Seeking a circular economy of human nutrition:sewage farming in four Australian cities

In an era of increasing enthusiasm for recycling and water conservation, we trace the history of urban Australian efforts to re-use the plant nutrients in human excrement to produce food. From the widespread use of nightsoil on market gardens to experiments with sewage farming in multiple Australian cities, only Melbourne has maintained nutrient re-use through sewage farming. Where other cities had insufficient political support to enable the expenditure, planning and technical adaptation needed to productively use increasing sewage output, Melbourne, located on an enclosed bay unsuitable for the expedient disposal of raw sewage, had institutional leadership that saw sufficient investment for the sewage farm to become a socially accepted long-term success. The legacies of these histories persist into the present.</p

Ethnic proximity, mobility and (non)-belonging:middle-class Singaporean migrants in China

New global multi-directional migration flows are decentering extant analyses of White expatriate migration. As migration becomes more diversified, new lines of intellectual inquiry are surfacing about the experiences of middle-class non-white expatriates. This paper uses the case study of China, which with the rise in immigration, has an increasingly diverse ‘expatriate’ population. While the visibility of White expatriates in non-white-majority host countries may compel them to adopt lifestyles segregated from the local population, expatriates of Chinese heritage in China have the (dis)advantage of blending in with the local population. This paper examines the experiences of Singaporean-Chinese migrants in China where their ethnic proximity to the Chinese can be both a boon and a bane. We present our findings in three sections addressing: first, how ethnic proximity can enable mobilities including motility and a mobile sense of belonging; second, how mobilities can condition ethnic proximity as experiences of privilege but also reminders of non-belonging; and third, how participants’ change in life phases i.e. temporalities shift meanings of proximity, mobility and mobile belonging. Through highlighting the multidimensional nature of mobilities–proximity, motility, temporalities–this paper contributes to studies of middling migration, (ethnic) proximity and mobilities.</p

‘I want to be a part of their conversation’:Asian immigrant teachers navigating belongingness in Australian schools

Migration has resulted in increasing teacher diversity in the teaching workforce in many countries. Yet, the prevailing perception in the receiving countries regarding who the teachers are and how they should be and act has made the professional transition challenging for immigrant teachers who do not fit into this frame. This study examines how immigrant teachers construct their belongingness to their receiving schools. Using a qualitative inductive approach, this paper reports on the experiences of 10 teachers who migrated from Asia to teach in Australia. Findings revealed that teachers’ sense of belonging occurred on a continuum and was co-constructed by their professional identity, vulnerability, and intercultural perspectives. We conclude by presenting the theoretical model developed from data in this study, its implications, and recommendations.</p

Exploring Giftedness and the Gifted Learner in Education and Beyond:An Autoethnographic Study with Critical Friends

The concept of giftedness is complex, contested and evolving and may be thus frustratingly challenging to apply in practice. One area of emerging research is understanding the personal experiences of those who identify as gifted in order to better represent the myriad culturally diverse conceptions of giftedness that evolve over a lifetime. In this article, I employ an autoethnographic approach to explore aspects of my adult identity as an atypical learner. This journey unfolds in crafted vignettes that reveal the complexities and multi-dimensionality of my learning and are analysed using Gagné’s Differentiated Model of Giftedness and Talent (DMGT). As I investigate my journey as a gifted lifelong learner at school, then as a teacher, teacher educator and corporate executive, three critical friends, the other authors of this paper, offer an etic perspective about my experiences of giftedness. The aim of the article is to illuminate the importance of examining personal experiences, stories and voice as a way of conceptualising giftedness, and to position giftedness as an evolving lifelong experience. In the article we offer several implications for the normalisation of giftedness in education which resonates into adulthood.The concept of giftedness is complex, contested and evolving and may be thus frustratingly challenging to apply in practice. One area of emerging research is understanding the personal experiences of those who identify as gifted in order to better represent the myriad culturally diverse conceptions of giftedness that evolve over a lifetime. In this article, I employ an autoethnographic approach to explore aspects of my adult identity as an atypical learner. This journey unfolds in crafted vignettes that reveal the complexities and multi-dimensionality of my learning and are analysed using Gagné’s Differentiated Model of Giftedness and Talent (DMGT). As I investigate my journey as a gifted lifelong learner at school, then as a teacher, teacher educator and corporate executive, three critical friends, the other authors of this paper, offer an etic perspective about my experiences of giftedness. The aim of the article is to illuminate the importance of examining personal experiences, stories and voice as a way of conceptualising giftedness, and to position giftedness as an evolving lifelong experience. In the article we offer several implications for the normalisation of giftedness in education which resonates into adulthood.</p

The WHO pandemic agreement’s missing epistemic architectures:infodemics and antimicrobial resistance as examples

