UWS Gamechangers.PDF

GAMECHANGERS
Western Research

WELCOME
Photo: Scott Holmes
Gamechangers is a new research magazine for Western
Sydney University. Our aim is simple: through our research
we create knowledge that adds value to our communities.
We want to share the story of that research with you.
As you read our stories, you will realise our research doesn’t
just happen in the lab. It happens in partnership with our
communities. Their diversity drives our research and our
researchers. When you listen to older women under housing
stress— like Dr Emma Power does; when you listen to men
and women who have survived cancer talk about sex—like
Professor Jane Ussher does; or when you talk to Sri Lankan
farmers about empowering their farming practices through
technology—like Professor Athula Ginige does; when you
listen to your community like our researchers do you make a
difference in real lives. You create research that has impact.
You change the game.
And that is what we are here to do: listen, understand, create
knowledge, and make a difference.
Professor Scott Holmes, Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President
(Research and Development), Western Sydney University
westernsydney.edu.au
GAMECHANGERS RESEARCH MAGAZINE
3

MARCS
INSTITUTE
WHO WE ARE
We understand communication.
Human communication is diverse and all
around us. It can be impaired by conditions
like dyslexia, or heightened by stress. And
non-verbal communication—like music—has
the power to move us. Even under normal
conditions, the way we acquire language—our
first or our second language—is fascinating
across a spectrum of research: the social and
emotional aspects of language; the way our
brain processes sound; the computation that
lie behind automatic speech recognition.
MARCS is Western Sydney University’s
Institute for Brain, Behaviour and
Development. MARCS brings people from all
walks of life—new mums and neuroscientists,
linguists and Indigenous Australians,
grandmothers and computer scientists,
musicians and engineers—together to
understand human communication.
MARCS is 130 engineers, musicians,
linguists, psychologists, computer scientists,
mathematicians and neuroscientists working
in an integrated high-tech facility.
WHY
MARCS researchers study how we learn
language and handle foreign accents, how we
program robots for human interaction, how
we communicate with infants and the elderly,
and how we monitor the emotional effect of
music because understanding communication
will help solve a host of real-world problems.
MARCS researchers work with infants and
children on speech perception, speech
production, language acquisition, bilingualism,
and literacy. This research improves the
diagnosis and treatment of dyslexia, informs
and guides the teaching of languages, and
helps to preserve Aboriginal languages.
The Institute’s work on healthy ageing brings
new insights into speech processing in older
people and finds ways of helping those at risk
of cognitive decline.
We use contemporary methods from cognitive
neuroscience to investigate the exquisite
timing and synchronization of musicians and
musical ensembles as a model of timing in the
human brain.
The Institute’s work in music science has a
variety of therapeutic applications. Rhythmic
Auditory Stimulation will help stability and
gait in people with Parkinson’s disease; the
social, emotional, and cognitive benefits of
collaborative music making may be a way to
slow or prevent cognitive decline in ageing;
and music therapies may slow dementia
or manage the behaviours, anxiety and
depression associated with mid- to late-stage
dementia.
WHAT MAKES US DIFFERENT
Our success is based on bringing people
together to solve real-world problems and
deepen the scientific understanding of human
communication. Our research is diverse,
like our researchers, because our research
responds to the diversity of our community
here in the fastest growing urban region in
Australia.
The science of communication—it isn’t just
what we research: it’s how we do research.
Photo: Karen Mattock
WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT
MARCS?
Visit
westernsydney.edu.au/marcs
Western Sydney University4

MARCS RESEARCHER
PAOLA ESCUDERO
AN AUSTRALIAN, A CANADIAN, A BABY AND A ZEBRA FINCH
It’s not surprising that the
Australian accent can be hard
for non-native speakers to
understand. But you might be
surprised to learn that Australian
‘strine’, with its long vowels and
resulting drawl, can be a struggle
to understand even for the babies
of Australian speakers.
Associate Professor Paola Escudero from the
MARCS BabyLab has found that Australian
babies are more likely to understand words
in Canadian accents than Australian. To
uncover this surprising fact Paola made up
the word ‘deet’ and taught it to 15 month old
babies. The babies were tested to see if they
could distinguish when the vowel sounds of
‘deet’ were changed in the new words ‘dit’
and ‘doot’. The babies did not notice the
new words when they were spoken by an
Australian speaker. When the words were
spoken by a Canadian speaker—an accent that
doesn’t elongate these vowels—the babies
were able to tell the difference. Paola says this
study highlights how ‘each individual accent
may pose different challenges for different
listeners and a challenge for infants when they
are learning their first language.’
Paola’s research into understanding how
speech and language is received and
understood has drawn on more than
differing accents: the answers to questions
of speech and language can be also found
outside human to human communication.
Her research has used songbirds— zebra
finches in fact—to examine how they, along
with human infants and adults, learn different
speech patterns. Acoustic differences are
important to human speech production and
perception. They help make meaning and
are understood by a wide range of species.
Songbirds are one such species sensitive to
these different patterns in human speech.
Paola showed that the way speech is
understood is more similar between songbirds
and humans than was previously realised. This
means that there might be an ‘auditory bias’
shared across species that plays a greater
role in understanding some speech patterns
than individual differences between human
speakers, like nationality.
Speech and language abilities underpin much
of human communication. They enhance and
focus our thinking, creative and social skills.
As a consequence, understanding difficulties
in acquiring language is hugely important:
‘Infants are learning words and having to pay
attention to so many things,’ Paola explains.
‘Small variations across dialects may influence
their learning.’ But the long vowel in Australian
‘strine’ is not just a problem for babies
developing their language skills. ‘For adult
migrants to Australia who are just starting
to pick up the language, they may take a bit
longer to master Australian English,’ Paola
points out.
There is one more twist. As a result of Paola’s
research it might seem obvious to assume
that the difficulties faced by Australian
babies learning language would negatively
affect their development. Paola has found
the opposite may be true—these hard to
differentiate vowel sounds may actually be
making babies smarter.
Paola’s research is uncovering vital new
information about the way babies develop
their language skills—an essential support to
their future learning potential.
Photo: Paola Escudero
7

