| ARC Future Fellowships |
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 Assoc Professor Joe Ciarocchi :
A longitudinal study into the development of personal vulnerabilities and well-being in adolescence.
Why are some adolescents at risk for poor mental health, physical health, and social adjustment? This project will collect four years of data (Waves 2-5) of a multi-state longitudinal study. The study will identify the temperamental and environmental variables that predict the development of character in adolescence and, in turn, the role that developing character plays in promoting social, emotional, and productive well-being. The study is unique in its comprehensiveness and its assessment of adolescents at multiple levels using measures taken from different disciplines (e.g., social, education, biology).This research will identify the risk factors for declining adolescent well-being and behavioural adjustment.
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| ARC Discovery Projects |
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Dr Christopher A Magee, A/Prof Peter Caputi, Prof Donald Iverson:
Short sleep as a cause of obesity: a longitudinal examination of Australian children and adults, $120,000 over 3 years. A/Prof Joseph Ciarrochi, Prof Patrick C Heaven, Prof Christopher J Jackson, A/Prof Stuart J Johnstone, Dr Peter R Leeson, Dr Nerina J Caltabiano:
A longitudinal study into the development of personal vulnerabilities and well-being in adolescence. $263 099 over 3 years. Prof Barbara J Gillam (UNSW), A/Prof Stephen A Palmisano:
The role of monocular regions in stereoscopic depth perception $240,000 over 3 years. |
| NHMRC Project Grants |
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Dr Nadia Solowij, Prof Rodney Croft, Dr Juanita Todd, Dr Francesca Fernandez, Emeritus Prof Patricia Michie, Prof Philip McGuire and Prof Robin Murray
Total funding: $499,006 over 3 years.
Project title: Vulnerability markers in the association between cannabis and schizophrenia. Dr Chao Deng
Total funding: $359,182 over 3 years.
Project title: Understanding the mechanisms of functionally selective drugs: implication for new generation antipsychotic drugs Dr Todd Mitchell and Prof Roger Truscott Lead Organisation: University of Sydney.
Project title: AnCIEnt proteins and disease Dr Todd Mitchell and Dr Carsten Schmitz-Peiffer Lead Organisation: Garvin Institute
Project title: Targeting ceramide metabolism to improve lipi-induced insulin resistance. A/Prof Vicki Flood
Total funding $ 420,488.80.
Project Title: Effectiveness of an early intervention trial to prevent obesity - Phase 2: Follow-up and cost effectiveness analysis. |
| NHMRC Fellowships |
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 Karen Mickle from the Biomechanics Research Laboratory has been awarded a Postdoctoral Fellowship under the NHMRC Training Fellowship (Overseas Clinical) Scheme. Karen has been awarded $298,992 over 4 years to conduct the study “Understanding toe muscle weakness to restore foot function in older individuals with toe deformities”. Karen will be enjoying 2 years in the UK before returning to Wollongong for the final 2 years of the fellowship. |
| ALTC Priority Project |
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 Assoc Prof Craig Gonsalvez (UOW) & Prof John Bushnell (UOW) with Alice Shires (UNSW), Judy Hyde (Uni Syd), Chris Allan (UOW), Ros Knight (Macquarie Uni), Rosemary Webster (Uni Newcastle), Kathryn Nicholson-Perry (UWS) ($105 000): The vignette-matching procedure: An innovative approach to assess competencies in psychology and clinical practicum.
The project cuts to the heart of a systemic problem that has plagued supervisors’ assessments of student competencies in practicum settings: limitations inherent to the rating method. There is compelling evidence across a range of disciplines that supervisors’ ratings of practicum are affected by systematic biases. A recent innovation, the vignette-matching procedure, in which supervisors match a student's performance against vignettes portraying the capabilities of different anchor-persons, has been shown to reduce greatly these biases. The current project is an ambitious, multi-center study that is supported by six partner universities and an eminent team of experts across disciplines. It is designed to improve significantly assessment outcomes in psychology by developing, evaluating, and comparing outcomes from standardized tools: a traditional rating scale and a catalogue of vignettes. Positive outcomes from this project will have direct and high-impact applications for health and non-health disciplines, and flow-on implications for curriculum renewal and the development of professional bench-marks.
 A/Prof Heather Yeatman $158,000 Curriculum renewal in public health nutrition.
This ALTC Priority Project proposal involves a consensus-based approach to develop academic standards to support the emerging discipline and workforce of Public Health Nutrition (PHN). There is a need for a current academic discipline base and pedagogy for the education of professionals who are able to address contemporary food issues. Academic standards will comprise a competencies framework, including competency units, elements and performance/assessment criteria (consistent with competency frameworks used by professional disciplines) to codify and make explicit the knowledge, skills and attitudes required to effectively perform the work required of a public health nutrition practitioner from graduate entry to advanced practitioner at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. A modified Delphi methodology will be used to develop consensus on these public health nutrition competencies. A National Forum will be conducted to disseminate and operationalise these competencies. The process will form the first phase in curricula renewal in public health nutrition to be articulated at national and international levels.
This ALTC project will address this need through the achievement of the following outcomes:
(1) the development of academic standards to support the emerging discipline and related workforce of Public Health Nutrition (PHN); curriculum renewal in PHN through
(2) dissemination of these academic standards and
(3) scholarly dialogue about PHN learning, teaching and assessment; and
(4) development and engagement of a broad network of stakeholders to support ongoing curriculum renewal.
The other two lead investigators are Andrea Begley, Curtin University and Roger Hughes, University of Sunshine Coast. Other institutions also on the team are: Flinders Uni; QUT; Deakin; UQ; Newcastle; University of Southampton (UK) |
Professor Sandra Jones:
Dr Todd Mitchell - School of Health Sciences
Dr Nadia Solowij – School of Psychology