Grants & Opportunities

Trustworthy data-driven discovery from complex high-dimensional data. This project pioneers new statistical methods that prioritise stability, resistance, and interpretability for analysing high-dimensional data. By integrating Bayesian and Frequentist principles for statistical model building, new solutions will enhance data analysis reliability in neuroscience, meat science, and climate change. Expected outcomes include innovative statistical tools that provide consistent, interpretable insights, enabling confident decision-making and interdisciplinary collaboration in these fields. This research will empower scientists to derive trustworthy findings from complex data in Australian and global contexts, advancing research and application in health, food science, and climate studies.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 4905 - Statistics. Lead: Prof Samuel Muller

Mechanistic analysis of perovskite degradation for stable photovoltaics. This project addresses the largest roadblock in perovskite research—stability—and aims to identify the most promising pathway(s) to enhance the stability. Powerful interpretable, quantitative materials analysis techniques will be developed via physics-based machine learning, leading to the discovery of degradation mechanisms and the extraction of dominant material parameters. With these insights, this project will deliver targeted strategies to enhance perovskite stability, accelerating the revolution of low-cost solar technology and decarbonising Australia's economy. The new material analysis technique is adaptable to other materials and experiments, providing a new paradigm to the research community for developing novel semiconductors.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 4009 - Electronics, Sensors and Digital Hardware. Lead: Prof Kylie Catchpole

Saline Water Electrolysis via Catalyst Ion-Selective Interface Engineering. This project aims at low-cost and sustainable production of hydrogen from abundant saline water (e.g. raw seawater) on all types of commercially available electrolysers. By introducing an innovative ion-selective gate concept, fundamental science will be developed for addressing the knowledge gap between well-developed purified water electrolysis and emerging saline surface water electrolysis. Outcomes will include new knowledge of complex reaction mechanism(s), new electrode materials design, and relative device development for saline water electrolysis. This project will significantly benefit renewable energy use and large-scale green hydrogen production, together with reducing pressure on Australia's freshwater scarcity.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 4018 - Nanotechnology. Lead: Prof Yao Zheng

Examining Place-Based Investment Models through Civic Wealth Creation Lens. Place-based investment models aim to attract or blend private sector and philanthropic capital, alongside government funding, to enable communities to transition to a more sustainable and inclusive economy. Significant knowledge gaps exist as to the organisational forms, institutional infrastructure, and governance models at a community level that can attract, absorb, distribute and ensure active community participation in place-based investment. Our project examines place-based investment models through the lens of Civic Wealth Creation (CWC) to systematically investigate how such investment is delivered and sustained in communities, and to what effect, to generate longer term civic wealth.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 3507 - Strategy, Management and Organisational Behaviour. Lead: Prof Danielle Logue

Adaptive introgression and rapid evolution to climate change. This project aims to use a high-impact Australian system to study how introgression (the movement of genes between species) might increase the ability of biodiversity to keep pace with climate change. Through integrated fieldwork, lab experiments and cutting edge genome sequencing it expects to discover the genomic basis and the fitness consequences of introgression in two ideal Darwinian laboratories to study adaptation – an elevational gradient and a subtropical-temperate transition zone. The project will assess the value of introgression as a management tool, tackling a major unresolved issue in conservation biology, empowering natural resource managers, and positioning Australia at the forefront of conservation science.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 3104 - Evolutionary Biology. Lead: Prof Luciano Beheregaray

Next generation environmental regulation: Integrating regulatory technology. This project aims to develop new approaches to optimally integrating regulatory technology into environmental regulation. Regulatory technology is needed to improve regulators’ efficiency and effectiveness in response to mounting environmental challenges and resource constraints. The project will deliver new context sensitive strategies to enhance the design, adoption and application of regulatory technology. Expected outcomes include advances in regulatory theory and practical guidance strategies and training to fast track the successful uptake of regulatory technology to improve regulatory outcomes. This will provide significant public resource savings and promote the public interest goals of environmental regulation. . Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 4804 - Law In Context. Lead: Prof Anna Huggins

