Five ADI researchers have been awarded Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Project funding announced in late November for 2023.

Over $2 million in funding was awarded for the four projects and will allow researchers to lead large-scale three-year research projects helping to prevent water theft in the Murray Darling, understand authoritarian states’ transnational influence via digital technologies, and complete the first nationwide study of Australian ‘spirituality’.

ADI Deputy Director (Research) and Alfred Deakin Professor Emma Kowal says the funding success highlights the excellence and scope of work occurring at ADI.

“ADI had a success rate of 25% this round, continuing our strong performance in all Discovery schemes, well above both ARC and university averages,” she said. “It’s important to acknowledge the huge amount of work that went into many strong applications that were not successful. Supporting ADI researchers to regroup and try again is a crucial part of our work.”  

Congratulations to the following ADI researchers and members for their ARC Discovery Project success:

Professor Reece Walters and Dr Laura Bedford | Preventing Water Theft in the Murray-Darling Basin

This Project aims to understand the complex interaction of socio-economic, legal and political factors that have enabled the theft of fresh water in the Murray-Darling Basin. By analysing the policies and regulations governing freshwater management, this project expects to generate new knowledge of the extent and types of water theft, offenders processed, penalties delivered, and the performance and operations of regulatory and enforcement agencies. The expected outcomes include new research strategies for water theft prevention. This will benefit national security and community health by contributing to a sustainable and equitable supply of fresh water.

Professor Ihsan Yilmaz | Civilisationist Mobilisation, Digital Technologies and Social Cohesion

Civilisational populist rulers polarise societies mainly along religious lines. They also interfere with their emigrants, mobilising supporters against other expatriates. This project aims to advance knowledge of authoritarian states’ transnational influence on social cohesion and inter-group conflict. By studying Islamist and Hindutva civilisationist mobilisations, their reach into their emigrants via digital technologies, and their impact on Turkish and Indian groups in Australia, the project aims to assist policy makers and community groups by generating conceptual frameworks, benchmarking data, and recommendations for making policies to deal with this phenomenon’s negative effects and for developing intervention strategies

Professor Andrew Singleton | Australian Spirituality: Wellness, Wellbeing and Risks

While there has been significant research conducted in Australia on rising religious diversity and those who are non-religious, spirituality has not received the same scholarly attention despite its popularity. This is the first nationwide study of spirituality in Australia, investigating First Nations, religious, and holistic spirituality, their contributions to wellbeing, and their possible risks. It includes a national survey and interviews with spiritual persons, and case studies of sacred places around the country. This project also draws on the expertise of leading First Nations, Australian and international scholars, and will be of national benefit in its capacity to inform practices and policies for personal and planetary wellbeing.

Professor Michele Grossman (CRIS, Deakin) with A/Prof Stephane Shepherd, Prof Michele Pathe (Swinburne) and Prof Paul Gill (UCL) | Understanding the drivers and motivators of extremist violence

Despite intense interest in the issue, our understanding of and ability to respond to extremist violence is limited. This innovative program of research is designed to establish an empirical foundation for understanding and responding to extremist violence in Australia. It aims to examine risk and protective factors for such violence, the needs of those susceptible to committing such acts, and the effectiveness of intervention. Findings are expected to inform health, national security, social welfare, and justice agencies in their pursuit to identify those at risk of offending, address their clinical needs and manage the risk of harm they pose to society and to themselves.

Dr Jehonathan Ben and Professor Yin Paradies (CRIS, Deakin) with Professor Kevin Dunn (WSU); Dr Alanna Kamp (WSU); Associate Professor Tristan Kennedy (Monash); Associate Professor Nida Denson (WSU); Professor Craig McGarty (WSU); Dr Mandy Truong (Monash); Dr Rachel Sharples (WSU); | Online anti-racism for Australia

Harmful manifestations of online racism are increasing. The neo-liberal assumption is that social media users and user groups can be responsiblised to disrupt online racism. This project analyses a subset of online anti-racism campaigns. The review provides the material to test effectiveness, using surveys. The survey findings will identify the ingredients for effective, safe and efficient online anti-racism intervention. An online anti-racism program will be developed, implemented and evaluated. The development of guidelines for online anti-racism will overtly address the challenges and risks of action in this environment where regulation is so heavily contested.