New ARC Discovery Projects Funding for ADI
New ARC Discovery Projects Funding for ADI
ADI researchers have been awarded more than $950,000 in funding through three new 2024 Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Project scheme grants.
Discovery Projects, a flagship scheme for fundamental research and the largest scheme under the ARC National Competitive Grants Program, provide funding of between $30,000 and $500,000 each year for up to five consecutive years.
The funding can be used to support research assistants and technicians, access to research and infrastructure facilities, technical workshop services, essential field research, equipment and consumables, and the publication and dissemination of findings.
ADI’s Professor David Bright, Dr Renae Fomiatti and Dr Kiran Pienaar, as well as Associate Professor Patrick Stokes, have all received significant ARC funding in the Discovery scheme, allowing them to lead large-scale three-year projects respectively aimed to: (i) reveal the structure and social dynamics of co-offending networks by outlaw motorcycle gangs (OMCGs) in Australia; (ii) understand the role of trauma in alcohol and other drug-related problems; and (iii) create a philosophically-informed ethical approach for managing the ‘digital remains’ of internet users who have died.
ADI’s Director, Alfred Deakin Professor Fethi Mansouri, says:
“We congratulate all our colleagues on this outstanding performance in a highly competitive ARC scheme. All three projects are at the forefront of innovative research design both methodologically and conceptually as well as being of significant national benefit for both local communities and scholarly advancement. We also commiserate with all those who missed out on this occasion and wish them all better luck in future rounds.”
ADI’s successful projects are:
Professor David Bright and Professor Chad Whelan: Analysing and disrupting outlaw motorcycle gangs in Australia ($242,575)
This project aims to reveal the structure and social dynamics of co-offending networks by outlaw motorcycle gangs (OMCGs) in Australia. OMCGs cause significant social and economic harm in Australia and internationally. The project will generate new knowledge about OMCG co-offending using an innovative multimethod approach combining social network analysis with interviews and focus groups. Expected outcomes include a deeper understanding of OMCG criminal activity across Australia and refined theory development about co-offending in criminal groups. The project will lead to improved policy, legislation and policing practice to prevent OMCG crime and dismantle OMCG criminal networks in more cost-effective ways.
Dr Renae Fomiatti and Dr Kiran Pienaar: Understanding the role of trauma in alcohol and other drug-related problems ($615,212)
Chief Investigators:
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Dr Michael Savic (Monash University)
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Professor Helen Keane (Australian National University)
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Professor Carla Treloar (University of New South Wales)
This project aims to investigate the relationship between trauma and alcohol and other drug (AOD)-related problems. Using a robust set of qualitative and ethnographic methods, the project expects to advance international knowledge on how experiences of trauma influence AOD consumption, and the diverse factors that shape variation in experience and outcomes for individuals. Expected outcomes include targeted recommendations to improve AOD responses, policy and trauma-informed AOD care, and increased capacity of the Australian health workforce to respond to trauma and AOD-related problems. This should provide significant benefit by reducing the harms and economic and social costs associated with AOD consumption.
Dr Renae Fomiatti and Dr Kiran Pienaar, said:
“We’re thrilled to have been awarded funding for this project on trauma and alcohol and other drug-related problems. It’s an exciting, world-first sociological project on how experiences of trauma influence alcohol and other drug consumption, and the diverse factors that shape individual experiences and outcomes. We hope the findings will inform social policy and implementation tools to improve responses to alcohol and other drug-related problems, and trauma-informed care. The project continues our ongoing research collaboration on topics related to drugs, health and the body, and we’re excited to build on this work.”
Associate Professor Patrick Stokes: Digital Death and Immortality ($93,029)
Other Partner Investigators:
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Dr Adam Buben (Leiden University)
This project will create a philosophically informed ethical approach for managing the ‘digital remains’ of internet users who have died. Emerging artificial intelligence technologies make it possible to reuse and interact with these digital remains. This offers new ways to commemorate the dead and manage grief. Yet these technologies also threaten to exploit the dead and to change our relationship to them in troubling ways. Expected outcomes of the project include guidance for the ethical use of these technologies and policy recommendations for regulating the reuse of digital remains. This will provide significant benefits by helping Australia to avoid the ethical dangers inherent in emerging technologies of ‘digital reanimation.’
More information about the ARC’s Discovery Project scheme is available on the ARC website.