Flinders Research Excellence

RESEARCH EXCELLENCE

INTRODUCTION FROM VICE-CHANCELLOR

Flinders University is the fastest-growing university in South Australia and, as we look to the future, our vision is to build on our research strengths to solve real-world problems and create new businesses in our communities.

Research is a fundamental cornerstone of our mission as a university. Through our research, and research-led teaching, we build and develop the knowledge and capabilities that improve lives and enhance society more broadly.

This University was named after a great navigator, Matthew Flinders, who once wrote explaining why he was embarking on his adventurous life of discovery. Flinders wrote: ‘I have too much ambition to rest in the unnoticed middle order of mankind. Since neither birth nor fortune have favoured me, my actions shall speak to the world.’

We take great pride in the impact that our research has both locally and internationally.

Our researchers are influential at the highest levels, sitting on the Australian Research Council College of Experts, advising state and federal governments and advising and working with the World Health Organisation, the World Bank and UNESCO. With this book as a starting point, we invite you to join us in appreciating and valuing the exciting research carried out at Flinders University.

Professor Colin Stirling Vice-Chancellor

INTRODUCTION FROM DEPUTY VICE-CHANCELLOR (RESEARCH)

Research at Flinders explores some truly fundamental questions and tackles some of the most important real-world challenges of our time.

Flinders is a significant and growing presence in research and innovation in Australia and internationally.

We host national research centres and collaborate with universities and research institutes across the world to explore a wide range of issues, ideas and problems, finding new possibilities and solutions, further questions and new knowledge.

We engage closely with industry partners and end-users to ensure that our research makes a difference.

Our Medical Device Research Institute, for example, develops, tests and makes available practical tools to assist people with both physical and cognitive disabilities, as well as social disadvantage. Many of our researchers work alongside rural and regional populations to ensure a vibrant and sustainable future for Australia’s remote and regional populations. Flinders molecular technologists are working with industry to create more effective products and cleaner industries, and Flinders cultural and humanities researchers are opening the world of the creative arts to new analysis with their e-research initiatives.

Flinders’ research is changing the world.

Let us change yours for the better.

Professor Rob Saint Deputy-Vice Chancellor (Research)

Flinders’ research is changing the world.

Let us change yours for the better.

CONTENTS Biomedical and Clinical Sciences 4 Cancer 5 Ophthalmology 6 Biomedical Engineering 9 Neuroscience 10 Clinical Change 11 Health Professional Education 11 Sleep 12 Mind and Brain 13 Infection and Immunity 13 Culture and Society

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Labour Studies 15 Social and Public Policy 17 Humanities 18 Criminology 20 International Studies 20 Education 21 Health and Human Behaviour

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Public Health Rural and Remote Health Ageing and Assisted Living Human Behaviour Disaster Research

23 25 27 28 29

Molecular Science and Technology

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Nanoscale Science 31 Marine Bioproducts 33 Forensics 33 Atomic and Molecular Physics 34 Clean Technology 35 Energetic Materials 35 Water and Environment

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Groundwater and Hydrology 37 Palaeontology 39 Coastal Studies 40 Marine Biology 40 Climate Adaptation 41 Commercialisation Highlights

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BIOMEDICAL AND CLINICAL SCIENCES

Cancer

Health Professional Education

Ophthalmology

Sleep

Biomedical Engineering

Mind and Brain

Neuroscience

Infection and Immunity

Clinical Change

CANCER RESEARCH FLAGSHIP: CENTRE FOR INNOVATION IN CANCER The Flinders Centre for Innovation in Cancer (FCIC) is the first integrated centre in Australia to focus primarily on cancer prevention and early intervention research.

As a joint venture between the University, the co-located Flinders Medical Centre (FMC) and the FMC Foundation, it incorporates the LIVESTRONG Cancer Research Centre and Australian Cancer Research Foundation Cancer Prevention Unit.

More than 100 leading cancer researchers work alongside a multidisciplinary care team to translate discoveries into viable outcomes and develop tools that can help people beat cancer before it takes hold.

FCIC is one of few research institutions in Australia with the capability and mix of expertise to fully address the science of cancer prevention. Research programs fall under two broad umbrellas: Preventing Cancer and Optimising the Cancer Journey, which involves such avenues as clinical trials; and Innovative Therapeutics and Personalised Medicine.

There is a strong focus on surviving cancer, through research in areas such as cancer rehabilitation, and on fertility and cancer.

Pioneering work also is being carried out on the cancer-related application of microRNA, a small non-coding RNA molecule found in plants, animals and some viruses, by the University’s Head of Surgery, Professor David Watson, and Dr Michael Michael.

The facility recently attracted funding from the Ramaciotti Foundation to acquire a research-dedicated Precision XRAD 320 X-ray machine.

With an impressive diversification of research funding, including Australian competitive grants and contributions from public sector, industry, and philanthropic entities, the Centre continues to enhance its facilities and develop new initiatives. Leading funders include the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program, SA Neurological Tumour Bank, the Behavioural Research Facility for Cancer Prevention and Survivorship Research, and a therapeutics screening facility.

The Centre’s collaborations with industry and government testify to its translational research capabilities, as evidenced by a partnership with the CSIRO and biotechnology company Clinical Genomics that is developing a new blood-based population screening technology for early detection of colorectal cancer.

With state-of-the-art facilities and innovative programs, FCIC is realising its strong focus on research translation. Between 20 and 40 Research Higher Degree students begin their research careers each year at the Centre.

With an established early and mid-career Research Forum to foster cross-facility collaboration, FCIC is a vibrant and enabling research environment.

The Centre’s Director, Professor Ross McKinnon, is a leading academic pharmacist and current Director of the Australian Institute of Policy and Science.

A co-inventor of patents relating to cancer chemoprevention and the discovery of novel anti-inflammatory compounds, in 2010 he was appointed National Facilitator for the Translating Health Discovery into Clinical Applications Super Science Project.

Professor Pam Sykes has an equally impressive track record in molecular genetics, her area of specialty for 25 years in Australia and the US. As Strategic Professor of Preventative Cancer Biology at Flinders she leads a research team studying the protective role of low-dose radiation in preventing or delaying the progression of cancer. Funding sources include the US Department of Energy Low Dose Radiation Program.

BIOMEDICAL AND CLINICAL SCIENCES

5

EXPERTISE

PEOPLE PROFESSOR GRAEME YOUNG Professor of Global Gastrointestinal Health Professor Young, who helped shape the vision for FCIC, is one of the world’s leading gastrointestinal specialists and a driving force behind Australia’s National Bowel Cancer Screening Program becoming a part of mainstream clinical practice. He was named South Australian Scientist of the Year in 2013 and the following year was made a Member of the Order of Australia.

Professor Young has attracted millions of dollars in grants from the NHMRC over the years and is the chief investigator on a major international project supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation that is influencing the global strategy on infant deaths from diarrhoea in developing countries.

PROJECTS BETTER BONE HEALTH FOR CANCER SURVIVORS The Flinders-based Director of the SA Cancer Council, Professor Bogda Koczwara, was

made a member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 2015 for her significant service to medical oncology through clinical practice, education and cancer research, as well as through a range of professional organisations.

Professor Koczwara recently was awarded an NHMRC Translating Research into Practice Fellowship to conduct research aimed at improving management of bone health among cancer survivors. As part of the twoyear fellowship, she will examine national and international evidence supporting bone health management after cancer. The second part of the fellowship aims to identify and address the barriers to care delivery.

OPHTHALMOLOGY RESEARCH FLAGSHIP: CENTRE FOR OPHTHALMOLOGY, EYE AND VISION RESEARCH The Flinders Centre for Ophthalmology, Eye and Vision Research brings together one of Australia’s largest groups of scientists and clinicians working in eye and vision research and is at the forefront of the fight against blinding eye disease.

The Centre’s primary focus is the nexus between vision and health – a major issue for Australia’s ageing population – and its approach includes basic biomedical science, applied research, clinical research, translational research, and health services management research. With more than 20 core researchers, the Centre boasts a multidisciplinary team comprising ophthalmologists, optometrists, pathologists, biomedical scientists, genetic counsellors and psychologists. Research programs focus on the significant physical, emotional and economic constraints experienced by sufferers.

In addition, the new Flinders Vision Clinic offers one of the most comprehensive ranges of imaging and diagnostic equipment in one location in South Australia, providing an excellent research and learning environment.

The Centre’s current research projects include investigating corneal dystrophies and ectasias; inflammatory and infective eye conditions, including corneal transplant rejection and uveitis; glaucoma; congenital and adult cataract; and central retinal artery and retinal vein occlusions. Research translation underscores the Centre’s ethos and is evidenced by its management of the NHMRC Centre for Clinical Eye Research in Evidence Based Ophthalmology and the Eye Bank of South Australia.

Research Higher Degree candidates are an engaged and integral aspect of this Research Flagship. Student authorship contributed to more than 20 per cent of publications in refereed journal publications produced by the Centre’s researchers in 2013-14.

Centre members collaborate with more than 170 national and international researchers and have generated in excess of $3.84 million in competitive external research grant income as chief investigators since 2012. Currently the Centre manages over 88 active collaborations with partners such as CSL Ltd, Bio21, Royal Society for the Blind, Keratoconus, and the MS Society. Leading funding bodies, include the NHMRC and ARC, Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists, Ophthalmic Research Institute of National Institute of Health (USA), and the European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery.

The Centre’s leader is Professor Keryn Williams, an NHMRC Principal Research Fellow with research interests in corneal transplantation, aberrant ocular angiogenesis, and novel drugs and devices for ophthalmic use. She was named one of the NHMRC’s “Ten of The Best” in 2012.

Professor Williams is also scientific director of the Australian Corneal Graft Registry, which Flinders established and maintains. It contains more than 24,000 transplantation records extending over 27 years, which are used to identify risk factors for graft failure and inform parallel laboratory studies seeking to reduce the incidence of rejection using a gene therapy–based approach.

PEOPLE PROFESSOR JUSTINE SMITH Strategic Professor of Eye and Vision Health Professor Smith recently returned to Flinders after 13 years at the Oregon Health and Science University, where she was Professor of Ophthalmology. She is an ARC Future Fellow and is the current President of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, the world’s largest and most important vision research organisation.

Professor Smith’s research focuses on three areas: infectious and non-infectious categories of uveitis; the role of abnormal blood vessels in diabetic eye disease; and macular degeneration. In 2013 she was awarded NHMRC and ARC funding of more than $1.4 million for research into the role retinal endothelial cells play in normal eyesight and in disease states that can threaten vision.

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR JAMIE CRAIG Southern Adelaide Clinical School

Associate Professor Craig is a clinical scientist with expertise in molecular biology and genetic analysis of complex traits. Together with his research team he Bright light therapy established the Australian and New Zealand Registry of Advanced Glaucoma, the world’s largest national database of advanced glaucoma cases.

Associate Professor Craig continues to be a leader in the investigation and development of genetic screening tools for people most at risk of glaucoma. His team is currently conducting a five-year nationwide NHMRCfunded study aimed at identifying people who are genetically at risk of going blind from glaucoma.

