CASS scholars win $1.4m worth of ARC funding

Five scholars from the ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences will share in more than $1.41 million worth of Australian Research Council funding.

Their projects include Indigenous organisation management, motherhood and bereavement, and improving how groups operate.

CASS Dean, Professor Rae Frances, says the College successfully obtained $670,923 for internally-led Discovery Project applications, $740,191 for internally-led DECRA applications, while six staff were also part of successful grant applications led by other Australian institutions.

“I offer my congratulations to all CASS researchers who were awarded funding under this round,” she says.

“A considerable amount of work and effort goes into ARC scheme applications and we’d like to acknowledge all of our colleagues who applied.

“Our thanks also to the CASS Research Office team for their expertise and support.”

Dr Deirdre Howard-Wagner, from the Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, won around $300,000 in Discovery Project funding for a project on new public management Aboriginal organisations and Indigenous rights.

"I'm absolutely thrilled," Dr Howard-Wagner says.

"This is really critical research. It will have a strong urban focus and builds on the future directions for ANU of urban Indigenous research as a major strength."

Dr Katherine Carroll and RSSS Director, Professor Catherine Waldby, received $371,000 to study bereaved mothers, particularly the extent to which lactation and breastmilk donation may modulate their experiences.

“By bereaved mothers we mean those women who have suffered a loss in circumstances such as stillbirth, infant death, infant relinquishment due to adoption, or altruistic surrogacy,” School of Sociology-based Dr Carroll explains.

“It will also identify the assumptions, values and organisational constraints that shape the lactation care delivery that is provided by health professionals in maternity and bereavement services, as well as breastmilk banks.”

Dr Matthew Kopec will research how to improve the way groups of people operate in fields such as management, psychology, and information science.

“This body of interdisciplinary work hasn't yet led to an agreed upon set of strategies that groups can use to improve the decisions and judgements they make,” the School of Philosophy-based researcher says.

“The ultimate aim of my project is to find these strategies and then share them with groups in healthcare, business, and government.

“As such, the project will be highly interdisciplinary, utilising normative and theoretical insights from philosophy, but also empirical results from a wide range of other fields.”

*Externally-led project