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Researchers at The University of Western Australia's Business School will be embarking on five new projects with the assistance of funding received in the latest round of Australian Research (ARC) Council Discovery Project grants.

The projects will examine global consumption patterns, proactive work behaviour, enhancing innovation, the economic cost of insider trading, and Global Union Federations.

Dean of the UWA Business School, Winthrop Professor Phil Dolan, said the success of UWA Business School researchers in the latest round of ARC funding reflected the School's commitment to quality research.

‘Success in ARC grants is a key indicator of esteem for the faculty members concerned and also for the Business School's profile in WA and across Australia,' he said.

‘This is an excellent outcome in what was an extremely competitive round of ARC funding.'

In one project, Winthrop Professor Ken Clements will analyse global consumption patterns with a large number of commodities, estimating the income and price sensitivities of consumption.

Meanwhile, Winthrop Professor Sharon Parker will examine "wise proactivity", aiming to develop managers who can motivate their staff to make things happen while at the same time preventing misguided and ineffective proactivity.

"Innovation"-the generation of new ideas and technologies-will be the focus of a third project being undertaken by Associate Professor Sharon Purchase, Associate Professor Doina Olaru, and Winthrop Professor Geoff Soutar, along with Australian and international researchers. The team hopes to enable managers and policy makers to understand the mechanisms behind innovation and implement policies aimed at enhancing innovation processes.

Additionally, the UWA Business School's Professor Sirimon Treepongkaruna will participate in a project based at The University of Queensland examining the economic cost of insider trading.

In the final project, the activities of the Global Union Federations in India and Indonesia will be analysed by the UWA Business School's Associate Professor Michael Gillan, in research led by the University of Sydney.

All five projects are due to begin in 2013.

UWA received a total of $21.7 million in grants across all faculties in the Australian Research Council's latest round of funding. The money will fund a total of 58 UWA projects across three categories: Discovery Projects, Discovery Early Career Researcher Award and Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities.

Media references

Verity Chia (UWA Business School) +618 6488 1346
Catherine Vogel (UWA Business School) +618 6488 7340