Grants & Opportunities

Chemical and structural design for high power energy storage materials. This project aims to develop new materials with both high power and high energy storage capabilities by exploring emerging relaxor antiferroelectric (RAFE) materials. Through investigating the internal chemical and structural factors, and their interactions at different length scales, this project will first solve the current ambiguities in RAFEs and then identify critical factors for properties to better design and develop new high-performance energy storage materials. The outcomes of this project will advance the knowledge of ferroic materials, provide new candidates for advanced electrical systems such as renewable energy, electric vehicles and pulsed power devices, and potentially revolutionise high power energy storage technologies.. Scheme: Discovery Early Career Researcher Award. Field: 4016 - Materials Engineering. Lead: Dr Teng Lu

The Great Exhibitions and their Lost Indigenous Objects . This project will rediscover the Australian Indigenous objects sent overseas to the Great Exhibitions of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Such objects acted as powerful forms of cultural, political and economic display, and a form of imperial and colonial projection. It will excavate the hidden histories of Indigenous people involved in these events and the many objects lost to Australia. Through collaborative work at community dialogues, the project will repatriate knowledge and remake connections between objects, museums, and Indigenous people. In doing so, it will bring contemporary Indigenous perspectives to global attention, generate new exhibition possibilities and influence international museum practice.. Scheme: Discovery Indigenous. Field: 4501 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Culture, Language and History. Lead: Prof Gaye Sculthorpe

Next Generation Terahertz Materials. We will investigate novel tuneable terahertz (THz) metamaterials, based on the exploitation of phase change materials. Tunable metamaterial-based terahertz devices, such as modulators and filters, will potentially generate significant downstream IP for short-path wireless applications. This fills a critical need to meet the increasing demand for greater bandwidth. Elucidation of the fundamental science underlying the interaction between terahertz signals and phase-change materials will enable tuneable metamaterials. A major leap will be devices that can steer and modulate terahertz signals with unprecedented agility and compactness; enabling future high-bandwidth desktop data transfer.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 4009 - Electronics, Sensors and Digital Hardware. Lead: Prof Derek Abbott

Advancing plant synthetic gene circuit capability, robustness, and use. This project aims to advance our ability to control gene expression in plants using synthetic gene circuits. By expanding the toolkit and optimizing circuit components, we aim to achieve more complex capabilities and robust implementation. Furthermore, we will apply gene circuit technologies to enhance plant frost tolerance. The expected project outcomes include a significant advance in gene circuit capabilities, a better understanding of their behavior in plant cells, and the ability to use them to confer advantageous traits. The benefits of this research include new plant biotechnology tools that will underpin future crop yield improvements, and advances in plant-based pharmaceuticals and materials.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 3101 - Biochemistry and Cell Biology. Lead: Prof Ryan Lister

Digitally-Integrated Smart Sensing of Diverse Airborne Grass Pollen Sources. Grass pollen is the main outdoor allergen source globally, triggering hayfever and asthma in up to 500 million people. With over 10,000 species, the influence of grass type, location and climate on pollen in the air is not yet known. This is a key issue since subtropical and temperate grasses differ in response to environmental factors. The project aims to use artificial intelligence on digital camera images to learn to see local grass flowers and integrate this with air sensors trained to detect grass pollen types. The expected outcomes are new capacities to track airborne grass pollen types. These outcomes can transform how pollen can be monitored to reduce the burden of allergies, and provide evidence of changing airborne pollen loads. . Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 4104 - Environmental Management. Lead: Prof Janet Davies

Learning to Reason in Reinforcement Learning. Deep Reinforcement Learning (RL) uses deep neural networks to represent and learn optimal decision-making policies for intelligent agents in complex environments. However, most RL approaches require millions of episodes to converge to good policies, making it difficult for RL to be applied in real-world scenarios taking significant resources. This project aims to equip RL with capabilities such as counterfactual reasoning and outcome anticipation to significantly reduce the number of interactions required, improve generalisation, and provide the agent with the capability to consider the cause-effects. These improvements would narrow the gap between AI and human capabilities and broaden the adoption of RL in real-world applications.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 4611 - Machine Learning. Lead: A/Prof Ehsan Abbasnejad