MARCS LEADERSHIP
JONATHAN TAPSON
LED BY CURIOSITY
‘I didn’t build this. I am the
curator of it. There is an amazing
research culture here.’
Professor Jonathan Tapson is the
Director of the MARCS Institute.
‘MARCS deals with human
communication: verbal, non-
verbal, physical, emotional,
technological, and augmented.
We try to understand the
brain processes that allow
communication to happen,’
he explains.
Driving MARCS’ work is a desire to understand
and address the critical points in technology
and within an individual’s life—whether it’s
language acquisition in infancy, well-being
and connectedness in the elderly, or reaching
the limits of computational power.
Jonathan’s own career has been driven by
crucial moments too. Although he wasn’t ‘an
electronics geek as a kid,’ he discovered a
love for electronics while completing a degree
in theoretical physics. He decided to take
another degree in electrical engineering and
then, a PhD.
‘During my PhD I built a control system that
worked a little like the neurons in the brain.
Almost by accident,’ Jonathan says, ‘I found
myself reading a lot about the brain and
about the cortex. But I couldn’t do anything
about it. I was pursuing a different—more
conventional—path.’
That path was in the measurement of
odd variables—variables like whether the
consistency of material flowing in a pipeline
was right—in the mining industry. He made
Professor at 39.
‘It was one of those moments. I thought: I
don’t have anything more to achieve in the
professional sense, and the work I am doing is
not intellectually satisfying. I have another 29
years left in my academic career. I don’t want
to keep doing the same thing.’
So he returned to circuits that emulated the
human brain and the work that interested
him when he took his PhD: neuromorphic
engineering.
Neuromorphic engineering develops artificial
systems that mimic those found in the
brain. It’s a relatively recent, rapidly growing
field that attracts researchers from diverse
backgrounds—physics, engineering, biology
and physiology—and may resolve a roadblock
to increasing computer power.
‘Digital computation—with conventional
computers—is at a dead end,’ Jonthan
ventures. ‘There are opportunities to reduce
the power consumption and increase the
power of computation. We need a new way of
computing.’
Already Jonathan and his colleague, Professor
Andre van Schaik, have been able to build a
system of neurons that can process natural
language. The system can understand the
sentiment behind a sentence: if it’s positive or
negative, happy or sad.
If this seems like an abstract piece of research,
it often turns out that pure research has an
impact on every day life. Jonathan points to
MARCS’ work into what angle of the eyes is
the point beyond which people feel like you
are no longer making eye contact. Seems
trivial? Skyping with your friend or having a
job interview by video conference is going
to be more natural—and possibly more
successful—if a device’s built-in camera can
stay within your field of eye contact.
Making a difference outside the lab is a core
feature of MARCS’ research culture—whether
it’s developing new assistive devices or finding
a way to diagnose dyslexia in children as
young as two years old.
‘We have had years of fantastic results in pure
research, and I think we have a new culture of
getting our research out the door—of having
an impact,’ Jonathan says.
‘Denis Burnham, the previous long-term
Director of the Institute, set up a family-like
culture. It’s a fun place to work. It is a hard
act to follow, to maintain that sense of joy
about coming to work and doing research
and enjoying the people you work with and
getting excited about the results.’
With major challenges on the horizon and
new fields of research to explore, there are
still critical moments that excite the team at
MARCS. The next is ageing.
‘Australia has a rapidly ageing population
and ageing is a multidisciplinary problem,’
Jonathan explains. ‘You lose a little bit of
hearing and a little bit of eyesight and all of
a sudden you are socially isolated. Well, how
does that happen? And because you are
socially isolated you are making bad decisions
and your health is deteriorating. How does
that happen?’
‘It is a complex, interconnected problem:
quality of life and ageing,’ Jonathan says with
enthusiasm. ‘I think that is the perfect problem
for MARCS to work on.’
Photo: Jonathan Tapson

MARCS PHD
JAMES WRIGHT
NEW WAYS TO DO DISCOVERY
Photo: James Wright
Most people enter a PhD by
the same path: you finish an
undergraduate degree, an
honours year, get a scholarship,
and start your PhD.
That’s changing.
James Wright is a PhD student
with the MARCS Institute.
‘I worked in entrepreneurial environments
where you were looking for answers to
questions,’ he reflects. ‘Places where you had
to do discovery, where you had to find a new
way of doing it.’
‘It didn’t feel that different going from the
places I had worked into PhD study.’
During an undergraduate degree in Politics
and International Relations James learnt
how to code software on the side. He took a
Masters in Computer Science before working
as a software engineer with several start-up
companies looking at neural networks—brain/
computer interfaces.
‘I was immediately fascinated by it without
ever having gone looking for it,’ he says. ‘I was
looking for another place where that sort of
work could be done.’
His search brought him to the MARCS
Institute. With Professors Jonathan Tapson,
Vaughan Macefield and Andre van Schaik, he
started to ask questions about how the body
processes touch.
‘All of these different things that we are doing
with our hands and our brains our muscles
and our nervous systems,’ he starts, ’trying to
understand how that interplay works together
is a lifetime’s endeavour.’
So he started small: with one finger. He is
trying to understand the neuro-physiological
basis of touch sensation from one point.
‘When you are doing this science,’ he explains,
‘you are only ever able to chip away at the
edges of the problem. You hope that by
solving your one small part you open up a new
path that somebody hasn’t seen before.’
Most existing research in the field focuses on
how to send an artificial signal that the brain
could understand as touch. But James thinks
that might be the wrong way around:
‘We should try to understand how the brain
codes sensation, and then create the artificial
representation accordingly.’
Cracking the code will help grow the potential
of exoskeletons to assist a range of people
with mobility constraints. James is focusing on
stroke victims, who, after rehabilitation, have
few available treatments left.
The environment of MARCS, coupled with his
own experience in industry, is a key influence
on James’ drive to make a difference with his
research.
‘MARCS encourages students to see their
research applied in that fashion—whether
it is them or finding someone in industry to
become a partner to help make that happen.’
It’s part of the change in the PhD experience
James represents. ‘Academic careers,’ he
predicts, ‘will be different than they have been
in the past.’
‘MARCS has been very good at trying to
recognise the change that is coming and to
encourage the young researchers and PhD
students studying there who are going to have
to absorb this new way of doing business.’
And while James’ future will probably lie
between academia and industry, solving
problems and making the solutions a reality,
he is certain about his research:
‘We have this little glimpse of what the future
is going to be like. It might take a long time to
get from my laboratory to your living room,
but eventually it will get there.’
JAMES’ WORK OR PHDS AT
WESTERN?
Watch
James’ Three Minute Thesis speech:
https://youtu.be/79AHpem5U3Q
Visit
westernsydney.edu.au/graduate_
research_school/grs
11

