Charles Darwin University (CDU) has been successful in the latest round of Australian Research Council Linkage applications announced on 7 July.
Linkage is one of three programs under the ARC National Competitive Grants Program, which funds research and reseachers.
CDU projects to be funded in the latest round are:
Indigenous birth and family: Pathways, places and professionals – researcher: Prof Lesley Barclay, in partnership with the NT Department of Health and Community Services and Danila Dilba Health Service.
Professor Barclay’s research complements the national research priority goal, A Healthy Start to Life, and the National Agenda for Early Childhood, which emphasise pregnancy through to five years as critical for later social competence and physical wellbeing.
Ecological-epidemiological models of feral swamp buffalo control in northern Australia – researchers: Dr Corey Bradshaw, Dr Clive McMahon, Prof David Bowman, Dr Barry Brook, in partnership with Bawinanga Aboriginal Corporation; NT Research & Innovation Board - Department of Business, Economic and Regional Development; NT Department of Primary Industry, Fisheries and Mines; Northern Australia Quarantine Strategy - Australian Quarantine & Inspection Service; and Parks Australia North (Kakadu National Park).
Of local, national and international significance, this research improves the capacity of the Northern Territory and its traditional Aboriginal owners to manage together this prevalent species in an effort to minimise disturbance to native flora and fauna and to understand the long-term implications of continued proliferation.
The research also provides for a nationally relevant system to monitor and project the spread of disease through feral animal populations in Australia as well as combining quantitative data and robust analytical tools that can be used as a template for solving many broad-scale feral animal problems around the world.
Analysis of legislation and policies affecting the development of Indigenous wildlife-based enterprises – researchers: Prof Bruce Campbell, Prof Stephen Garnett, Prof Donna Craig and Dr Peter Whitehead, in partnership with NT Research & Innovation Board - Department of Business, Economic and Regional Development; Northern Land Council; and NT Department of Natural Resources, Environment & the Arts.
Entrepreneurial enterprise development by Indigenous people in remote regions is being encouraged as part of government policy to move people off welfare and into work.
Indigenous knowledge of wildlife makes it a logical source of wealth generation but a range of legal and policy constraints add to substantial existing social and logistical problems.
An understanding of the legal processes involved in establishing and maintaining sustainable and ongoing wildlife-based enterprises will improve their chances of success, and will also offer the opportunity to change regulatory frameworks to ensure consistency, remove contradictions and encourage workforce participation. This research will have national and international implications.
Tracing nitrogen through wet tropical aquifers using stable isotopic signatures, molecular markers and gas emissions – researcher: Dr Niels Munksgaard in partnership with Natural Resources and Mines. The stable isotope analyses are planned to be carried out at CDU. The administering institution is James Cook University.
This project aims at enabling land managers to reduce the loss of nitrogen into creeks, rivers and estuaries of the Great Barrier Reef catchments. This will improve the economic and environmental viability of primary production while restoring the quality of aquatic and marine ecosystems.
The results will identify parts of the landscape where land management needs to change and over what time scale improvements would be apparent.
These outputs address the water quality priorities and targets of the 'Reef Water Quality Protection Plan' of the state and national governments and the 'Far North Queensland Natural Resource Management Plan'.
Find out more about Linkage programs on the Australian Research Council website.