Second Milestone Review, School of Global, Urban and Social Studies, Social Change
This study explores the collaborative creation of La Colcha Educativa, a decolonial space for learning and unlearning co-constructed by EFL teachers in Medellín, Colombia.
Interest in the role of foreign language teachers in Colombian society has grown, and numerous pedagogical initiatives have emerged from critical and decolonial perspectives aimed at social transformation. However, most professional development opportunities continue to follow a colonial structure, in which “experts” design, plan, and implement strategies, often overlooking teachers’ needs and situated knowledges. Drawing decolonial perspectives, this study investigates the experiences and knowledges that emerge when a group of English teachers in Medellín weave their own learning and unlearning space. Data collection draws on multiple sources, including audio recordings of face-to-face and online conversations; audios, videos, materials, and conversations shared in the La Colcha WhatsApp chat; the researcher-teacher-partner's journal; a digital visual representation of La Colcha; and audio recordings of one-to-one charlas. Analysis combines narratives and charlas --inspired by the Chicana/Latina feminist methodology pláticas (Fierros & Delgado-Bernal)-- to collaboratively explore and theorize the dynamics of La Colcha, the elements that emerge within this space, and the meaning of transformation in this context.
The study aims to contribute to ways otherwise of imagining learning and unlearning spaces where teachers actively collaborate, share their situated knowledge, and challenge hegemonic views of foreign language education.
Second Milestone Review, School of Global, Urban and Social Studies, Social Change
My research critically examined how madrassa education in Pakistan has been represented as a policy problem between 2014 and 2023. Madrassas have historically provided religious education, social welfare, and sheltered millions of students, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds. However, since the post 9/11., madrassas have increasingly been linked with policy and security discourse to extremism, militancy, and national security concerns. This study investigates how successive Pakistani governments constructed and framed the problem of madrassa education through official policies parliamentary debates, and public statements.
The research employs a qualitative methodology based on Carol Bacchi’s “What’s the Problem represented to be” “WPR) approach and critical discourse analysis. Drawing on post-structuralist theories of power, discourse, and knowledge, the study analyzes how policy narratives, assumptions, and language shaped madrasah reform initiatives. The research also incorporates George Lakoff’s concept of framing to examine how political language influences public understanding and policy responses regarding madrassas. The study focuses on key policy developments from 2014 to 2023. It explores how these policies framed madrassas with encounter extremism and state regulation agendas while identifying prospective and stakeholders marginalized within the policy making process, including madrassa scholars, students and local communities.
By moving beyond dominant securitization narratives, this research contributes to a more nuanced understanding of madrassas' problems in Pakistan. The findings aim to support more inclusive and effective educational policy-making and contribute to broader debates in political science, sociology, policy studies, and discourse analysis.
Confirmation of Candidature, School of Property, Construction and Project Management, Urban Futures
This study investigates the alignment between engineering-based deterioration, financial practices, and asset lifecycle management approaches in local government road asset management, with particular consideration of the impacts of climate change. Infrastructure asset management has traditionally been approached from both engineering and financial perspectives; however, these perspectives are often developed in isolation, leading to inconsistencies in how asset condition, value, and renewal needs are assessed.
The research adopts a pragmatic paradigm and mixed-methods research, supported by a synthesis of the infrastructure asset management and accounting literature, semi-structured interviews, utilising real-world asset condition data, lifecycle characteristics, and depreciation parameters to assess the degree of alignment between engineering and financial representations of asset consumption. In addition, the study considers how climate-related stressors influence deterioration patterns and asset lifecycle behaviour, and whether these effects are adequately reflected in current depreciation practices.
Third Milestone Review, School of Property, Construction and Project Management, Urban Futures
Management of construction and demolition (C&D) waste has become a challenging task due to its huge size and increasing quantity in recent decades globally. Australia is facing challenges with the management of the C&D waste stream due to the increasing construction activities, leading to the generation of a noticeable quantity of C&D waste. In particular, Victoria State has been confronted with growing and high levels of construction activities. Also, the growing quantity of C&D waste generation, as well as the limited capacity of the waste recovery industry, may increase the C&D waste stream to landfills. Accordingly, Victoria State needs to develop the capacity to meet the demands for C&D waste recycling. However, it seems that public opposition against developing recycling facilities hinders the efforts to achieve sustainable C&D management in this state.
This study aims to delve into the nature of potential public opposition, seeking to develop a comprehensive understanding of how to effectively manage it. The research applied a mixed-method approach to provide insight into reasons for public opposition. The results showed that there are 5 major factors impacting public opposition, including environmental, awareness and perception, economic, health, wellbeing and safety, and project management factors. Also, this study created a suitability map showing the best and worst zones for locating C&D waste recycling facilities, considering public opinions.
Third Milestone Review, School of Education, Urban Futures
This creative practice-led research stories the entwined relationship between the body and thought surfaced by the touch of ecosomatic techniques. As an artist, I engage ecosomatic techniques to practice opening my awareness to the ongoing dynamic movement of the world – to feel my embeddedness with place, an ecological sensibility of subjectivity, interdependent with my habitat. The nascent field of Ecosomatics is engaged with embodied sensing-moving awareness practices together with critical reflection upon ongoing legacies of colonialism, the extractive regime of capitalism, and the subsequent social-environmental-justice consequences. In these times of environmental collapse, the habits of perception of modernity are predicated upon Cartesian separatisms – including the body and mind, nature and culture – and have led to an anthropocentric lack of care for the planet. This micropolitical research project responds to the need for new kinds of thinking imbued with a relational ontological sensibility. Through stories from practice and thinking with concepts from process philosophy, mediated by Grosz in her articulation of the incorporeal, I present how the act of noticing touch within ecosomatic techniques stimulated an ecological constellation of thought. I engaged a mixed methodology consisting of embodied practice immersions: ecosomatic walking, drawing, yielding and sounding. Each immersion was underpinned by the pedagogy of Body-Mind Centering®. Multimodal storying practices of video, poetry, drawing and ceramics were employed to create aesthetic artefacts curated in the immersive installation Cellular Intimacies, which performs the overall story of the research.
Second Milestone Review, School of Global, Urban and Social Studies, Social Change
This thesis examines how criminology and criminal justice (CCJ) students develop work readiness, professional identity and career aspirations across the course of their degree, with a particular focus on the role of a capstone criminal justice internship. Addressing a significant gap in existing scholarship, the study foregrounds the “missing student voice” by analysing how students themselves reflect on their learning and transition into professional practice.
Adopting a longitudinal qualitative design grounded in a pragmatist paradigm, the research follows a single cohort (n=55) of CCJ students at RMIT University from 2024 to 2026. Data is drawn from three reflective assessment tasks completed at key stages of the degree: entry into the program, pre-internship preparation and post-internship reflection. These data are analysed using Braun and Clarke’s six-phase thematic analysis to identify initial motivations and expectations, how they perceive the development of work-related skills and attributes, and how internship experiences shape their self-efficacy, professional identity and career trajectories. It also identifies enabling and constraining factors influencing student development, including placement quality and institutional support.
Findings contribute to a limited evidence base on CCJ work readiness by offering a nuanced, process-oriented account of student development over time. The thesis provides practical insights for curriculum design, internship programs and student support, while advancing theoretical understandings of experiential learning and vocational identity formation within higher education.
Second Milestone Review, School of Property, Construction and Project Management, Urban Futures
This research aims to develop a framework for integrating CE principles into the design phase of housing projects in KSA. By adopting CE principles in the early design process, the construction sector can improve resource efficiency, minimise waste, and align with broader sustainability goals, such as Vision 2030 and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals SDGs. The study will employ a mixed-methods approach, including document analysis, semi-structured interviews, surveys, and focus group to identify key barriers and opportunities for CE adoption. Findings will offer insights into regulatory frameworks, and stakeholder engagement that support the integration of CE principles. By addressing these critical issues, the study will propose practical recommendations for architects, designers, policymakers, and developers, contributing to a more sustainable housing and built environment in KSA.