Photo: Rochelle Finlay
Some problems are too big for one
researcher, one university, or one
business to solve.
Cooperative Research Centres,
or CRCs, are funded by the
federal government to bring
people together from a range
of institutions, businesses and
backgrounds to research complex
interdisciplinary problems.
The HEARing CRC explores all aspects of
hearing loss. Hearing loss affects one in
six Australians. By 2050, a quarter of the
Australian population may be affected by
loss of hearing—resulting in negative impacts
on the economy, on education and on
relationships.
MARCS is a partner in the HEARing CRC
alongside the Royal Institute for Deaf
and Blind Children (RIDBC). The RIDBC is
Australia’s largest non-government provider
of therapy, education and diagnostic services
for people with hearing or vision loss. As a
CRC partner, the RIDBC acts as a conduit
between HEARing CRC research and practical
interventions that change lives.
‘Technology like the cochlear implant is
essential—but technology can only get
you so far,’ reminds Professor Greg Leigh,
Director of the RIDBC.‘ Children with hearing
or vision loss get the best possible start to
life when they, and their families, receive
immediate support from appropriately trained
professionals.’
Professor Denis Burnham and his colleagues
at MARCS are undertaking research to ensure
that young children with hearing difficulties
receive the earliest possible interventions.
Denis leads a team trying to understand
the brain functions that support speech.
Understanding the way the brain processes
sound—including speech and hearing
augmented by hearing aids or cochlear
implants—is key to Denis’ research, and should
lead to more options for those with a hearing
impairment.
Denis and his team use specialised facilities
at the MARCS BabyLab to undertake this
research. The MARCS BabyLab—established
in 1999—hosts around 1000 babies per year.
In the BabyLab MARCS researchers explore
speech perception, speech production, and
skills like literacy and its development among
infants and children.
Discoveries in MARCS about speech
perception in infancy have been instrumental
in convincing governments in Australia of
the necessity of mandatory hearing tests for
newborn infants. Perceptual learning happens
in the first months of life. MARCS has helped
prove how vital this early learning is to social,
emotional and cognitive development, and
its necessity for the development of speech,
language, communication, and readiness for
formal education.
The developmental delay associated with
failing to detect hearing impairment until 8,
12 or even 24 months of age is significant.
Early testing is key to enhancing outcomes
for babies with hearing impairment—as is
demonstrating the effectiveness of using
cochlear implants early in the lives of children
with hearing loss.
As Professor Leigh says, ‘developments in
so many different areas ensure that children
with hearing loss can achieve alongside their
hearing peers.’
MARCS PARTNERSHIP
ALL HEAR TOGETHER
HEARING CRC
WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THE
HEARING CRC?
Visit
hearingcrc.org

Photo: Rochelle Finlay
Universities have to show a social
return on the research they
undertake. Yet we still struggle
to make the connections between
our publicly-funded research and
the business and not-for-profit
sector.
REDI is changing that.
‘We are bridging the gap between
what the client needs and what
the University can deliver.’
Rochelle Finlay is the Director of Western
Sydney University’s Research, Engagement,
Development and Innovation unit, REDI.
Rochelle has, by her own account, worked
‘from every angle in the research sector,’ and
it’s given her a unique perspective on the
cultures and challenges of research.
‘I started out in the lab, working on water
quality research, but realised I needed to
make a radical change.’
Lab work is satisfying but repetitive: ‘It is
easy to lose sight of the big picture when you
are working at the micro-level. I wanted to
influence behaviours’.
So Rochelle changed it up. She moved to the
UK to start working in food tech research
before joining the National Health Service to
develop standard protocols for food testing. ‘I
moved to the other side of the research fence,’
she says, ‘and I loved the variety.’
After finishing with the NHS Rochelle returned
to New Zealand to take up an opportunity
with a government research funding body.
There she took a hands on approach to
developing research with commercial and
social return.
‘The driver,’ she says, ‘was to reduce
competition, encourage collaboration, and
enhance the quality of applications for funding.’
Unlike Australia, where nearly forty universities
compete for government funding, the New
Zealand system is small, with most funding
for R&D being provided by government.’ This
means the government has to take a leading
role in ensuring its investment results in quality
research and impact.’
‘I became a bridge between the government
client and the researcher. It was a much more
active role in enhancing the outcomes of
research.’
It is the same kind of approach that Rochelle
brings to REDI. Together with her team,
Rochelle is making it easier for clients to
connect with the range of opportunities
available within Western Sydney University.
REDI has become the bridge between
Western’s research and our community.
But it isn’t easy. ‘The university and business
have very different cultures,’ Rochelle says.
‘Understanding how they tick is incredibly
valuable.’
In a way it’s like making the change from the
lab bench to the manager’s desk: you have to
see the bigger picture, but remember what
it takes to put it all together. Rochelle has
embraced that philosophy to build REDI’s
business development team.
‘We are developing ourselves as experts in
translation. Whether we are talking to the
corporate community or to our academics the
intent is the same: demonstrate the value of
working with us; open up the opportunities;
and realise that the University is not a one-
stop shop.’
The big problem people face in working with
the University is navigating the labyrinth of
specialisations and disciplines, departments
and Schools. ‘It can be frustrating,’ Rochelle
says. ‘Sometimes all the doors are the wrong
doors. Sometimes the expert is always in
another department. Our service ethic is
simple: there is no wrong door. We provide
a continuity of service from pure research to
commercially applied research, and we will
navigate that labyrinth for you.’
REDI is a big part of changing Western
U’s research focus. They are leading a
cultural shift in the University, encouraging
researchers to look outward, to negotiate with
business and the broader community, and to
make sure our research makes a difference.
‘I am proud of the service culture and flexibility
of the REDI team. We are negotiating
innovative, flexible agreements between
commercial partners and the University, but we
can’t do it alone. It’s too big.’
There is only one solution, according to
Rochelle: ‘We have to work together.’
REDI LEADERSHIP
ROCHELLE FINLAY
MAKING CHANGE EASY
WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT REDI?
Visit
westernsydney.edu.au/redi
Email
redi@westernsydney.edu.au
15

