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Battling the headwinds : the experiences of minoritised academics in the neoliberal Australian university
No full textAcademics who identify or are identified with minoritised groups in society and teach marginalised subjects are particularly prone to experiencing individual and systemic bias and discrimination which harm their wellbeing and restrict their career advancement. These challenges can be likened to “headwinds” that they must constantly battle against, whilst those belonging to dominant social groups benefit from “tailwind” effects. We critique the framing of the “ideal” academic in the neoliberalised university and argue that it entrenches the marginalisation of academics from minoritised backgrounds. Through a collaborative auto-ethnographic approach, we explore how we push back against “headwinds” in order to resist our marginalisation, in particular detailing how collaborative writing and research function as successful protective strategies within hyper-competitive environments. Whilst this article focusses specifically on the Australian context, the international resonances are apparent from connections we illustrate within the literature, and showcase how developments from a distance frame our local contexts
Taking exception to the rule : a poststructural analysis of legitimacy in Fiji’s new legal order
No full textThis thesis investigates the nature and conditions of legitimacy established in Fiji’s new legal order between 2009 and 2014. Drawing on the work of Giorgio Agamben, the thesis applies the conceptual framework of ‘the state of exception’ to Fiji’s politico-legal system, examining legitimacy as a function of the relation between sovereignty and governance. The thesis takes account of multiple levels of meaning-making at stake in the crisis of legitimacy and interweaves local narrative with poststructural thought, Continental theory and legal doctrine in order to understand legitimacy as constituted in a distinctly Fijian ‘state of exception’
Complex patterns of cannabinoid alkyl side-chain inheritance in cannabis
No full textThe cannabinoid alkyl side-chain represents an important pharmacophore, where genetic targeting of alkyl homologs has the potential to provide enhanced forms of Cannabis for biopharmaceutical manufacture. Delta(9)-tetrahydrocannabinolic acid (THCA) and cannabidiolic acid (CBDA) synthase genes govern dicyclic (CBDA) and tricyclic (THCA) cannabinoid composition. However, the inheritance of alkyl side-chain length has not been resolved, and few studies have investigated the contributions and interactions between cannabinoid synthesis pathway loci. To examine the inheritance of chemical phenotype (chemotype), THCAS and CBDAS genotypes were scored and alkyl cannabinoid segregation analysed in 210 F2 progeny derived from a cross between two Cannabis chemotypes divergent for alkyl and cyclic cannabinoids. Inheritance patterns of F2 progeny were non-Gaussian and deviated from Mendelian expectations. However, discrete alkyl cannabinoid segregation patterns consistent with digenic as well as epistatic modes of inheritance were observed among F2 THCAS and CBDAS genotypes. These results suggest linkage between cannabinoid pathway loci and highlight the need for further detailed characterisation of cannabinoid inheritance to facilitate metabolic engineering of chemically elite germplasm
Sports-based mental health promotion in Australia: formative evaluation
No full textObjectives: Formative evaluation is critical in maximising the implementation strategies and processes of interventions. It is also critical to both providing contextual explanations for and maximising the success of such interventions. The purpose of this study was to undertake a comprehensive formative evaluation of the implementation process of a multi-component, sports-based mental health program for adolescent males (“Ahead of the Game”). Methods: Primary outcomes included program reach, dose, fidelity and cost during initial piloting and two distinct implementation phases. The iterative formative evaluation process provided opportunities to adapt the program and its implementation strategy to optimise reach, dose and fidelity relative to implementation cost. Results: Formative evaluation data showed that the program failed to achieve optimal reach in the initial pilot phase (Phase I), with low doses of the program received by stakeholders, and moderate fidelity. Bottom up implementation strategies improved dose and club ownership during Phase II but resulted in high costs and lower fidelity and was associated with implementation staff retention and management issues. Phase III with more streamlined staffing and club integrated implementation resulted in high reach, dose, fidelity and club ownership and an associated reduction in implementation cost per participant. Conclusion: Formative evaluation succeeded in maximising the Ahead of the Game program engagement over three distinct phases. Results are salient for informing cost-effective implementation strategies for sports-based health promotion
Law, fiction and activism in a time of climate change
No full textThe book examines the narratives of climate change which have developed and which are currently evolving in three areas: law, fiction and activism.
Narratives of climate change generated by litigants, judges, writers of fiction and activists are having, and will have, a profound effect on the way we respond to the climate change crisis. Acknowledging the prevalence of unreliable narrators, this book explores the reliability and significance of different forms of climate narrative. The author analyses overlapping themes and points of intersection, considering the recurrent motif of the trickster, the prominence of the child, the significance and ongoing viability of the rights discourse, and the increasingly prevalent emergency framing with its multiple implications for law\u27s empire. She asks how law, fiction and activism measure up as textual and performative fora for telling the story of climate change and anticipating a climate-changed future. And, in addition, how can they help foster transformative narratives which empower us to confront the climate change crisis?
This highly topical, cross-disciplinary work will be of interest to anyone concerned about the growing climate emergency and makes a valuable contribution to climate law, environmental law, the environmental humanities and ecocriticism
W(h)ither the honours degree in Australian universities?
No full textAustralian universities offer diverse approaches to bachelor’s (honours) degrees as a means of dealing with a range of contemporary demands. These demands include responding to (i) the Bologna Declaration, (ii) tensions between the conventional role for honours as a PhD pathway and an emerging role for honours as professional development, and (iii) the rigid Commonwealth funding model for honours. Benchmarking of honours across the Australian higher education sector remains problematic, much as it did in the 2009 Australian Learning and Teaching Council review of Australian honours programs. Little research into honours degrees has been done since that review. Nevertheless, while honours degrees continue as a pathway to higher degree research, other modes of honours and other programs (e.g. master’s) vie for equivalent status in the Australian higher education sector, each seeking to adapt to professional development and accreditation education demands. These shifts raise questions about the role of honours in Australian higher education, hence our question, ‘W(h)ither the honours degree in Australian universities?
Reconceptualising person-centered service models as social ecology networks in supporting integrated care
No full textEfforts to address problems such as mental health, poverty, social exclusion, and chronic disease have often proven resistant to traditional policies or interventions. In this paper, we take up the challenge and present a pioneering new method of analysis in drawing on theoretical and methodological extensions of two prominent approaches, namely, social network analysis and developmental social ecology. Considered in combination, these two seemingly disparate approaches frame a powerful new way of thinking about person-centred care, as well as offer a methodologically more rigorous set of analytical tools. The conceptual model developed from this combination offers to bridge the apparent disconnect between service integration levels and patient needs in such a way as to direct optimal effort to interventions at the individual level and to provide a new innovative approach to the delivery of integrated care
Religious affiliation and earnings: evidence from Brazil
No full textThis article examines the relationship between wages and religious affiliation for Brazil using conventional human capital earnings functions. Data drawn from the 1991, 2000, and 2010 Brazilian Censuses were analysed for men and women. Our results indicate that Brazilian men (women) who identified as Traditional Protestants received a small wage premium 2.6% (1.4%) compared to those who identified as Catholic—the largest religious denomination in Brazil—even after controlling for a range of demographic and social characteristics. In contrast, Brazilian men (women) who identified as Pentecostal Protestants received a sizeable wage penalty of 4.3% (5.8%). In an effort to explain the wage gap between different religious affiliations in Brazil, we also conducted a conventional Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition