Higher Degree Research

Nudging Towards Sustainability: The Role of Packaging in Food Waste Awareness

The study addresses the pressing issue of food waste, emphasising the crucial role of packaging in consumer behaviour and sustainability. It highlights the lack of awareness among consumers and proposes solutions to reduce waste, focusing on regenerative packaging. Through methodologies like Choice-Based Conjoint Design and Structural Equation Modelling, the research aims to understand consumer behaviour, develop sustainable packaging mechanisms, and reshape consumer mindsets towards responsible consumption. Research questions explore the effectiveness of environmental nudges, packaging solutions in waste reduction, and aligning consumer and sustainability goals.

The role of circular practices influencing consumers' attitudes, perceptions, and behaviours regarding food waste.

This project aims to analyse how circular practices can influence consumers' attitudes, perceptions, and behaviours regarding food waste in the hospitality sector. The PhD explores the current circular practices around consumers and studies their influence on consumers' food waste, which could result in promoting sustainable consumption behaviours. Online surveys will employed to retrieve quantitative data from a large population to conduct statistical analysis. Future findings aim to better understand consumer food waste in hospitality contexts and determine the effectiveness of circular practices.

Towards Cultural Competence: News Reporting of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Multicultural Australia

Australia is the leading Western country to embrace Traditional Chinese Medicine as its popular complementary healthcare. Traditional Chinese Medicine, as an Indigenous knowledge system and cultural context, allows researchers across disciplines to move towards greater inclusivity of Indigenous knowledge in cultural competence evaluation. The project aims to develop a culture-centred approach to examine how Australian health journalists encounter Traditional Chinese Medicine and how they perceive their cultural competence in their news coverage.

Nation branding: Image of China in cyberspace from the lens of sports diplomacy

Lilan’s study explores the role of sports diplomacy in China’s nation branding and national image on social media, and how those messages are received by target audiences in Australia. Her research employs a content analysis framing approach, combined with social network analysis, to analyse data originating from China’s state-owned international broadcasters’ official social media accounts. She will also use in-depth interviews with target audiences in Australia about their responses to the messages generated by the Chinese international broadcasters. This project will offer a better understanding of (1) the Chinese government’s use of sports-themed content to boost its national branding; (2) how sports diplomacy connects publics to China’s image in cyberspace; (3) how sports influence perception of China’s national image in the cyberspace in Australia.

Navigating the social and the commercial: Marketing fashion-based Social Enterprise

Jon’s project sits at the intersection of three distinct areas of study: Social Enterprise, fashion and marketing. Since the emergence of the business model, social enterprises have found their way into many diverse sectors, including fashion. Fashion presents unique challenges to the social enterprise model because of the historically inherent power relation imbalance in how fashion goods are produced and consumed. These pose a challenge for these enterprises in communicating their social mission and how they incorporate beneficiaries’ stories into brand storytelling. Through a series of semi-structured interviews with managers of fashion-based social enterprises, this project explores how they navigate the challenges of communicating the stories of beneficiaries alongside the marketing of fashion products and how a social mission may be leveraged as a unique selling point.

How do visual semiotics in packaging influence consumers?

Brian’s research investigates the cause of consumer confusion with date labels and storage advice and how they influence household food waste. By understanding what causes consumer confusion, existing date labels and storage advice systems can be improved to make it easier for consumers to make informed decisions about food waste. His research will look at: 1) consumer consumption and food discard decisions, 2) how consumers read the visual presentation of packaging design, 3) how packaging visual codes influence consumer perception and purchase intentions, and 4) how to help consumers read packaging designs better. Creating an ecosystem where design, communication, and policy work together to create better-designed date labels and storage advice systems can help reduce consumer confusion and influence behavioural changes that may lead to reducing household food waste.

Decoding Engagement: Investigating Effective Instagram Communication Tactics Among Food and Nutrition Social Media Influencers 

Katia’s research delves into the communication tactics employed by social media influencers on Instagram, focusing on how they engage with followers regarding food and nutrition. This is crucial as misinformation from unqualified influencers is eroding public trust in nutritional science. Through examining successful influencers, she will identify their tactics and assess their impact on follower engagement. Understanding these dynamics will aid health communicators in disseminating evidence-based nutritional information more effectively on social media platforms. By bridging the gap between research and practice, her study seeks to promote informed dietary choices among Australians.