2016 McCoy Seed Fund Projects
Establishing a multi-purpose Wildlife Pathogen Biobank
Australia is recognised as one of 17 'mega-diverse' countries, with ecosystems of exceptional variety and uniqueness, yet our biodiversity is in decline, with a 37% increase in threatened species in the decade from 2000. Wildlife pathogens have been identified as a significant threatening process across numerous animal groups; however, we have little understanding of the geographic and temporal fluctuations in manifold wildlife pathogens (e.g. viruses, bacteria, protozoa, nematodes and fungi). Professor Geoff McFadden will use two test cases to investigate variation in important wildlife pathogens, using genetic approaches. A framework will also be established for a collection of wildlife pathogens at Museum Victoria.
Recipients
Dr Jane Melville (MV) (Joint-CI) and Prof. Geoff McFadden (UM) (Joint-CI)
Investigating the strength of natural invertebrate teeth
Australia is recognised as one of 17 'mega-diverse' countries, with ecosystems of exceptional variety and uniqueness, yet our biodiversity is in decline, with a 37% increase in threatened species in the decade from 2000. Wildlife pathogens have been identified as a significant threatening process across numerous animal groups; however, we have little understanding of the geographic and temporal fluctuations in manifold wildlife pathogens (e.g. viruses, bacteria, protozoa, nematodes and fungi). Professor Geoff McFadden will use two test cases to investigate variation in important wildlife pathogens, using genetic approaches. A framework will also be established for a collection of wildlife pathogens at Museum Victoria.
Recipients
Dr Ken Walker (MV) (Joint-CI) and Dr Devi Stuart-Fox (UM) (Joint-CI)
Interpreting and enabling child and family engagement in museums
Associate Professor Neryl Jeanneret will generate a theoretical and practical engagement framework to support museum educators/facilitators and other practitioners in interpreting and activating child and family engagement in programmed and family-led museum encounters. This project will collaboratively develop the indicators of and strategies for stimulating engagement in formal and informal learning contexts. The framework will provide an engagement lens that will inform planning, prompt critical reflection and help generate a shared knowledge platform that will guide museum educators/facilitators to interpret engagement and connect with and relate to children and families.
Recipients
Dr Liz Suda (MV) (Joint-CI) and A/Prof Neryl Jeanneret (UM) (Joint-CI)
Indigenous Engagement with the Donald Thomson Collection
In this project, post-contact histories and biographies will be recorded, and new pathways formed for Indigenous engagement with museum collections. Reconnecting items in the Donald Thomson Collection with the communities of their makers, through a process of consultation and information sharing, will trigger memories, provide insights, generate new ideas, and information. Dr Susan Lowish will bring to light links between objects held in storage at Museum Victoria with Thomson’s notebooks, photographs and films and form a bridge to the last remaining living persons to have met Thomson during his expeditions to the Western Desert region of Australia between 1957-1965.
Recipients
Dr Phillip Batty (MV) (Joint-CI) and Dr Susan Lowish (UM) (Joint-CI)
Parks, playgrounds, promenades, pageants and piazzas
The changing ideas of designed public spaces in Melbourne 1850-2000
This project will examine the changing nature of the designed public space in Melbourne 1850-2000. The public spaces of leisure – parks, gardens, sportsfields, promenades, playgrounds – and spectacle – expositions, arcades, bandstands, markets, squares, forecourts, performance spaces – formed an important part of the increasingly sophisticated Australian city. Through understanding how these designed spaces have evolved over time, we can reflect upon social change and different sectors of the Australian community.
Recipients
Dr Richard Gillespie (MV) (Joint-Supervisor) and Prof. Julie Willis (UM) (Joint-Supervisor)
Cross-Cultural Encounters
Ms Nell Ustundag’s research project, titled ‘Cross-Cultural Encounters: Pacific Exhibitions and the Making of Meanings’, will examine object-based learning in relation to Pacific material culture on display in Australian museums. In developing a historiography of Pacific exhibitions in Australia, Ms Ustundag will examine how Pacific exhibitions are developed and delivered, including visitor learning objectives and perceived and/or documented outcomes. By focusing on the value of object based learning in relation to Pacific objects, Ms Ustundag will interrogate the role museum objects play in the facilitation of new learning and the promotion of awareness of multiple perspectives in the cross cultural context of the museum gallery.
Recipients
Dr Elizabeth Bonshek (MV) (Joint-Supervisor) , Dr Andrew Jamieson (UM) (Joint-Supervisor) and Ms Nell Ustundag (PhD Student)