Recent Research Grants and Contracts: Garry Robins

2007-2009: Australian Biosecurity CRC for Emerging Infectious Diseases Project, Simulation modelling of urban pandemic influenza in Australia, (with G. Garner, S. Beckett, Professor P. Pattison, Dr R. Watkins, M. McKinnon).


2007-2009  Australian Research Council International Linkage Grant, Modeling cross-level interactions in complex networked social systems (with Professors P. Pattison, University of Melbourne, T. Snijders, Universities of Oxford and Groningen, A. Lomi, Universities of Bologna and Lugano, E. Lazega, University of Paris, J. Padgett, University of Chicago).

The collaborative research will build on and further develop recent innovations in statistical models in social networks. The goal is to enhance our understanding of local network-based processes and their consequences for social systems. We will apply these new methods to the complex multi-level social research problems being investigated by the overseas investigators. Exchanges under the program at the postdoctoral and PhD level will help train the next generation of researchers in the field of complex social modelling.


2006-2010 Chief Investigator. Australian Research Council Discovery Grant. Statistical models for social networks, network-based social processes and complex social systems. (with Professor P. Pattison, University of Melbourne, Professor T.Snijders, Oxford and Groningen Universities).

This project will enhance understanding of complex social systems by developing empirically testable statistical models for interactive, dynamic social processes.  The research will extend the reach of our general modelling framework to handle: larger and more complex social systems;  data sampled from such large systems; temporal change of such systems; and more complex individual behaviours within such systems. The results will strengthen the mathematical foundation for modelling in the social sciences, and will have immediate application in several diverse domains, including: the structure of networks relevant to disease transmission; the social epidemiology of mental health; public opinion dynamics; and acculturation processes.


2005-2008 Research agreement with the Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO). Social and organisational networks and their relevance to organisational design and performance. (with Professor P. Pattison, University of Melbourne).

2006-2008: Research agreement with Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO). Advanced social network analysis techniques. (with P.Pattison)


2004-2009 Participant in Australian Research Council Research Networks:


2005. Theories and methods for understanding human social networks. Workshop for DSTO, Adelaide University, 2-6 May 2005 (with P. Pattison)


2003-2005 Chief Investigator. Australian Research Council Discovery Grant. Modelling dynamic interactive social processes. (with Professor P. Pattison, University of Melbourne, Professor T.Snijders, Groningen University).
This project aims to enhance our understanding of complex social systems by developing empirically testable mathematical models for interactive, dynamic social processes.  Models will be developed for such processes as the development of interpersonal and inter-organisational networks, and social influence and diffusion. They will be assessed using new and exacting evaluation techniques. 

2005 Chief Investigator. Australian Football League Research Grant. Masculine behaviours and social networks in team structure. (with Dean Lusher, University of Melbourne, Peter Kremer, Deakin University).
This project examines perceptions of masculinity and team structures within elite male sporting teams.

2005 Chief Investigator. University of Melbourne/CSIRO Collaborative Research Support Scheme. The management of critical water resources:  inter-organisational networks and organizational practices in the management of an urban waterway.  (with P.Pattison, University of Melbourne, G.Syme, P. Walker et al, CSIRO).
The primary aim of the project is to develop a model for the network of institutions and institutional practices relevant to the overall management of an urban waterway (the Swan River in Western Australia).  The model will illuminate the network processes underpinning the relationships and river management practices of key institutions, and hence provide a necessary empirical basis for the design of a program to enhance management of this critical water resource.  An additional aim is to increase the capacity of CSIRO and University of Melbourne participants to apply and adapt new social and behavioural science modelling approaches to problems of high national priority.

2002-2004 Chief Investigator. Australian Research Council Discovery Grant. The formation and maintenance of stereotypes through communication. (with Assoc. Professor Y. Kashima, University of Melbourne, Dr. E. Kashima, Swinburne University, & Professor M. Tindale, Loyola University of Chicago).

Stereotypes are culturally shared beliefs about social groups. Although many stereotypes may be formed on the basis of hearsay, and often maintained through our everyday conversations, little is known about how they are formed, maintained aand transformed through interpersonal communications. This project examines this question with a view to developing a social psychological theory of how culturally shared beliefs may be formed, mainitained and transformed, especially when they have undesirable consequences such as prejudice and discrimination.