On 20 May 2025, the 78th World Health Assembly adopted the World Health Organization’s Pandemic Agreement (PA). With the benefit of lessons learnt from the COVID-19 pandemic, the PA rightly focuses on advancing equity, but we are concerned that the PA appears to apply equity narrowly as distributive justice and neglects epistemic justice. Using infodemics and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) as examples, we argue that the PA misses epistemic architectures. We first explain why infodemics are an important public health concern that the PA seeks to address, even though it does not clearly mention them. We then explain why equity must be interpreted to include epistemic justice. Using infodemics as an example, we subsequently discuss how the epistemic architecture of the PA on infodemics will need to be set out clearly as an annex to the PA or through the adoption of an additional protocol. We note in particular that the PA could help to draw together different normative and human rights approaches and frameworks to meet the requirements of epistemic justice. A similar challenge applies to AMR as an epistemically complex phenomenon, and our argument is that a global response to AMR will require a just and equitable epistemic architecture that the PA could lay the foundation for.</p

Bridging digital finance and ESG success:the role of financing constraints, innovation, and governance

This study investigates the impact of digital finance on corporate ESG performance, using panel data from A-share listed companies on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock markets between 2011 and 2022. Our findings demonstrate that digital finance significantly enhances corporate ESG outcomes, with financing constraints and digital transformation serving as partial mediators and internal control quality acting as a moderating factor. The results from channel tests indicate that digital finance facilitates notable improvements in social performance and corporate governance, while its influence on environmental performance remains limited. Further analysis reveals that the positive impacts of digital finance on ESG are more evident in small-scale, technology-intensive, and non-polluting firms. This study concludes by proposing tailored recommendations for government, financial institutions, and corporations, emphasizing the need for differentiated policies to elevate ESG practices and promote higher quality, sustainable economic, and social development in China.</p

Streamlining Eye-Tracking and Observational Data for Field Study Visual Analysis

Wearable eye-tracking in field studies presents challenges in synchronising gaze data with dynamic stimuli and integrating observational notes from multiple observers. Existing tools often struggle to visualise eye-tracking patterns in complex, real-world environments with frequently changing areas of interest (AOIs). To address this, we propose a streamlined workflow that simplifies analysis preparation by integrating real-time observer notes with eye-tracking data with enhanced timestamp-based synchronisation, improving data mapping, and automating AOI detection with an energy control room use case. This workflow makes eye-tracking tools like Gazealytics more practical for complex field studies. By streamlining data preparation and automation, our method enhances the scalability and usability of eye-tracking analysis in complex environments, enabling more efficient and accurate visual analysis of real-world decision-making.</p

Asking generative artificial intelligence the right questions improves writing performance

Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) tools are widely used by learners and this trend is poised to continue. However, little is known about whether and how GenAI use impacts learning and performance. This study aimed to investigate the effect of GenAI on performance by examining a key affordance of GenAI—seeking help via question asking. We compared the questions that learners asked GenAI versus a human tutor online during a writing task. Using quantitative ethnographic methods, we found that: (a) participants in the GenAI condition asked significantly more questions compared to those in the Tutor condition; (b) GenAI participants tended to ask one-off questions, while Tutor participants tended to have longer conversational exchanges; (c) GenAI participants tended to question pragmatically, asking direct questions about conceptual and procedural knowledge, while Tutor participants tended to make indirect request for feedback; (d) question asking, as measured by epistemic network analysis, mediated the relationship between experimental condition and performance—the more pragmatic the questions, and thus the more like questions in the GenAI condition, the better the performance; and (e) questions in the GenAI condition were driven by social coordination and knowledge deficits, while questions in the Tutor condition were driven by social coordination and establishing common ground. These findings suggest learners may be less hesitant to admit knowledge deficits and more willing to repair them when interacting with GenAI compared to human tutors. Thus, GenAI can be a useful educational tool when improved performance is the goal and human tutoring may benefit from creating a space where learners are more comfortable revealing a lack of knowledge.</p

Life in transit:the work of hyper-mobile gamete couriers in vital mobility infrastructures

Reproductive couriers are critical actors within ‘vital mobility infrastructures’ essential to the movement of ‘precious’ gametes that makes assisted reproduction across different places and times possible. Reasons for transporting gametes are varied and range from movements between clinics when patients change clinics through to complex choreographies internationally to bring sperm, oocytes or embryos together for third party assisted reproduction such as in surrogacy. We draw upon interviews with 15 hyper-mobile couriers and courier company managers as well as gamete donor coordinators. Our aim in this paper is to examine the largely invisible ‘mobile work’ undertaken by couriers in shipping gametes and embryos across the world. We examine the dimensions of these vital mobility infrastructures—technologies; companies; regulations; and social dispositions of courier work as part of the complex supply chains of assisted reproductive cycles. External factors and circumstances such as the war in Ukraine or the COVID pandemic may cause disruptions in supply chains which prevent the movement and transfer of the biomaterials. We extend the concept of vital mobilities by drawing attention to the critical infrastructures they depend upon.</p