[Aqualist] ARC SUCCESS IN DISCOVERY AND DECRA SCHEMES

[Simon Haberle]

Dear all,


Please find below the successful funded projects (Discovery and DECRA) announced today. I included those projects in research areas related to Quaternary research (including Archaeology). Apologies for those I may have overlooked (Please let me know).


Congratulations to all those who were successful. I'm sure there were many who weren't... so best of luck for next time...


Cheers, Simon


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DISCOVERY PROJECTS




The University of New South Wales


DP130104156
Turney, Prof Chris S; Meissner, Dr Katrin J; Grierson, A/Prof Pauline F
Project Title: Reconstructing changes in atmospheric circulation over the mid-latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere during the past 3000 years
Total $470,000.00, PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY AND ENVIRONMENTAL GEOSCIENCE
Project Summary: The climate of the mid-latitudes of the southern hemisphere is of global significance and yet past changes have proved difficult to reconstruct due to the dearth of records. Working across the Southern Ocean region using tree rings, lake sediments and ice cores, the project will produce the first comprehensive reconstruction spanning the last 3000 years.


The University of Sydney


DP130101268
Betts, A/Prof Alison V; Grenet, Prof Frantz; Yagodin, Prof Vadim N
Project Title: Kingship, art and cult practice: decoding symbolism in an ancient Central Asian royal city
Total $304,000.00, ARCHAEOLOGY
Project Summary: Hidden in the elaborate imagery of the richly ornamented 'Ceremonial Complex' recently uncovered at the ancient 'Royal City' of Kazakly-yatkan in Uzbekistan is a wealth of symbolism relating to cult, kingship and the divine. The study of this magnificent corpus has broad relevance for the history of all the lands across the ancient Persian world.




University of Wollongong


DP130104023 
Nanson, Prof Gerald C; Fink, Dr David; Fujioka, Dr Toshiyuki; Huang, Prof He Q
Project Title: Anabranching rivers: the arteries of arid Australia
Total $380,000.00, PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY AND ENVIRONMENTAL GEOSCIENCE
Project Summary: Multi-channel (anabranching) rivers are prevalent among the world's largest rivers and span vast areas of arid Australia, yet no comprehensive explanation exists for how or why they occur. This study determines why rivers anabranch, why Australia has them in such abundance, and how best to manage them for agricultural production and conservation.




Monash University


DP130102514
David, Dr Bruno (DORA)
Project Title: Before, during and after Lapita: 5000 years of cultural continuity and transformation at Caution Bay, southern Papua New Guinea
Total $760,000.00, ARCHAEOLOGY
Project Summary: Australia's closest Indigenous neighbours in southern Papua New Guinea have long been thought to have been in contact with long-distance seafarers only in the last 2000 years. This project will document recent archaeological findings that are causing a radical rethink of ancestral connections between Australia and southern Papua New Guinea.




The University of Melbourne


DP130101610 
Gleadow, Prof Andrew J; Kohn, Prof Barry P; Foster, Prof David A
Project Title: Geodynamics and continental extension in the East African Rift System: origin and evolution of the Turkana Depression in northern Kenya
Total $420,000.00, GEOLOGY
Project Summary: The Lake Turkana region in northern Kenya, famous for its fossil evidence of human origins, occupies a critical position within the Great Rift Valley of East Africa. This project seeks to explain how this complex region evolved and also the dynamic earth processes responsible for its formation between two great uplifted domes in Ethiopia and Kenya.


DP130100517
Phillips, A/Prof David; Jourdan, Dr Fred; Honda, Dr Masahiko; McDougall, Prof Ian; McInnes, Prof Brent I
Project Title: Development of new and high precision noble gas techniques for dating Quaternary volcanic rocks and surfaces: a Thermochronology and Noble Gas Geochronology and Geochemistry
Total $370,000.00, GEOLOGY
Project Summary: This project will calibrate noble gas dating methods, providing powerful tools for dating young volcanic rocks, eroded or buried surfaces and glacier/ice retreat. This research has considerable social, national and economic benefits for research training, volcanic hazard assessment, landscape evolution, paleoclimate change and mineral exploration.