PROJECTS GENETIC LINKS TO GLAUCOMA Glaucoma is the second most prevalent cause of blindness and the leading cause of irreversible blindness, but it can be prevented in most cases if those at risk are treated early.

Ophthalmology Centre researcher Dr Tiger Zhou has won a prestigious Lions Medical Research Foundation Scholarship in Medicine to search for genes that cause glaucoma.

He will study DNA blood samples from the Australian and New Zealand Registry of Advanced Glaucoma, which was established

by Flinders and includes the world’s largest collection of advanced glaucoma cases.

y glasses to treat insomnia

Iridocorneal Endothelial (ICE) Syndrome Photographer Angela Chappell

7 BIOMEDICAL AND CLINICAL SCIENCES

The Australian Corneal Graft Registry contains more than 24,000 transplantation records extending over 27 years.

PROFESSOR KAREN REYNOLDS

An ageing population with increasing expectations of quality of life means the demand for medical devices and assistive technologies is growing steadily in Australia and across the world. To support this growth, innovation across the diverse disciplines of engineering, medicine and science is crucial.

The Medical Device Research Institute (MDRI) is a network of 50+ researchers and clinicians from the University, Flinders Medical Centre and the Repatriation General Hospital who are skilled in developing and applying a diverse range of medical technologies. MDRI supports and facilitates cross-disciplinary collaboration with the specific agenda to work closely with the medical device industry. With dedicated programs such as the Medical Device Partnering Program (MDPP), the Institute has formal avenues and successful models for collaborating with industry partners to ensure research and expertise remain relevant and accessible.

Research applications are diverse in complexity, ranging from traditional assistive technologies to virtual reality assistive applications. Multi-disciplinary research focuses on seven main areas: assistive technology and rehabilitation engineering; biomechanics and implants; computational biomechanics; devices, sensors and signals; health informatics; medical image analysis; and medical simulation.

The Institute has developed a number of strong collaborative partnerships with government and industry, including Woodville West disability apartments, Renewal South Australia, Department of Communities and Social Inclusion, Jackson CareTech, Clipsal and Solution Forest.

in Australia), a Hexapod Robot, which can measure the relative motion between implants and bone to less than one-tenth the width of a human hair, and the Instron Servohydraulic materials testing system, which can apply forces of more than 2,000 kg to a specimen.

PEOPLE PROFESSOR KAREN REYNOLDS Director MDRI Professor Reynolds, the Matthew Flinders Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering, was the driving force behind the MDRI’s creation. As its Founding Director, she demonstrates her strength in expertly bringing together academic researchers, industry and end-users to assist in the development of cutting-edge medical devices that solve real end-user problems.

Her research interests include medical devices, simulation for medical training, and bone imagining, modelling and instrumentation.

Professor Reynolds was named Australian Professional Engineer of the Year in 2010, South Australian Scientist of the Year in 2012, and one of Engineers Australia’s “Top 100 Most Influential Engineers in Australia” in 2012 and again in 2013. She was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering in 2011.

PROJECTS REVOLUTIONISING CATHETER DESIGN A unique fibre-optic catheter with the potential to change the way doctors monitor some of the human body’s core functions is being prepared for commercial production.

Recent projects within the Medical Devices and Instrumentation group include an adaptive orthopaedic screwdriver that prevents over tightening in osteoporotic bone, a revolutionary dynamometer that can measure handgrip and pinch forces over a wide population, and a device to identify early degenerative changes in cartilage.

Developed by a team led by the MDRI’s Professor John Arkwright, the pressuresensing catheter records and characterises muscular activity inside the body to a level of detail previously not thought possible.

One clinical expert dubbed it “the Hubble Telescope of gastroenterology” when the concept was first unveiled.

The Biomechanics and Implants program includes basic and applied research in the broad field of joints, soft tissues, bones and implants.

The research team won the highest award at the 2014 Australian Engineering Excellence Awards, having won the ANSTO Eureka Prize for Innovative Use of Technology in 2011.

Researchers are supported by a dedicated Biomechanical Materials Testing Laboratory, which tests a vast range of material properties of simple and complex structures, joints and tissues in normal and pathological conditions, prostheses, orthopaedic and surgical devices.

BRAIN CONTROLLED WHEELCHAIR

Specialist equipment includes a Cell Scale BioTester tensile testing system (the first

The brain-controlled wheelchair works by tapping into the thoughts of completely paralysed but fully conscious patients. Noninvasive electrodes placed on the scalp monitor and record brain signals, which then activate the wheelchair and move it any desired direction. A 3D virtual environment with live feedback provides a safe training option.

BIOMEDICAL AND CLINICAL SCIENCES

RESEARCH FLAGSHIP: MEDICAL DEVICES RESEARCH INSTITUTE

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BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING

NEUROSCIENCE RESEARCH FLAGSHIP: CENTRE FOR NEUROSCIENCE The Centre for Neuroscience (CNS) is a multidisciplinary collective of researchers and clinicians from the Schools of Medicine and Psychology with a common goal of understanding the brain, spinal cord and peripheral nerves in health and disease.

Established in 1977 as a joint venture between the University and Flinders Medical Centre, it was the first such centre in an Australian university and remains a leader in the use of varied research strategies in neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, neurochemistry, neuropharmacology, neuropsychology and neuronal modelling.

The vibrant multidisciplinary training environment currently supports 55 research students. There is a focus on translating fundamental knowledge into clinical practice and optimising commercial development of materials and procedures to improve the quality of life for all members of society.

Collaborative partnerships facilitating translational outcomes involve Melbourne’s Austin Hospital, the Children’s Medical Research Institute Australia, CSIRO, the Defence Science and Technology Organisation, King’s College London, and China’s Central South University.

CNS’s 23 laboratories explore fundamental mechanisms of how nerve cells grow and form complex networks; how nerves communicate with other nerves and with their target organs; how the brain generates normal and abnormal behaviour; how the brain, spinal cord and peripheral nerves respond to damage or disease; and how the nervous system ages.

The Neurotrophic Laboratory is developing a therapy called immunogenes, which may enable antibodies to shoot genes, missile-like, into the nerves to stop the production of toxic proteins.

CNS jointly runs the South Australian Brain Bank, which houses research tissues representing more than 20 neurological and psychiatric disorders, including extremely rare pathologies. The Centre also actively participates in the multi-centre Australian Stroke Genetics collaboration investigating the genetic causes of strokes.

PEOPLE PROFESSOR SIMON BROOKES Head of Physiology Professor Brookes investigates how nerve cells give rise to sensation and how they control the organs of the body, especially the gastrointestinal tract, ranging from the molecular level through to the behaviour of the whole organism.

His group has identified the endings of a major class of neurons that mediate pain from the bowel and is attempting to

characterise systematically the types of sensory neurons that mediate sensation from the gastrointestinal tract.

PROJECTS FRESH HOPE FOR MOTOR NEURONE DISEASE CNS researchers have been funded by the Motor Neurone Disease Research Institute of Australia to test a novel therapy that could lead to a potential treatment for the disease, which kills one Australian every day.

Dr Mary-Louise Rogers and Emeritus Professor Robert Rush from the Neurotrophic Laboratory are developing a therapy called immunogenes, which may enable antibodies to shoot genes, missile-like, into the nerves to stop the production of toxic proteins that are a known cause of motor neurone disease in about 10-15 per cent of cases.

BIOMEDICAL AND CLINICAL SCIENCES

RESEARCH FLAGSHIP: CENTRE FOR CLINICAL CHANGE AND HEALTH CARE RESEARCH

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CLINICAL CHANGE

PROFESSOR DEREK CHEW

The Flinders Centre for Clinical Change and Health Care Research (CCCHCR) was founded to address the combined challenges of an ageing Australian population and the expanding costs of providing optimal health care. Its key strategic focus, research direction and collaborations are toward the effective and cost-efficient delivery of clinical therapies and their translation into improved clinical practice and outcomes.

Current membership includes nearly 100 clinicians and researchers, including 30 Research Higher Degree students, spanning a diverse array of disciplines, including Cardiovascular Medicine, Intensive Care, Palliative Care, Nursing, Allied Health, and Rehabilitation and Aged Care Medicine.

Research focuses on four key areas: prevention and management of chronic conditions; implementation research; evidence based clinical practice; and health economics.

In the first of these areas researchers using innovative clinical trial designs and biostatistical and health economic techniques are evaluating the comparative effectiveness of current therapies in emerging indications and novel therapies among common clinical problems.

This research theme is directed at informing the substantial future health policy needs by defining value in delivery of clinical care while identifying the facilitators of effective clinical care, thereby enabling the effective translation of innovation to outcome.

Research into chronic conditions studies the management role played by the patient, their family and carers alongside the influence of the health system on outcomes at the individual and population level.

PEOPLE PROFESSOR JULIE RATCLIFFE Head, CCCHCR Professor Ratcliffe has established a strong track record in health economics research and teaching. She is an active member of the South Australian Health Economics Collaborative, a SA Health initiative, which aims to build health economic capacity.

An expert in the measurement and valuation of health outcomes for economic evaluation, the economic evaluation of new and emerging health care technologies, and patient and general population preferences for health care services, Professor Ratcliffe has led 29 research grants totalling over $16 million.

PROFESSOR DAVID CURROW Research Leader, Discipline Palliative and Supportive Services Professor Currow is one of the 10 most published palliative care researchers in the world and in 2013 was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award for his impact in palliative care policy, service development, research and teaching. For a decade he has led a national palliative care clinical trials program funded for more than $10 million by the Australian Government.

A former national president of Palliative Care Australia and the Clinical Oncological Society of Australia, Professor Currow leads the national Palliative Care Clinical Studies Collaborative that was established to build the evidence base for palliative medications that can improve practice, and to expend clinical trials research capacity in the area of palliative care.

PROJECTS ADOLESCENT HEALTH AND ECONOMIC EVALUATION Health economist Professor Julie Ratcliffe was the national lead investigator in an NHMRC-funded project to develop and apply best-worst scaling discrete choice experiment methods to obtain health state values directly from adolescents for use in CHU9D, a new generic preference based measure of health for application with children and adolescents.

EMERGENCY TREATMENT OF ACUTE CORONARY SYNDROME Led by Professor Derek Chew, Regional Head of Cardiology for the Adelaide Health Service (Southern Region), a team of Australian and New Zealand academics and researchers has investigated variations in emergency treatment of Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS) across the two countries. The results of the ACS study highlighted inconsistencies and incomplete implementation of evidencebased treatment recommendations across the audited sites with the study offering the most representative assessment of ACS health service resources, clinical care provision and outcomes ever conducted in Australasia.

HEALTH PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION PRIDEAUX CENTRE FOR RESEARCH IN HEALTH PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION Health professional education research is rapidly becoming a primary item on educational and research agendas around the world and is seen as the key to developing new and innovative approaches to educating future doctors, nurses, speech pathologists, paramedics and other health professionals.

The Prideaux Centre was established in February 2014 to build a community of dedicated researchers working across a broad range of domains, methodologies, and epistemologies. Its focus is on identifying and developing researchable questions, then using the research findings to contribute to the development of educational practices.

