Grants & Opportunities

Does emotion regulation flexibility improve functioning in refugees? This project aims identify the mechanisms by which low-intensity interventions improve functioning in refugees living in low-and-middle income countries (LMICs). Despite these interventions being implemented with thousands of refugees worldwide, many refugees fail to respond. This project will lead to significant advances in knowledge regarding how and for whom low intensity interventions work. Expected outcomes include enhanced capacity of NGOs to deliver effective interventions to refugees living in LMICs, and to tailor their services to those who are at greatest risk of not responding. Benefits include improved functioning of refugees living in LMICs, and enhanced capacity of Australia to meet its international refugee obligations. . Scheme: Linkage Projects. Field: 5203 - Clinical and Health Psychology. Lead: Prof Angela Nickerson

Unlocking mine waste potential: carbon sequestration and metals extraction. This project aims to systematically investigate a proof-of-concept engineering process for transforming mine waste into value. The research will develop and employ state-of-the-art tools to advance our knowledge of efficiently sequestering carbon dioxide using ultramafic nickel mine tailings, while also enabling the extraction of critical metals—particularly nickel—and the production of value-added products, such as high-purity magnesium carbonate hydrate and silica. Successful outcomes from this research will provide benefits for mitigating global warming, supplying critical metals for renewable energy technologies, and facilitating the transition of Australia's mining industry towards sustainability.. Scheme: Linkage Projects. Field: 4101 - Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation. Lead: Prof Fang Xia

Towards sustainable co-management of groundwater in the Beetaloo region, NT. This project aims to improve understanding of connections between groundwater, climate, surface water and Indigenous cultural values, in a region of major resource development in the Northern Territory. It will use a novel, inter-disciplinary approach, involving remote sensing of climate-water-landscape interactions, documenting Indigenous water knowledge, environmental isotope monitoring, and water policy analysis. The project expects to generate enhanced understanding of hydrological processes, and associated Indigenous cultural values. This is anticipated to improve capacity to analyse risks to groundwater-dependent values, and foster greater Indigenous participation in water planning and monitoring, benefiting multiple stakeholders.. Scheme: Linkage Projects. Field: 3707 - Hydrology. Lead: Prof Matthew Currell

Improving the success of hybrid living shorelines for coastal protection. This project aims to improve the success of hybrid living shorelines that combine the restoration of mangroves and oysters with engineered structures to enhance restoration outcomes and coastal hazard resilience. It expects to generate new knowledge on the effectiveness of innovative coastal-manager-led solutions that have not yet been robustly evaluated. Expected outcomes of this project include delivery of the technical guidelines needed to practically design and implement nature-based coastal protection at scale. This should provide significant socio-economic and environmental benefits through improving Australia’s capacity to adapt to increased erosion and flood risk caused by climate change and coastal urbanisation.. Scheme: Linkage Projects. Field: 3103 - Ecology. Lead: Dr Rebecca Morris

The Macroderma initiative: conserving ghost bats and informing development. This project aims to improve methods for capturing biological information required for environmental assessments of highly mobile species and enable strategic environmental planning in Northern Australia. Using Australia’s iconic ghost bat as a focus, the project will test and apply emerging technologies to obtain key information on a species’ population status and its critical resources to inform assessments of ecological impacts of industry development. Important benefits of the project include information and tools for streamlining development approvals and accurately assessing risks to threatened species to improve outcomes for both our economy and our natural environment.. Scheme: Linkage Projects. Field: 4104 - Environmental Management. Lead: Prof Sam Banks

Pioneering reproductive biotechnology innovations for equine breeding. This project aims to develop the world's first commercially viable system of in vitro fertilisation (IVF) for horses. The equine industry is seeking reproductive technologies that allow rapid genetic gain to improve the health, welfare and quality of progeny. This project will exploit recent breakthroughs in molecular and cell biology, veterinary practice and biotechnology, by assembling these research findings into practical systems and products optimised for successful production of foals in vitro. These technologies will boost the productivity and international competitiveness of Australia's equestrian sporting disciplines, and position the Australian biotechnology sector as global leaders in animal reproductive technologies. . Scheme: Linkage Projects. Field: 3009 - Veterinary Sciences. Lead: Dr Aleona Swegen

Natural flood management: Nature-based flood mitigation in the 21st Century. The 2021-22 floods in Eastern Australia revealed the vulnerability of rivers to climate extremes. To prepare for a future with more intense floods, we must integrate nature-based flood mitigation strategies into river management. This project aims to address the potential of using Natural Flood Management (NFM) as a 21st Century flood mitigation solution. NFM uses natural processes to slow floods, reduce erosion, and minimise flood risk. Collaborating with NSW government partners the project expects to deliver scientific evidence for NFM and solutions for implementation in river rehabilitation, planning and community capacity building. The results will impact society's ability to adapt, reduce economic costs, and benefit the environment.. Scheme: Linkage Projects. Field: 4104 - Environmental Management. Lead: Prof Kirstie Fryirs

