Preschool researchers share in $12.5 m ARC Discovery Project funding

Researchers from the University of Western Australia (UWA) have been awarded $12.5 million in Federal funding for 27 research projects ranging from a project to save seagrass from climate change to developing intelligent virtual human companions and exploring the social practices of oral health in Australian preschool children.

The projects are funded under the Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Project scheme which aims to expand the knowledge base and research capacity in Australia and support research that will provide economic, commercial, environmental or social benefits to Australians.

Professor Linda Slack-Smith, and her international team from UWA’s School of Population and Global Health, received $660,000 over three years to explore the social practices of oral health in Australian preschoolers.

The team hopes to identify practices that promote or undermine children’s oral health and can inform policy directions and practices to improve health outcomes.

“We intend to move away from focusing on individuals and individual behaviour to identify and map social practices, including the actions, materials and meanings families attribute to child’s oral health,” Professor Slack-Smith said.

To learn more about Professor Slack-Smith’s work, please see here.