Behind the solar panels on your
roof or the LED lights in your local
shop there is a whole financial
industry that trades energy
savings certificates, negotiates
funding with the public and
private sector, and manages the
financial risk of energy efficiency
markets. In short, there are people
who find the funds to make things
happen, and they are critical to the
wider renewable energy agenda
that underpins national and
international efforts to mitigate
harmful climate change.
Demand Manager, an Australian-based
company in operation for over ten years, is at
the forefront of clean energy financial services
for small to medium enterprises. Demand
Manager’s Founder and CEO is Jeff Bye.
‘They are car dealerships, RSL clubs,
universities, offices, carparks, shops,’ Jeff says
of his customers. ‘They are the full spectrum
of businesses out there that, on their own,
wouldn’t be in a position to negotiate funding
themselves’.
Jeff started Demand Manager after working
with the Sustainable Energy Development
Authority—a NSW government agency that
delivered programs to reduce the greenhouse
gas emissions generated by the production
and use of energy. The work gave him an
insight into the compliance side of the clean
energy market, but didn’t give him the
opportunity to make things happen on the
ground.
‘I am an engineer by background with a
finance qualification, so I enjoy things actually
happening!’
Demand Manager has grown from just Jeff
to eight employees. But a few years ago, Jeff
realised he needed to diversify the business to
limit the risk of relying on a limited number of
customers and public sector funders.
‘Governments come and go with regularity
and policies change, making it difficult to do
business. If we can open up other sources
of funding it will give our business a better
grounding.’
He had an idea: find a better way to move the
information from the person on the ground to
the people with expert knowledge in securing
clean energy funding. From the sparky doing
installation work on the farm, to the systems
designer working in the city office, to the
international financiers—new technology
could establish an industry innovation
ecosystem. And making it easier for more
people to access clean energy funding would
grow and diversify Demand Manager’s
customer base.
That’s when he approached Western Sydney
University and REDI.
‘A couple of things stood out about REDI and
Western Sydney University. The attitude was
making it happen, not identifying barriers,
and the other was Dr Chris Le Brese: his
background in software coding and hardware
development provided the skill sets we
needed’.
Together with Dr Upul Gunawardana, his
colleague in engineering at Western U, Chris
began working closely with Jeff and the team
at Demand Manager to develop a new Lux
Meter. A Lux Meter measures the amount of
light falling on a surface. This measurement
is crucial to determining if energy saving
lights comply with national standards—and
demonstrating compliance is essential to
securing government funding.
An electrician might have to conduct
thousands of readings in a building,
transcribing the results from the meter to a
notepad or computer. The Lux Meter Chris,
Upul and Demand Manager have created
will send readings to the user’s phone,
automatically formatting and calculating
the measurements and comparing it to the
relevant standard. It will even email the results
to you.
But during the development process,
the possibilities for the Lux Meter and its
app grew. What if it were a platform that
combined the finance, product and installation
providers involved?
‘If an electrician in Dubbo was able to use this
tool, gather the data necessary for someone
to do a lighting design, for someone else to
provide a quotation in terms of the products
and for us to get involved in the finance side
of things, to equip that electrician with all the
tools that now he is suddenly a champion
in this space and is able to convince the
customer to go through with the project, then
we are delivering value for everyone,’ Jeff
says.
Now that the first version of the Lux Meter
is nearly complete, Jeff is embarking on this
second phase of the Lux Meter with Western
Sydney University. Phase two, connecting
customers on the ground with a complete
energy efficiency solution, will enable more
people to access clean energy finance; it will
allow more people to become, as Jeff says,
‘the expert that makes the project happen.’
REDI INDUSTRY PARTNER
DEMAND MANAGER
MEASURING UP TO OPPORTUNITY
DEMAND MANAGER OR REDI?
Visit
demandmanager.com.au
Visit
westernsydney.edu.au/redi
JEFF BYE, FOUNDER AND CEO
DEMAND MANAGER
From the sparky doing
installation work on the
farm, to the systems
designer working in
the city office, to the
international financiers—
new technology could
establish an industry
innovation ecosystem.