SLEEP RESEARCH FLAGSHIP: ADELAIDE INSTITUTE FOR SLEEP HEALTH Flinders has a long-standing international reputation for research into sleep disorders, their causes, and consequences, and the development of new treatments to improve patient outcomes.

Research across a range of disciplines is now consolidated within the Adelaide Institute for Sleep Health (AISH), which has just been designated as a Flinders Centre of Research Excellence on the strength of its outstanding record for research and postgraduate teaching.

It attracted research grants in excess of $19.3 million in the decade to the end of 2014 and has a further $5.6 million secured for 2015-2019. It works closely with the George Institute for Global Health, the Sleep and Circadian Group of the Woolcock Institute for Medical Research, and The Institute for Breathing and Sleep at Melbourne’s Austin Hospital.

Established in 2002, AISH’s clinical and laboratory services handle more than 4000 outpatient attendances and 3000 sleep studies per year.

It also is the core clinical unit serving patients with sleep disorders at the Repatriation General Hospital, Flinders Medical Centre and other health services within the Southern Adelaide Local Health Network, and is affiliated with the Ashford Hospital, where it has provided a private sleep laboratory service since 1995.

AISH has particular research strengths in sleep apnoea and insomnia, led by Associate Professor Peter Catcheside, who holds an ARC Future Fellowship and is recognised as one of Australia’s leading respiratory/sleep physiologists.

Sleep apnoea research is targeted toward: better understanding of the causes of upper airway obstruction and breathing pauses during sleep; understanding the effects of obstructive sleep apnoea on the cardiovascular system and the brain; and simplifying and improving the diagnosis and management of patients with sleep apnoea.

Most recently the Institute received a $1.13 million NHMRC grant to study the link between obstructive sleep apnea and cardiovascular disease.

Insomnia research is focussed on finding new behavioural methods for treating chronic insomnia and improving the understanding of how changes in the body clock affect sleep.

The Re-Timer™ resets the circadian rhythm

In particular, Professor Leon Lack and colleagues in the Sleep and Circadian Rhythms Laboratory in the University’s Centre for Neuroscience are pioneers in the use of bright light therapy to treat insomnia.

Other research is examining the benefits of brief naps, the prevalence and crosscultural comparison of adolescent sleep, and treatment of children’s sleep problems.

AISH boasts a multi-disciplinary research team involving sleep physicians, specialist nurses (including the only Sleep Nurse Practitioner in Australia), psychologists, a psychiatrist, a dentist, ear nose throat sleep apnoea surgeons, technologists, scientists, and postgraduate students.

Flinders also is a member of the CRC for Alertness Safety and Productivity, which brings together experts from Flinders, Sydney and Monash universities and 27 industry, government and non-government partner organisations.

PEOPLE PROFESSOR DOUG MCEVOY Senior Director, AISH Professor McEvoy has had a distinguished career in sleep medicine over four decades.

He has led many important multi-centre clinical trials and is currently the Principal Investigator of the international Sleep Apnoea Cardiovascular Endpoints study (SAVE), which is designed to determine whether continuous positive airway pressure treatment of sleep apnoea can reduce the incidence of cardiovascular events.

He is chief investigator on six NHMRCfunded project and a Theme Leader of the CRC on Alertness Safety and Productivity.

Professor McEvoy’s research interests range from respiratory/sleep physiology to trials of new diagnostic, treatment and management methods for sleep apnoea, to sleep deprivation/alcohol interactions and effects on driving. He is a Board member of the Sleep Health Foundation and a past president of the Australasian Sleep Association.

PROJECT A NOVEL ANSWER TO JET LAG In 2012 Flinders launched a world-first device designed to beat jet lag or help shift workers adjust to strange working hours by resetting the wearer’s body clock. Based on 25 years of research, Re-Timer™, which is worn like sunglasses, emits a soft, UV-free green light onto the eyes to stimulate the part of the brain responsible for regulating the 24-hour body clock, making it easier to fall asleep at night and wake in the morning.

Two years on, Re-Timer™ CEO Ben Olsen says the glasses are proving more effective and convenient than other available light therapy option because they do not require the user to sit close to a unit for long periods of time.

About 30 per cent of sales are to people just wanting to treat the winter blues.

Professor Licinio is Mind and Brain Theme Leader and is establishing an International Translational Psychiatry Consortium of 35 researchers across 10 countries that will work on all facets of depression research, from laboratory discoveries to potential treatments.

The husband and wife team has spent the past 25 years researching depression at several major US research institutions, including Yale, the National Institute of Mental Health in Maryland, the University of California Los Angeles and the University of Miami.

Born in Brazil, Professor Licinio trained in endocrinology and psychiatry at the University of Chicago and Cornell Medical Centre starting in 1984, while Professor Wong graduated from medical school in Brazil and moved to the US in 1985, where she trained in psychiatry at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York and at the National Institute of Mental Health.

Under the leadership of Professor Malcolm Battersby, the FHBHRU focuses on strategies for improving health outcomes through behaviour change and has developed the Flinders Program™, a pioneering approach to the self-management of chronic conditions and addictions.

At Flinders they are developing a clinical research capacity around the link between depression and obesity, with a focus on the metabolic consequences of mental illness.

Representing the outcomes of more than 15 years of continuous research and development, the Program has been widely used in Australian Government studies and is being prepared for certification in the US. It is currently marketed as inRemedy.

Their works complements the strong research capability in Psychiatry at Flinders, particularly through the activities of the Flinders Human Behaviour and Health Research Unit within the School of Medicine.

This multi-disciplinary research has both clinical and social components, and builds on Professor Battersby’s work within the Southgate Institute for Health, Society and Equity.

In addition, Associate Professor David Lynn has moved from Ireland to take up a joint role at Flinders and as Leader of the EMBL Australia Group within SAHMRI.

While working in Vancouver, Associate Professor Lynn led the team that developed InnateDB, an integrated database and analysis platform for of the analysis of the innate immune response at the systems level. Through the Gates Foundation’s Grand Challenges in Global Health Initiative, he used InnateDB and other tools to characterise the innate immune response to a number of human pathogens.

INFECTION AND IMMUNITY The University’s expertise in infection and immunity research is highlighted by its leadership of SAHMRI’s Infection and Immunity Theme, which is co-located within the University’s School of Medicine.

Professorial Fellow Professor Steve Wesselingh, an infectious diseases physician with research interests in eurovirology, HIV and vaccine development, has been appointed Theme Leader. He is also SAHMRI’s Executive Director.

An immunologist and computational biologist, Associate Professor Lynn is investigating the regulation of innate immunity from a global or systems perspective, trying to untangle the complex, multi-layered web of interactions and pathways that control it. He also is examining how protein interaction networks are re-wired in cancer.

South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI)

BIOMEDICAL AND CLINICAL SCIENCES

Professor Julio Licinio and Professor Ma-Li Wong joined Flinders in 2013 as Strategic Professors of Psychiatry Research and inaugural members of the Mind and Brain Theme at the new South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI).

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MIND AND BRAIN

CULTURE AND SOCIETY

EXPERTISE Labour Studies

Criminology

Social and Public Policy

International Studies

Humanities

Education

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LABOUR STUDIES

The National Institute of Labour Studies (NILS) is Australia’s oldest labour studies research centre and renowned for combining rigorous analysis with a continuing concern for the wellbeing of people as workers. Its research is regularly used as a key resource by governments, business and interest groups.

NILS has been at the forefront of labour market debates since its establishment in 1972 and its views and expertise are widely sought by the media and the broader community. It brings together researchers from economics, industrial relations, sociology and psychology, and this multidisciplinary structure provides a diverse and flexible analytical capacity, encompassing high-level skills in the design, development and application of research tools and methods.

The Institute operates as an incorporated association wholly owned by the University and has an extensive program of research, both grant funded and commissioned.

The program is as broad as it is long, with current projects including the future skills needs of the service industries and the value of qualifications, how to provide pathways guidance to young veterans for a successful transition into the civilian workforce, work hours mismatch in Australia, and occupational health and safety issues in homecare.

Funding bodies, partners and agencies include the Australian Workforce and Productivity Agency, Fairwork Australia, AusAid, State and federal government departments, unions and other research institutions.

PEOPLE PROFESSOR KOSTAS MAVROMARAS Director, NILS Professor Mavromaras was appointed NILS Director in 2009, bringing with him experience from prestigious institutions in Melbourne and the UK. He has consulted on labour markets and social policy to governments in the UK and elsewhere in the EU including Greece and Germany.

His current pioneering work applies advanced panel econometric methodologies to large and nationally representative data sets in order to measure mismatch in skills and education and estimate labour market outcomes of such mismatch. This work uses Australian data and is highly relevant to the way graduate qualifications are utilised in the Australian labour market.

PROFESSOR SUE RICHARDSON Principal Research Fellow A former NILS Director, Professor Richardson is Australia’s foremost expert on the functioning of the labour market, particularly in relation to inequality, the ageing workforce, skill shortages, immigration, social inclusion and the links between work and health. She is currently chief investigator on an NHMRC project on the impact of employment on health.

Among her many roles, Professor Richardson is a specialist member of Fair Work Australia’s Minimum Wage Panel and leads a Thematic Foresighting Cluster that advises the Prime Minister’s Science, Engineering and Innovation Council on knowledge and skills. She has been a visiting scholar at Cambridge University, Columbia University and the Australian National University.

CULTURE AND SOCIETY

RESEARCH FLAGSHIP: NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LABOUR STUDIES

PROJECTS EVALUATING NEW NDIS

OLDER MEN IN THE WORKFORCE

NILS is leading a consortium commissioned to evaluate the trial of the new National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) in four Australian states and territories. The team will monitor the experience of participants, their families and carers, service providers and their workforces in these sites over three years.

A current project for the National Centre for Vocational Education Research is investigating trends in labour force participation rates for Australian men aged 55-64, with a focus on the role of spousal participation. The findings will throw light on the motivations behind mature men’s decisions to participate in the labour force and how spousal status, Vocation Education and Training (VET), and university education affect labour market outcomes.

The consortium includes the survey companies Social Research Centre and I-View, Flinders University’s Disability and Community Inclusion Unit, indigenous research and consultation advisers, and individual disability and evaluation experts from universities in Australia, the US and the UK.

SOCIAL AND PUBLIC POLICY

FIPPM’s expertise includes program evaluation, professional practice, organisational development and change, service user perspectives, the inter-relationships between state, market and civil society, community and social development, and the role of nongovernmental public action.

Institute affiliate members have engaged extensively in community service research and evaluation, involving research on services and programs delivered in large part by social workers and primary health care practitioners.

Community services research supports both capacity building in community services and community engagement, builds linkages between theoretical notions of rights and capabilities and the practice of service delivery, and enhances practitioner training.

FIPPM’s Director, Associate Professor Gerry Redmond, currently leads a $1.4 million ARCfunded project investigating the wellbeing of Australian children in their middle years, while Associate Professor Jo Baulderstone recently led a $1.3 million national Homelessness Research Partnership funded by the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs.

