Grants & Opportunities

Priming Australia's Deep Tech Ecosytem through Targeted Interventions. Australia's productivity growth is at a 60-year low. Deep tech startups (e.g., in AI, robotics, biotech, quantum computing etc.) are vital for reigniting productivity and addressing structural imbalances in the economy. These startups, powered by university scientific research teams, hold transformative potential but face high technical and market risks that deter private investment. Government-led interventions can help to de-risk these ventures, enabling commercialisation of technology and ecosystem growth. This project applies a rigorous quasi-experimental design to evaluate such interventions, delivering world-first, evidence-based insights on optimal policy design to stimulate the growth of deep tech ecosystems around the world.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 3502 - Banking, Finance and Investment. Lead: Prof Jason Zein

How Does The Bladder Sense Danger? . This project aims to reveal the unique features of bladder-innervating sensory nerves that are necessary for detecting pathogenic infections. Combining electrophysiological sensory nerve recordings with cutting-edge spatial and single cell omic tools, this project will identify and characterise the nerves innervating the bladder that respond to harmful stimuli and initiate protective reflexes to restore bladder health. This project will advance sensory neuroscience by delivering a world-first functional and transcriptional view of the peripheral sensory pathways supporting bladder function. By fully understanding how the bladder senses its environment, this knowledge will accelerate future drug discovery for common bladder disorders.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 3209 - Neurosciences. Lead: Dr Luke Grundy

Enhancing learner feedback literacy using AI-powered feedback analytics. The project aims to advance the understanding of learner feedback literacy in higher education contexts by proposing an analytics-based mechanism to innovatively capture and analyse trace-data-based behaviour when learners interact with feedback. This innovative approach will enable personalised support using AI techniques to help learners reflect on feedback critically and take meaningful actions. The project addresses a critical challenge in supporting learners to develop the capabilities needed to benefit from feedback, due to an inadequate understanding of how they use feedback. This will, in turn, enhance feedback effectiveness and contribute to improved learning experiences, better graduate outcomes, and lifelong learning success.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 3904 - Specialist Studies In Education. Lead: A/Prof Roberto Martinez-Maldonado

Towards Personalized, Interactive, and Responsible Avatar Agents. This project tackles three main challenges in avatar AI agents - interactivity, personalization, and safety - by combining human understanding with avatar creation and integrating avatar generation with deepfake detection. The research will advance knowledge in multi-modal human understanding, diffusion-based personalized avatar creation, and explainable deepfake detection. Expected outcomes include cutting-edge tools for avatar generation and deepfake detection, positioning Australia as a global leader in this field. The project will enable various real-world applications such as virtual companions, elderly care, and personalized tutoring, driving significant economic benefits.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 4603 - Computer Vision and Multimedia Computation. Lead: Prof Jianfei Cai

Enhancing magnesium mineral carbonation for sustainable carbon storage. Subsurface carbon mineralisation enables long-term storage of anthropogenic CO2 emissions. This project aims to quantify the effect of water composition (ionic and pH) on the efficiency of magnesium-based carbon mineralisation, and hence exploit a unique Australian combination of natural acidic brine and mafic mine tailings (both waste streams) to continuously produce optimal carbonate products enabling economic carbon capture. Critical is mineralisation that maximises carbon capture whilst retaining high system gas and liquid permeability. To this end, magnetic resonance techniques using ferromagnetic contrast will be developed to non-invasively monitor the onset of this mineralisation and the subsequent pore space modification. . Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 4004 - Chemical Engineering. Lead: A/Prof Einar Fridjonsson

Hitting the Limits: Intersectional sexisms in Australian universities. This project responds to the limits of Australian university culture by examining the conditions that limit social cohesion in relation to gender. The project generates new theoretical, cultural and practical knowledge about how experiences of intersectionality, gender, power and complexity shape universities. Innovation comes with multi-method design and pathway to impact via a suite of creative responses focused on raising awareness of the gender problem in universities and providing possible solutions. This project provides significant national benefits as the gender problem that shapes universities shapes Australian society, and will enables universities to lead the way in ameliorating gender-based inequalities. . Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 3904 - Specialist Studies In Education. Lead: A/Prof Emily Gray

