The long thirteenth century (c1170 to c1320) saw the emergence of three coherent repertories of polyphonic music: settings of liturgical chant called organum, motets that were originally derived from parts of organum, and the conductus. Organum and the motet have been the subject of impressive levels of musicological study in the last 150 years whereas the conductus - despite its status as the first consistent repertory of newly-composed polyphony in the history of music - has remained somewhat in the shadows. Although the repertory has been catalogued, little work, although very distinguished, has been built on these bibliographical foundations. The conductus therefore stands at the centre of this project, merging Latin poetry and music in a single genre.\nCantum pulcriorem invenire (the title of the project quotes lines from the treatise Ars cantus mensurabilis that instruct would-be composers of conductus first of all 'to find a more beautiful melody') seeks to understand the Latin poetry and music of the conductus with a view to reinstating it alongside organum and motet, the position that it enjoyed in the eyes and words of all thirteenth-century theorists. This understanding is gained by an analysis of repertories and chronology, poetry and music, in conjunction with a review of the highly contested question of the genre's rhythm and metre. This then serves as the basis for an examination of cadential function, intertexts, leading to a study of the function of the conductus as a mixed form in the context of the literary prosimetrum. The research also considers geographical aspects of the conductus (its particular cultivation in England, the Iberian Peninsula and south-western German-speaking lands) and its fate on the shifting generic horizon around 1300.\nThe research involves four elements: a monograph, a recataloguing of the entire repertory, practice-led research to contribute to some of the key parts of the project and two PhDs. The recataloguing of the project depends heavily on the unpublished work of the late Gordon Anderson (d. 1981), an Australian musicologist, and is conducted in collaboration with the Universities of Sydney (both its Centre for Medieval Studies and its eScholarship environment) and of New England at Armidale. The second element is the examination of the repertory from a performative standpoint. Using world-class performers with an extensive track record in the performance of medieval polyphony, and building on the PI's experience in this area, Cantum pulcriorem invenire investigates the questions of rhythm and metre in the conductus by bringing various solutions to the question into a performative arena and creating recordings both on CD with a commercial label and as internet-delivered sound files. The two PhD dissertations will work in detail on areas of the repertory that the project itself will treat coherently but in general terms: the question of the relationship between the English conductus and other genres and the issue of intertextual links both within the conductus repertory itself between the conductus and other genres.\nThe project will be disseminated in the form of a monograph, published by Cambridge University Press, recordings in two formats (three commercial recordings with Hyperion; a series of working documents placed on the PRIMO (Practice as Research in Music Online) website), and an online catalogue of the repertory hosted by the University of Sydney's e-scholarship environment.\n

The project aims at developing a pioneering approach to the reception of Classical Antiquity in children’s and young adults’ contemporary culture. This newly identified research field offers valuable insights into the processes leading to the formation of the culture recipients’ identities along with their initiation into adulthood. However, the most vital potential of this phenomenon remains unexploited, for the research is still selective, focused mainly on Western culture. With my project, I intend to overcome these limitations by applying regional perspectives without the pejorative implication of regional as parochial or inferior. I recognize regions as extremely valuable contexts of the reception of Antiquity, which is not only passively taken in, but also actively reshaped in children’s and young adults’ culture in response to regional and global challenges. Thus, the essence of this innovative approach consists in comparative studies of differing reception models not only across Europe but also America, Australia & New Zealand and – a bold but necessary step – in parts of the world not commonly associated with Graeco-Roman tradition: Africa and Asia. The shared heritage of Classical Antiquity, recently enhanced by the global influence of popular culture (movies, Internet activities, computer games inspired by the classical tradition), gives a unique opportunity – through the reception filter – to gain deeper understanding of the key social, political and cultural transformations underway at various locations. The added value of this original research, carried out by an international team of scholars, will be its extremely broad impact on the frontiers of scholarship, education and culture: we will elaborate a supra-regional survey of classical references, publish a number of analyses of crucial reception cases, and prepare materials on how to use ancient myths in work with disabled children, thus contributing to integration and stimulating cultural exchange.

Earth's outer layer is made up of plates that slide past each other, move into one another or pull apart. A large percentage of the World's population is living close to such boundaries. The last two decades of remote sensing has shown that our view of how plates deform along these boundaries needs to be revised. We now recognise Slow Earthquakes (SEs), which slip more slowly than regular earthquakes, but significantly faster than normal plate movements. Intriguingly, these SEs seem to be triggered by very low forces equivalent to the weight of a filled bathtub and their observed characteristics cannot, at present, be reconciled with our current understanding of how rocks deform. Plate-scale deformation is governed by processes active at the microscopic scale, however the nature of the processes enabling observed SE slip rates remains enigmatic. Because SEs can influence the likelihood of damaging earthquakes, they need to be understood if we are to better assess hazards and risks associated with plate boundary motions. The current approach to this challenge relies heavily on data from sensitive instruments detecting remotely very subtle ground movement. Because the SEs are occurring in rocks that are many kilometres beneath our feet, there is no direct way to test the theories that have been put forward to explain SEs. This reliance on inferences rather than direct evidence poses a major barrier to our understanding of SEs. Luckily, the Earth presents us with another set of independent observations. SEs should leave an imprint in the geological record; they accommodate most of the deformation over 100-km-wide regions in many subduction zones, where one plate dives into the Earth's interior beneath another. Thus, in principle, in-depth analyses of exhumed rocks found in regions that were once subject to SEs should hold the signature of the processes responsible. But to date there is no consensus on these signatures. We hypothesise that SEs have remained invisible in the geological record because we currently do not know what to look for. In our exploratory project, we use (1) geophysics of SEs to help us to narrow down the processes likely to produce them (2) laboratory experiments that can reproduce SE behaviour - the resulting samples can show and teach us what rocks would look like following SEs. (3) exhumed SE rocks from suitable field locations, allowing us to test if our theory is correct (namely that the identified processes are indeed responsible for SEs) Geophysical data tells us that the process responsible for SE must enable rocks to flow like a dough and to suddenly crack and move fast. Interestingly, decades of laboratory deformation experiments have shown exactly this behaviour. Such "Slow Fractures" closely resemble SE behaviour and occur when deforming a fluid-rich rock. However, such experiments have been regarded as "failed" as they could not be used to assess the slow flow behaviour of rocks interpreted to govern plate deformation. We will test our hypothesis by utilising these so far largely neglected experiments. We will perform analyses down to the nanometer scale using only-now available analytical techniques. Equipped with our newly trained eye to recognise the predicted SE process, we will carry out field work in an exhumed area currently presumed to hold Slow Earthquake fingerprints and perform analyses on natural samples. If our hypothesis is right, we will for the first time be able to use the geological record to help constrain processes that have previously only been visible to geophysical data. Close discussion with the team's slow slip, remote sensing expert will ensure inferred geological processes can explain observed SE remote sensing data. If we are correct, our "proof of concept" project will lay the foundation for fundamental understanding of SEs and allow the team to build-up the knowledge-base to propose a well-founded, larger SE focused research project.