Grants & Opportunities

Boosting organ donation registration in diverse communities. This project aims to increase the number and diversity of people on the Australian Organ Donor Register. Transplant success can increase when organs are matched between people of similar ethnic backgrounds, but diverse communities have historically low registration rates. This project is significant because it focuses on this disparity to co-create with two diverse communities interactive media and community dissemination strategies that respect cultural and religious beliefs while addressing concerns about donation raised in our previous research. Tested with a third diverse community, the outcome will be a model that can be both scaled and tailored to ensure equitable access to transplantation for all, benefiting the lives of many. . Scheme: Linkage Projects. Field: 4206 - Public Health. Lead: A/Prof Gail Moloney

Highly efficient microscale liquid handling and bio interfacing. The aim is to establish the exciting new field of micro elastofluidics, enabling the development of a highly competitive, sovereign capability in Australia, utilising flexibility and stretchability for efficient and precise handling of tiny volumes of liquid. The program will fill a critical gap in fundamental knowledge in fluid-structure interactions, leading to the development of wearable and implantable devices. The expected outcomes include innovative platform technologies for sample storage, handling and unique device-human interfaces with broad applications in health and defence. Expected benefits include enhanced capabilities in medical diagnostics, defence force protection and Australia’s sovereign high-tech manufacturing.. Scheme: Australian Laureate Fellowships. Field: 4012 - Fluid Mechanics and Thermal Engineering. Lead: Prof Nam-Trung Nguyen

The cognitive neuroscience of motor skill learning. The capacity to produce skilled motor behaviour is essential for success in almost every aspect of our lives, whether it be playing sport, driving a car, operating machinery at work, or touch-typing. This project aims to establish the causal role of brain regions in motor skill learning by combining cutting-edge techniques in neuroimaging and brain stimulation. It is expected to lead to fundamental new knowledge on how new motor memories are created to enable the expression of skilled motor behaviour. The knowledge gained from this project may identify new strategies for learning skills that are widely applicable to education, industry, sport, and health.. Scheme: ARC Future Fellowships. Field: 5202 - Biological Psychology. Lead: A/Prof James Coxon

New perspectives on nonlocal equations. This project aims at tackling cutting-edge problems in the field of mathematical analysis, with specific focus on nonlocal equations, by introducing innovative approaches and a unified perspective. It focuses on the use of long-range interactions to deeply understand new effects arising in several mathematical problems of great impact. The research will be performed through stimulating international collaborations, providing exchange opportunities and ideal conditions for students to complete their training. The expected outcomes include new techniques to solve difficult problems, high impact international research collaborations, training of the next generation of mathematicians and top tier journal publications.. Scheme: ARC Future Fellowships. Field: 4904 - Pure Mathematics. Lead: Prof Serena Dipierro

Additive Manufacturing of Nanotwinned Titanium Alloys for Critical Use. The project aims to use 3D printing technology to create new titanium alloy components that are substantially lighter and stronger than current versions and therefore highly relevant for high temperature and stress uses in leading-edge industries such as aeroplane manufacture. The project expects to create new means to strengthen and improve the resilience of the commercial alloys’ microstructure with unprecedented in-service performance and thereby substantially broaden the industrial adoptions of 3D-printed products. This should also provide significant cost and environmental benefits and enhance Australia’s international standing in cutting-edge research on advanced manufacturing and materials.. Scheme: ARC Future Fellowships. Field: 4014 - Manufacturing Engineering. Lead: Dr Yuman Zhu

From Snowball Earth to Animals: the Influence of Mantle Dynamics. This project aims to investigate how solid Earth processes contributed to ‘Snowball Earth’ events around 700 million years ago and to the explosion of complex life 540 million years ago, which will shed light on our origin as a species. The approach consists of merging cutting-edge models of the plate-mantle system with the global rock record. The intended outcome is to understand relationships between mantle convection, the behaviour of the magnetic field, global sea levels, continental-scale topography, and the composition of the ocean and atmosphere. Expected significant benefits include building capacity in Earth Sciences and the development of new models that can be used to explore the mineral endowment of the Australian crust.. Scheme: ARC Future Fellowships. Field: 3706 - Geophysics. Lead: A/Prof Nicolas Flament

ARC Training Centre for Development of Advanced Radiochemical Technologies. This project aims to train the next generation of radiochemists and discover new molecular approaches to harness radioactivity. Novel chemistry exploiting molecular incorporation of radioactive elements, stable chelation of metal radionuclides, bioconjugation methodologies, radioactivity capture via nanomaterials and cages, and the design of new peptidomimetic targeting molecules will deliver technological advances to radiopharmaceutical science. Outcomes will include a highly-skilled workforce and enhanced commercial capacity to meet a rapidly escalating global radiopharmaceutical market. This project will provide significant benefits by securing an internal supply chain and know-how for cutting-edge radiochemical technologies.. Scheme: Industrial Transformation Training Centres. Field: 3402 - Inorganic Chemistry. Lead: Prof Andrea Robinson

ARC Training Centre for Radiation Innovation. This Centre aims to train the next generation of transdisciplinary leaders to enable, grow and transform industries that utilise or are impacted by radiation. Rapid growth in the natural resources, health, space and national security sectors urgently requires a highly capable workforce with scientific and regulatory knowledge to develop new technologies and social licence needs to maximise benefits. Outcomes include new methods of radiopharmaceutical production, more resilient spacecraft and robust regulatory frameworks. Industries and communities will benefit from a future workforce prepared for safe adoption, development and delivery of emerging techniques and advanced radiation technologies, enhancing Australia’s prosperity and security.. Scheme: Industrial Transformation Training Centres. Field: 5106 - Nuclear and Plasma Physics. Lead: Prof Mahananda Dasgupta

ARC Research Hub in Zero-emission Power Generation for Carbon Neutrality. This Hub aims to develop sustainable zero-emission power generation technologies to transform gaseous waste (mainly CO2) from our energy and manufacturing sectors into valuable products and create scalable pathways to market for driving industry transformation. This Hub expects to harvest renewable energy from the environment by using zero-emission power generators and then store it in green and safer batteries for converting gaseous waste from sectors that cannot easily avoid emission into useful chemicals, which in turn realize carbon neutrality and negativity. The outcomes of this Hub are likely to be transformative for industry, the economy, and society in new-type renewable energy resources through decreasing environmental pollutants. . Scheme: Industrial Transformation Research Hubs. Field: 4016 - Materials Engineering. Lead: Prof Zhi-Gang Chen

ARC Training Centre for Automated Vehicles in Rural and Remote Regions. The Centre will build skills and capability to test and deploy safe, socially acceptable, automated vehicles (AV) for rural, regional and remote Australian public roads, where manufacturing, agriculture, mining and defence industries face significant challenges of driver shortages, rising costs, long distances, rough roads, and environmental impacts. The centre will unite technology providers, regulators, government and end users with world-leading interdisciplinary researchers to create new human-AV systems, datasets, frameworks, case studies, platforms, and a vastly upskilled workforce. This will reduce transport costs, increase capacity, boost supply chain efficiency and resilience, improve road safety, and elevate Australian capability.. Scheme: Industrial Transformation Training Centres. Field: 4608 - Human-Centred Computing. Lead: Prof Sebastien Glaser

Quinoid Polymers for Organic Electrochemical Transistors and Bioelectronics. This project aims to develop organic semiconductors (OSCs) with excellent mechanical flexibility and biocompatibility to exploit their potentials in bioelectronics. It connects the electronic world with ionic world of biology to push the biomedical application of OSCs a big step forward. Interdisciplinary knowledge, intellectual properties (IPs), top-notch publications, invited talks, and international collaborations are expected. Additionally, it will earn Australia a commercial lead in the biomedical sector to attract more talents to serve Australia. This project also matches well with several government’s strategic research priorities, attracting industries to realise IPs transfer to bring “great value for money” to feed back Australia.. Scheme: Discovery Early Career Researcher Award. Field: 4016 - Materials Engineering. Lead: Dr Qian Liu

Innovating and Validating Scalable Monte Carlo Methods. This project aims to develop innovative scalable Monte Carlo methods for statistical analysis in the presence of big data or complex mathematical models. Existing approaches to scalable Monte Carlo are only approximate, and their inaccuracies are difficult to quantify. This can have a detrimental impact on data-based decision making. The expected outcomes of this project are scalable Monte Carlo methods that are more accurate, fast and capable of quantifying inaccuracies. Scientists and decision-makers will benefit from the ability to obtain timely, reliable insights for challenging applications.. Scheme: Discovery Early Career Researcher Award. Field: 4905 - Statistics. Lead: Dr Leah South

Design new-generation microscale thermoelectric device. This project aims at realizing ultrahigh thermoelectric power generating performance in the microscale device by developing new theoretical models for thermoelectric power-generation to guide the synergistic thin-film material and device design, and corresponding fabrication. The outcomes are expected to lead to revolutionary development of the thermoelectric technology, significantly extend the application of this emission/vibration/noise/service-free technology and expand the corresponding market, which will benefit the wide Australian community academically, educationally, socially, economically and environmentally.. Scheme: Discovery Early Career Researcher Award. Field: 4016 - Materials Engineering. Lead: Dr Weidi Liu