Generating green hydrogen from mining wastes. This project aims to convert waste from the mining industry into direct energy materials as effective catalysts for green hydrogen production from water splitting. The goal will be achieved by tailing activation, catalytic activity evaluation, tailing-based catalysts mass-production, real water performance assessment, and bench-top hydrogen electrolyzer fabrication. The outcomes of this project will provide a sustainable solution to the significant problem of the disposal of waste from the Australian mining industry, supply affordable hydrogen to Australian energy industry, and offer a tangible approach towards Australia's National Hydrogen Strategy and the zero-carbon emission goal of Australia’s Long-Term Emissions Reduction Plan by 2050.. Scheme: Mid-Career Industry Fellowships. Field: 4016 - Materials Engineering. Lead: Prof Ziqi Sun

Mineral processing in a fossil fuel free world. This project aims to address the challenge of securing critical minerals for the energy transition amidst declining fossil fuel supplies. The urgency stems from the Paris Agreement's mandate to limit global warming to 1.5°C and IEA's net-zero emissions by 2050. The research seeks to overcome barriers associated with the current dependency of fossil fuels in mineral processing through the development of adoption pathways for hydrochloric acid processing for critical mineral recovery, battery-grade mineral production and demonstration of renewable energy integration. The project's outcomes hold significance in expediting mineral processing, decoupled from fossil fuels, to secure a supply of critical minerals for the energy transition.. Scheme: Mid-Career Industry Fellowships. Field: 4019 - Resources Engineering and Extractive Metallurgy. Lead: Prof Sara Couperthwaite

Future-proofing Australia's groundwater supplies using hydrogeophysics. The aim of this Fellowship is to drive advancements in hydrogeophysics – which quantifies and bolsters understanding of shallow subsurface processes and properties – to help future-proof Australia’s groundwater supplies. The project will develop improved and novel hydrogeophysical techniques for solving groundwater supply and contamination challenges that are relevant to Australian industry. It will harness the expertise of geophysics partners to increase industry knowledge as well as optimise and commercialise innovative methodologies to manage groundwater more robustly. Translating research into practice will increase uptake of these new techniques and technologies, replacing existing inefficient and invasive industry practices.. Scheme: Mid-Career Industry Fellowships. Field: 3707 - Hydrology. Lead: A/Prof Eddie Banks

Transforming Auslan education in Australia. This project aims to develop innovative and enduring resources for Auslan teaching. Australia has a acute skills shortage in sign language teaching. This project is a novel interdisciplinary collaboration with Deaf Auslan teachers that aims to build their capacity to apply linguistic insights in their own teaching. Expected outcomes include new knowledge of how to effectively teach sign languages, evidence-based teaching resources, training materials about Auslan in Auslan and a National Network delivering preservice Auslan teacher training, ongoing professional learning and a resource hub. Anticipated benefits include professionalising Auslan teaching, improving student learning and creating a more inclusive Australia for Deaf people.. Scheme: Mid-Career Industry Fellowships. Field: 4704 - Linguistics. Lead: A/Prof Louisa Willoughby

Sustainable Transformation of Agricultural Waste into High-Value Substrates. This project aims to transform agricultural waste into low-cost, high-quality substrates and soil amendment products for the agricultural industry using advanced sustainable release technology. This will be achieved by developing controlled-release cellulose-nanoclays with precision-tuned nutrient release and water retention, offering a sustainable and eco-friendly solution for mushroom cultivation and crop growth. The project is expected to create new commercial opportunities and advance local production of value-added agricultural products, foster a circular economy, and promote environmental sustainability. By advancing agricultural waste management, it will also help position Australia as a global leader in sustainable agriculture.. Scheme: Mid-Career Industry Fellowships. Field: 4016 - Materials Engineering. Lead: A/Prof Li Li

Decision support for climate-adapted bushfire risk mitigation. As climate change intensifies bushfire risks, there is an urgent need for fire management tools that remain effective in a warming world. This project aims to optimise the delivery of current risk mitigation tools and identify pathways to develop new tools across fuel management, suppression and community engagement. This research is expected to generate new knowledge to support climate-adapted bushfire risk mitigation across multiple, sometimes competing values. The project goal is to transform the capacity of the country’s leading fire agencies to embed climate change into their decision-making, setting a global standard for climate-adapted fire management and leading to improved outcomes for human health, the economy and the environment.. Scheme: Mid-Career Industry Fellowships. Field: 4104 - Environmental Management. Lead: A/Prof Hamish Clarke

