Congratulations to all whose projects have been approved for ARC Discovery 2025.
A special congratulations to the five of 536 teams receiving the award in the Creative Arts field of research.
Associate Professor Xiaohuan Zhao; Professor Dr Duanfang Lu; Professor Dr Wenming Che; Professor Dr Deyin Luo; Professor Dr Luwei Wang (The University of Sydney)
The Transformation of Chinese Temple Theatre Architecture. This project aims to examine the form and transformation of Chinese temple theatre architecture. As the predominant venue for ritual and theatrical performances in premodern and contemporary rural China, the temple theatre provides an insight into the dual function of temples as a sacred space for worship and a secular space for entertainment. The project expects to develop a new model for analysing the evolution of Chinese temple theatre architecture and the complex interaction between the sacred and the secular. The project should provide significant benefits, such as furthering the understanding of the liminal/liminoid link between temple and theatre and adding a new dimension to the spatial turn in theatre and performance studies.
Professor Jill Bennett; Professor Michael Thielscher; Mr Volker Kuchelmeister (The University of New South Wales)
Harnessing Artificial Intelligence to Reduce Loneliness. This project aims to develop Artificially Intelligent [AI] companions that are able to meaningfully engage with experiences of loneliness. Its principal innovation will be the prototyping and evaluation of digitally embodied AI companions that can respond dynamically to changing user-states (eg. emotions or moods) as an attentive human companion might. This step change in the effectiveness of AI companions is the key to addressing the socio-emotional states associated with loneliness. The project will thereby provide both the psychosocial and technical knowledge-base to enable Australia to harness AI to reduce the social and economic burden of loneliness.
Professor Dr Rachel Landers; Mr Matthew Gidney; Dr Amy Bottomley; Mr Matthew Dabner; Ms Deborah Cameron; Dr Pat Grant; Associate Professor Louise Cole; Dr Anya Salih (University of Technology Sydney)
The wonderful, fluorescent, massive world of tiny invisible things.. This project aims to address the lack of representative science content for children by creating animated hybrid documentary science stories for ages 11-12 featuring a diversity of scientists (especially women) as protagonists which can in turn influence STEM career choices. The project expects to generate new knowledge pioneering a new model of science communication translating scientific research visual data into engaging animated narratives, enhancing diversity and scientific visual literacy for children. Outcomes are an education-focused series showcasing diversity for broadcast and the classroom. Benefits include user-tested, science content for students and a lucrative, exportable economic model of practice for Australian filmmakers.
Associate Professor John McCormick; Associate Professor Mats Isaksson; Professor Jonathan Roberts; Associate Professor Petra Gemeinboeck; Dr Stephanie Hutchison (Swinburne University of Technology)
Moving With Robots: Advancing Human-Robot Collaboration and Communication. The use of collaborative robots by people in arts, social and health settings has the potential to improve their economic situation and their quality of life through increasing safe and cost-effective options for engagement, care and support. However, one of the barriers to adoption is how to achieve safe and trusted contact support for robots who are physically interacting with people in collaborative and assistive roles. Through choreographed interactions with movement experts, this project expects to generate machine learning strategies to understand how people and robots can reliably and fluently move together. Expected outcomes of this project include innovative methods for robot learning to improve shared movement quality.
Associate Professor Andrew Milne; Professor Roger Dean; Professor Emery Schubert; Dr Catherine Ingram; Dr Hannah Sarvasy; Professor Tuomas Eerola (Western Sydney University)
Revealing Universal and Cultural Origins of Music-Induced Affect. Across almost all human cultures, music has a remarkable capacity to communicate different affects (emotions and feelings). However it is unknown which, if any, associations between music-acoustical features and affects are universal, and which are cultural. In a music cognition field-research program of unprecedented scope, we aim to estimate how tones in melodic, polyphonic, harmonic, and rhythmic contexts influence affective responses, and the extent to which these effects are mediated by cultural mechanisms (familiarity and association). The findings will have profound implications for the use of sound and music in therapeutic applications and will help identify ways to bridge cultural divides through intercultural musical appreciation.
Statistically speaking this has been a less successful round for the Creative Arts research code than the Early Career Researcher Discovery award 2025.
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