Cement-Based Triboelectric Nanogenerators for Renewable Energy Harvesting. Harvesting otherwise wasted mechanical energy is a critical step toward advancing renewable and sustainable energy sources. This project aims to develop multifunctional cement-based triboelectric nanogenerators with integrated energy-harvesting, self-healing, and hydrophobic capabilities. Energy harvesting efficiency will be optimised by incorporating hybrid high-surface-area nanofillers to enhance the dielectric constant of cementitious composites. Durability and environmental adaptability will be improved using crystalline admixtures and silane coatings, providing enhanced resistance to mechanical damage and humidity. These outcomes will create fundamental knowledge in self-powering and net-zero energy buildings and civil infrastructure.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 4005 - Civil Engineering. Lead: A/Prof Wengui Li

Causes and consequences of post-ejaculatory sperm phenotypic plasticity. This project will explore the causes and consequences of sperm phenotypic plasticity and gene expression, thus challenging the fundamental assumption that spermatozoa are simple DNA-delivery machines. The project will build on exciting developments in sperm biology and the availability of a uniquely suitable marine invertebrate system that offer opportunities to test this long-standing ‘silent sperm’ paradigm. Expected outcomes include a revision of our understanding of gene expression in mature sperm, and data that explore the evolutionary implications of haploid selection. Benefits will be relevant across a range of sectors, from assisted reproduction, fertility, and the resilience of populations to environmental change.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 3104 - Evolutionary Biology. Lead: Prof Jonathan Evans

Advancing synthetic photochemistry: online photoreactor mass spectrometry. The rapid and comprehensive profiling of photochemistry is required to expedite the development of next generation photoactivated processes, including LED-optimised photocatalysis. As such, this project will develop new photoreactor mass spectrometry tools to probe photochemistry online and evaluate the early stages of photocatalysis - including the interception of intermediates relevant to organic synthesis. With a tunable light source, photochemical action plots will be routinely attainable, revealing the wavelength with maximum photochemical potency, and facilitating innovative chromoselective reaction design. The project outcomes include new technologies and workflows, new photochemical knowledge and broad applications in synthesis.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 3401 - Analytical Chemistry. Lead: Dr Sinead Keaveney

In Silico Design of New Catalysts for Nitrate Reduction to Green Ammonia. Sophisticated new catalysts will be vital in the transition to environmentally responsible energy and production industries. Through engineering catalyst microenvironment, this project will determine novel theoretical principles on the catalyst design, yielding significant insights for translation into sustainable new catalytic processing in nitrate reduction. Expected outcomes include new sustainable catalysts for nitrate reduction to ammonia, help minimise carbon emissions, reduce energy consumption, and remove nitrate contaminants from wastewater. These outcomes should benefit the Australian economy with potential for new knowledge-based energy and environmental industries and safer generation of energy and production of commodities.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 4016 - Materials Engineering. Lead: Prof Dr Aijun Du

Dynamic cell membrane remodelling regulates nutrient homeostasis. The cell surface provides a major barrier to all external molecules. We propose that eukaryotic cells have evolved a mechanism to transiently modify its protein composition by regulating the entry and/or exit of nutrient regulatory molecules to this barrier. This serves as a major mechanism by which cells make decisions about the choice of nutrient entry to maintain nutrient homeostasis in the face of a changing environment. In this proposal we will examine the full repertoire of the regulated cell surface nutrient regulatory mechanism by identifying regulated membrane proteins and the mechanism by which they undergo regulated transport to and from the cell surface. . Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 3101 - Biochemistry and Cell Biology. Lead: Prof David James

Lighting the Path to Recovery: Addressing Delirium Risks in ICU Design. Access to circadian lighting significantly improves quality of life, particularly for critically ill patients in ICUs, who often experience disrupted circadian rhythms and sleep deprivation, increasing their risk of delirium. Current ICU lighting often fails to meet melanopic equivalent daylight illumination (m-EDI) thresholds needed to promote circadian entrainment. This project addresses these gaps by engineering dynamic lighting solutions tailored to critically ill patients’ needs for sleep, and recovery. By establishing patient-centered, evidence-based m-EDI recommendations and evaluating energy-efficient, tunable lighting systems, the research aims to enhance ICU luminous environment, fostering better sleep to reduce delirium risks.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 3302 - Building. Lead: A/Prof Veronica Garcia Hansen