Advancing fluid separation via engineered 3D-printed porous media. This project aims to advance fluid separation processes by harnessing inherent differences in how immiscible fluids like oil and water interact with the structures of 3D-printed porous materials. Combining numerical modelling, experiments and theoretical analyses, design principles will be derived from fluid properties, porous structures, and surface characteristics that drive spontaneous separation. Fluid separation is critical in wastewater treatment, food and pharmaceutical processing, and petrochemicals. Yet current methods remain energy-intensive, chemical-heavy, and inefficient. By designing porous materials that naturally separate fluids without extra energy or chemicals, the project offers a sustainable alternative for industries.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 4012 - Fluid Mechanics and Thermal Engineering. Lead: Prof Emilie Sauret

Aperiodic neural activity across time. The aperiodic signal that pervades human brain activity changes over the lifespan and explains individual differences in cognitive function. Yet, the physiological and behavioural impacts of aperiodic signal fluctuations over shorter time scales remain unclear. This project aims to investigate the effects of time-varying aperiodic neural activity on human cognitive performance, brain excitability and neuroplasticity. This will be delivered by a closed-loop approach, using brain signals recorded in real time to target momentary shifts in aperiodic activity and infer direct causal relationships. Benefits include a detailed mechanistic understanding of how dynamic fluctuations in aperiodic neural activity across time affect human behaviour.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 5202 - Biological Psychology. Lead: Dr Mitchell Goldsworthy

Handwritten: scribal culture and the early modern woman writer, 1500-1700. This project aims to transform our understanding of handwriting, uncovering early modern women's engagement with scribal cultures to investigate how, why, when and by whom handwriting was acquired and used. Almost nothing is known about this process, despite its critical contribution to women's education, literacy and textual agency. The cross-disciplinary team expects to develop new methodologies transferable to other material forms, technologies and periods, and share cutting-edge resources through digital methods and public outreach. This should build capacity in a new generation of researchers, open up the period to new publics, and change how we think about the significance, value and power of writing by hand, then and now. . Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 4705 - Literary Studies. Lead: Prof Rosalind Smith

Deeptime History of Climate & Humans in the Most Diverse Ecosystem on Earth. Tropical rainforests are coming under increasing threat from climate change and human population growth. This project brings together a multidisciplinary team of scientists to reconstruct the deep-time rainforest history of Australia’s closest neighbour, Papua New Guinea, creating a new framework to understand the interplay between culture and biodiversity that stretch over thousands of years and build capability and understanding for future generations. The outcomes will fill a significant gap in our understanding of a critical part of the global climate system - the Indo-Pacific Warm Pool - that has driven the evolution of complex social-environmental systems in the most diverse ecosystem on earth.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 3709 - Physical Geography and Environmental Geoscience. Lead: Prof Simon Haberle

Urbanism and the Tongan Maritime State. The project’s aim is to investigate urbanism in the Tongan maritime state through a study of its earthwork architecture. An urbanism record for an Archaic state that survived for 650 years will provide significant new insights to the development of an important Pacific population centre. Expected outcomes include a high-resolution chronological record of an ancient neighbourhood in Oceania and quantitative indicators of urbanism at the state centre. Australia is one of the most urbanised societies in the world and historical records of urbanism in our region are important for understanding the factors that contribute to sustainable long-term settlement growth.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 4513 - Pacific Peoples Culture, Language and History. Lead: Prof Geoffrey Clark

Out In Suburbia: Improving LGBTQ wellbeing in outer suburban Australia. LGBTQ people living in Australia's outer suburbs experience significant barriers to wellbeing. This project aims to understand how living in outer suburban areas shapes LGBTQ belonging and inclusion. This project intends to use qualitative methods to explore LGBTQ people’s experiences in outer suburbs and discover how local government policy and action impacts LGBTQ wellbeing and community connection and how these can be improved. Expected outcomes of the project include identifying approaches to LGBTQ-inclusion in outer suburban areas that can be translated into policy. It should provide significant societal benefits, enhancing local government responses to diversity and inclusion and promoting social cohesion and suburban liveability.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 4206 - Public Health. Lead: Dr Ruby Grant