Nanoengineered hybrid coatings that control inflammation to artificial bone. This project aims to develop novel biocompatible surfaces using nanotechnology approaches to understand how cells attach to and grow on artificial bone materials. This research is significant because it combines novel nanofabrication and surface modification strategies for unprecedented control and manipulation of inflammatory cell behaviour relevant to orthopaedic implants. The project will overcome current limitations of uncontrollable inflammatory reactions to surfaces. The multifunctional surfaces are expected to give the biomaterials field new tools to control and maintain bone cell functionality, in vitro. Potential long-term benefits include applications as coatings in tissue engineering, regenerative medicine, and medical implants.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 3406 - Physical Chemistry. Lead: Prof Peter Kingshott

What is the role of striatal dopamine in value-based decision-making? The aim of this project is to understand the role of dopamine in the brain circuits controlling goal-directed action. Its significance lies in our use of newly developed tools to measure dopamine release and cellular activity concurrently to assess the causal role of this interaction in choice and decision-making. The expected outcome of this project is to provide a comprehensive understanding of the role of dopamine release in striatal cellular activity and in the psychological processes mediating goal-directed decision-making. This outcome will have the benefit of filling a gap in our knowledge of the brain processes mediating decision-making, a fundamental capacity that contributes to our physical and psychological wellbeing (wellness). . Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 5202 - Biological Psychology. Lead: Prof Bernard Balleine

3D integrated crystalline UV optical lens-fiber couplers for astronomy. This project aims to create micro-optics for astronomical and bio medical applications by 3D sculpturing them out of crystals by ultra-short pulse lasers. This project will introduce a new 3D fabrication approach of optical probes which have self-aligned micro-optical elements and optical fibres for a wide spectral range and with high quality optical surfaces. Expected outcomes of this project include building new capabilities in micro-optical probes for industrial environments, establishing new solutions for international astronomy partners, and developing new techniques to image through optical fibres. This should provide significant benefits by improving astronomical instrumentation and also lead to less invasive endoscopy.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 4018 - Nanotechnology. Lead: Prof Saulius Juodkazis

Intraepithelial lymphocyte development and function in the intestine. This study aims to better understand the homeostatic maintenance and essential repair processes in the intestine. This project will generate new knowledge of how immune cells of the intestine, known as intraepithelial lymphocytes (IELs), engage with intestinal epithelial cells, neurons and commensal microbes to promote homeostasis and repair. Expected outcomes of this project will be identification of new molecules for future drug and vaccine development to improve gut health and vaccination in mammals. This should provide significant benefits to the Australian population and livestock industry through improved protection against cancer, intestinal infections and increased productivity. . Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 3204 - Immunology. Lead: A/Prof Lisa Mielke

(Re)Designing Digital Justice. This project aims to address the challenge of (re)designing novel online court systems by introducing a human-centred design process to the legal process. This project will generate fundamental new knowledge in respect of how to effectively design an inclusive justice system, bridging the gap between the legal system and human-computer interaction. Expected outcomes include how to use technology to implement a more just, efficient, and fair legal system, which is accessible to all Australians. This should provide significant benefits for both Australian society and the legal system.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 4608 - Human-Centred Computing. Lead: Prof Patrick Olivier

Examining the impact of remand and the utility of bail risk assessments. Australia has experienced soaring incarceration rates, driven by the pre-trial detention of unsentenced people pending trial, not by rising crime rates. The decision to remand a person into custody pending trial has implications for public safety and individual rights. Although the impact of remand has gained increasing importance given adverse coronial findings, no studies have examined the mental health and justice impacts of remand. This project seeks to examine the effect of remand on future crime, justice outcomes, and mental health outcomes. This project will also examine the factors associated with bail decisions and develop mathematical models designed to accurately forecast bail release outcomes and reduce demographic disparities. . Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 5201 - Applied and Developmental Psychology. Lead: Prof James Ogloff

Understanding mosquito smell system: a new frontier in mosquito control. This project aims to identify and functionally investigate mosquito smell receptors, which are critical in detecting volatile compounds and locating their hosts from a considerable distance away. Mosquitoes display preferences for certain hosts over others, primarily determined by volatile chemicals produced by hosts. This study builds on recently discovered, novel, host-derived volatile compounds, which can elicit robust responses and attractiveness from mosquitoes. Expected outcomes of the project are enhanced understanding of mosquito smell system and behaviours. This could provide significant benefits to how we can fight mosquitoes and mosquito-transmitted diseases in a more efficient and environmentally responsible way.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 3109 - Zoology. Lead: Dr Wei Xu