DP130101829
Woodhead, Prof Jonathan D (DORA); Drysdale, Dr Russell N
Project Title: The Australian expression of the Pliocene warm period, an analog for future greenhouse conditions
Total $890,000.00, PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY AND ENVIRONMENTAL GEOSCIENCE
Project Summary: Records of the planet's response to past climate are important for predicting the future under conditions of global warming. This project will assemble one such record but, in contrast to much existing data, it emphasises the palaeoclimate of southern Australian through a time interval widely regarded as an analog for our climate in the year 2100.




James Cook University


DP130100334
Bird, Prof Michael I; Ridd, Prof Peter V; Ulm, Dr Sean G; Roberts, Prof Richard G; Lawes, Prof Michael J; Luly, Dr Jonathan G; Hutley, A/Prof Lindsay B
Project Title: What is 'natural'?: Locating and deciphering pre-human records of vegetation from northern Australian savannahs
Total $190,000.00, PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY AND ENVIRONMENTAL GEOSCIENCE
Project Summary: The nature and magnitude of the environmental impact of human colonisation of Australia are fundamental issues in Australian prehistory and ecology. The project will locate and develop archives of environmental change from sinkholes in the Northern Territory that date back to the Last interglacial - a period which had a similar climate to the present day, but was before humans arrived.




The University of Adelaide


DP130103842
Bradshaw, Prof Corey J; Brook, Prof Barry W
Project Title: Generalised methods for testing extinction dynamics across geological, near and modern time scales
Total $515,000.00, EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY
Project Summary: The record of extinctions over deep time is patchy and incomplete, yet we must use it to determine how major changes in past environments have shaped life on Earth today. The project will develop cutting-edge mathematical tools to determine the patterns of extinctions and speciation over geological time to help predict our uncertain environmental future.




DP130104227
Wilkinson, Prof Michael J; Breen, Dr James M; Higham, Dr Thomas F; Pinhasi, Dr Ron
Project Title: Reconstructing wheat evolution using ancient DNA
Total $443,000.00, CROP AND PASTURE PRODUCTION
Project Summary: The domestication of wild grasses by farmers was a step change in human history; it led to the emergence of modern cereals and with them, western civilisation. This project will apply modern DNA sequencing methods to 5000-year-old cereal seeds to reconstruct the history of wheat, barley and other crops, and identify lost ancient forms and diversity.




Curtin University of Technology


DP130100577
Grice, Prof Kliti (DORA); Summons, Prof Roger E
Project Title: Tackling the resurgences of life, advanced dating tools of oils by sophisticated molecular and isotopic analyses from major geological events
Total $710,000.00, GEOCHEMISTRY
Project Summary: Evidence of Earth’s biogeochemical evolution is uniquely recorded in sediments and petroleum, as are the mechanisms of life’s recovery from mass extinction caused by past catastrophes. Pioneering ageing techniques will be tested on ancient sediments, low temperature mineral fabrics and petroleum leading to the exploration of new energy sources.




The University of Western Australia


DP130100802
Veth, Prof Peter M (DORA); Paterson, Prof Alistair G; Basgall, Prof Mark E; Zeanah, Prof David W; Manne, Dr Tiina; Placzek, Dr Christa; Codding, Dr Brian F; Souter, Ms Corioli A
Project Title: The Barrow Island archaeology project: the dynamism of maritime societies in northern Australia
Total $1,175,000.00, ARCHAEOLOGY
Project Summary: This project will study human occupation from exceptionally rich sites on Barrow Island, located off northwest Australia, profiling a continuous reliance on coastal resources until isolation. Whaling and pearling started in the nineteenth century using Indigenous labourers after a 7,000 year gap in human occupation.


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DECRA




Deakin University


DE130101453
Porch, Dr Nicholas A
Project Title: Developing predictions of extinction risk for tropical arthropods in the face of global environmental change
Total $364,015.00, ZOOLOGY
Project Summary: Developing knowledge of the characteristics that make species especially at risk of extinction is critical in order to limit the extent of future biodiversity losses. This project uses the fossil record of extinctions on islands in order to develop a better understanding of the processes that drive species to extinction.




The University of New South Wales


DE130100663
McGregor, Dr Shayne
Project Title: Understanding the termination of El Nino-Southern Oscillation events
Total $375,000.00, OCEANOGRAPHY
Project Summary: Australia's climate is extreme, with significant drought and flooding events driven by cycles of the El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO). This study will improve our understanding of the termination of ENSO events and lead to better inter-seasonal climate forecasting, aiding the sectors reliant on accurate climate prediction.