PEOPLE PROFESSOR ADAM GRAYCAR Strategic Professor in Social and Policy Studies

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The Flinders Institute for Public Policy and Management (FIPPM) is one of the oldest institutes in Australia promoting research and debate on issues of relevance to public policy in Australia and internationally. It brings together academics from disciplines as diverse as politics, social policy, social work, sociology and anthropology to address issues such as public policy management and governance, climate change, community services evaluation and child wellbeing.

Researcher Dr Damien Riggs is an ARC Future Fellow investigating the public perceptions and policies related to families that seem entrenched in a normative understanding of family, whilst the family unit itself in Australia continues to diversify.

An established researcher, Dr Riggs is one of Flinders’ most published academics.

An international expert in public and social policy, Professor Graycar returned to Flinders as a Strategic Professor in 2014 after a diverse and distinguished career. He was appointed Australia’s first Commissioner for the Ageing in 1985, before leading the Australian Institute of Criminology and representing Australia in such international fora as the UN and the OECD.

CULTURE AND SOCIETY

FLINDERS INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC POLICY AND MANAGEMENT

He later was head of the South Australian Cabinet Office for four years, with additional responsibility for the secretariat that coordinated federal/State relations and supported the Council of Australian Governments, before taking up senior academic posts in New Jersey and then at the Australian National University.

Professor Graycar is currently President of the Australian Social Policy Association and working with governments in Australia and abroad, as well as with international organisations, to tackle issues around government integrity and its relationship with public policy.

NILS has been at the forefront of labour market debates since its establishment in 1972.

HUMANITIES FLINDERS INSTITUTE FOR RESEARCH IN THE HUMANITIES The Flinders Institute for Research in the Humanities (FIRTH) brings together researchers engaged in creative and reflective investigations of culture and thought, with particular focus in areas of transnational and migration studies, life writing and digital research.

Drama is one the University’s traditional strengths and the Flinders Drama Centre, as well as training many of Australia’s leading actors and directors, operates as a research laboratory for professional theatre companies and artists.

The creative interaction between performing arts and digital technologies also has a long history at Flinders, and for many years the Drama Centre has offered artists opportunities to explore the interface between live performance and digital technology in creating new work.

Born Digital and Cultural Heritage Conference

A more recent area of expertise is event design, with the Event Design Research Network, established in 2008, now considered the pre-eminent centre of its kind in Australia, applying event design principles to festival and event tourism and management.

Creative writing centres primarily around the work of the Life Narrative Research Group, a community of researchers who share an active interest in life writing, memoir, autobiography, biography, epistolarity, digital narratives of self and subjectivity, and other forms that fit under this broad banner.

As a group leader Associate Professor Kate Douglas is currently researching the social work of life writing (how stories engage with the politics of the moment and promote social change) and jointly working on a book project that considers how young writers have shaped life narrative.

FIRTH also has an active Archaeology program, with specialties in Indigenous Archaeology, Historical Archaeology, Archaeological Science and Maritime Archaeology. Researchers are active in Australia and overseas, particularly in the Pacific and the Mediterranean.

PEOPLE PROFESSOR JULIAN MEYRICK Strategic Professor of Creative Arts Professor Meyrick has been thinking both strategically and creatively since arriving at Flinders in 2012. A strong believer that cultural and educational institutions such as universities have an obligation to participate in debates over national culture and identity, he has suggested a national theatre be established to take on a role in co-commissioning and co-producing locally written plays.

Originally training as an economist, Professor Meyrick is involved in Australian drama at all levels and, as a director and dramaturge, has developed many award-winning individual Australian plays. He was the foundation Deputy Chair of Playwriting Australia and spent six years as Associate Director and Literary Adviser at the Melbourne Theatre Company, where he was responsible for establishing Hard Lines, a new play development program.

He is currently chief investigator on two ARC Projects: AusStage Phase 5; and Laboratory Adelaide: Accounting for Cultural Value in the Arts, Cultural Organisations and Events.

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR MELANIE SWALWELL ARC Future Fellow and Associate Professor, Screen and Media Associate Professor Swalwell is a scholar of digital media arts, cultures and histories who has received a number of honours, including the 2009 Nancy Keesing Fellowship at the State Library of New South Wales. More recently she was awarded an ARC Future Fellowship for her project Creative Microcomputing in Australia 1976-1992.

CULTURE AND SOCIETY

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Associate Professor Swalwell is chief investigator for the ARC Linkage Project Play It Again, which is creating a playable history of Australasian digital games, and jointly convenes FIRTH’s Digital Heritage research group and the Australasian Heritage Software Database, a publicly accessible database documenting Australian and New Zealand software history.

GRADUATES MAKING THEIR MARK There is no greater testimony to the quality of the University’s teaching, research and engagement across the arts than the achievements of our graduates.

An extensive list of national and international success stories includes Academy Award nominated film director Scott Hicks, theatre director Benedict Andrews, whose work is acclaimed from New York to Berlin, current State Theatre Company Artistic Director Geordie Brookman, young STC director Nesch Jelk, and actors Victoria Hill, Cameron Goodall and Sara West.

The latest in a long list of successful writers is Hannah Kent, whose debut novel Burial Rights won nine literary awards in 2014 and was short-listed for eight others.

PROJECTS LEARNING MORE ABOUT SHIPWRECKS Dr Wendy Van Duivenvoorde and Dr Jennifer McKinnon are chief investigators on a $489,000 ARC Linkage Project Shipwrecks of the Roaring Forties: a maritime archaeological reassessment of some of Australia’s earliest shipwrecks. Partner organisations include the University of Amsterdam, the British Museum, the University of Western Australia, the Western Australian Museum, Prospero Productions, and the National Archives and Cultural Heritage Agency of The Netherlands.

AusStage website homepage

AUSSTAGE

THE VALUE OF CULTURE

The Drama Department has received ARC funding for continuing development of AusStage, an innovative and accessible online resource for researching live performance in Australia. Flinders has been the driving force behind AusStage since its inception in 1998, and has seen it grow to become a key component of the national research infrastructure, linking researchers across 18 universities, government and industry.

Laboratory Adelaide: The Value of Culture is an exciting multi-disciplinary project designed to develop ways to assess and discuss the value of culture in more than simple dollar terms.

New developments will internationalise AusStage by opening the flow of information between the Australian dataset and equivalent holdings in international collections. The aim is to support innovative research on live performance of international significance and open new collaborations with international partners.

It brings together a strong team from Flinders, led by Professor Julian Meyrick and Associate Professors Steve Brown and Robert Phiddian, with partner investigators from the State Library, Adelaide Festival Corporation, the State Theatre Company and the University of South Australia Funded as a three-year ARC Linkage Project, the aim is to better understand how the value of arts and cultural events and organisations is determined in political, social and economic contexts and how this value is communicated throughout the various stages and relationships of funding and outcomes reporting.

PROFESSOR ANDREW GOLDSMITH AND PROFESSOR MARK HALSEY

CRIMINOLOGY CENTRE FOR CRIME POLICY AND RESEARCH Flinders consolidated nearly two decades of research capability in criminology and crime policy when it established the Centre for Crime Policy and Research (CCPR) in 2014.

Professor Andrew Goldsmith, who was the University’s Foundation Professor of Legal Studies in 1997, returned to Flinders as Strategic Professor of Criminology to lead the Centre. Professor Goldsmith specialises in anti-corruption and public sector governance, as well as the impact of organised crime on post-conflict situations, and he has consulted widely to international organisations and governments.

Colleague Professor Willem de Lint specialises in the fusion between security and criminal justice, the nature of institutionalised criminal subjectivity, and counter-terrorism policy and practice.

Other CCPR members have formal training in disciplines as diverse as anthropology, criminology, education, law, politics, and sociology, and have consulted to national and international bodies such as the Red Cross, the Australian Federal Police, the UN Development Program, and the governments of Colombia and Turkey.

systems, youth offending and corrections, and transnational security.

Professor Mark Halsey’s areas of interest include youth offending, repeat incarceration and desistance from crime and he has received three successive ARC grants enabling study of these and related issues.

In 2012, he was awarded an ARC Future Fellowship to investigate Generations Through Prison: A Critical Exploration of the Causes, Experiences and Consequences of Intergenerational Incarceration.

Key areas of research include organised crime and criminal networks, organisational integrity and corruption prevention, policing and new technologies, justice and security

Professor Halsey has undertaken consultancies for State and local government in such areas as graffiti vandalism, restorative and therapeutic justice, mentoring and serious repeat youth offending.

Australian and US security and defence policy and its links to other US allies in the region; Australia’s economic relationships with Asia and the US in the areas of trade, development, investment, and the development of treaty arrangements; issues related to national and transnational governance, politics and political processes relevant to the region; and specific policy analysis with focus on environmental issues.

Professor Don DeBats is a frequent commentator on current US politics and has written extensively on US political history. His research appointments include the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, the National Humanities Center of the United States, and the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities at the University of Virginia. He has been a Visiting Professor at the College of William and Mary.

INTERNATIONAL STUDIES CENTRE FOR UNITED STATES AND ASIA POLICY STUDIES The Centre for United States and Asia Policy Studies (CUSAPS) was established in 2012 to consolidate four decades of teaching and research in two areas of international studies that are increasingly important in an Australian context and offer uniquely integrated perspectives on the respective players in the Asia Pacific.

The Centre has five principal areas of policy concern: Asia’s changing strategic landscape;

Flinders has one of the most comprehensive US teaching and research programs in Australia and in 2009, following a national competitive selection process, was awarded the prestigious Fulbright Distinguished Chair in American Political Science by the Australian-American Fulbright Commission.

EDUCATION

Research groupings include the Family Learning Network, Kids Matter, the Multilingual and Global Engagement Association for Languages Education Research Group, Research in Special Education, Flinders Research in Early Childhood Education, and Student Wellbeing and Prevention of Violence.

SPORTS, HEALTH AND PHYSICAL EDUCATION The Sports, Health and Physical Education Research Centre (SHAPE) brings together researchers with a unique focus on sport, health and physical education. Their research and collaborations include body image, gender and physical activity, school food and nutrition, and the role of coaches and teachers.

SHAPE works closely with a number of individual sporting clubs and has developed and run elite training programs for the South Adelaide Football Club and the Contax Netball Club. Sessions included fitness testing, skill analysis technology, coaching and education.

SHAPE also has a strong ongoing relationship with the Australian Football League. It has been involved with the review and revision of the AFL Sport Education program and was commissioned to provide a report on retention rates in junior football.

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The Flinders Educational Futures Research Institute (FEFRI) specialises in identifying and carrying out research that provides evidence-based strategies for future educational action. Established in 2006, it is an organisational member of the Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth.

Current research includes ARC and NHMRC funded studies into cyberbullying, mental health and student wellbeing.

CULTURE AND SOCIETY

FLINDERS EDUCATIONAL FUTURES RESEARCH INSTITUTE

SHAPE developed Elite Training Program

HEALTH AND HUMAN BEHAVIOUR

EXPERTISE Public Health

Human Behaviour

Rural and Remote Health

Disaster Research

Ageing and Assisted Living

PUBLIC HEALTH

The Southgate is a highly collaborative institute underpinned by both Australian competitive grants and government funding and offers a dynamic and supportive environment for a substantial number of postgraduate students and early career researchers. Its primary focus is to address the underlying factors that determine the distribution of health and wellbeing outcomes. As such, it produces research knowledge on why health inequities exist, what can be done about them, and how overall population health can be improved.

