translation of health promotion evidence into practice.