Finding Australia’s Disabled Authors: Connection, Creativity, Community. This research project aims to explore disabled writers and disability more generally in Australian literature. As there is little awareness of the contribution that Australian authors with disability have made to literary culture, the project expects to generate new knowledge about how disabled people have forged their writing careers, and how their disability shapes their creative practice. The expected outcomes include a greater understanding of the diversity of Australian writers and literature, community engagement with disability, and support for emerging disabled writers. The project will provide significant benefits including a greater awareness of disability and the capacity to combat ableism and discrimination. . Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 4705 - Literary Studies. Lead: Dr Jessica White

How lipid binding proteins shape the activity of nuclear hormone receptors. This project aims to explore how a family of lipid binding proteins control organ specific activation of nuclear receptors – receptors that play a key role in generating energy and are critical for life. The project will employ chemical, molecular, cell biology approaches to generate new knowledge about lipid binding protein-receptor interactions and how these complexes dictate receptor activation. The outcomes could provide a roadmap to design drugs that interact with the right protein in the right tissue and in doing so dramatically enhance drug specificity. This will benefit the success of drug treatments which require stimulation of a therapeutic response at a target site, and avoidance of potentially toxic activity at other locations.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 3214 - Pharmacology and Pharmaceutical Sciences. Lead: A/Prof Michelle Halls

Sustainable Electrocatalytic Synthesis of Urea. Urea is a critical chemical for agriculture, the chemical industry and pollution control, yet current production methods are unsustainable. This project aims to design high-efficiency catalysts for electrochemical urea synthesis from theoretical studies. This project expects to generate new knowledge of chemistry and catalysis from new reaction mechanisms and materials. Expected outcomes include optimum catalysts with high conversion efficiency and reactant selectivity. The novel catalysts have the potential to deliver improved catalytic performance and controllable reaction reactants. This could deliver significant benefits to the crop production increase, cost reduction of chemical industry, and environmental pollution reduction.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 4016 - Materials Engineering. Lead: Prof Liangzhi Kou

Towards knowledge discovery from imperfect and evolving data. Information extraction from data is critical, both to analyse and protect consumer data. However, many learning techniques are developed using perfect, static datasets, quite different to messy, ever-changing real-world data. This project aims to develop data analytics techniques that can extract accurate information in complex structures from imperfect/incomplete data that changes over time. Expected outcomes are a prototype tool, tested on real datasets, that combines new techniques in data modelling, algorithm development, and system design. Likely benefits are enhanced Australia's competence in data science through student training and new, robust data tools relevant to critical sectors such as cybersecurity, healthcare, and defence.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 4605 - Data Management and Data Science. Lead: A/Prof Wei Zhang

Diversifying audio description in the Australian digital landscape. Audio description (AD) is a track of narration describing important visual elements of visual media to make it accessible to people who are blind or vision impaired. It is also increasingly being used by the mainstream audience. This project aims to examine the consumption and production of Audio Description throughout Australian cultural life. It expects to generate new knowledge about the ways digital media including emerging generative artificial intelligence might be leveraged to increase access to audio description. Expected outcomes include a curriculum, guidelines and materials designed to empower industries, communities and governments to work together to meet Australia's obligation to provide access to cultural activities using AD.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 4701 - Communication and Media Studies. Lead: Prof Kathleen Ellis

The geometry of genome access: lessons from HIV. Access to the cell’s nucleus, and hence its genome, is of deep scientific and commercial significance. It is controlled by a phase-separated diffusion barrier within the nuclear pore complex. Recent evidence, however, has shown that HIV can cross this barrier with its protective capsid intact, despite it being over one thousand times larger than the limit for passive transport. Combining concepts from soft-matter physics with recombinant assays, this project aims to uncover the link between the unique geometry of HIV capsids and their ability to subvert the nucleus’ defenses. The expected outcome is a step-change in the understanding of nuclear access control, with downstream benefits to virology, bio-engineering and bio-technology.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 5105 - Medical and Biological Physics. Lead: A/Prof Richard Morris