A Justice-based Approach to Climate-related Planned Relocation. Planned relocation of populations away from climate risk is a critical adaptation strategy. Yet relocation is fraught as it disrupts livelihoods, social networks and place-attachment. This project aims to examine how justice can be centred in planned relocation using innovative cross-cultural methods in six case studies across Australia and Fiji. New knowledge will be generated on effective governance, barriers to participation, and long-term impacts of relocation. Expected outcomes of this project are innovations at the nexus of adaptation, relocation and justice, new international research networks, and direct improvement of how relocation is planned and managed by governments, through recommendations and a framework for Just Relocation.. Scheme: Discovery Early Career Researcher Award. Field: 4406 - Human Geography. Lead: Dr Annah Piggott-McKellar

Synergy between future 21-cm experiments and physical cosmology. The nature of dark matter and formation of the first galaxies are both unsolved mysteries. During the first 500 million years, our universe was filled with hydrogen atoms illuminated by the first galaxies. The 21-cm radiation from this gas encodes properties of unseen galaxies and dark matter during this so-called cosmic dawn. This project aims to build an innovative framework to leverage future 21-cm experiments using The Square Kilometre Array to observe cosmic dawn, and to forecast the optimal constraints on dark matter physics. Additional outcomes include the largest cosmological simulation of the first galaxies powered by neural networks and improved knowledge of their properties using Bayes' theorem and The James Webb Space Telescope.. Scheme: Discovery Early Career Researcher Award. Field: 5101 - Astronomical Sciences. Lead: Dr Yuxiang Qin

Bioinspired 2D nanocatalysts for inorganic nitrogen cycle. This project aims to develop novel catalysts for high-efficient nitrogen fixation by learning from the natural enzymes, which can convert nitrogen or nitrate into reactive ammonia at very mild conditions. It is expected that the enzyme-mimicking catalysts possessing the nitrogen active sites similar with the natural enzymes will allow the effective fixation of nitrogen from both the atmosphere and the nitrogen excessively fertilized environment into reusable ammonia. The outcomes of this project will provide a sustainable approach to solve the issues in current unbalanced inorganic nitrogen cycle in the world and contribute to a green artificial nitrogen cycle while with minimized environmental impact.. Scheme: Discovery Early Career Researcher Award. Field: 4016 - Materials Engineering. Lead: Dr Juan Bai

Linking movement and animal vision to uncover functions of dynamic colours. This project aims to address a fundamental biological question: what drives the extraordinary diversity of colours in nature? Using cutting-edge, interdisciplinary techniques, this project expects to link visual properties, movement and animal vision to discover functions of animal colouration, generating significant new insights for the fields of visual ecology, animal behaviour and camouflage. The outcomes of this project include enhanced national and international collaboration and new tools for animal behaviour, perception and camouflage research. This work will benefit our understanding of vision, colour and the relationship between the two, with significant scope for bio-inspired solutions to sensor and image processing problems.. Scheme: Discovery Early Career Researcher Award. Field: 3103 - Ecology. Lead: Dr Amanda Franklin

Reverse Design of Tuneable 4D Printed Materials for Soft Robotics. This project aims to facilitate the design and manufacture of specialised objects that can change their shape over time. These types of objects are made from ‘tuneable metamaterials’, which can be made by 4D printing: 3D printing with an added dimension of time. These materials are becoming indispensable in many fields- including non-metallic soft robots used in medicine or the exploration of harsh environments like space- but are currently onerous to make. This project will develop a revolutionary new method for a user to work backward from defining the desired qualities to the manufacture of the object that satisfies their needs. It will also create a library that will allow users to quickly select a material that will be appropriate.. Scheme: Discovery Early Career Researcher Award. Field: 4017 - Mechanical Engineering. Lead: Dr Ali Zolfagharian

Molecular characterisation of pore-forming proteins as pest control agents. This project aims to utilise protein engineering, structural biology, and biochemistry to characterise the function of key members of the aerolysin/epsilon toxin/Toxin_10 pore-forming protein superfamily. Pore formation is a ubiquitous mechanism deployed by all kingdoms as defences against invading organisms. The expected outcomes of this project include the development of novel techniques aimed, broadly, at studying pore-forming proteins during the assembly pathway. This project should be of benefit to the wider research community by improving our understanding of pore-forming proteins as potential pest control agents. . Scheme: Discovery Early Career Researcher Award. Field: 3101 - Biochemistry and Cell Biology. Lead: Dr Bradley Spicer