Key research areas are: Aboriginal Health and Social Determinants; eHealth Access and Equity; Ethics, Law and Equity; Health and Equity for Families, Women and Children; Health Equity and Policy, Health In All Policies and Health Impact Assessment; Neighbourhoods, Housing and Health; Primary Health Care and Community Services; and Stigma and Discrimination.

Current activities cover social exclusion; the structure of suburban environments; economic, social and structural determinants of risky and unhealthy behaviours; social, cultural and economic barriers to health and other related service use; and studies of social determinants and equity in health policy.

·· the role of digital information and communication technologies as mediators to accessing other social determinants of health, such as online education, online employment and online social connections, particularly for socioeconomically disadvantaged groups ·· the social determinants of health for families, women and children, including their experiences of access to health and community services and their perspectives on appropriate improvement and engagement ·· the links between work and health and wellbeing, focusing in particular on the ways that job loss, changing forms of work, and non-standard employment can affect social inclusion and health and wellbeing ·· the pathways by which characteristics of particular cities and neighbourhoods are interrelated with achieving health equity, community resilience and social inclusion.

The Institute strives to ensure the health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples is consistently prioritised in any research it conducts, and regularly partners with the Poche Centre for Indigenous Health and Wellbeing.

It also provides consultancy, evaluation and training to policy-makers, communitybased services, primary health care, health promotion and local government via Southgate Solutions.

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The University’s longstanding pre-eminence in public health, primary health care and the social determinants of health led to the creation of the Southgate Institute for Health, Society and Equity in 2009.

This Flagship Institute informs practice and policy development in Australia and overseas in relation to the promotion of population mental and physical health and health equity and the reduction of social and economic exclusion.

Individual research clusters are investigating:

HEALTH AND HUMAN BEHAVIOUR

RESEARCH FLAGSHIP: SOUTHGATE INSTITUTE FOR HEALTH, SOCIETY AND EQUITY

Southgate researchers inform health initiatives and policy at all levels

PEOPLE PROFESSOR FRAN BAUM Director, Southgate Institute for Health, Society and Equity Professor Baum is one of Australia’s leading researchers on the social and economic determinants of health and a former member of the WHO Commission on the Social Determinants of Health. In 2008 she was awarded an ARC Federation Fellowship focusing on the development of effective government and community responses to social determinants of health inequity and social exclusion. She is also Lead Investigator for the ARC Health Policy and Social Determinants project.

Most recently Professor Baum, as Lead Investigator, received a highly prestigious NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence grant to investigate Social Determinants of Health Equity: Policy research on the social determinants of health equity.

The goal of this Centre is to provide evidence on how political and policy processes could function more effectively in order to operationalise the social determinants to achieve better and more equitable health outcomes.

Professor Baum’s textbook The New Public Health is widely used as a core public health text.

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR ANNA ZIERSCH ARC Future Fellow Associate Professor Ziersch was awarded a prestigious ARC Future Fellowship in 2012 to investigate how the experience of stigma and discrimination harms health and wellbeing and prevents people from being fully included in society. This will aid understanding of how to best reduce stigma and discrimination and protect people from their negative effects.

A qualitative and quantitative social scientist with a background in social psychology, Associate Professor Ziersch has an overarching interest in health inequities, in particular multidisciplinary and multimethod approaches to understanding the social determinants of health.

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR KATHY ARTHURSON ARC Future Fellow Associate Professor Arthurson is an expert in human geography, policy and administration, and urban and regional planning. She is developing a program of social science research investigating the pathways through which urban planning and housing policies shape patterns of health and social inclusion within neighbourhoods. This knowledge will assist in the establishment of integrated public policies targeted to improve population health and social inclusion in an equitable and inclusive manner.

PROJECTS COMPREHENSIVE PRIMARY HEALTH CARE IN LOCAL COMMUNITIES The Southgate Institute is leading an NHMRC-funded examination of ways to assess the effectiveness of Comprehensive Primary Health Care (CPHC) in local communities, working in partnership with six primary health care services.

A program logic model for CPHC in Australia and site-specific models have been developed, and a suite of evaluation methods has been used at each site to evaluate services against these logic models. These have included client surveys and workshops, case tracking of clients with diabetes and depression, collection of indicator data, and staff surveys and interviews.

WORKING TO REDUCE OBESITY In 2012 the South Australian Government funded Flinders to establish PANORAMA (Physical Activity and Nutrition Observatory: Research and Monitoring Alliance), an interdisciplinary program to assist in improving nutrition, increase physical activity and reduce obesity throughout the state. In 2013 funding was received for an expanded PANORAMA-2.

CENTRE FOR REMOTE HEALTH Flinders has been a pioneer in the development of rural and remote health practice and research, particularly in the Northern Territory where, under the umbrella of Flinders NT, the University makes it experience and expertise available to health professionals and communities.

The Centre for Remote Health, a joint venture with Charles Darwin University, works to improve the health status of people in remote areas by training and supporting healthcare professionals. Based in Alice Springs, it has satellite campuses in Katherine and Darwin.

The Centre’s research program focuses on population health, guidelines for clinical practice and workforce development. It also is a partner in the national Centre of Research Excellence in Rural and Remote Primary Health Care launched in 2011.

POCHE CENTRE FOR INDIGENOUS HEALTH AND WELLBEING Flinders’ longstanding commitment to Aboriginal health was recognised when two of the three Poche Centres established and funded by philanthropist Greg Poche were based at the University – one in Adelaide and the other in Alice Springs.

Academics and students work with indigenous communities to find sustainable, workable, affordable solutions to such issues as foetal alcohol spectrum disorder, oral health, emotional wellbeing, chronic disease and health promotion.

Research projects fall into two main areas: Workforce Development, Cultural Safety and Person-Centred Care; and Mental Health and Social, Spiritual and Emotional Wellbeing.

There is a strong focus on increasing indigenous researcher capacity.

Back L-R: Tom Calma, Kay Poche, Reg Richardson, Uncle Lewis O’Brien, Prof. Dennis McDermott, Kim O’Donnell Front (kneeling) L-R: Courtney Ryder, Tarni Wilson, Andrea Scott

HEALTH AND HUMAN BEHAVIOUR

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The program draws primarily on the University’s expertise in nutrition, dietetics and health economics. Researchers work in four teams: food and nutrition; physical activity; social and behavioural determinants of health; and clinical and translational health research, including health economics and epidemiology.

RURAL AND REMOTE HEALTH

INTERNATIONAL CENTRE FOR POINT OF CARE TESTING

He was awarded an Order of Australia Medal in 2006 and an Australian of the Year Award in 2004.

The launch of this Centre in 2011 built on 15 years of innovation by the Community Point of Care Services Unit within our Rural Clinical School.

Point-of-care testing is one of the fastest growing sectors of the diagnostic pathology industry.

Led by Professor Mark Shephard, it is now a recognised national leader in delivering teaching programs for undergraduate students and its growing research profile has led to consulting work in Africa, Asia, North America and the Western Pacific.

Professor Shephard also manages Australia’s largest national community-based POCT program and chairs the Management Committee of the Northern Territory POCT Program, which operates in 35 remote health centres.

The Centre’s research has demonstrated that it can be performed to an analytical standard equivalent to laboratory scientific standard and is culturally accepted by indigenous patients and health practitioners.

The Centre’s international links have expanded to include universities and professional organisations in seven countries, where it has begun the rollout of a new POCT program for diabetes management in rural and remote Indigenous communities.

PROJECT NEW MODELS FOR MENTAL HEALTH SUPPORT Associate Professor Niranjan Bidargaddi is leading a project examining the role technology can play in improving the mental health and wellbeing of young people, particularly in rural and remote regions where traditional services can be hard to access.

A number of electronic resources currently are available, but evidence shows they are not being fully utilised, suggesting more effective models are required.

The Young and Well Towns project is being run in collaboration with Country SA Mental Health Services and ReachOut.com, Australia’s leading online youth mental health service.

Point-of-care testing is one of the fastest growing sectors of the diagnostic pathology industry.

Flinders Point-of-Care testing team at work in the Northern Territory. Image courtesy of the Flinders International Centre for Point-of-Care Testing

AGEING AND ASSISTED LIVING FLINDERS CENTRE FOR AGEING STUDIES Flinders is an international leader in the complex field of human ageing and our Centre for Ageing Studies co-ordinates Australia’s first and most comprehensive multi-dimensional population-based study in this area.

The Australian Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ALSA), launched in 1992, has received funding from the ARC, the NHMRC, the South Australian Government and non-government organisations. The research data underpins four separate research consortia and a number of related projects at Flinders.

The Centre also is leading a major ARCfunded Linkage Project examining daily-life processes in a group of “oldest-old” adults (those aged 85 years or more) as they unfold over the course of one week.

Entitled Day-to-day life of adults after age 85: The interplay of mood, engagement, cognition and health in the context of prior functioning, this research will identify psychosocial and physical factors that may enhance or hinder independence at this stage of life. Partner organisations include Anglicare, COTA Seniors Voice (Council on the Ageing), ECH Inc and the South Australian Government.

The Centre was established in the late 1970s, when a visionary group of South Australians saw the need to understand and address what they recognised as an emerging research imperative. Today it is part of numerous State, national and international research projects examining the pivotal issues confronting the older population and service providers.

Australian Longitudinal Study of Ageing interviewer and participant These include a recent project examining the dynamics of spousal relationships among older couples. Funded by partner organisations such as Alzheimer’s SA and Relationships Australia, this project provided important insights into how having a partner can add to or detract from an individual’s ability to age well.

PROJECTS HELP FOR THOSE LIVING AT HOME Flinders has partnered with the ACH Group and SA Health to pioneer an exciting new approach to helping older people remain living in their own homes.

ViTA is a state-of-the-art centre that provides accommodation and support while people rehabilitate and regain health. It offers short-term, transitional and rehabilitation places, with services individually tailored to individual circumstances and future needs.

The focus is always on maintaining lifestyle in preparation for returning home.

Based at Daw Park, ViTA combines best practice approaches to health and aged care with a focus on teaching and research to optimise health and wellbeing.

THE ECONOMICS OF AGED CARE The University’s Professor of Health Economics, Professor Julie Ratcliffe, is leading a national collaborative project with aged care industry partners to develop and apply a comprehensive health economics model to the evolution, implementation and evaluation of consumer directed care in a community aged care setting. The model will incorporate an investigation of preferences, health and quality of life outcomes and cost effectiveness.

The project is funded through a $579,000 ARC Linkage Grant. Industry partners include Helping Hand Aged Care, Resthaven, ACH Group, HammondCare and Catholic Community Services.

HEALTH AND HUMAN BEHAVIOUR

ALSA’s findings are directly relevant to policy formulation and planning of health and social services for an ageing population.

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The overarching aim is to better understand how social, biomedical and environmental factors are associated with age-related changes in the health and wellbeing of people aged 70 and over. Emphasis is given to defining and exploring the concept of healthy, active ageing, particularly in a South Australian context.

