[Aqualist] DECRAs announced today

[Simon Haberle]

Dear AQUA members,

Please find below a list of successful candidates in the fields related to Quaternary research (including archaeology) for the ARC DECRAs announced today. I have also included the recent ARC Future Fellowships announced several weeks ago (apologies if I’ve missed anyone).

Congratulations to all those who were successful.

The success rate was 20% in both schemes, which means a large number of people will have missed out. I’m sure there were many great projects worthy of support that were not successful in such a large field. Please remember to provide support and encouragement for those who have taken the time and energy to submit a proposal but were not successful this time around.

Regards, Simon

Prof Simon Haberle
Director, School of Culture, History & Language
Professor of Natural History & Palaeoecology

ANU College of Asia & the Pacific
Coombs Building (Rm 3.378), Fellows Rd
The Australian National University
Canberra ACT 2600
+61 2 6125 5125 (ph)  0424453861 (mob)


ARC DECRA


University of Wollongong

DE240100340    Dr Haidee Cadd
Identifying key fire drivers in Australia; biomass, climate or people.
This project aims to provide a greater understanding of Australia’s bushfire risk in the face of climate change. By comparing fire occurrence in three Australian bioclimates across two millennial-scale time periods, one prior to human settlement and one during active Indigenous management, this research expects to define which factors — climate, vegetation profile, or landscape management —most impact fire frequency and severity. Outcomes will likely create new knowledge on how past climates affected the Australian environment; enhance predictive ability for future fire risks under emerging climate scenarios; and provide new insights into how cultural burning can be incorporated into fire management plans to reduce catastrophic bushfires. 3709, $441,281.00


Monash University

DE240100552    Dr Andrew Gunn
Landscape-climate disequilibrium in dune fields.
This project aims to predict how wind-blown landscapes respond to changes in climate. This project expects to use novel experiments and theoretical advances to meet this aim, then apply the prediction to the dune fields which cover a third of Australia's surface to generate new knowledge on what climate shaped them in the past, and how they will respond to anthropogenic climate change. Expected outcomes of this project will strengthen collaboration with discipline-leading international researchers and develop a globally-unique laboratory experimental capability in Australia. This should provide significant benefits to understanding environmental change in Australia by vastly improving predictions of dune-field response to future climate. 3709, $414,000.00


University of Tasmania

DE240100267    Dr Chen Zhao
Great Antarctic uncertainties: How to better predict rising sea levels.
This DECRA project aims to significantly reduce the uncertainties in future projections of the Antarctic contribution to global and regional sea-level rise. This will be achieved by including, for the first time, the influence of interactions with the subglacial hydrologic system and surrounding ocean circulation on the ice sheet dynamics, using a coupled ice–ocean–hydrology model. This research will build on Dr Zhao's international expertise in ice sheet modelling and coupled ice–ocean modelling. This project provide substantial benefits to Australia and internationally, particularly in regions vulnerable to rising sea levels, by producing more accurate sea-level rise projections for policy and mitigation strategies. 3709, $444,000.00


The Australian National University

DE240100530    Dr Sofia Samper Carro
Neanderthal hunting ability and the extinction of archaic humans.
This project aims to investigate a critical factor in explaining Neanderthals extinction: their hunting abilities. The research expects to generate new knowledge of archaic humans behaviour using an innovative approach combining traditional archaeological analytical methods with ground-breaking biomolecular techniques. Expected outcomes of this project include the development of new knowledge in human evolutionary history and improved techniques to understand past human extinction events. This should provide significant benefits for Australia to become a primary power in studying human past and deep history, while enhancing capacity by becoming the first country in the Southern Hemisphere to implement ancient protein studies in archaeology. 4301, $456,802.00


Griffith University

DE240100030    Dr Andrea Jalandoni
Applying digital archeology to rock art placement. Digital archaeology can be used answer fundamental questions about rock art that reflect key cognitive behaviour. This project aims to develop innovative digital archaeology techniques to allow for more data to be collected along with more sophisticated tools for analyses that leads to a more holistic interpretation of rock art. This project expects to generate a state-of-the-art detailed 3D record of Injalak Hill, a methodology that can be tested and replicated worldwide, and new techniques that advance rock art research. The benefits of this project are improving methods to manage cultural heritage, and exploring new ways for Indigenous communities to engage with their cultural heritage using digital products. 4301, $437,774.00



ARC FUTURE FELLOWSHIP


The University of Adelaide

FT230100648     Dr Jonathan Tyler
Past trends and future risk of climate extremes in southern Australia.
Prolonged droughts and periods of heightened flood and fire risk present a major challenge for Australia’s society and economy. This proposal aims to better resolve the causes and risks of decadal climate extremes through a suite of high quality records of temperature, rainfall/evaporation and humidity in southern Australia over 2000 years. Novel geochemical analyses will be developed and applied to lake sediments – method development which is likely to benefit climate, minerals and biosecurity research. New knowledge of mechanisms underlying climate variability is expected to benefit fundamental research, while future-facing models will allow land managers and policy makers to better anticipate extraordinary climate events. 3709, $971,296.00


Flinders University

FT230100462     Associate Professor Jonathan Benjamin
Submerged cultural landscapes and the underwater heritage of Sea Country.
This project aims to substantially extend our knowledge of the vast but poorly characterised submerged cultural landscapes on the Australian continental shelf, which remains one of the critical gaps in Australian archaeology. Original fieldwork will target locations in Western Australia and the Northern Territory to enrich and contextualise the submerged archaeological record within the broader discourse. The project will combine archaeology, marine science and Indigenous knowledge to enhance our understanding of Pleistocene and early Holocene human-environment dynamics. Research will be undertaken in partnership with Traditional Owners and will support a national policy for the protection of Indigenous underwater cultural heritage. 4301, $1,118,902.00


The University of Western Australia

FT230100340     Associate Professor Martin Porr
Deep Time Images in the Age of Globalisation.
Using rock art as a focus, this innovative comparative project will examine the processes that create contemporary heritage. The project aims to answer questions such as: What motivates tourists to visit rock art sites in different parts of the world? And what preconceptions do tourists and Traditional Owners have about each other? This project will transform our understanding of rock art heritage sites and provide invaluable foundations for future approaches towards heritage management, preservation, and communication. For the first time, the creation of rock art heritage will be analysed simultaneously in the Northern and Southern Hemisphere as the product of global intertwined intellectual processes and ongoing legacies. 4301, $1,112,492


Macquarie University

FT230100067     Dr Julien Cooper
Rescuing Pharaoh’s Gold Mines: Archaeological conservation in Eastern Sudan.
Building on pioneering pilot surveys, this project will document the unexplored archaeology of the remote Atbai Desert of Eastern Sudan, a region whose unique heritage is being destroyed by unregulated mining. Employing satellite surveying and local fieldwork, this project will document new archaeological sites before they are destroyed, while engaging with the local Beja nomads to form culturally sensitive conservation strategies. Uncovering the history of ancient miners and indigenous nomads with new scientific techniques, the project will transform our narratives of the ancient Nile Basin, inform Sudanese heritage policy, empower local stakeholders, and propel Australia as a leader in world heritage conservation and rescue documentation. 4301, $879,628.00