Confirmation of Candidature, School of Property, Construction and Project Management, Urban Futures
Modular Residential Buildings (MRBs) are gaining attention in Australia as a potential solution to the housing shortfall crisis. At the same time, new housing must meet multiple performance outcomes across environmental performance, occupant comfort, climate resilience, and affordability. However, research examining the extent to which MRBs can simultaneously achieve these objectives remains limited. Existing literature largely focuses on their emission-reduction, despite the opportunities offered by factory-based, quality-controlled construction to deliver high-performance housing. Furthermore, the literature highlights conflicting stakeholder priorities and trade-offs among performance outcomes, which complicate the achievement of these objectives. This study addresses these gaps by assessing and comparing the integrated performance of MRBs at both the individual and housing-stock levels, in relation to conventional alternatives and various archetypes. This study employs a case study approach to gather and analyse data on IEQ and energy efficiency in residential buildings: detached houses, apartments, modular, and conventional types in Australia, to understand building performance during the in-use phase. These data will be used to further calibrate building performance simulation models and evaluate performance under various what-if scenarios, considering different archetypes and climate conditions at both the building and housing-stock levels. The results will be analysed in an integrated manner to identify causes and effects of different housing scenarios on performance outcomes at both the housing stock and individual building levels. Additionally, the output will provide practical insights into the conditions when MRBs are favoured as a housing solution. The findings are expected to support evidence-based decision-making for policymakers, industry stakeholders, and households in the Australian housing sector.
Third Milestone Review, School of Media and Communication, Social Change
Food waste is a significant global environmental and economic issue. In Australia, approximately one-third of edible food is wasted annually, with households responsible for 40%. A key driver is consumer confusion caused by unclear and inconsistent date labels and storage advice on food packaging. This research challenges the dominant “consumer myopia” narrative, which places primary responsibility on households, and instead examines the shared role of stakeholders across the food packaging system. It explores how packaging, as a visual communication tool, can better support informed decisions. Using a systems-thinking, multi-method approach, the study investigates how confusion arises in packaging communication. A multi-level framework combines visual grammar, symbolic interactionism, and activity theory to analyse semiotic, behavioural, and systemic factors. Methods include literature reviews, consumer interviews, micro-level label prototyping, meso-level stakeholder workshops using a modified Delphi and collective intelligence-participatory design approach, and macro-level scenario planning through morphological analysis. Six stakeholder workshops and a final future-scenarios session examined implementation barriers and three pathways for change: consumer-centric, policy-led, and stakeholder-driven. Findings reveal misaligned priorities between consumers, industry, and policymakers, particularly around usability, communication, and regulation. While all support clearer labelling, tensions remain. Key considerations include aligning stakeholder objectives, recognising diverse contexts, and using packaging as a mediating tool. The study highlights the need for system-wide, collaborative design beyond policy alone and offers a replicable framework for improving consumer understanding through clearer packaging communication.
Third Milestone Review, School of Global, Urban and Social Studies, Urban Futures
Rwanda implemented an innovative cadastral system in 2013 to address complex land ownership issues arising from historical land conflicts and rapid urbanisation. Developed through a large-scale land tenure regularisation program, this system plays a key role in urban land development. It is widely used in Rwanda’s urban development policies, which focus on city renewal and structured urban growth through practices such as expropriation, settlement upgrading, resettlement, and land readjustment.
Trust is crucial for public governance, as it strengthens stakeholder cooperation and enhances policy implementation effectiveness. However, trust is a multifaceted and context-dependent concept shaped by factors like ability, benevolence, and integrity. This research primarily focuses on the ability of Rwanda’s cadastral system—both in terms of system reliability and the competency of those involved in the land administration chain to support urban land development.
