Bumper crop of research grants

The University of Sydney has strengthened its position as Australia's top research institution with the announcement today of the latest round of grants from the Australian Research Council (ARC) and the NHMRC, with Sydney leading the way in new funding.

Australian Research Council (ARC) grants

Across the University of Sydney, researchers have been awarded a total of $49 million for 118 projects commencing in 2007, $16 million more than any other university in New South Wales and $12 million more than any Victorian university.

The Faculty of Medicine has contributed to the total by being successful in obtaining over $4 million for research into areas such as Alzheimers’ disease, depression, malaria, tissue engineering, travellers’ health and the quality of live of the disabled.

Seventeen members of the Faculty of Medicine were successful in their applications for Discovery funding.

In addition, Associate Professor Deborah Schofield, Northern Rivers University Department of Rural Health was successful in obtaining $90,000 for a Linkage Scheme examining the impact of ill health on the aging workforce.

NHMRC grants

The University has received more than $46 million for health and medical research in the latest round of funding from the NHMRC. Sydney's funding allocation, announced this week, is the biggest in New South Wales.

One of the successful Sydney projects promises to resolve the long-standing and fiercely argued debate about which diets work and why.

The study will involve groups of volunteers kept in laboratory conditions for a week at a time and fed diets with "carefully manipulated macro-nutrient content," says the project's chief investigator, ARC Federation Fellow Stephen Simpson.

Associate Professor Jonathon Craig and Professor Sandra Eades both received close to $2.5 million for separate research projects into indigenous health.

Other research areas to receive funding included research into sleep apnoea, lower back pain, diabetes and anorexia nervosa.