Probing dark energy with the largest 3D Map of the Universe. Dark Energy is one of the most profound mysteries of modern physics. It makes up about 70 percent of the Universe, but no compelling theory can explain its nature. This project aims to measure the properties of Dark Energy with unprecedented accuracy: an order of magnitude better than the state of the art. It aims to accomplish this by extracting information from the largest 3D map of the cosmos, built with the optical spectra of 35 million galaxies, observed by the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument. This project will foster Australia's historic leadership and investments in galaxy surveys via unique international partnerships, and produce cutting-edge tools for big data analyses with important applications in a wide range of industries.. Scheme: Discovery Early Career Researcher Award. Field: 5101 - Astronomical Sciences. Lead: Dr Rossana Ruggeri

Behind the barrier: using mathematics to understand the neuro-immune system. This project aims to develop new mathematical methods to study healthy immune cell regulation in the brain and movement across the Blood Brain Barrier. The project expects to develop novel deterministic and stochastic mathematics that captures the stochasticity of immune cells in the Central Nervous System (brain and spine) and form the foundation of a new field of mathematical research: mathematical neuroimmunology. Expected benefits of this project include new mathematical tools, biological insight, and strong interdisciplinary collaborations. From this project, Australia will be placed at the forefront of mathematical research in neuroimmunology, and there will be a complete understanding of homeostasis of the neuro-immune system. . Scheme: Discovery Early Career Researcher Award. Field: 4901 - Applied Mathematics. Lead: Dr Adrianne Jenner

Landscape-climate disequilibrium in dune fields. This project aims to predict how wind-blown landscapes respond to changes in climate. This project expects to use novel experiments and theoretical advances to meet this aim, then apply the prediction to the dune fields which cover a third of Australia's surface to generate new knowledge on what climate shaped them in the past, and how they will respond to anthropogenic climate change. Expected outcomes of this project will strengthen collaboration with discipline-leading international researchers and develop a globally-unique laboratory experimental capability in Australia. This should provide significant benefits to understanding environmental change in Australia by vastly improving predictions of dune-field response to future climate.. Scheme: Discovery Early Career Researcher Award. Field: 3709 - Physical Geography and Environmental Geoscience. Lead: Dr Andrew Gunn

Neanderthal hunting ability and the extinction of archaic humans. This project aims to investigate a critical factor in explaining Neanderthals extinction: their hunting abilities. The research expects to generate new knowledge of archaic humans behaviour using an innovative approach combining traditional archaeological analytical methods with ground-breaking biomolecular techniques. Expected outcomes of this project include the development of new knowledge in human evolutionary history and improved techniques to understand past human extinction events. This should provide significant benefits for Australia to become a primary power in studying human past and deep history, while enhancing capacity by becoming the first country in the Southern Hemisphere to implement ancient protein studies in archaeology.. Scheme: Discovery Early Career Researcher Award. Field: 4301 - Archaeology. Lead: Dr Sofia Samper Carro

Solving key issues in wearable thermoelectrics for practical applications. Wearable thermoelectrics can directly harvest electricity from body heat, offering a new technology to charge wearable electronics sustainably, but their unsatisfied performance and durability limit their applications. This project aims to design efficient and durable wearable thermoelectrics based on novel carbon/polymer/semiconductor (CPS) hybrid films. The key breakthrough is to develop advanced hybrid materials and devices with record-high thermoelectric performance, high stability, and high durability to tackle long-lasting practical application issues. The expected outcomes will lead to innovative technology for energy conversion and advanced manufacturing and place Australia at the forefront of energy and manufacturing.. Scheme: Discovery Early Career Researcher Award. Field: 4016 - Materials Engineering. Lead: Dr Xiaolei Shi

Diversity Oriented Clicking - Streamlined Synthesis of Molecular Frameworks. Innovation in synthetic chemistry drives the discovery of new life-changing drugs, agrochemicals and functional materials. This project aims to use a novel chemical concept, termed Diversity Oriented Clicking, for new sustainable and streamlined synthetic transformations. The new chemical processes are expected to deliver improved economy, efficiency and precision in the synthesis of bioactive molecules and functional materials that are inaccessible or challenging to prepare with existing technologies. The conceptual and practical outcomes of this project are expected to benefit both academia and industry as the synthetic routes to diverse complex molecules can be greatly streamlined, and reducing chemical waste and required purification.. Scheme: Discovery Early Career Researcher Award. Field: 3405 - Organic Chemistry. Lead: Dr Christopher Smedley