Multiphase droplet chemistry shapes dynamic survival of airborne viruses. When airborne viruses are exhaled, they are embedded in a droplet of human respiratory fluid. These droplets are not just carriers of viruses but are complex microenvironments containing a mixture of salts, proteins and other substances that dynamically change over time depending on the environment where they have been exhaled. We aim to improve our fundamental understanding of the physicochemical dynamics of exhaled respiratory droplets in order to understand what drives the virus survival in indoor environments. This is essential for developing effective public health strategies, such as optimising indoor air quality and controlling environmental conditions, to create an environment less conducive to virus transmission.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 3701 - Atmospheric Sciences. Lead: Prof Zoran Ristovski

Combining biomechanics and biomarkers to establish brain injury thresholds. This project aims to define biomechanical thresholds for brain injury, overcoming limitations of prior efforts reliant on peak acceleration metrics and controlled lab tests that fail to capture the complexity of brain tissue mechanics. By integrating head kinematic data from instrumented mouthguards, MRI-based finite element modelling of brain strain, and brain injury-specific blood biomarkers, this project seeks to link mechanical strain with biological responses. Expected outcomes include identifying strain thresholds derived from wearable sensor data, facilitating timely detection of high-risk impacts. This approach promises significant benefits, enhancing injury detection and informing helmet design for sports, military, and transport.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 4207 - Sports Science and Exercise. Lead: A/Prof Stuart McDonald

Semiconductor Photoisomerisation - A New class of Switchable Materials . This project aims to introduce a fundamentally novel approach to semiconductor device fabrication through a light- induced structural isomerization process. This allows to write and read information into a semiconductor with light and erase it with heat. We will explore the chemical universality of the approach and benchmark physical performance parameters to showcase its applicability for commercial semiconductor device fabrication. Expected outcomes include transformative advancements in semiconductor applications, with potential impacts on fabrication cost, energy consumption and environmental sustainability. The project aligns with Australian government priorities in energy, advanced manufacturing and environmental impact.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 5102 - Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics. Lead: Prof Udo Bach

Harnessing the Holobiont: Can We Evolve Microbes to Influence Their Hosts? This project aims to experimentally test the holobiont concept—that a host and its closely associated microbes function as a single, co-evolving unit. Using a defined set of microbial species grown on plant roots under controlled lab conditions, we will investigate how microbial evolution influences the host and whether directed evolution of microbes can alter plant growth. By exploring microbial evolution and ecological interactions, this research will provide valuable insights into sustainable agriculture, potentially reducing chemical inputs, and contributing to environmental and agricultural resilience.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 3104 - Evolutionary Biology. Lead: Prof Michael McDonald

Ethical, social and regulatory implications of informal sperm donation. This project aims to address ethical, social and regulatory issues in sperm donation for family formation in Australia to ensure that all people who need the assistance of a sperm donor to become a parent can do so safely. The project expects to generate new knowledge to address the the informal provision of sperm via the internet, while also improving the formal and regulated system of sperm donation. Expected outcomes include a more ethically robust and equitable system for accessing donor sperm for family formation achieved through cohesive, stakeholder-informed recommendations. It is expected to have long-lasting benefits for people who donate sperm, people who need to access donor sperm and for people conceived through sperm donation.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 5001 - Applied Ethics. Lead: Prof Catherine Mills

Protein-based quantum sensors: a new tool for biology. This project aims to develop a new class of quantum sensors using recently discovered magneto-responsive fluorescent proteins, to enable new ways to monitor biological processes with sub-cellular resolution. The project expects to generate new knowledge in the area of quantum bio-sensing, by adapting existing quantum methods to fluorescent proteins. Expected outcomes include enhanced understanding of the magneto-optical properties of proteins, development of new quantum sensing protocols, and demonstration of protein-based sensing in biological scenarios. This should provide significant benefits from developing new quantum sensors and creating intellectual property, and laying the foundation for future medical applications in diagnostics.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 5108 - Quantum Physics. Lead: A/Prof Jean-Philippe Tetienne

Metal-based complexes and materials that challenge antimicrobial resistance. This research project focuses on the design, development, and application of new bismuth, gallium and indium compounds as antimicrobial and anti-biofilm agents. These metals act as iron mimics in vivo and can exert antimicrobial activity while displaying low systemic toxicity in humans. The project aims to exploit this, and the inability of microbes to easily develop resistance towards metals, to combat bacteria for which modern drugs are rapidly becoming ineffective, as highlighted in the WHO list of critical and priority pathogens. The intended outcome is that efficacy will be driven through advances in synthetic and structural chemistry, discovering the mode of action, and creating anti-infective polymers and gels.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 3402 - Inorganic Chemistry. Lead: Prof Philip Andrews