2004: Chief Investigator, Australian Research Council research networks seed funding, Complex networked social systems. (with P.Pattison et al).

2004: Chief Investigator, University of Melbourne/CSIRO Collaborative Research Support Scheme, Spatially embedded social networks. (with P.Pattison, P. Walker, H. Wong).

This project is intended to establish a longer term collaboration with the new CSIRO Network Theory Working Group. There are two primary aims.  to support participation in the proposed activities of the CSIRO Network Group;  to initiate a new research programme on spatially-embedded social networks.

2002-2003  Chief Investigator, Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO) contract, Organisational network analysis project (with P.Pattison).


2003 Chief Investigator, Beyondblue Centre for Excellence in Depression and Related Disorders research grant, Depression in farmers and farming families
               (F. Judd, et al).  

2002-2003 Consultant, Research Council of the French Ministry of the Education Grant. Emmanuel Lazega and Lise Mounier. Cognition, social networks, and organizational change.

2001-2006 Consultant, US NIDA research grant. Morris, M., et al. Modeling HIV and STDs in drug-user and sexual networks.

2000-2002 Chief Investigator, Australian Research Council Large Grant. Statistical models for interactive social processes. (with Professor P.Pattison, University of Melbourne, Professor Stanley Wasserman, University of Illinois).

Problems in modelling social phenomena include how best to specify interdependent actions, and to model interdependent observations across different analytic levels.  In this research, using a framework originating in spatial statistics, we construct new models for social phenomena built directly from assumptions about the interdependent nature of social observations. The models will be tested with computer simulations, with existing data sets, and with data collected in a study of friendship dynamics. We will also develop exploratory and evaluative modelling techniques.  The outcome will be greatly enhanced descriptions of social phenomena, enabling researchers to test more precise hypotheses about social processes.

2001 Chief Investigator, Beyondblue Research Grant. Rural Health Promotion Project: measuring anxiety and depressive symptoms in rural Australia (with F.Judd, H. Jackson, P. Pattison, G. Murray, G. Hodgins, C. Fraser, M. Humphreys).

2001  Chief Investigator, Dynamic models for interactive processes in social settings. ARC International Researcher Exchange Program grant (with Professor P.Pattison, University of Melbourne, Professor Harrison White, Columbia University, Dr. Ann Mische, Rutgers University)

The project aims to construct and test new models for interactive social processes that address three core features of social phenomena: (a) the  “situated”, or locally interactive, nature of social phenomena; (b) the interdependence of personal, social, organisational and cultural aspects of social interaction; and (c) the dynamic nature of social interaction.  The expected outcomes are models constructed from theoretically-defensible and testable assumptions about the interactive and dynamic nature of social interactions that offer greatly enhanced precision in modelling a wide range of social phenomena, including macro- and micro-organisational behaviour, group functioning, and social influence.

2001 Chief Investigator, The settings of social processes. Melbourne Research Development Grants Scheme
 

Random graph models for social networks present sophisticated advances in analysing social processes. Our methodological innovations include models that incorporate setting structures, local regions of social space that express inter-dependencies among social entities (persons or groups). Settings may be exogenous, or emerge from local patterns of relationships, implying different models and different understandings of social phenomena. This project will investigate the settings implicated in actual social behaviour by applying settings-based models to several data sets, using both statistical estimation procedures and computer simulations. Outcomes will include better understanding of social processes, and formulation of precise hypotheses for further empirical investigation.

2000  Chief Investigator, University of Melbourne Psychology Department Research Support Scheme Grant. Social and socio-temporal neighbourhoods within a university college.

1999  Research contract with Australian Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO), High volume multirelational C3I Instrumentation Data (with P.Pattison).

1999 Associate investigator: NSF grant SBR-9820146, Dynamics from Social Settings: Representations of Interdependent Social Forms (White, Mische & Gibson, 1999, Lazarsfeld Centre for Social Sciences, Columbia University).

Updated 3 January 2008