Break insect narcosis to enhance actual intake lethality of pesticide. This project aims to sustain phosphine as a cost-effective fumigant, even for phosphine-resistant stored grain insects. It does so by introducing pulse fumigation technology, which hinges on an in-depth understanding of insect respiration patterns and narcotic states during phosphine exposure. This newfound insight into individual insect behaviour and physiology will drive the development and optimisation of the novel pulse fumigation technology. The project contributes to the evolution theory of chemical resistance, offers input for techno-economic models, and supports licensing applications. Ultimately, it provides a more potent pest control tool for chemical-resistant insects, safeguarding the Australian grain industry's reputation.. Scheme: Early Career Industry Fellowships. Field: 3004 - Crop and Pasture Production. Lead: Dr Xin Du

Restoring a resilient mallee woodland by translating ecology into action. The conservation industry must deliver landscape-scale, cost-effective restoration, that is resilient to disturbances. This project aims to examine how best to restore function and resilience to 1 million ha of degraded Eucalyptus mallee woodland: critical habitat for many threatened species. This project expects to improve our understanding of the complex interactions between fire, grazing and climate in this system, and the synergistic roles of plants and animals. It is anticipated this project will enhance the capacity of land managers to effectively restore functional mallee woodland, and more broadly, provide significant benefits to the conservation industry regarding the restoration of arid landscapes in an altered climate future.. Scheme: Early Career Industry Fellowships. Field: 4102 - Ecological Applications. Lead: Dr Heather Neilly

Speed breeding with a twist for water-saving low-carbon rice. Rice has one of the highest environmental footprints among crops world-wide, because of the water use and methane emission during production. This project aims to combine drought and cold tolerance traits of rice, necessary for ecofriendly dryland production, through a field-based speed breeding approach. It will allow to rapidly advance and select drought and cold tolerant rice genotypes and will generate new knowledge on the genetic drivers of combined stress tolerance. Expected outcomes includes tolerant germplasms for further breeding and variety development purposes. This will lead to ‘climate smart’ dryland varieties and will provide significant benefit by transforming rice production to save water and lower the carbon footprint.. Scheme: Early Career Industry Fellowships. Field: 3004 - Crop and Pasture Production. Lead: Dr Szabolcs Lehoczki-Krsjak

New methods to protect honey bees from Varroa destructor mites. The most destructive pest of the honey bee is the parasitic mite Varroa destructor. This pest arrived in Australia in 2022 and eradication efforts failed in September 2023. We must now manage this pest if Australia’s honey bee industries are to survive. The aim of this project is to develop a new chemical free mite control method. In collaboration with two beekeeping companies this project will exploit a specific sensitivity of the mite to heat to create a heat based control method for commercial hives. The outcome will be a new robust method for mite control to enhance bee hive health and management. This will benefit sustainable apiculture in Australia which is vital for both pollination of food crops and honey production.. Scheme: Early Career Industry Fellowships. Field: 3003 - Animal Production. Lead: Dr Théotime Colin

Partnering with aged care providers to develop accessible outcome measures. This project aims to develop evidence-based tools designed for Aged Care organisations to drive inclusivity in self-reporting by older people as part of the National Mandatory Quality Indicator Program. Recommended by the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety, it will allow Aged Care providers to include people with dementia themselves when assessing their quality of their care. Expected outcomes include accessible-communication versions of the validated person-centred quality assessment tools recently implemented as part of the National Mandatory Quality Indicator program (namely the Quality of Life Aged Care Consumers and Quality of Care Experience Aged Care Consumers Instruments). . Scheme: Early Career Industry Fellowships. Field: 4203 - Health Services and Systems. Lead: Dr Rachel Milte

Extraction of the critical rare earth elements from mine waste. The transition to a carbon-free economy requires substantial amounts of the critical rare earth elements, for which demand is likely to outstrip supply in coming decades. Vast amounts of rare earths are present in the mine waste of some copper-gold mines, but cannot be economically extracted. This project aims to use molten alkali salts to reprocess mine waste, and transform the rare earths to a readily exploitable form. This project expects to create a scalable industrial separation process to be implemented in existing mines, with the separated ore used as input for extraction. A benefit of this project is the unlocking of a previously inaccessible Australian rare earth resource, comparable in size to the largest deposits globally.. Scheme: Early Career Industry Fellowships. Field: 4019 - Resources Engineering and Extractive Metallurgy. Lead: Dr Michael Anenburg