HUMAN BEHAVIOUR

PROFESSOR MIKE NICHOLLS

RESEARCH FLAGSHIP: INSTITUTE FOR PSYCHOLOGICAL STUDIES Psychology has been one of the University’s strengths since its inception, with a clear focus on applied cognitive psychology and social psychology. This expertise was further enhanced with the appointment of Professors Mike Nicholls and Jason McCarley as Strategic Professors of Psychology in 2011 and the creation of the Flinders Institute for the Psychological Sciences (FIPS) the following year.

FIPS brings together more than 20 researchers involved with experimental work across a broad range of areas, but with the common theme of understanding how the human mind works and thus how humans behave. Particular expertise has developed in the areas of ageing and cognition, sleep, memory and recall, eating orders and body image. There are strong synergies with work being undertaken in the Centre for Ageing Studies and with neuroscientists from the School of Medicine.

Research facilities include specialist laboratories focusing on Brain and Cognition, Ageing and Cognition, Applied Cognition, Eyewitness Memory, Media, Sleep, Developmental Psychology, and Virtual Reality.

Professor Nicholls, who is Director of FIPS and of the Brain and Cognition Laboratory, specialises in cognitive neuroscience, which examines cognitive processes in relation to brain function, behaviour and perception, spatial attention, language and facial expression. In a major current project, he is working with Oxford University to investigate how people influence the ability of others to pay attention to the world around them and thus to perform everyday tasks such as driving a car in a straight line or monitoring a security screen.

Professor McCarley is a specialist in the psychology of human performance. In 2012 he was commissioned by the US Department of Homeland Security to develop guidelines for ensuring security software is designed to optimise the effectiveness of human screeners.

In a similar vein, Professor Neil Brewer and colleagues have prompted authorities to rethink the effectiveness of eyewitness testimony and, in particular, the traditional police line-up. Complementary projects have examined the accuracy of witness reporting and recognition, the use of computerised rather than live line-ups, and the value of a second viewing.

Researchers are also interested in how people see themselves. FIPS has a strong research program covering the broad field of body image, including gender differences in body dissatisfaction; the impact of the media; dieting, food craving and cognition; body image across the life span; the sexualisation of girls; and the stereotyping of the overweight.

A complementary project launched in 2013 was the first in Australia designed to simultaneously reduce the risk of both eating disorders and obesity among young people.

HUMAN BEHAVIOUR

In 2010 Professor Malcolm Battersby established a dedicated Centre for Gambling Research to examine the health, social, economic and political impact of gambling on the community, families and individuals, and to influence the formulation of policy in this area. The Centre is located within the University’s Southgate Institute, where complementary research is exploring aspects of the modern problem gambling phenomenon from the perspective of the social determinants of human behaviour, health and quality of life.

Results of early pilot studies into relapse in problem gambling, longitudinal outcomes of treatment programs and the exploration of alternative treatment options for treatment resistant gamblers (such as the application of Naltrexone in the treatment of problematic gamblers) are encouraging.

The Centre has received competitive grant funding from a range of sources, including Gambling Research Australia, the Victorian Department of Justice and the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies.

Current projects include: ·· a randomised controlled trial exploring the impact and efficacy of cognitive and behavioural approaches to treatment for problematic gambling ·· a review of a specific “in-patient” program for treating gambling problems ·· a longitudinal study of the service protocols and treatment outcomes of the Statewide Gambling Therapy Service (SGTS) in South Australia.

Professor Battersby and colleague Professor Peter Harvey established and co-ordinate the SGTS, a peer-led self-management program for recovering problem gamblers that is based on the Stanford University self-management program for people with chronic and complex health conditions.

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Problem gambling is an escalating public health issue around the world. In Australia an estimated 1.5 per cent of the population experiences gambling problems serious enough to require professional help, and for each person with a problem up to 10 others are affected.

A psychiatrist and Director of the Flinders Human Behaviour and Health Research Unit, Professor Battersby has an extensive background in chronic illness management research and the use of cognitive behavioural therapy for the treatment of people with gambling disorders.

DISASTER RESEARCH TORRENS RESILIENCE INSTITUTE The Torrens Resilience Institute (TRI) was established by the South Australian Government in 2009 in response to the National Strategy for Disaster Resilience developed by the Council of Australian Governments.

Drawing on the expertise of the State’s universities, it has built an international reputation for the development of advanced thinking in the concept of disaster resilience and has helped governments, emergency services, organisations and civil society to enhance their leadership and management capabilities.

Flinders has played a leadership role in the TRI’s growth and development and in 2014 the Institute became a part of the University’s management structure, incorporating our own Disaster Research Centre.

The TRI has been commissioned to carry out more than a dozen projects to evaluate aspects of Australia’s emergency management capability and make recommendations that inform policy development.

These have ranged from investigating the special needs of residential care facilities in disaster situations to assessing the impact of catastrophic fire days on health workforce availability and the willingness of emergency workers to respond to disasters.

The Institute has expertise in defence and security, law, education, medicine and public health, engineering, the social sciences, management and leadership, environmental studies, climate change and sustainability, and as well as enabling disciplines.

In addition to building national and community resilience, its work helps Australian governments achieve their foreign policy and humanitarian objectives by developing resilient national capacities in the countries of South East Asia and the Pacific Rim.

HEALTH AND HUMAN BEHAVIOUR

CENTRE FOR GAMBLING STUDIES

MOLECULAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

EXPERTISE Nanoscale Science

Atomic and Molecular Physics

Marine Bioproducts

Clean Technology

Forensics

Energetic Material

NANOSCALE SCIENCE

Flinders has recognised strengths and enabling, specialised infrastructure in chemical analysis, chemical characterisation of surfaces, and surface topography and shape. This allows the multi-disciplinary Centre for NanoScale Science and Technology (CNST) to undertake research focused on four key areas – energy, water, security and health.

Much of this work is undertaken with national partners such as the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), the Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO) and international institutions of the calibre of the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research in Germany and Japan’s National Institute for Materials Science.

Research activities in the energy area are particularly diverse, including new approaches for harnessing energy, improving existing device performance through understanding surface properties utilising specialised surface characterisation techniques, and the potential of novel materials as alternatives to silicon, flexible laminated organic photovoltaics and printable diodes. For example, researchers have developed a novel lamination method for making large-scale plastic solar cells that offers a promising alternative to the expensive fabrication techniques.

Similarly, water-related research includes new desalination membranes, novel nanofiltration technology, environmentally friendly corrosion and anti-fouling protection, desalination brine discharge water monitoring, and polymeric coagulants

Work in the security area includes human identification using microfluidics, fingerprinting using quantum dots, analysis of the structure of explosive molecules and the application of highly sensitive chemical and biosensors.

Health-related research focuses on: developing new molecular biological tools for more sensitive, accurate and faster DNA diagnostics and screening; examining viruses and their detection for use in medical diagnostics; developing microbial resistant coatings; and investigating the potential toxicity of nanoparticles and observing their interactions with drugs.

The CNST has fabrication facilities enabling the production of nanoscale materials such as porous silicon, lipid bilayers, carbon nanotubes, functional nanoparticles, microfluidic devices, quantum dots as well as instrumentation to modify the surfaces of these structures.

It also is home to five AFMs, four NMR spectrometers, two surface resonance spectrometers, four impedance spectrometers, SEM equipment, a polymer characterization suite, MIES, NCISS, fabrication facilities and solar cell simulator, and a device measuring system.

In addition, CNST runs NanoConnect, a joint initiative with the South Australian Government to provide companies with access to university knowledge and associated analytical equipment. The program targets companies in a variety of industries where nanotechnology could be applied to improve materials, coatings or processes, but has not previously been available.

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Nanotechnology is an expanding area of capability working across chemistry, physics, biology and materials science to manipulate matter at the molecular scale and enable development of new materials, devices or other useful structures.

for water treatment. CNST researchers work closely with the University’s water research teams in the National Centre for Groundwater Research Training, as well as with the National Centre of Excellence in Desalination.

MOLECULAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

RESEARCH FLAGSHIP: FLINDERS CENTRE FOR NANOSCALE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

The Centre for Nanoscale Science and Technology conducts research focused in four key areas – energy, water, security and health.

PEOPLE PROFESSOR DAVID LEWIS Director, CNST Professor Lewis is interested in systems, approaches and tools that organisations and companies can use to be more effective at converting research into new products and technologies.

He joined Flinders as a Flagship Fellow in 2009, a joint appointment with the CSIRO Future Manufacturing Flagship, and also leads NanoConnect, a collaborative program supported by the State Government that allows local companies to access University research and resources, such as advanced analytical equipment.

Professor Lewis’s own research career has centred on understanding and leveraging the relationship between the behaviour of molecules and structures at the molecular and nano scales with the macroscopic properties they display. This has led to a number of innovative solutions being successfully licensed and developed.

In a recent venture he partnered with Australian company 3RT to develop a machine that converts wood offcuts or softwood into blocks that can be used in place of scarce hardwoods.

PROFESSOR AMANDA ELLIS ARC Future Fellow and CNST Research Leader Professor Ellis’s groundbreaking work integrating biological materials such as DNA and RNA (Ribonucleic acid) with nanoscale polymers is creating complex new materials with the potential to revolutionise medical, pharmaceutical and electronic applications.

In December 2013, she was awarded an $872,000, four-year ARC Future Fellowship to understand the fundamentals of the fabrication and design of smart polymerDNA hybrids.

Since joining Flinders in 2006, Prof Ellis has secured more than $10 million in research funding for projects involving novel polymer coatings, functionalised carbon nanotubes, microfluidics, genotyping and DNA nanotechnology.

She is the current Chair of the Royal Australia Chemical Institute’s National Polymer Division.

PROJECT SUPPORTING BIODYNAMIC SKIN CARE Since 2011 Flinders has been an important part of the ongoing success of Adelaidebased company Jurlique, which sells a range of plant-based, biodynamic skin care products around the world.

Analytical chemists led by Associate Professor Claire Lenehan have made a number of important breakthroughs for the company, including improving extraction processes, characterising the bioactives within plant extracts and demonstrating the biological activity.

Current projects include investigating the use of novel, environmentally benign, sustainable solvents and undertaking a very large screen of 25 varieties of plant at different stages of growth to identify novel chemicals that contribute to the plant extracts’ bioactivity.

JOINT RESEARCH WITH BRUKER Dr Andrew Stapleton has been awarded a Catalyst Grant to research Singled Walled Carbon Nanotube tipped cantilevers for Advanced Atomic Force Microscopy and Current Mapping. This joint project with international scientific instrument manufacturer Bruker aims to significantly improve the resolution obtainable from Peak Force Tunnelling Atomic Force Microscopy (PF-TUNA), an imaging mode developed by Bruker. Flinders is one of only two Australian Universities where PF-TUNA is available.

MARINE BIOPRODUCTS CENTRE FOR MARINE BIOPRODUCTS DEVELOPMENT Flinders has combined its expertise in marine biology and bioprocess technologies to create the Centre for Marine Bioproducts Development (CMBD) as a hub for marine biodiscovery, new product development and sustainable production technologies.