Given concerns about public confidence in the system despite its widespread use in urban planning, this study explores whether it effectively supports urban land development and whether local authorities and the public trust it to ensure fair urban land management. The findings highlight the strengths and limitations of Rwanda’s cadastral system, contributing to the broader discussion on adapting cadastral frameworks to the African urban context.
Second Milestone Review, School of Education, Social Change
This study investigates how early childhood teachers in Australia conceptualise, enact, and are supported in teaching STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) within play-based learning environments. While play-based learning is recognised as a crucial approach in early childhood education, how STEM teaching can be effectively integrated within play remains an ongoing challenge. This study seeks to address this gap by investigating early childhood teachers’ play-based STEM teaching strategies and examining how their professional knowledge, pedagogies, affective attitudes contribute to their teaching capacity at the intersection between early childhood and formal education. Situated within an interpretivist paradigm and grounded in sociocultural theory, this study employs qualitative case study methods, including interviews with four teachers and observations in their kindergarten rooms, to explore teachers’ knowledge, beliefs, and teaching strategies in STEM. To further interpret these interactions, this research adopts the Refined Consensus Model of Pedagogical Content Knowledge (RCM-PCK) (Carlson et al., 2019) as the theoretical framework to guide data analysis and to interpret how teachers’ personal and enacted PCK interact with contextual factors that shape their play-based STEM teaching practices. This study contributes to understanding how the interactions between teachers and children collaboratively construct the environment where children play, learn, and thrive, and thus, help teachers strengthen their capacity to implement meaningful STEM activities within play-based learning contexts. In the longer term, the study also aspires to contribute to the development of coherent policies and effective professional development programs that provide better guidance for teachers in implementing play-based STEM teaching.
Third Milestone Review, School of Property, Construction and Project Management, Urban Futures
This research examines the integration of circular economy (CE) principles into residential buildings in Australia, aiming to reduce overall life-cycle carbon impacts and improve resource efficiency. The study addresses a significant gap in the built environment by linking circular strategies to life cycle assessment (LCA) to support evidence-based decision-making. Employing the ReSOLVE framework as an analytical lens, the research identifies and assesses various CE interventions suitable for standard and high-performance (Passive House) Australian housing designs.
A mixed-methods approach is employed. Initially, a systematic literature review and stakeholder interviews are conducted to identify feasible and context-relevant circular strategies. These strategies are subsequently modelled utilising LCA to quantify environmental impacts across the building life cycle. Scenario-based analysis is employed to evaluate interventions such as low-carbon materials, operational energy optimisation, design for adaptability, end-of-life recovery, and space utilisation. The findings are further synthesised through a multi-criteria decision-making method (TOPSIS), incorporating environmental performance, feasibility, and circularity contribution.
The findings demonstrate that integrating circular design strategies with energy-efficient building practices can substantially reduce environmental impacts, especially when interventions are synchronised with critical life-cycle hotspots. Importantly, the research underscores the influence of governance, market conditions, and stakeholder preparedness in determining the feasibility of implementation.
The study concludes by formulating a practical guideline and validating by focus group discussion to assist policymakers, designers, and industry practitioners in incorporating circular economy principles into residential construction. This initiative aims to support Australia’s transition towards a low-carbon and resource-efficient built environment.
Second Milestone Review, School of Global, Urban and Social Studies, Urban Futures
Numerous disciplines have recently begun using the concept ‘eco-emotion’ to categorise emotions related to negative environmental events and declining environmental trends. Environmental professionals are involved in deploying ecological expertise to progress sea/landscape modification, regulated by processes such as Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). Whilst environmental professions are known to be roles with heightened ecological understanding, and experiencing increased exposure to and involvement in environmental change, the emotion of this exposure is under-explored.
This research sheds light on eco-emotions experienced in EIA that speak to the emotional risk in roles and the responsibility of employers. Raising eco-grief literacy may contribute to improvements in staff attenuation and job satisfaction, whilst cleaving away non-appropriate responses. Theoretically, the project will contribute to an advancement of the sociology of eco-emotions, particularly concerning eco-emotion presence and emergence in environmental work, as well as the emotional orientations of the profession at large.