On-site environmental DNA sensing with user-friendly test strips. Organisms shed their genes into the environment. This project aims to develop world-first field-portable biosensors for this environmental DNA. Based on a novel sensing principle, they will offer performance comparable with current laboratory-based techniques. They will be rapid (< 1 h), cost -effective (< $ 1 per strip) and robust. Project outcomes will include tube-based tests able to detect 1 DNA copy / microlitre and ultralight paper test strips, both with naked-eye readout. Applications of these sensors in water testing will be developed with an Australian industry partner Biopoint. Benefits will include strengthened protection against invasive pests and the spread of antimicrobial resistance without lab testing and sample logistics.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 4103 - Environmental Biotechnology. Lead: Prof Ewa Goldys

Impact of roughness on adverse pressure gradient turbulent boundary layers. This project aims to develop a novel technique for measuring time-resolved fluid velocity vector fields in high-speed flows to investigate rough wall turbulence in adverse pressure gradient environments in unprecedented detail. By using this innovative instrument to study these widespread but poorly understood turbulent flows in power generation and transport, the project seeks to generate new knowledge. Expected outcomes include the development of a new instrument and fundamental knowledge leading to improved designs with higher efficiencies in power generation and transport, resulting in significant benefits such as increased energy security, reduced greenhouse gas emissions, and improved quality of life for individuals and society.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 4012 - Fluid Mechanics and Thermal Engineering. Lead: Prof Julio Soria

A novel precision-engineered microfluidic chip for wear particle research. This project aims to develop 1- novel protocols to generate clinically-relevant wear particles from spinal implants in-vitro and 2- a technological framework for the fabrication of a novel microfluidic 3D spinal implant-on-a-chip with tailored mechanical, material and biological properties. This will provide a cost-effective tool, currently unavailable, that allows investigation into the impact of wear particles on healthy spinal disc cells. We expect our technological framework to become an invaluable tool for biomedical engineers, biologists, and bio-engineers to work together and generate clinically relevant in-vitro data that supports optimisation for spinal implant design, fabrication, and safety. . Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 4003 - Biomedical Engineering. Lead: Prof Joanne Tipper

Australian Experiences of Algorithmic Culture on TikTok. This project is the first to systematically investigate how algorithmic content recommendation is shaping everyday Australian cultural experience over time, in the particular context of TikTok—the digital platform where Australians spend the most time online. The project provides critical evidence to support the government's ongoing policy initiatives intended to regulate the activities of digital platforms. Its methodological innovations directly address the challenges of studying commercial platforms' recommender systems through a mixed-method research design combining computational and qualitative analysis, bridging universal and individual perspectives and introducing ‘citizen science’ approaches to the field of platform studies.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 4701 - Communication and Media Studies. Lead: Prof Patrik Wikstrom

Diamond Voltage Microscopy: A new tool for neuroscience. This project aims to develop an optoelectronic voltage imaging microscope that can capture the sub-cellular electrical dynamics of neuronal networks. This will be achieved by leveraging the team’s technological breakthrough in the production of near-surface fluorescent defects in semiconducting diamond, which can optically detect local changes in electric potential. The expected outcomes of the project are a new microscopy modality and experimental framework which enables in vitro electrophysiological stimulation and recording at network scale and with single-synapse resolution. This will provide a much-needed tool to understand mechanisms underlying learning, memory formation and recall, and cognitive decline.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 5102 - Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics. Lead: A/Prof David Simpson

Novel Membranes for High-performance Zinc-Iron Redox Flow Batteries. Membrane is a critical component in zinc-iron redox flow battery (ZIRFB) which is considered a promising technology for large-scale energy storage in the future. This project aims to design and construct high performance membranes using low-cost polymers and nanostructured carbon materials through functionalization and innovative membrane structure design. The goal is to develop cost-effective membranes that possess high ion-selectivity and ion conductivity as well as stability that are required to fabricate high performance, long cycle lifetime ZIRFB. Successful achievement of the outcomes will enable cost-effective, reliable ZIRFB, placing Australia at the forefront of exploiting flow batteries based clean energy storage technologies. . Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 4016 - Materials Engineering. Lead: Dr Jiaye Ye