$28m funding investment for new University of Sydney research
Food security, epigenetics, media ownership and space weather are among the topics that will be investigated as part of a $28 million funding injection to Sydney research from the Australian Research Council (ARC).
Minister for Education and Training, Senator the Hon. Simon Birmingham has announced that University of Sydney researchers have received 55 Discovery Projects, worth $21 million and 13 Discovery Early Career Researcher Awards (DECRA), worth $4.5 million.
A further $1.7 million was awarded for two Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities grants and almost $700,000 for a Discovery Indigenous project.
Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) Professor Duncan Ivison congratulated University of Sydney academics on the funding success, adding that Sydney had an average success rate of 25 percent in this round and had received $15.5 million more from the ARC in 2017 compared to last year – a 40 percent improvement.
I’m delighted to see so many of our researchers recognised by the ARC.
“This is important and exciting research – from mathematical modelling of viral infections and the dark side of placebos, to the rise of social complexity – that will be of great benefit to the Australian community and beyond.”
The University has already received $24.5 million from the ARC this year for three Australian Laureate Fellowships and five Future Fellowships, as well as three Linkage Projects to work with industry to cut cane toad threat, combat multidrug-resistant bacteria and recover information on millions of museum zoological specimens.
The total amount of ARC funding received in 2017 is $52.5 million, compared to $37 million in 2016.
The University of Sydney researchers awarded grants in this round include:
- Dr Simon Murphy, from the Faculty of Science, was awarded $322,000 for a DECRA to investigate binary star formation with NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope
- Nicole Watson, from the Sydney Law School, was awarded the University’s only Discovery Indigenous grant, valued at $678,000, to incorporate Indigenous voices into judgments and celebrates Indigenous people's contributions to the development of Australian law.
- Associate Professor Timothy Dwyer, from the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, received $315,000 for a Discovery Project to investigate media ownership and online news
- Associate Professor Melinda Cooper, from the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, received $159,000 for a Discovery Project looking at political critiques of deficit spending and public debt
- Associate Professor Peter Kim, from the Faculty of Science, was awarded $401,000 for a Discovery Project to conduct mathematical modelling of viral infections
- Professor Linda Barwick, from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, received $524,000 for a Discovery Project that will demonstrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders' active intervention in public affairs through performances of music and dance
- Professor Assaad Masri, from the Faculty of Engineering and Information Technologies, received a $956,000 LIEF grant to work on cleaner and more efficient processes that will benefit a range of applications from engine design to the generation of new fuels.