Photo: Ajesh George
AJESH GEORGE
FILLING THE KNOWLEDGE GAP
Women are at greater risk of poor oral health during
pregnancy due to hormonal changes, changes to
their diet, and morning sickness. This heightened
risk may have serious consequences for the baby,
with evidence suggesting that poor oral health
during pregnancy can lead to increased pre-term
births and lower birth weights—particularly for
women from lower socioeconomic backgrounds.
And the risk remains after birth: decay-causing bacteria can be
transferred from mother to baby through shared spoons and dummies.
Despite the consequences, pregnant women don’t access dental
services as often as they should. In Australia, only around a third of
pregnant women see a dentist even when they have a dental problem,
and across the developed world the figures are similar: in the US, it is
between 23-49%; in the UK, even with a comprehensive dental care
system through the National Health Service, it ranges from 33-64%.
Dr Ajesh George has been working to find the best way of improving
the oral health of pregnant women. The main problem is knowledge:
even though dental health problems are common in pregnancy, less
than ten percent of women receive any information about oral health
during their pregnancy. Antenatal care providers—midwives, GPs,
obstetricians and gynaecologists—have limited knowledge about the
safety of dental treatment during pregnancy and the impact of failing
to have this treatment.
A survey conducted by Ajesh and his team to gauge the level of
knowledge among antenatal care providers found an average correct
response rate of 60%. Only 22% of those surveyed discussed oral
health with their clients.
‘We now know that it’s safe to have dental treatment during pregnancy,
including cleaning, fillings, extractions and even x-rays,’ Ajesh says.
Ajesh has developed a first of its kind program to address the lack of
knowledge about oral health during pregnancy.
‘The Midwifery Initiated Oral Health Program (MIOH) is improving the
knowledge and confidence of midwives to promote oral health as well
as the oral health outcomes, knowledge, quality of life and uptake of
dental services among pregnant women,’ says Ajesh.
The MIOH Program is a training program that improves midwives’
ability to guide their clients towards appropriate dental health care.
The state of Victoria has already adopted the program, and Ajesh is
working with NSW Health to mirror the work in NSW.
LOUISE CRABTREE
BEATING THE SQUEEZE
Sydney’s median house price is over one million
dollars. Median rents for homes and apartments
are both around $500 a week. 154,000 people were
registered for access to public rental housing in 2014
in NSW.
Dr Louise Crabtree’s research into shared equity home ownership will
give people squeezed by the booming property market an option that
isn’t buying, renting, or living in social housing.
What is shared equity home ownership? A shared equity homeowner
purchases their home from a community land trust and owns it jointly
with that trust. If the homeowner sells the property they receive the
equivalent of the equity they owned, and the property remains jointly
with the community land trust and the new owner—ensuring a stable
stock of affordable housing.
Shared equity home ownership is a model that can help low to
moderate income earners enter the property market, but is rarely used
in Australia.
To change this, Louise partnered with government, industry and
community agencies across multiple jurisdictions—alongside other
academics—to create the first Australian Community Land Trust
Manual. The manual contains legal templates, organisational advice and
operational material to help community housing groups establish new
pathways to home ownership.
But Louise’s research isn’t just about affordable housing for low to
moderate income earners.
‘It’s about how we steer housing in a way that’s most beneficial for the
community,’ Louise argues. ‘Shared equity home ownership is defined
according to local circumstances.’
Louise’s latest work looks at how community land trusts might better
capture the aspirations of Indigenous Australians than other models of
home ownership. ‘Many Indigenous households are more concerned
with issues of stability, inheritability and autonomy than with wealth
creation through home ownership,’ Louise says.
Community land trusts could smooth the obstacles faced in increasing
private ownership in Indigenous communities where land is held
collectively, income levels are low, and the housing market is small.
Like all of Louise’s research, her work in Indigenous housing focuses
on building the community’s capacity for policy-making and practice,
expanding their independence and range of choices by, as she
describes it, ‘translating complex theoretical principles and arguments
into practically workable models and policy.’
19

COMMUNITY RESEARCH
SWEATSHOP
WRITING WESTERN SYDNEY DIFFERENTLY
This story starts in Bankstown,
a place where people from all
cultures can be found living
in harmony with each other. A
place where food from all around
the world is served in many
restaurants but the heart of
Bankstown is Springvale Park.
It is the only place in Bankstown
where a forest of pink cherry
blossom trees can be found.
Yvonne Vo, ‘Song of the Thorn
Birds’
Dark Skin, Black Hair, and Wide,
Wary Eyes: 2015 Youth Week
Writing Competition Showcase
We cannot begin to talk about
freedom and justice in any
culture if we’re not talking about
mass based literacy movements.
Because degrees of literacy
determine so often how we see
what we see.
bell hooks, author/feminist/
social activist
SWEATSHOP gives young people in Western
Sydney the opportunity to produce films,
podcasts, plays, performance readings
and publications—like the one, produced in
partnership with Bankstown City Council,
in which Yvonne Vo’s story appears.
SWEATSHOP empowers marginalised
communities through creative and critical
initiatives.
SWEATSHOP is a Western Sydney Literacy
Movement emerging from the Centre for
Writing and Society—one of Western’s unique
research Centres. SWEATSHOP is driven by
the Centre’s inspiring postgraduate writers.
Its Director is Michael Mohammed Ahmad,
author of The Tribe and winner of the 2015
Sydney Morning Herald Best Young Novelist
of the Year Award. Its Associate Director, Luke
Carman, won the NSW Premier’s Literary
Award for New Writing for his book, An
Elegant Young Man. The Education Officer
of SWEATSHOP, Felicity Castagna, received
the Prime Minister’s Literary Award for Young
Adult Fiction for her 2014 work, The Incredible
Here and Now. Together with their peers
within the Centre and across the University,
these exciting young writers are committed to
using their creativity to realise positive change
for young people.
SWEATSHOP’s roots are tied to Western
Sydney’s cultural diversity but the impact
of their activity extends far beyond these
boundaries. The stories of disenfranchisement
with which the group engages stretch
beyond the region. Helping people excluded
from modes of literacy to find their voice
within those modes empowers marginalised
communities to identify and communicate the
issues affecting them to their friends, family,
community and, importantly, decision-makers.
SWEATSHOP teaches and encourages
participants in its programs to find their voice
and use it to creatively inform and teach
others.
Through creative writing workshops
SWEATSHOP helps students to develop
their creative and academic writing and
communication skills, and it does so in
innovative ways—ways that produce work that
is meaningful for both its young creators and
their audiences. The school workshops deliver
a new set of skills and strategies to school-
aged children to make their voices heard and
their experiences recognised.
Partnering with groups and organisations
across the country, including Giramondo
Publishing, NIDA, Powerhouse Youth Theatre,
NSW Writer’s Centre, the Sydney Writer’s
Festival, SBS, the Melbourne Emerging
Writer’s Festival and the Alice Springs Eye of
the Storm Festival, SWEATSHOP initiatives
have resulted in numerous creative collections.
One is a collection of spoken-word stories by
students from Sir Joseph Banks High School,
Lurnea High School and Sydney Secondary
College, Balmain: On my Way to Sierra Leone.
This short film captures the voices of its stars
but also speaks for many experiences within
their communities.
The creative output and talent of
SWEATSHOP is impressive, but it is the use of
this talent in targeted, novel and meaningful
ways that sets this writers collective
apart. SWEATSHOP is a generous artistic
undertaking that produces exciting new art
with genuine social resonance.
Photo: Luke Carman
WANT TO SEE MORE OF
SWEATSHOP’S WORK?
Visit
http://sweatshop.ws/
Watch
On My Way to Sierra Leone
https://youtu.be/COPJ6Ekyr-g