Confirmation of Candidature, School of Global, Urban and Social Studies, Social Change
Black women’s histories are often framed through violence, dispossession, and marginalization, leaving less attention to the everyday practices through which they sustain communities, create collective strategies, and resist economic oppression. This research examines how Black women in Cali, Colombia, collectively respond to economic inequalities in their everyday lives. It asks how women organize practices of care, cooperation, mutual support, informal economic activity, and community organizing as forms of resistance and pathways for sustaining life.
Grounded in Social Reproduction Theory and Afrodiasporic feminist thought, the study conceptualizes economic life beyond formal labour markets, attending to the broader social practices that reproduce households, communities, and future possibilities. Cali is approached not only as the empirical site of the research, but as an analytically significant urban context shaped by racialized spatial inequality, migration from the Colombian Pacific, labor informalization, and Black collective life.
Methodologically, the study adopts a critical ethnographic approach informed by historical-dialectical materialism. It uses participant observation, semi-structured interviews, focus groups, and reflexive fieldwork to engage with participants’ lived experiences and interpretations of their own practices. By centring Black women’s knowledge, leadership, and praxis, the research contributes to debates in Social Reproduction Theory, Afrodiasporic feminism, critical social work, and feminist political economy. It also seeks to generate community-centred knowledge relevant to discussions on gender equity, care, racial justice, and Afrodescendant rights in Colombia.
Third Milestone Review, School of Property, Construction and Project Management, Urban Futures
The Sri Lankan construction industry has experienced notable growth, particularly in the post-conflict era marked by economic revitalization and increased infrastructure development. However, this expansion has been accompanied by persistent challenges, including cost overruns, project delays, and compromised quality. A significant contributing factor to these issues is the inadequate implementation of systematic management techniques such as Value Management (VM) and Risk Management (RM) practices, approaches that have demonstrated substantial success in more advanced economies. This research aims to address these gaps by developing an integrated VM and RM framework enhanced through Machine Learning (ML) techniques, with the goal of optimizing project performance in the Sri Lankan context. Adopting a mixed-methods research design, the study will commence with a comprehensive literature review and exploratory investigations to assess current VM and RM practices, identify barriers to implementation, and explore the potential of ML in this domain. The findings will inform the development of a theoretical framework, which will be operationalized into a practical ML-based model. This model will be validated through expert interviews and real-world case studies within the Sri Lankan construction sector. The research is expected to offer a novel, context-sensitive framework for VM and RM integration, advance scholarly understanding of their synergies, and provide practical guidance on the application of ML in construction project management to enhance efficiency, reduce costs, and improve overall quality.
Third Milestone Review, School of Global, Urban and Social Studies, Social Change
Legal interpreter assistance directly impacts the outcomes of legal cases and it places legal interpreting services in a pivotal role in the Indonesian judicial system as it manages numerous cases involving non-Indonesian speakers on a regular basis.
This research aims to map out the state of legal interpreting in Indonesia and how legal interpreting services are perceived by three groups of major stakeholders. It aims to establish recommendations based on the gaps identified, in order to increase quality standards and user experience. It will do so by providing an overview of the current status of the profession and industrial insights to benefit the profession in general as well as policymakers for necessary improvements.
Data collection involves a survey of interpreters, interviews with language service providers, legal professionals (judges, prosecutors, police officers and lawyers), and interpreters, as well as court observation and a focus group discussion.
Findings reveal the failure of Indonesian legal system in facilitating legal interpreting. Findings also reveal a conflation of sworn translators and legal interpreters rooted in the Indonesian legal system deep trust and dependence on credential and certification systems, both real and perceived, which reflects a persistent lack of communication between the legal system and the interpreting profession. Key stakeholders continue to rely on their constructions of the interpreter’s role, resulting in inconsistent practices in service delivery, varying standards of accepted competency, and, at times, conflict between stakeholders.
