ARC grants reward University of Sydney research leadership
The Australian Research Council has acknowledged the excellence of University of Sydney research with almost $31 million in funding for 81 areas, including more than $803,000 for two Indigenous Discovery Grants.
The ARC announcement, made by the federal education minister Simon Birmingham in Adelaide today, included $22.4 million for 58 Discovery Projects at the University.
The minister announced more than $357 million for 899 new research projects nationally.
Sixteen early career researchers at the University of Sydney were awarded $5.53 million, a seven percent increase on last year’s result while $2.18 million will support five Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities (LEIF) grants.
“I congratulate all those who have received funding. The diversity of research represented demonstrates our leadership across a broad range of disciplines and areas,” said Professor Duncan Ivison, Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research).
“The funding enables us to make major contributions to society, addressing some of the most complex challenges facing us this century.
“The Discovery Projects include using physics to understand cognitive functions, a collaboration between political and computer scientists to help predict and prevent genocide and crucial work to inform the prosecution of child sexual abuse,” Professor Ivison said.
The funding enables us to make major contributions to society, addressing some of the most complex challenges facing us this century.
The funding will also advance research into the design of nanomaterials, a key focus for the University with its leading role in this area confirmed by the opening of the Australian Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology next year.
The Indigenous Discovery Grants are to analyse the interplay of sport, education, health and wellbeing in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and dedicated research on the impact of disability.
Other early career and LEIF grants include an investigation of the importance of the placebo effect in humans, using big data and real-time surveillance to advance veterinary science research, an analysis of information processing in complex biological networks and an exploration of the expression of emotion in in five Aboriginal languages of Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory.
A LEIF grant, led by the University of Sydney, will allow a consortium of 10 universities in NSW and the ACT to collaborate in a new supercomputing facility. An important addition to Australia’s infrastructure it will enable the continuation of computational research in a diversity of areas from astrophysics to bioinformatics, environmental science, information technology and engineering.
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