University of Wollongong


DE130101560
Brumm, Dr Adam R
Project Title: A world of its own: earliest human occupation of the Maros karsts in Southwest Sulawesi, Indonesia
Total $372,600.00, ARCHAEOLOGY
Project Summary: Excavations at Leang Burung 2, a rockshelter on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, yielded evidence for the initial arrival of modern humans and underlying deposits containing primitive stone tools from earlier inhabitants. This project aims to recover further evidence of early modern humans at the site and the identity of the earlier toolmakers.




DE130100068
Mackay, Dr Alexander C
Project Title: Dwellers on the threshold: the evolution of human behavioural complexity in peripheral regions of southern Africa
Total $344,120.00, ARCHAEOLOGY
Project Summary: This project will clarify the causes and contexts under which Homo sapiens evolved and began to display our species-defining behavioural complexity through an analysis of archaeological sites located on the fringes of southern Africa's arid interior. The project will significantly enhance understandings of the behavioural evolution of our species.




La Trobe University


DE130101816
Garvey, Dr Jillian M
Project Title: Palaeoenvironments and human adaptation in the late quaternary of the semi-arid Murray River Valley, northwestern Victoria
Total $348,088.00, ARCHAEOLOGY
Project Summary: This project involves a multidisciplinary approach to investigating Indigenous settlement and subsistence strategies along the Murray River in northweast Victoria during the last Ice Age. It will examine the palaeoecology and palaeoenvironment of the region, with particular focus on how people and animals responded to climatic varibility.




The University of Melbourne


DE130100668 
Gergis, Dr Joelle
Project Title: The further back we look, the further forward we can see: 1,000 years of past climate to help predict future climate change in Australia
Total $351,805.00, PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY AND ENVIRONMENTAL GEOSCIENCE
Project Summary: Reconstructing 1,000 years of Australia's past climate will greatly extend our understanding of natural climate variability currently estimated from weather observations. For the first time, Australian climate variations over the last millennium will be used to assess the accuracy of climate model simulations for our region.




James Cook University


DE130100295 
English, Dr Nathan B
Project Title: Forecasting the future of flood and drought in Australia using multi-century tree-ring and isotope chronologies from the tropics
Total $373,679.00, PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY AND ENVIRONMENTAL GEOSCIENCE
Project Summary: The effects of El Nino on Australian floods and droughts in a globally changing climate is unclear because we lack long climate records from the past. This project will measure tree-ring and isotope records using kauri pine to advance our understanding of El Nino's effects on the frequency and intensity of drought and floods in Australia.




The University of Adelaide


DE130101133
Worthy, Dr Trevor H
Project Title: Evolution, breeding biology and extinction of giant fowl in Australia and the Southwest Pacific
Total $375,000.00, GEOLOGY
Project Summary: New investigation of the extinct giant flightless Australian mihirungs and similar giant fowl of Oceania by analysis of fossils will reveal their relationships and resolve the evolutionary history of fowl globally. This project will provide insight into breeding strategies of these fossil species and the causes and impacts of their extinction.




The Australian National University


DE130101703
Flexner, Dr James L
Project Title: Mission archaeology and colonial encounters in Southern Vanuatu
Total $350,505.00, ARCHAEOLOGY
Project Summary: The remains of Christian missions in southern Vanuatu are important heritage sites for local communities, and for their place in world history as part of one of the final frontiers of European colonialism. This project explores these sites to produce a new picture of everyday life that includes the perspectives of missionaries and native people.


DE130100153
Pryce, Dr Thomas O
Project Title: Radiogenic bronze and the Indianisation of Southeast Asia
Total $347,556.00, ARCHAEOLOGY
Project Summary: Intense South/Southeast Asian maritime activity began circa 2500 years ago, but the societies involved and their motivation is unknown. Study of exchange networks in chemically distinctive bronzes related to early Buddhism and their likely production centre in eastern India will establish a sound economic basis underlying long-term cultural
influence.




DE130100046
Reepmeyer, Dr Christian H
Project Title: Foundations of Island Southeast Asian maritime interaction: unravelling cause and consequence for the transformation of past societies
Total $374,575.00, ARCHAEOLOGY
Project Summary: The successful spread of Neolithic innovations across the world was one of the most important transformations in human history. This project combines the geochemical and technological analysis of stone tools to track the evolution of maritime colonisation in Island Southeast Asia, the foundation for the success of agriculture in this region.
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