magnifying glass 1607208 192022 Fellows of the Academy of the Social Sciences are among the recipients of the prestigious ARC Discovery grants, announced on 4 December, 2019 by the Minister for Education the Hon Dan Tehan, MP.

The recipients, each leading teams of researchers around the country, are:

  • Professor Heather Anderson FASSA from Monash University for a project on the financial risks of energy transitions
  • Professor Stephen Bell AO FASSA from the University of Queensland for a project looking at involvement of large firms in public policy debates in Australia
  • Professor Denis Burnham FASSA from Western Sydney University for a project on the development of speech and abstract thinking in early childhood
  • Professor Anne Castles FASSA from Macquarie University for a project looking at development of reading abilities in children
  • Professor Deborah Cobb-Clark FASSA from the University of Sydney for a project on the relationship between self-control and economic behaviour
  • Professor Joy Damousi FASSA FAHA from The University of Melbourne and President of the Australian Academy of the Humanities for a project re-evaluating our understanding of the cultural, social and psychological aftermath of war
  • Professor Peter Danaher FASSA from Monash University for a project looking at how companies are using and adapting machine learning and artificial intelligence to understand and predict customers’ motivations and preferences
  • Professor Louise Edwards FASSA from the University of NSW for a project exploring gender stereotypes and social change in China
  • Professor Neil Gunningham FASSA from the ANU for a project looking at incentives for financial regulators to shift to low carbon investments.
  • Professor Andrew Heathcote AO FASSA from the University of Tasmania for a project that will develop processes to improve the accuracy of eyewitness identification in judicial processes
  • Professor Carol Kulik AM FASSA from the University of South Australia for a project to understand why a few exceptional organisations are making substantive progress towards gender equality when so many others fail
  • Professor Pauline McGuirk AO FASSA from the University of Wollongong for a project looking at innovations in urban governance and their implications for our cities
  • Professor Julie McLeod FASSA from the University of Melbourne for a project on the history of progressive education in Australia and its effect on Indigenous education and colonial governance
  • Professor Renée Fry-McKibbin FASSA from the Australian National University for a project aiming to understand why Australia has managed to avoid the worst impacts of global economic downturns over the past 27 years
  • Professor Gavan McNally FASSA from the University of NSW for a project aiming to understand how the brain resolves conflicting motivations
  • Professor David Pannell FASSA from the University of Western Australia for a project that will determine the most effective approaches to estimating non-market values of environmental policies
  • Professor Jason Potts FASSA from RMIT University for a project analysing the impact of cryptocurrency on taxation and public services in Australia
  • Professor David Schlosberg FASSA from the University of Sydney for a project on the meaning and implementation of environmental justice
  • Professor David Throsby AO FASSA from Macquarie University for a project on the economic and cultural value of live theatre
  • Professor Jacqui True AM FASSA from Monash University for a project on the impact of sexual and gender-based violence on the dynamics of recent global conflicts
  • Professor Bryan Turner FASSA from the Australian Catholic University for a project investigating the underpinnings of male-dominated far right groups in Australia
  • Professor Simon Ville AO FASSA from the University of Wollongong for a project understanding the history of foreign multinational firms in twentieth-Century Australia

660 projects received almost $285 million funding in total in the 2020 Discovery Project round. The projects led by Academy Fellows were among 118 projects funded in the social, behavioural and economic disciplines, at a success rate of 23.3% (equal to the average success rate across all disciplines; more information available on the ARC website)

The Academy congratulates these Fellows and all of the researchers who were successful in this funding round.