Third Milestone Review, School of Property, Construction and Project Management, Urban Futures
Exposure to air pollution is the leading environmental cause of preventable disease and premature death globally, with particulate matter (PM) a key contributor. In Australia, it significantly contributes to coronary heart disease, while PM2.5 and ozone levels are rising in major cities. As people spend about 90% of their time indoors, infiltration of outdoor pollutants alongside indoor emissions, occupant behaviours, and climate change makes Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) a critical concern, particularly for vulnerable groups and those working from home.
This study addresses gaps in understanding how outdoor air quality, dwelling characteristics, occupant behaviour, future climate scenarios, and energy efficiency interventions affect IAQ in Australian homes. Using a Socio-Ecological Systems framework, a mixed-methods case study was conducted across four detached households in Melbourne’s Inner West, a highly polluted area. Data from interviews, walkthroughs, and seasonal measurements were analysed using machine learning and multivariate linear regression.
Results show that indoor pollutant levels are shaped by complex, non-linear interactions. While outdoor pollution provides a baseline, its indoor impact depends on airtightness, temperature gradients, and ventilation. Combustion-based appliances (e.g., gas cooking and heating) were major pollution sources, whereas non-combustion systems and filtration reduced pollutant levels. Occupant behaviours, especially ventilation practices, also played a key role. Simulations indicate future climate conditions may worsen IAQ, particularly in winter. Replacing gas appliances reduced NO2, while increasing airtightness raised pollutant levels, especially PM2.5 in current and future climate scenarios. These findings highlight the need for balanced housing design strategies to improve IAQ under current and future climates.
Third Milestone Review, School of Global, Urban and Social Studies, Urban Futures
The United Nations acknowledges that climate change is a serious environmental challenge for humanity. With over 3.3 billion people living in highly climate-vulnerable regions1 and by 2050, approximately 1.6 billion people will be exposed to extreme temperatures of 35 degrees Celsius2, this raises serious concerns for human wellbeing and socio-economic progresses toward the 2030 targets for Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)3. Since 2015, climate-related pollution has killed approximately 9 million people annually, with more than 90% occurring in low-income and lower-middle-income countries4. These affected people include disadvantaged populations living in informal urban contexts5, referring to residential areas that exist outside the formal planning and regulations in towns or cities6. This study explores their climate vulnerabilities and assess whether access to social protection-based cash transfers contributes to enhancing climate resilience in informal urban contexts. Based on a case study research design, employing in-depth semi-structured interviews and participant observations, analysed through the lens of intersectionality, climate precarity, and transformative social protection, the findings are complex. Their climate vulnerabilities deeply connect to their pre-existing contexts that are personalised and structural. While cash transfers were able to provide immediate emergency reliefs, its transformative effects remain limited.
Third Milestone Review, School of Media and Communication, Social Change
This research explores how people connect to coastlines and ocean environments in Melbourne (Naarm) and Port Phillip Bay in an era of accelerating climate crisis. Drawing on process philosophy, specifically Whitehead and Deleuze, within environmental and blue humanities and in particular the concepts of actual occasions, extension, and assemblage, it proposes the idea of the oceanic event as the ontological basis for techniques that engage the spatial and temporal dimensions of oceanic space in shaping more-than-human experiences, affects, and actions.
The research employs research-creation techniques through the Saltwater Studio, a series of workshop interventions in which participants engaged in creative experimentation with oceanic materials (saltwater, seaweed, shells, ink) to explore sensorial and affective attachments to the ocean. Working across diverse community groups and public exhibition contexts, the research experiments with multispecies storytelling, visual and written expressions, and embodied practice as methods of inquiry. Participants were invited to explore the idea of being bodies of water, opening space for incorporeal and relational forms of knowing.
The research contributes an original framework of fluid assemblages as a methodology for more-than-human, place-based creative inquiry, demonstrating how affective encounters with ocean environments (memories, intimacies, fears, and sensory ruptures) can generate new modes of meaning-making around climate imaginaries and regenerative futures. It argues that sensorial and affective ways of knowing are critical to rethinking human–ocean relations and to developing more responsive engagements with environmental changes.