CMBD develops novel pharmaceutical products, functional foods, nutraceuticals, cosmetics, aquafeeds, agri-chemicals and biofuels from a diversity of marine organisms found only in South Australian waters. These include microalgae, macroalgae, marine sponges, sponge-associated bacteria and more than 1200 species of seaweed.

This has already attracted interest in China, with the Qingdao-based Gather Great Ocean Group, the country’s second largest seaweed processing company, investing $450,000 in a new laboratory at Flinders dedicated to analysing the potential to convert South Australian seaweed into foods, cosmetics and medicinal compounds.

Biotechnology Transfer and Incubation, and a co-operative agreement with the Key Laboratory for Coastal Biology and Bioresource Utilisation, based in the Yantai Institute for Coastal Zone Research at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

PROJECT THE INNOVATIVE BIOREFINERY SYSTEM Flinders is pioneering in Australia the concept of a “biorefinery system”, whereby integrated biotechnology processes are used to better understand the functional components of raw materials that might otherwise have been discarded then costeffectively transforming them into higher value products.

Marine bioprocesses have applications in: ·· analysing materials for functional components ·· turning biomass and food waste into high value products cost effectively

The South Australian Government subsequently provided an additional $300,000 to support the continued development of clean and sustainable technologies for the manufacture of highvalue macroalgae derived products.

·· enhancing quality, efficacy of functional components

CMBD also has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Qingdao City Government for the establishment of an Australia-China Centre for Marine

·· analysing the outcomes of bioremediation.

·· enhancing food safety and removing contaminants

FORENSICS Two senior arrivals have expanded Flinders’ already significant capability and reputation in Forensic Science research.

Professor Paul Kirkbride was appointed Strategic Professor of Forensic Science in February 2013 after five years as Chief Scientist at the Australian Federal Police and 20 years at Forensic Science South Australia.

This followed Professor Adrian Linacre’s appointment in February 2010 as the inaugural South Australia Justice Chair in Forensic Science.

Professor Kirkbride’s expertise is in developing techniques, knowledge and technologies that directly lead to improved forensic science practices. He won a National Institute of Forensic Science award in June 2013 for a series of articles he co-authored on novel techniques to isolate DNA in illicit drugs and speed up the identification of disaster victims.

Professor Linacre has a strong focus on developing more sensitive methods of human DNA typing, understanding more about the transfer of biological material at crime scenes, and the use of nonhuman DNA to assist with forensic science investigations, including wildlife forensics.

The University’s Institute of Forensic Science is involved with a range of projects looking at DNA technology, standards for routine drug analysis, and the development of rapid, reliable and portable technologies for chemical measurements in industrial, medical, forensic and environmental areas.

MOLECULAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

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·· novel bioactive compound discovery

ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS The University’s expertise in Atomic and Molecular Physics is led by Professor Michael Brunger, who has experimental research interests in positron and electron scattering from a range of molecular species and radicals that are of medical, technological and atmospheric importance.

Dr Brunger was Research Director of the former ARC Centre of Excellence for Antimatter-Matter Studies and is currently an Adjunct Professor at the Australian National University, where Flinders has a significant interest in the developing National Positron Beamline Facility.

Professor Brunger and colleague Dr Laurence Campbell have developed a modelling faculty that enables the role of electron-driven processes in our atmosphere and that of other planets to be simulated.

Professor Gunther Andersson is exploring the molecular structure of soft matter interface.

Interfaces have special properties as the distribution of matter is discontinuous at the interface allowing for investigation of the fundamentals properties of interfaces and the exploration of modifications for technical application.

PROFESSOR COLIN RASTON

CLEAN TECHNOLOGY

The laboratory is being used to explore sustainable methods of manufacturing compounds and materials with applications across a range of sectors, including the pharmaceutical, agriculture, food processing, and renewable resources industries, using less energy and generating less waste.

Using the vortex fluid device, which Professor Raston invented, they were able to untangle the proteins in the white of a hard-boiled egg to make them active again in a clear solution.

Professor Raston is recognised as pioneer in clean technologies. He led the debate on green chemistry during his presidency of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute in the late 1990s and in 2002 was awarded the Institute’s prestigious Green Chemistry Challenge for his work in the field.

His current research covers clean technology and green chemistry, including the creation of products and processes that are “benign by design”.

ENERGETIC MATERIALS Flinders and DSTO have established a dedicated Centre of Expertise in Energetic Materials (CEEM) to focus on the use and abuse of energetic materials that increasingly are used in the mining sector, as well as in munitions detection and the neutralisation of explosives.

Kasturi Vimalanathan at work with the Vortex Fluid Device

Based at Flinders and funded by DSTO, the Centre brings together an exciting combination of the University’s synthetic and characterisation capabilities, the energetic material expertise and infrastructure of DSTO, and academic and industry approaches.

Key research areas are safety and environment; materials and properties; and detection and analysis.

CEEM’s Director, Associate Professor Stewart Walker, has partnered with industry, government and universities in Australia and overseas to solve problems in the analytical, environmental, industrial, forensic and medical arenas, and is an international expert for IAEA/UN Environmental Analysis Projects in Asia.

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The state-of-the-art facility is applying novel “continuous flow processing technology” developed at Flinders to research more sustainable and cost-effective manufacturing methods. It is based on a now-patented vortex fluid device, which has the ability to control chemical reactions in a way that is not possible using conventional methods.

In early 2015, researchers from Flinders and the University of California, Irvine made international headlines when they revealed they had found a way to “uncook” an egg – a remarkable breakthrough that could drastically cut costs for the pharmaceutical industry.

MOLECULAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Professor Colin Raston joined Flinders in March 2013 as the South Australia Premier’s Professorial Research Fellow in Clean Technology. Soon after, the University unveiled a new $1.1 million Clean Technology Laboratory that had already attracted in excess of $1 million in project funding from external sources.

WATER AND ENVIRONMENT

EXPERTISE Groundwater and Hydrology

Marine Biology

Palaeontology

Climate Adaptation

Coastal Studies

GROUNDWATER AND HYDROLOGY

The National Centre for Groundwater Research and Training (NCGRT) has made significant recent contributions toward making this happen and is gaining international attention for its focus on the nexus between science, management and policy.

Nationally, it commissioned Deloitte Access Economics to estimate the dollar value of groundwater to Australia, was itself commissioned by the National Water Commission to develop Australian Guidelines for Groundwater Modelling and has been a leader in developing a National Groundwater Strategic Plan.

Internationally, it has played a role in the development of Groundwater Governance – A Global Framework for Action, a major project involving such partners as the International Association of Hydrogeologists, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation, UNESCO and the World Bank.

Flinders researcher Dr Andrew Ross recently worked as a specialist with UNESCO IHP in Paris, assisting global projects on groundwater governance and managing trans-boundary aquifers – groundwater bodies that can span multiple jurisdictions, both regional and national. This is one of the major focus areas of the global framework, which aims to provide policy guidelines and best practice approaches for improved groundwater management at the country and local level.

NCGRT researchers are working to: ·· develop new field and laboratory methods to gather subsurface hydrogeological data ·· generate a series of new 3D groundwater models and simulation tools ·· better understand water flow between groundwater and surface water systems ·· understand the relationship between groundwater and vegetation and how this might be affected by climate change and low rainfall.

In addition, hydrologists and interdisciplinary modellers are working collaboratively with social scientists, economists, environmental lawyers and interest groups to identify and clarify issues and develop decision-making tools and other solutions.

The NCGRT has five designated research programs: Innovative Characterisation of Aquifers and Aquitards; Hydrodynamics and Modelling of Complex Groundwater Systems; Surface Water – Groundwater Interactions; Groundwater–Vegetation–Atmosphere Interactions; and Integrating Socioeconomics, Policy and Decision Support.

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In the coming decades, as the climate changes and human water demand soars, there will need to be a much greater focus on groundwater governance; on putting in place the best practices for managing an increasingly precious resource.

Based at and led by Flinders University, the NCGRT was established as one of the largest centres of its kind in the world, with 12 partner universities and a growing list of industry partners. It has trained and employed more than 250 staff, including 40 chief investigators and 80 postdoctoral fellows, and welcomed 100 academic visitors.

WATER AND ENVIRONMENT

RESEARCH FLAGSHIP: NATIONAL CENTRE FOR GROUNDWATER RESEARCH AND TRAINING

Flinders’ new palaeontology laboratory incorporates cutting-edge technologies such as synchrotron, micro-CT and isotopic analysis.

PEOPLE

PROJECTS

PROFESSOR CRAIG SIMMONS Founding Director, NCGRT

UNDERSTANDING HOW RIVERS FLOOD

Professor Simmons has been a major contributor to global advances in hydrogeology and was one of six preeminent groundwater academics whose position paper on the state of groundwater research and management was the catalyst for major groundwater reform in Australia.

He is a recognised expert in variable density groundwater flow phenomena and a member of the National Water Commission’s Groundwater Technical Advisory Committee.

In 2011 he was awarded the Australian Academy of Science Anton Hales Medal for research contributions to the Earth Sciences and in the same year he was appointed a Fellow at the Royal Society of South Australia and named the Inaugural Schultz Chair in the Environment.

In 2014, Professor Simmons was elected an Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE) Fellow, recognising his major national and international contributions to groundwater science, education and policy reform.

PROFESSOR OKKE BATELAAN Strategic Professor of Hydro(geo)logy Professor Batelaan’s research focuses on the interaction between shallow groundwater and land surface processes.

As part of his research, Professor Batelaan has co-developed models for distributed hydrological modelling of shallow subsurface and surface hydrological processes with integration of geographic information systems GIS and remote sensing.

He is leading a $3 million, two-year project to map the aquifers beneath Adelaide, assess the likely impacts of a changing climate and increasing population, and inform future water planning. Funded by the Goyder Institute for Water Research and run jointly by Flinders and CSIRO, this is the first comprehensive study for more than 10 years.

NCGRT researcher Dr Margaret Shanafield, a recent ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award recipient, worked on South Australia’s Coorong and the Colorado River in Mexico to test new technology that measures how much water is stored underground when big rivers are allowed to flood.

The sophisticated mathematical model, which she developed while completing her PhD, describes what goes on when ephemeral rivers (those that flow only part of the year) flood, by using calculations involving the speed of a flood-wave or advancing streamflow and the rate at which water can flow through the subsurface material. This reveals which sections of a riverbed will allow water to seep through the ground and estimate how much water escapes downstream and how much soaks in to be stored underground.

FINDING WATER BENEATH THE SEABED NCGRT research published in the international journal Nature in late 2013 revealed that as much as half a million cubic kilometres of low-salinity water is buried beneath the seabed on continental shelves off Australia, China, North America and South Africa. That’s more water than has been extracted from the Earth’s sub-surface in the past 100 years, proving that we were wrong in our previous belief that freshwater only occurs under the seafloor in rare and special conditions.

WORKING WITH REMOTE COMMUNITIES Flinders is leading an investigation into whether groundwater stored in aquifers can be sustainably used to provide much needed drinking water to the residents Milingimbi, a remote island off the coast of Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory. The study is one of only three in the world funded in 2014 by the Geoscientists Without Borders program, a humanitarian initiative run by the Society of Exploration Geophysicists.