EMMA POWER
GOOD PETS MAKE GOOD NEIGHBOURS?
Ever stopped to pat a dog in your neighbourhood?
It is a simple gesture that often leads to a quick chat;
you say hello on the street or apartment building
foyer when you see the owner again; perhaps you
have a coffee together. Owning a pet can draw people
into relationships with their neighbours and with
their community.
‘The research connects human-dog relations to broader
understandings of community practice,’ says Dr Emma Power.
But the experiences of dog-owners aren’t always positive. A barking
dog in an apartment building can take someone from being a
responsible neighbour to a bad dog owner. Angry notes left in the
common areas can change the experience of living in and sharing a
building.
Emma’s research examines everyday practices of community within
apartment buildings—things like owning a dog—to uncover how these
practices shape the experience of residents.
‘Buildings are more than a context or stage upon which the residents’
lives are lived,’ Emma says. ‘They actively shape practices of
inhabitance.’
Emma discovered that dog owners within apartment buildings created
informal networks with other dog owners ‘to keep up to date with
arising issues and also to exercise social and peer pressure to ensure
that others behaved responsibly.’ The pressure to be a ‘responsible
neighbour’ is key to understanding the way in which governance
mechanisms like strata title committees interact with informal
frameworks like the angry note about a barking dog left in the common
area.
‘Individuals are “governed through their associations” however
defined, including through neighbourhoods, subcultures, age groups
and ethnicities,’ Emma says. ‘When buying in to these places, owner
occupiers do not simply buy into a set of property rights, but buy into
a set of governmental objectives that define their responsibilities as
neighbours.’
These insights have led to Emma receiving a large grant to study how
single older women navigate housing stress and the idea of home
within the context of being a responsible neighbour.
Emma says the two are connected: ‘housing markets and supply
impact on and are changed by home making cultures and practices.’
Photo: Emma Power
DAVID TAIT
JUST SPACES FOR ALL
Can where the defendant sits in the courtroom
influence the verdict they receive?
Professor David Tait from Western’s Justice
Research Group has the evidence to show it does.
In most Australian courts the defendant sits in the dock—a separate
section of the courtroom away from the accused’s legal team and
others in the court. In cases where there is a threat to the defendant,
or where the defendant is thought to pose a threat, they may be
completely separated from the courtroom by a glass barrier.
Over the past decade there has been growing disquiet among the
judiciary on the use of glass barriers in jury trials. For instance, in the
Baladjam case five men were tried in Sydney on terrorism-related
charges. They sat behind a glass dock that made communication with
their lawyers difficult and obscured views from and into the dock.
The judge in that case, Justice Whealy, had to rely on his personal
impressions of the impact on the jury of the use of the glass dock:
‘I was rather taken aback by the apparent separation of the accused
from everybody else in the courtroom.’
There was no rigorous evidence of the likely effect of the glass barrier
that Justice Whealy could refer to.
David decided that the only way to find out what impact the position of
the defendant had on the verdict was to conduct a trial of his own.
‘People think they can detect their own prejudices,’ he says. ‘In fact,
all the psychology evidence is that they can’t. You need to do a
randomized controlled trial to see how people actually behave.’
As part of David’s experiment 400 mock jurors watched a short live
trial. Actors played the judge, legal representatives, witnesses and
defendants. For different juries the defendant sat in different positions:
at the bar table with their lawyers, in an open dock or in a glass dock.
It turned out that the judges’ impressions were right. In the study 60
percent of jurors who saw the accused in the glass dock returned a
guilty verdict, compared to 46 percent in an open dock and 32 percent
at the bar table.
‘The impressions were that the accused was more dangerous, violent
and threatening in the glass box,’ David observed.
The research should lead to a re-design of courtrooms and the removal
of glass docks. As David points out,
‘They undermine the presumption of innocence, they’re more likely to
lead to a conviction, and they fundamentally undermine the right to a
fair trial.’
23

RESEARCHER PROFILE
THOMAS ASTELL-BURT
LIVING LARGE IN THE FOOD DESERT
Photo: Thomas Astell-Burt
What if living closer to a local
park, or if living closer to places
that sold fresh food, meant you
were less likely to develop a
disease like diabetes?
In 2008-2009 estimated health spending on
diabetes was around one and a half billion
dollars. Since the likelihood of developing
diabetes increases with age, Australia’s ageing
population is likely to cause the number of
Type 2 diabetes sufferers to double between
2000 and 2051. The number will more than
double if more of us are obese and more of us
are less active.
Dr Thomas Astell-Burt’s research explores
the connections between where we live and
how healthy we are. His work has examined
the effect that access to green space—parks,
bushland, sporting grounds—has on our
likelihood to exercise. In a study of 200,000
people over the age of 45 he found that living
within a kilometre from significant green
space increased the likelihood of exercise.
His recent work looks at food deserts, ‘an
area,’ Thomas explains, ‘that has lots of fast
food but no supermarkets or green grocers.’
‘This makes the choice between purchasing
fast food or purchasing apples and vegetables
rather difficult.’
Thomas’ project is called the ‘Mapping
food environments in Australian localities
project’—or MEAL. The method is simple: take
existing data sets and plot where the fast
food franchises, supermarkets, fruit stores
and bakeries are across Sydney. The resulting
map might explain the inequality in health
outcomes between Western and Eastern
Sydney.
‘In communities in the West, for example
in Blacktown, in Mt Druitt, in Liverpool and
Campbelltown, the prevalence of diabetes is
upwards of 6%,’ Thomas says. ‘If you compare
that to some of the Eastern Suburbs, to some
of the more affluent suburbs in the north
shore, the prevalence of diabetes is just over
two percent.’
‘We think it’s driven by the types of
environments we live in.’
If Thomas is right, his research has significant
implications for the way we plan communities.
Jobs, transport and urban amenity are key
features of urban planning. Health should
be a key element too. By increasing access
to green space and fresh food it might be
possible to reduce the rates of lifestyle-related
illnesses like Type 2 diabetes.
‘At the end of this project we will have a very
good idea of what types of policies and what
types of urban planning help promote healthy
communities,’ Thomas suggests.
‘We will be able to put that under the noses of
policy-makers and urban planners so they can
integrate that work into their daily practice.’
THOMAS’ WORK?
Read
An interview with Thomas:
abc.net.au/pm/content/2015/
s4269961.htm