Third Milestone Review, School of Media and Communication, Social Change
A co-venture between Australia’s leading commercial broadcaster, Nine Network, and the country’s oldest newspaper company, Fairfax Media, saw the release of a regionally bound, single-territory subscription video on-demand service (SVOD) ‘Stan’ on the 26th of January 2015, Australia Day. Stan’s rhetorical construction as the ‘truly Australian’ supplement (Sneesby qtd. in 2UE954am 2014) in the emerging global SVOD landscape was crucial to its cultural signification and market distinction. At the same time, Stan’s national branding was a form of ‘commercial nationalism’ (Turner 2015) blurring the distinction between commercial objectives and the national interest, evident in their local-for-global original production strategies as defined and theorised in this thesis. As this project posits, the representational strategy of Stan’s original productions was largely that of industrial rather than cultural character, marketing Stan as a distributive collaborator, and Australian film/TV resources, crews, and infrastructure the make-up of a viable industry capable of globally-resonant ‘local’ productions
This project argues three key Stan ‘original’ films toward the end of what I define throughout as the ‘fertile’ era (2015-2021)—True History of the Kelly Gang (Kurzel 2020), Relic (James 2020), and Nitram (Kurzel 2021)— were used to strategically harness the marketability of Australian cinema as a tradition, and to brand Stan’s alignment with local-for-global ‘quality’ cinema, in pursuit of market distinction and cultural capital. However, the cultural specificities of these films interrogate divisive national pasts in ways that internalise a wider emerging global media-based politics of history and memory (Huyssen 2000), continuing longstanding traditions in Australian cinema to project a feeling of “the past pressing in on the present” (Collins and Davis 2004: 52). The films’ outward-facing capacities (genre, actors, themes) are core elements in their anxious discussions about cultural identity, history, and globalisation, a contemporary thematic mode of national cinema which I term and theorise: ‘The Australian Ouroboros’.
In exploring this significant moment, this project seeks to bridge pronounced gaps between national cinema studies and SVOD/digital communications research, as well as revitalise traditions in national cinema analyses, and offer new ways of articulating how cultural specificity and representations/constructions of nationhood operate through cinema in the era of highly globalised, transnational streaming culture.
Third Milestone Review, School of Media and Communication, Social Change
There is growing evidence that the Internet has afforded queer lifeworlds in post-socialist China (1978-present) unprecedented access to a constellation of communicative practices that are innovative, dissentive, and at times affect-laden. Yet in the wake of the post-2010 conservative turn, anti-queer sentiments in relation to global anti-gender campaigns that cut across ideo-political divisions across different regions have gained renewed momentum, adding another layer to the already-existing power struggles in the Sino-mediasphere. Grounded in poststructuralist lines of critique and mixed methods, this thesis seeks to interrogate the entangled digital interactivities between queer subjects, affects and post-socialist governmentality that give rise to emergent modalities of digital subalternity. In so doing, this thesis contributes to the field by, first, offering a timely, culturally attuned account of queer politics in China and, second, advancing a conceptual framework through which to comprehend how everyday resistance, compliance, and ambiguity coalesce in ways that enable the subaltern to speak in platformed authoritarian contexts.
