Juan Francisco Salazar Awarded ARC Future Fellowship
Congratulations to Associate Professor Juan Francisco Salazar who has been awarded an Australian Research Council (ARC) Future Fellowship for his project 'Australia a Space-faring Nation: Imaginaries and Practices of Space Futures'.
Associate Professor Salazar will receive just over $1 million to investigate the challenges, opportunities and implications of outer space as a site of economic, political, environmental and cultural interest for Australia.
“This funding will help me continue ongoing cultural research on human life in extreme environments that I have been conducting for a decade in Antarctica, and initiate a new study of Australia’s role in the new space economy, civil space sector and international engagement, through a better understanding of social and technological imaginaries of outer space and the role of government and commercial venture start-ups,” says Associate Professor Salazar.
Project Details
Australia a Space-faring Nation: Imaginaries and Practices of Space Futures
Researcher: Associate Professor Juan Francisco Salazar
Total awarded budget: $1,022,064
Project summary: This project investigates the challenges, opportunities and implications of outer space as a site of economic, political, environmental and cultural interest for Australia. Combining ethnography and creative practice, the project analyses how a range of imaginaries of outer space are produced through a study of the development of Australia’s National Space Agency, the role of new venture capital firms in Australia, and scientific research on alien life in terrestrial analogue sites in Australia, the US and Chile. Research outputs will contribute to national research capacity in social studies of science, foster opportunities for international interdisciplinary collaborations, and inspire Australian public engagement with space research.
Associate Professor Salazar's project is one of three Future Fellowships awarded to Western Sydney University academics with Associate Professor Jeff Powell being awarded funding for 'Understanding Mycorrhizal Phenotypes Using Functional Traits' and Dr James East being awarded funding for 'Diagram Categories and Transformation Semigroups'. Read the full media release.
Posted: 17 October 2019