Photographer Laura Crossey

PALAEONTOLOGY

Professor Long led a series of expeditions to the Nullarbor Caves of south-central Australia that produced one of the most remarkable Pleistocene vertebrate assemblages yet discovered and made international headlines in 2008 when he revealed evidence of the oldest live birth on Earth – and with it an entire new species.

Most recently he made headlines when he announced the profound new discovery that revealed how the intimate act of sexual intercourse first evolved in our deep distant ancestors – one of the biggest discoveries

Dr Worthy, an ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award Fellow and ViceChancellor’s Postdoctoral Research Fellow, is a leading vertebrate palaeontologist specialising in fossil birds of the AsiaPacific region. He has published more than 150 peer-reviewed papers, five books and numerous technical publications, and been involved as a consultant to several television documentaries.

In 2014 he was co-author of a paper that solved a 150-year-old evolutionary mystery about the origins of the giant flightless “ratite” birds, such as the emu and ostrich, which are found across the southern continents. This group contains some of the world’s largest birds, including the extinct giant moa of New Zealand and elephant birds of Madagascar.

At Flinders Professor Long and Dr Worthy are working with Associate Professor Prideaux to establish a new palaeontology laboratory

incorporating cutting-edge technologies such as synchrotron, micro-CT and isotopic analysis, and preparing research teams to revisit a number of fossil sites throughout Australia that have world-class early fossil deposits.

Associate Professor Prideaux, an ARC Future Fellow, was named Flinders University’s Researcher of the Year in 2013.

His research focuses on links between patterns in Australian mammal evolution, extinction, biodiversity and environmental changes, and he has built the broadestbased field research program in Cenozoic vertebrate palaeontology in the country.

He has excavated at many fossil sites throughout southern and central Australia and led an international team that threw new light on what drove most of the world’s Ice Age megafauna to extinction.

Since 2007 the Palaeontology Research Group at Flinders has grown from two members to 20, including academics, postdocs, PhD and Honours students, and research / technical staff.

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Professor Long, a global expert in the early evolution of vertebrates, is the University’s Strategic Professor of Palaeontology. His distinguished research career has changed prevailing views on the early evolution of vertebrates and the fundamental steps in the transition to life on land. This has culminated over the past six years in a series of high-impact papers, including five in the prestigious journal Nature.

in the evolutionary history of sexual reproduction. Professor Long’s team found that internal fertilisation and copulation was invented by ancient armoured fish, called placoderms, about 385 million years ago in Scotland.

WATER AND ENVIRONMENT

Flinders boasts one of the strongest Palaeontology research teams in Australia following the arrival of Professor John Long and Dr Trevor Worthy in 2013 to join Associate Professor Gavin Prideaux.

COASTAL STUDIES Flinders has longstanding strengths in the study of coastal environments, including coastal and ocean processes, geomorphology, geology, sedimentology, dynamics, ecology, modelling, and management.

Professor Patrick Hesp, who was appointed the University’s Strategic Professor of Coastal Studies in January 2013, heads a 12-member strong research team with specialist expertise in nearshore dynamics, wave processes, physical oceanography, coastal and desert dune, earth and planetary geomorphology and dynamics, hydrodynamic and CFD modelling,

strategic marine conservation planning, marine protected area design, GIS, coastal management and environmental impact assessment.

fellowships in South Africa, Namibia, Israel, Holland, China, Brazil, Italy and Malaysia, is an expert in sand dune dynamics, morphology and evolution.

Support facilities include a Beach and Dune Systems laboratory that houses state-of-the-art equipment to measure flow dynamics and sediment transport in the surfzone-nearshore-ocean system and in terrestrial environments.

His current research interests focus on what this evolution can tell us about climate change and its impact. South Australia, he says, is one of the few places in the world with large dune systems that haven’t been impacted by human influences, making it “the closest thing to a real-life lab experiment you’ll ever get”.

Professor Hesp, who joined Flinders from Louisiana State University in the US and also has held visiting professorships and

Dr Charlie Huveneers studies shark species around the world. Photographer Alice Prokopec

MARINE BIOLOGY The University’s Marine Biology cluster has a strong focus on better understanding and managing the aquatic environment, particularly the South Australian coastal environment. Research spans the spectrum from food webs, population and community ecology to seagrass and mangrove ecosystems.

Specific disciplines include estuarine, benthic and microbial ecology, taxonomy, invasive species, marine macroecology, natural products and biological chemistry, plankton biology, aquatic animal health, aquaculture systems and genetics in aquaculture.

The research team is equally diverse, having been born on four continents and worked on all seven.

Professor Jim Mitchell is an international expert on small-scale biological processes in the ocean who has been published in Nature and Science and collaborates with the University of Tokyo, MIT and the University of Chicago.

Ecologist Dr Charlie Huveneers has studied shark species around the world and in 2007 established a national acoustic tagging and monitoring system for sharks as part of Australia’s Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS) program.

Dr Sophie Leterme, a biological oceanographer, is deputy leader of the IMOS in South Australia. Her research focuses on plankton dynamics in ecosystems and the use of phytoplankton as bioindicators of the effect of desalination plants on marine environments.

Associate Professor Luciana Moller has coordinated long-term projects on the behavioural and molecular ecology of marine mammals and is a member of the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Cetacean Specialist Group.

CLIMATE ADAPTATION CENTRE FOR CLIMATE ADAPTATION AND ANIMAL BEHAVIOUR Flinders has had research strengths in oceanography and across the marine and biological sciences since its earliest days and later became a leader in the emerging disciplines of environmental science, environmental management and environmental health.

More recently, the reality of climate change has underpinned a strong focus on measuring and identifying the adaptive capacity of organisms in this changing environment, and the implications this has for future biodiversity and sustainability.

Key projects are examining the specific impact of climate change on bird populations, food availability, species range patterns and disease transmission, as well as the broader impact of human activity – including mining and coastal development – on wildlife and the marine environment.

Active research areas in marine biology and aquaculture span the spectrum from coastal food webs, population and community ecology through to seagrass and mangrove ecosystems.

Biodiversity and ecology research focuses on understanding Australian species and researchers work closely with organisations such as SA Research and Development Institute (SARDI), National Parks and Wildlife and the SA Museum on biodiversity surveys of natural and disturbed habitats, conservation ecology and ecosystem management.

PEOPLE PROFESSOR SONIA KLEINDORFER Professor in Animal Behaviour Professor Kleindorfer’s expertise extends across animal behaviour, biodiversity conservation, ecology, and evolution biology.

Current research addresses the mechanism and function of prenatal learning, including testing how birds learn in the egg and why mothers teach embryos in eggs. She also is investigating host-parasite coevolution on the Galapagos Islands through studies into hybridising Darwin finches in response to the lethal threat of parasitic flies whose larvae consume the finch nestlings alive.

PROJECTS UNDERSTANDING HOW FISH ADAPT The Director of the University’s Molecular Ecology Laboratory, Professor Luciano Beheregaray, has been awarded an ARC Future Fellowship to assess the adaptation and vulnerability of aquatic biodiversity to environmental change. The $1 million project is addressing fundamental and novel questions about factors shaping adaptation and resilience along naturally and anthropogenically disturbed ecosystems.

TELLING THE FUTURE THROUGH FUNGI Emeritus Professor David Catcheside is leading an international project that will use DNA gene sequencing to better understand how living organisms adapt to global warming. In-kind support of US$432,000 has been provided by Joint Genome Institute to study the red bread mould Neurospora, a fungus that has been used to discover many facets of the molecular processes of life.

WATER AND ENVIRONMENT

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Measuring a Superb Fairy-Wren male head length by Professor Sonia Kleindorfer

COMMERCIALISATION HIGHLIGHTS Translating research into tangible outcomes is an important way in which Flinders contributes to the national public interest. The combination of high-quality research, innovation and an ability to think commercially and understand consumer trends makes the University an attractive partner for industry.

YOURAMIGO™

SPIN-OUTS

YourAmigo™ was established to develop the concepts into a range of products and services . Subsequently, YourAmigo™ developed a range of highly-scalable managed software services that drive substantial incremental traffic to websites through the organic search results of the major internet search engines, including Google and Bing.

INREMEDY inRemedy provides a generic clinical process for assessment and planning for disease specific management, and represents the outcomes of more than 15 years of continuous research and development

by Professor Malcolm Battersby’s team in the Flinders Human Behaviour and Health Research Unit.

In the late 1990s, Flinders researchers were investigating ways to improve internet search engine performance, particularly the efficiency of internet indexing and the ability to search web pages that were difficult to crawl with existing search technologies.

BAUSELITE

inRemedy uses a semi-structured framework that can be applied to any chronic disease or condition, including co-morbid conditions in the same person. It is patient centred and holistic in that it incorporates the bio (disease) psychosocial aspects of a person into a plan, and its semi-structured method ensures patients are fully engaged in the delivery of their own care.

The Flinders Centre for Nanoscale Science and Technology is working with Swiss company Bausele to investigate a range of nanotechnologies that could be applied to watch making. The initial focus has been on watch case design, leading to the fabrication of a unique lightweight ceramic material known as Bauselite, which will be patented as a proprietary composite and incorporated into all Bausele watches.

RE-TIMER™

FLINDERS CREATIONS

Researchers have been using light therapy to reduce the impact of insomnia and other conditions caused by a mistimed body clock since the 1980s, but the standard delivery mechanism (a light box) provides inconsistent outcomes. Flinders sleep psychologists Professor Leon Lack and Dr Helen Wright changed the game when they pioneered the use of eyeglasses frames to administer light.

Flinders Creations is a video production company created and run by the University’s Department of Screen and Media and employing a number of its recent graduates.

This led to the development of the Re-Timer™ device and to the establishment of Re-time Pty Ltd, a Flinders Partners spin-out company.

SMR Automotive Australia was engaged as the design and manufacturing partner for the technology, and its expertise provided innovative solutions to create a successful commercial product.

Flinders Creations provides a range of services to the University, its partner organisations and the not-for profit sector, including promotional videos, short documentaries, dramatisations, motion graphics, live event filming and editing, TV commercials and community service announcements.

In creating this Research Excellence book the Research Services Office has greatly appreciated the support extended by the immediate past Deputy-Vice Chancellor, Professor David Day, Flinders Media and Communications Office, Flinders Partners and the enthusiastic assistance of our esteemed researchers and professional Faculty staff.

Worthy of particular note is the dedicated hard work of: Dr Gayle Morris – Director of the Research Services Office who lead this project; Tonia Keating – Strategic Initiative, Project Officer who managed its creation; Brighter – the graphic design agency who brought life to the vision; Nick Carne – the journalist who gave voice to the stories; and Randy Larcombe – the photographer who captured numerous images.

Back cover image courtesy of Sign Concepts

CONTACT INFORMATION http://www.flinders.edu.au /research/research-contacts.cfm http://www.flinders.edu.au/ research/our-research/

OFFICE OF THE DEPUTY VICE-CHANCELLOR (RESEARCH) Sturt Road Bedford Park 5042 South Australia Telephone + 61 8 8201 2758 Facsimile + 61 8 8201 5949