Third Milestone Review, School of Property, Construction and Project Management, Urban Futures
Australia is currently experiencing a housing crisis due to inflationary pressures on retail housing prices, high immigration patterns, land and labour scarcity, and continually increasing costs for materials and labour. At the same time, the construction sector requires innovative solutions to meet emissions reduction targets. The culmination of all these factors has resulted in the end of ‘the great Australian dream’, which was to own a big block of land and build a house on it. The situation compels us to find new ways to imagine residential housing to build better for the future. In response to the crisis, there has been a shift towards mid-rise housing development. Development models currently prioritise short-term build-to-sell business models, where capital/investment supports the completion of a project, maximising the sale of homes/units with clear and short exit pathways, without asset longevity. Arguably, there needs to be a shift in the market where the long-term retained ownership of building assets ensures benefits throughout the building's lifecycle for stakeholders. The present study explores how we can design and deliver buildings better ensuring the occupant/resident and sustainability benefits are realised over the long term. The Open Circular Adaptable Building (OCAB) framework combines design and circularity principles, system separability, lifecycle planning, and long-term (retained) asset stewardship for mid-rise residential buildings. The framework integrates several existing technologies in alignment with the long-term asset lifecycle. OCAB has the potential to reduce lifecycle carbon emissions, increase material circularity, improve spatial adaptability, reduce long-term maintenance costs and preserve the ‘building’s value’ beyond current predicted lifespans.
Confirmation of Candidature, School of Media and Communication, Social Change
This practice-based research project investigates the design and implementation of a scalable model for professional knowledge production on YouTube, with a focus on Spanish-speaking audiences.
The poject adopts a practice-based methodology in which the researcher actively develops and manages a YouTube channel dedicated to producing a large-scale body of content focused on personal and professional growth. This creative practice serves as a live laboratory to test, refine, and evaluate strategies related to audience engagement, content structure, authenticity, and long-term scalability.
Rather than approaching YouTube as a site of entertainment, this research positions it as a dynamic ecosystem for professional communication and knowledge exchange. It aims to identify and systematise the key components required to build a sustainable and replicable framework that can be adopted by other professionals, educators, and researchers seeking to expand their impact through digital platforms.
By focusing on Spanish-speaking audiences an underrepresented group in structured digital knowledge production the project also addresses issues of accessibility, cultural relevance, and global knowledge equity. Ultimately, the study contributes both a theoretical and practical model for scalable knowledge production in contemporary digital environments.
Third Milestone Review, School of Property, Construction and Project Management, Urban Futures
The construction industry in Saudi Arabia faces various challenges due to factors such as extreme climate conditions, stringent regulations, cultural influences, and economic fluctuations. These challenges introduce significant risks to housing construction projects, requiring effective risk management strategies. Traditional risk management frameworks in the construction industry have limitations in addressing the complex and dynamic nature of these risks. However, recent advancements in blockchain technology offer promising opportunities to enhance risk management practices in the sector.
This research aims to develop a blockchain based risk management framework and evaluate it for housing construction projects in Saudi Arabia. The framework will provide a systematic approach to identifying, assessing, and mitigating risks throughout the project lifecycle. By leveraging blockchain features such as immutability, decentralisation, and transparency, the proposed framework intends to enhance risk identification, communication, and collaboration among stakeholders.
The study will focus on identifying the specific risk factors associated with housing construction projects in Saudi Arabia, considering factors like rapidly changing market conditions, housing affordability, extreme weather conditions, regulatory complexities, labour constraints, and cultural considerations.
A primary data collection approach consisting of two literature reviews, semi structured interviews with experts and a Delphi survey of stakeholders to answer the questions on the nature and types of risks, risk management methods and use of blockchain technology integrated framework developed from LR and interviews
The findings of this study will contribute to the existing body of knowledge by exploring the potential of blockchain technology as a game changer in the construction risk management framework. The research outcomes will provide valuable insights into the benefits and challenges of adopting blockchain in risk management, particularly in the unique context of the Saudi Arabian housing construction sector. Practical recommendations for implementing the blockchain based risk management framework will be provided to industry stakeholders based on a pilot study of the developed framework after its assessment by experts and usefulness by stakeholders, paving the way for improved risk mitigation practices and enhanced project outcomes.
RMIT University acknowledges the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nation on whose unceded lands we conduct the business of the University. RMIT University respectfully acknowledges their Ancestors and Elders, past and present. RMIT also acknowledges the Traditional Custodians and their Ancestors of the lands and waters across Australia where we conduct our business - Artwork 'Sentient' by Hollie Johnson, Gunaikurnai and Monero Ngarigo.
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