SIOBHAN SCHABRUN
RE-WIRING CHRONIC PAIN
Our brains can change—and not just during
childhood. Over the last few decades researchers
have discovered that the brain rewires itself over the
course of our lives. It’s called plasticity: the capacity
of the brain to create new connections between
brain cells, strengthen others and discard unused
connections. Plasticity underpins the way we think,
the way we learn, the way we remember, and the way
we recover from injury.
Dr Siobhan Schabrun is leading the plasticity revolution in the
understanding and treatment of chronic pain. Chronic back pain affects
the lives of many in the developed world. In Australia nearly 80% of the
population experience lower back pain during their life. Over 10% of the
population will suffer a significant disability—resulting in an incapacity
to work, exercise, or otherwise enjoy life—as a result of lower back pain.
Chronic pain, Siobhan thinks, could be caused by faulty wiring. The
theory is that the motor and sensory regions of the brain rewire after
an injury, but in some people the brain rewires abnormally: the brains
of people with persistent back pain look quite different from those who
recover. For some, there appear to be changes in the motor area of
the brain, and this could cause changes in the way people move their
muscles. Others appear to have changes in the sensory region of the
brain, and this could make them highly sensitive to even mild pain.
Siobhan is tracking 264 people from the time they injure themselves for
a period of twelve months to see who recovers, who doesn’t, and why.
‘There are lots of studies that examine people with persistent back
pain at a specific point in time,’ Siobhan says. ‘But there has been no
investigation of brain changes in the transition from acute to persistent
low back pain—which is precisely when some people are getting better
while others are not.’
Using techniques such as transcranial magnetic stimulation to
test the responsiveness of brain and muscle connections and
electroencephalography—like an ECG for the brain—Siobhan is trying
to find a reliable why to predict the development of chronic pain.
‘Our findings have numerous potential implications for clinical practice,’
Siobhan says. ‘They will give us the ability to know when someone
comes through the door how likely they are to develop persistent pain,
to know what to target—whether it’s the brain, movement, spinal cord
or stress— and hopefully stop the patient developing persistent pain.’
Photo: Siobhan Schabrun
ATHULA GINIGE
THE DIGITAL FARM
The spread of mobile technology is staggering.
There are seven billion mobile phone subscriptions
worldwide. Mobile technology is spreading fast in the
developing world: mobile penetration in developing
countries is around 90%. Alongside increasing
adoption of mobile technology, use of the internet is
growing in the developing world. Nearly two thirds
of the world’s three billion internet users are in the
developing world—a number that has doubled from
974 million in 2009.
But the spread of mobile connectivity doesn’t guarantee that those
in developing countries will receive its benefits. Mobile technologies
need to be re-shaped for developing world economies. Many in
the developing world rely on education, healthcare, fisheries and
agriculture for their livelihoods, yet there are few digital tools targeted
to help these communities improve their economies.
Professor Athula Ginige is filling that gap. With an international team,
Athula has pioneered the use of mobile phone apps to increase
efficiency and profit for industries key to developing world economies.
Athula’s most recent work is with Sri Lankan farmers. Athula and his
team identified oversupply in vegetable crops as a major issue facing
Sri Lankan agriculture. The basic problem was a lack of knowledge
sharing at the right time in the cropping cycle. Farmers relied on last
year’s prices to guide crop selection without any knowledge of what
other farmers were planting. This led to oversupply and reduced prices.
Reduced prices for agricultural goods matters: 70% of Sri Lankans rely
on agriculture for their livelihood.
Athula and his team created a mobile phone app to solve the problem—
but it wasn’t as simple as just writing the code. Athula constantly
consulted with Sri Lankan farmers, finding out what information was
most relevant to them, how they currently sought out knowledge,
and which interface they found most usable. He went through several
prototypes of the app to find the version that best addressed the needs
and abilities of the farmers that would use it.
Now, Sri Lankan farmers can share knowledge about crop planning,
prices, climate and pest control. Athula’s app empowers farmers with
local knowledge they can apply on the ground to increase efficiency
and profit.
27

RESEARCHER PROFILE
JANE USSHER
SEX AFTER CANCER
Photo: Jane Ussher
Sometimes research uncovers
things we don’t normally talk
about. For Professor Jane Ussher,
exploring these unspoken things
has been a pathway to new
insights and better practices for
those who are marginalised on
the basis of their sexuality, gender
or ethnic background.
Jane, together with her colleague Professor
Janette Perz, is conducting ground breaking
research into the sexual health of those who
have suffered from cancer. For the first time,
they have examined the post-cancer sexual
health of a diverse group of cancer survivors:
men and women; those who have suffered
from reproductive and non-reproductive
cancer types; and those from the lesbian,
gay, bisexual, transgender and heterosexual
communities.
The results of Jane and Janette’s research
are compelling. They interviewed 657 cancer
survivors and 148 partners of cancer survivors.
Across all cancer types they found that sexual
frequency declined post-illness. Over half the
women surveyed and just over 40% of the men
reported that they never or rarely had sex after
cancer. Nearly half of the cancer survivors rated
their sexual relationship as unsatisfying.
But the numbers don’t capture the experiences
of those cancer survivors. While quantitative
research can provide information about the
nature of the changes to sexual health among
this group, Jane says it doesn’t ‘enable analysis
of the subjective experience and meaning of
such changes for people with cancer.’
Giving a voice to those survivors by combining
the numbers with research into survivors’
qualitative experiences is an important
difference between Jane and Janette’s
research and previous research into cancer
survivors’ sexual health.
A 51 year old heterosexual woman, a survivor
of breast cancer, described her loss of
intimacy with her partner:
‘I feel very sad, I miss the intimacy and
closeness we use to have 12 years ago. My
cancer 4 years ago has made the situation
more difficult—my partner now sleeps in
another bed and bedroom. I am heartbroken.’
A 53 year old gay man, a survivor of prostate
cancer, described his experience this way:
‘I feel inadequate—unable to express myself
and a whole heap of stuff that I am dealing
with.’
But not all of the cancer survivors interviewed
experienced their changed sexual practice
as loss or inadequacy. Some were able
to renegotiate the terms of their sexual
relationship with their partners in ways
that maintained intimacy, connection and
enjoyment. A 59 year old woman, a survivor of
lymphoma, described her post-cancer sex as
‘like, oh, two puppies playing together.’
Jane and Janette’s work has resulted in
changes to the awareness of sex across all
cancer types and sexualities. A suite of cancer
materials is being produced for LBGT patients
and their carers; there are now resources
educating cancer survivors on the sexual
changes they may experience; and Cancer
Australia has produced professional guidelines
promoting the discussion of sexuality by
health professionals.
JANE’S WORK?
Read
Jane’s articles on The Conversation:
Search for ‘Jane Ussher The
Conversation’

