Faculty of Arts academics have recently been awarded and recognised through several grants, successful funding and fellowships.
GRANTS
Associate Professor Rita Matulionyte, from the Macquarie Law School, has been selected as a 2024 Microsoft Research Global AI & Society Fellow under the research challenge ‘Copyright Protection for User Data in the Era of LLMs’. The Microsoft Research AI & Society Fellows program supports interdisciplinary AI research in the context of societal impact, offering opportunities for fellows to join and support interdisciplinary research conversations with Microsoft’s own researchers. By facilitating these new collaborations, Microsoft aims to scale the impact of collective research efforts at the intersection of AI and society.
Associate Professor Emily O’Gorman, Professor Kate Lloyd and Professor Sandie Suchet-Pearson, from the Macquarie School of Social Sciences, along with a team of researchers, have been awarded funding for the project ‘Winanga-li Gunimaa Gali: Incorporating Cultural Values into Environmental Flows’. This project is Gomeroi/Kamilaroi-led, and is a collaboration between the University of Canberra and Macquarie University. It examines the role of environmental flows in enabling healthier Gomeroi/Kamilaroi Country. The methodology is interdisciplinary and follows an environmental flow through the Gwydir catchment - before, during and after release - engaging with communities about foreseen and experienced changes in Country and community outcomes. It aims to improve Aboriginal engagement and knowledge sharing, as well as knowledge of hydrological, cultural, and biotic outcomes and will support opportunities for Indigenous self-determination in water management.
Dr Dalbir Ahlawat, from the Department of Security Studies and Criminology, has been awarded a Japan Foundation Grant of $30,000 for the project ‘Harmonising Australia, India and Japan's Strategies Towards the Small Island States in the Indo-Pacific Region’. This project emphasises that Australia, India and Japan consider the Indo-Pacific region vital to safeguard their respective interests and also have common goals of protecting the sovereignty of island states, maintaining a rules-based order, and supporting the freedom of navigation for a free and open Indo-Pacific. However, notwithstanding having similar goals, they pursue different strategies. The project aims to delineate the policy postures that these countries pursue an integrated approach for stability and rules-based order in the region.
Associate Professor Karen Pearlman has received a Powerhouse Research Scholars fellowship for the project ‘Climbing the walls: Material Culture and Bodies in Motion’. This research will produce a short prototype film using Macquarie's state-of-the-art facilities and the Powerhouse collection of dioramas to develop a process for devising virtual worlds based on historical models of idealised spaces. Associate Professor Pearlman will also be visiting the University of Bergamo on a Visiting Researcher Fellowship, where she will explore principles of editing, particularly rhythm in film editing, in VR.
ACHIEVEMENTS
Associate Professor Lisa Spagnolo, from the Macquarie Law School, has been appointed as the newest member of the CISG Advisory Council. The appointment is a testament to Associate Professor Spagnolo’s expertise and dedication to the field of international ad comparative contract law. As an independent body of experts, the CISG Advisory Council aims to promote a uniform interpretation of the CISG – the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods of 11 April 1980.