Molecular engineering and doping for efficient and affordable solar cells. The new perovskite-based solar cells, produced by low-cost coating technologies, have remarkable power-conversion efficiencies. The aim of this project is to make them more durable and therefore economically viable, using molecular engineering and doping techniques to maintain good photoactivity in the perovskite (a metal halide), and to replace gold electrodes with superior low-cost carbon alternatives that have well-tuned and highly efficient electronic and surface properties. Expected outcomes include a new generation of affordable, high-quality, long-lasting solar cells that can be manufactured at scale, advancing Australia’s position in a high-tech future-focused market likely to be worth billions of dollars to our economy by 2029.. Scheme: Australian Laureate Fellowships. Field: 3403 - Macromolecular and Materials Chemistry. Lead: Prof Hongxia Wang

Islands in the Ice: Interpreting the future of Antarctic ecosystems. This program aims to better understand polar regions by combining data from key locations around the Antarctic continent to determine how vegetation in ice-free, coastal areas has responded to recent climate change. It will improve spatial and temporal climate data for Antarctica’s coastline, thus enabling more accurate modelling of the rates of environmental change and how this is affecting Antarctica's unique biodiversity. Outcomes will impact on climate science, policy development and Antarctic decision-making. The innovative technologies developed will be applied in a new continent-wide terrestrial observing system, enabling Australia and other nations to better manage their obligations to protect Antarctic biodiversity.. Scheme: Australian Laureate Fellowships. Field: 4101 - Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation. Lead: Prof Sharon Robinson

Precursors for perovskite solar from an Australian minerals supply chain. The aim is to develop production processes for transforming Australian resources into photovoltaic (PV) perovskite precursor specialty materials for next generation solar cells. Expected outcomes of this project include: (1) sourcing Australian resources, including mine wastes, to secure supplies for precursor materials, (2) demonstrate at scale, using novel processing methods, the production of bespoke precursor materials, and (3) enhance knowledge in impurity impacts on perovskite efficiency and stability in order to develop capacity in building next generation PV perovskite solar cells. This research will develop significant sovereign capabilities to supply and produce new energy technologies to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. . Scheme: Linkage Projects. Field: 4019 - Resources Engineering and Extractive Metallurgy. Lead: Prof Sara Couperthwaite

High Performance Photoinitiators for 3D Laser Lithography. To overcome key challenges of 3D printing on the micrometer scale, this projects develops next generation photoresists for 3D laser lithography. Based on a precision photophysical analysis approach, a blue print will be derived that creates the missing link between the chemical structure of photoinitators and their ability to print in two photon absorption processes. Based on this blueprint, high performance initiators will be synthesised and embedded into photoresists that break two barriers in contemporary 3D laser lithography: (i) Resists that decouple photopolymerisation processes from the printing process to eliminate volume shrinking during printing. (ii) Resists that allow to print 3D structures in the presence of living cells.. Scheme: Linkage Projects. Field: 3403 - Macromolecular and Materials Chemistry. Lead: Prof Christopher Barner-Kowollik

Resolving bottlenecks in natural product biomanufacturing. Biochemicals that cannot be produced through synthetic chemistry are often amenable to biotechnological production, but industrialisation is hindered by inefficient enzymes at key steps. This synthetic biology project aims to address this important problem by combining ancestral protein reconstruction, machine learning for prediction of enzyme function, and multiplexed in vitro metabolic pathway prototyping. The power of this approach will be demonstrated by enhancing cytochrome P450 enzymes and prenyltransferases for biosynthesis of alkaloids and flavones. We expect that the project outcomes will reduce research and development costs associated with biotechnological manufacturing of high-value natural product biochemicals.. Scheme: Linkage Projects. Field: 3101 - Biochemistry and Cell Biology. Lead: Dr James Behrendorff

Biorefining of Brewer's Spent Grain into Novel Dietary Fibres. Dietary fibres have a market value of multi-billion dollars. This project aims to produce novel dietary fibres from a food industry waste, brewer’s spent grain, using low-cost green alcohol solvents and novel enzymes. The expected outcomes include two types of novel dietary fibres, new knowledge in understanding of property-functionality relationships of the dietary fibres as well as improved process sustainability and economics achieved with the use of innovative biorefinery technologies. The biorefinery technologies are applicable to other cereal grains and grain processing by-products, such as wheat bran, accelerating the development of a new multi-billion-dollar nutraceutical manufacturing industry in Australia.. Scheme: Linkage Projects. Field: 3106 - Industrial Biotechnology. Lead: Prof Zhanying Zhang