Mental healthcare pricing and socioeconomic inequities in access to care. Improving the affordability of and access to mental healthcare is a crucial issue. This project aims to understand the drivers of patient fees for mental health services and their impact on socioeconomic inequities in access to care. It will use econometric methods and population-wide administrative records on the supply of mental health workers and mental healthcare services delivered over time. The expected outcomes of this project include new evidence on how the market structure and behaviour of mental health professionals impact prices and access to mental healthcare. This will provide significant benefits, such as supporting policies that improve the affordability of mental healthcare for those most in need.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 3801 - Applied Economics. Lead: A/Prof Nicole Black

Understanding health care labour markets to improve population health. The health workforce is essential for the routine operations of healthcare systems, the adoption of innovations, and sustainability during crises. However, the uneven distribution of health professionals leads to shortages, surpluses, patient harm, and burnout among health professionals. This research uses new longitudinal data on all Australian doctors and nurses to study the effects of policy changes and labour market shocks on recruitment, retention, workforce participation, health outcomes, and the well-being of health professionals. By combining labour economics and micro-econometrics with policy insights, this project aims to generate new evidence for more innovative health workforce planning.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 3801 - Applied Economics. Lead: Prof Anthony Scott

Democracy's Knowledge Problem: from Polarization to Collective Wisdom. This project aims to understand how democratic societies can track knowledge despite increasing polarization and technological change. The research will develop mathematical models to analyze how beliefs become signals of group identity in social networks and evaluate institutional designs for promoting epistemic accuracy while respecting social bonds. This will provide significant benefits through identifying effective governance interventions for digital platforms, developing metrics to distinguish healthy from dysfunctional opinion clustering, and creating principles for reform. The findings will help Australian policymakers design better democratic institutions and regulatory frameworks while fostering epistemic robustness.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 5003 - Philosophy. Lead: Prof Toby Handfield

Fluid dynamical processes in the formation of magmatic ore deposits. Sulfide deposits in solidified magmas are some of the world’s most valuable ores. Their formation is driven by fluid dynamical processes that are not well understood and are not accounted for in exploration tools. This project aims to use mathematical modelling and analogue experiments to examine the key physical processes involved in the motion of liquid sulfides in crystal-rich molten magmas and the ultimate location and form in which this liquid is deposited. Expected outcomes include theoretical developments in interactions between viscous liquids and granular material and improved understanding of magmatic ore formation. This should enable development of new exploration tools based on physical processes.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 4901 - Applied Mathematics. Lead: A/Prof Anja Slim

Chemosynthesis: a hidden foundation of marine biodiversity and productivity. Microbial chemosynthesis (i.e. carbon fixation using inorganic energy sources) is a critical but understudied process supporting life and nutrient cycling in the unlit ocean. This program will provide the first systematic assessment of the importance, processes, and mediators of chemosynthesis for ocean biodiversity and productivity. To do so, we will combine microbial and biogeochemical analyses of (i) depth transects in the open ocean, (ii) understudied unlit niches (sea caves, shipwrecks), and (iii) reef-building coral microbiomes. The project will provide wide-reaching benefits by increasing knowledge of marine ecology, microbiology, and biogeochemistry, including better understanding and constraining a key global carbon sink. . Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 3107 - Microbiology. Lead: Prof Chris Greening

Skillphabets: Teaching robots new skills by reducing information asymmetry. Tool use is a key aspect of human intelligence, relying on the extraction of perceptual information and fine motor skills. The ability to break down complex tasks into reusable skills is crucial for problem-solving. For instance, a teacher may teach a child to write by starting with basic strokes that form letters, which then combine into words and sentences. This can be challenging due to information asymmetry between teacher and student. This project will enable robots to learn reusable skills (Skillphabets) from human teachers by minimising this information asymmetry. Anticipated outcomes include improved alignment between humans and AI, pretrained Skillphabets and applications spanning defense, aerospace, agriculture and manufacturing.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 4602 - Artificial Intelligence. Lead: Dr Michael Burke