THE CENTRE FOR WESTERN SYDNEY
WESTERN SYDNEY’S
OPEN ARMS
The Australian government, in
response to the refugee crisis
caused by the war in Syria,
announced in September that
Australia would accept an
additional 12,000 refugees from
Syria and Iraq.
The Centre for Western Sydney
took a look at the data on
Western Sydney’s contribution to
humanitarian migration.
Our data partner id.com has released two data
blogs addressing refugee arrival into Australia
in recent years. One assesses the nature and
size of refugee settlement.
The other takes a close look at the Syrian
community in Australia.
The first of these blogs notes that Australia
accepted 11,970 humanitarian arrivals in 2014.
Typically humanitarian migration has been
around 8-10% of total permanent migration
to Australia in recent years. The three main
sources of humanitarian arrivals last year
were, in order, Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria.
Australia benefits from this flow of migration.
Migration (in all categories) adds to the
youthfulness of the Australian population,
with all the economic and social benefits that
flow as a consequence.
THE SIGNIFICANT ROLES OF FAIRFIELD AND
LIVERPOOL
As has been the case throughout Australian
history, Western Sydney is playing a major
role in the settlement of the current flow
of humanitarian arrivals. The id.com blog
shows that Western Sydney’s Fairfield local
government area is currently far and away the
major destination for refugees in 2014, hosting
4873 arrivals. The next most significant LGA
host for all Australia was Hume in north-
western Melbourne, with 2754 arrivals,
followed by Western Sydney’s Liverpool with
2186 arrivals.
WESTERN SYDNEY’S HEAVY LIFTING
COMPARED TO OTHER PARTS OF SYDNEY
The id.com data can be read in conjunction
with analysis by the Centre for Western
Sydney of data released to the Australian
Parliament.
For the period 1 January 2009 to 4 May
2014, the federal parliament data counts the
number of family and humanitarian migrants
who came from poorer non-English speaking
nations, the government’s English Proficiency
groups 3 and 4.
Remarkably, Fairfield LGA received 10,434
humanitarian and family reunion migrants
in this five year period, equal to 5.3% of the
LGA’s total population. Auburn LGA settled
5,092 persons in these two categories, equal
to 6% of its population. Then Bankstown
settled 3,919; Liverpool 4,913; and Parramatta
4,534. Clearly, agencies in these LGAs,
including in education and health services, are
being called on to provide resources at a level
far beyond what other parts of Sydney are
asked to give.
Specifically, the Humanitarian migration
category refers to those people found to be
refugees according to the United Nations
Convention relating to the Status of Refugees.
Considering this category alone, we have
processed the Hansard figures to reveal
the major role played by Western Sydney
communities in refugee re-settlement.
For the 2009 to 2014 period, refugees were
taken in by Western Sydney LGAs in the
following numbers: Auburn 1669, Blacktown
1365, Fairfield 5130, Holroyd 745, Liverpool
2720 and Parramatta 1243. In contrast,
better-off parts of Sydney played a much
less significant role in refugee resettlement.
Warringah LGA, for instance, in this five
year period settled just 83 humanitarian
migrants from language groups 3 and 4, with
Manly receiving 12, North Sydney 32, and the
Sutherland Shire just 14.
Surprisingly, Sydney’s inner city, once a prime
destination for poor migrants and refugees
in the post-war years, now receives very few
in the humanitarian category for these two
language groups, with Leichardt settling
just 25 for this period, Marrickville 41 and the
Sydney LGA 147.
THE SYRIANS IN WESTERN SYDNEY
What then of the Syrian community?
id.com notes that ‘The 2011 Census showed
8,713 people born in Syria living in Australia.
This is quite a small community compared to
some of the larger groups, for instance we
have over 76,000 from neighbouring Lebanon
and 33,000 from neighbouring Turkey.
And compared to Greece (100,000), Italy
(185,000) and China (319,000) it is very small.’
The blog notes also that the geographic
distribution of Syrians in Australia is similar to
that of Lebanese, with NSW alone having 61%
of the total, and nearly 90% being in NSW and
Victoria combined.
As with other recent migrant destinations
to Australia, Western Sydney is a primary
destination, again alongside Hume in north-
western Melbourne. The largest Syrian
communities at the local government level
are currently in Bankstown, NSW (944) and
Fairfield, NSW (899), and Hume, Vic (598).
These areas also have large Lebanese and
Turkish communities.
8-10%
8-10% of Australia’s permanent migration is from
humanitarian migration
4873
2754
2186
Fairﬁeld Hume Liverpool
Two of Australia’s top three local governments for
refugee resettlement are in Western Sydney
Fairfield alone accepted migrants equaling 5% of its
total population between 2009 and 2014
THE CENTRE FOR
WESTERN SYDNEY
The Centre for Western Sydney
focuses Western’s research on
high-impact, policy relevant
outcomes for Western Sydney.
The Centre generates rigorous research on
issues that will change the future of Western
Sydney. We make our work open for all, and
we create that work with teams from industry,
academia and the public sector.
We make Western’s research easier to access,
making the right policy outcomes easier to
reach.
WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THE
CENTRE?
Visit
westernsydney.edu.au/cws
Western Sydney University westernsydney.edu.au30
GAMECHANGERS RESEARCH MAGAZINE GAMECHANGERS RESEARCH MAGAZINE
31

Western Sydney University
Locked Bag 1797
Penrith NSW 2751 Australia
WESTERNSYDNEY.EDU.AU/RESEARCH

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