Responsible Statistical Learning: Uncertainty, Fairness and Transparency. This project seeks to create a new framework for statistical analysis that improves prediction accuracy, fairness, and transparency, while also accounting for uncertainty in data over time and space. It focuses on improving statistical methods for complex data, particularly in addressing the challenges of climate change’s impact on insurance pricing. The goal is to develop fairer, more reliable methods for pricing life insurance and planning for retirement, with a focus on ensuring better outcomes for all. The research aims to reduce inequalities and improve public health and social services, ultimately helping Australians adapt to climate change.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 4905 - Statistics. Lead: A/Prof Yanrong Yang

Consoling the Self: Historical Grief Strategies and the Healing Arts. This project studies the rich store of Greek and Roman writings on how to cope with grief, caused by the death of family or a friend, but also the result from any significant loss, such as respect, honour, job, pet, or one’s country. By using a novel, interdisciplinary approach in line with the burgeoning fields of the history of emotions and the healing arts (writing, bibliotherapy, music, etc.) and building on my earlier grief studies in antiquity (2009-2018), it will use modern grief theory as a lens to exploit the sophisticated strategies of Greece and Rome and extract coping mechanisms for modern times. With the many real and potential losses facing humanity today the project aims to benefit from ancient wisdom.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 4303 - Historical Studies. Lead: Prof Han (Johannes) Baltussen

Efficient Bayesian analysis by exploiting fast approximate models. This project will develop novel methods for efficient statistical analysis of complex stochastic models. It will generate new knowledge in the area of statistics by exploiting and correcting fast model approximations to accelerate parameter estimation. The expected outcome of the project is the ability to process a much wider class of statistical models that are very computationally intensive to simulate on a computer. The methods are motivated by important problems in systems biology and epidemiology, but will be widely applicable, enabling discoveries in many fields. Other benefits include reduced reliance on supercomputing resources and training of the next generation of statistical data scientists.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 4905 - Statistics. Lead: Prof Christopher Drovandi

Does metamorphosis facilitate or constrain adaptation to new environments? Improved understanding of what facilitates and constrains rapid evolution is essential to predict how organisms will respond to environmental change. This project investigates how evolution is influenced by genomic conflict occurring between life-stages in animals that undergo metamorphosis. It uses an ecologically important group of Australian beetles to measure larval and adult traits that are key in adapting to climate change. This project will lead to an improved ability to predict how insects and other animals with metamorphosis will adapt to climate change. Further, this project will provide fundamental knowledge that will impact how we manage of a wide range of economically important insects.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 3104 - Evolutionary Biology. Lead: A/Prof Megan Head

Enhancing Vision-Language Models with Game-Based Reasoning and Evaluation. This project aims to enhance Large Vision-Language Models by developing innovative evaluation tools and training methods that focus on complex reasoning, decision-making, and adaptability. Current evaluation methods lack the ability to test these advanced skills comprehensively. By addressing this gap, the project will improve Large Vision-Language Models ability to understand and solve intricate, real-world problems. The outcomes will not only enhance AI's capabilities in specific tasks but also provide transferable skills applicable to various domains, benefiting industries such as healthcare, business, and education, while supporting Australia's leadership in AI research and applications.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 4603 - Computer Vision and Multimedia Computation. Lead: A/Prof Qi Wu

Enabling low noise offshore foundation installation for renewable energy. This project aims to develop methods to confidently predict foundation installation for offshore renewable energy, a must for safe reliable operation. This is significant for these large infrastructure developments with each project costing tens of billions of dollars and hundreds of foundations accounting for a quarter of the cost. This project expects to directly link seabed information obtained offshore with fundamental new geotechnical insights to provide robust tools for a priori prediction. Expected outcomes include significantly reduced uncertainties of low noise foundation installation. This research should therefore lead to significant environmental, economic and societal benefits of affordable clean energy and generation of jobs.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 4005 - Civil Engineering. Lead: Prof Britta Bienen

Processes & responses of nitrous oxide production in marine invertebrates . This project aims to investigate how marine sponges and ascidian produce the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide. Using environmental surveys, microbiome analyses and experimental ecology, this project will reveal how microbial symbionts in sponges and ascidian produce nitrous oxide and how this production responds to environmental change. It is anticipated that increases in nutrients and temperature will increase nitrous oxide production and raises the number of sponges and ascidians in our oceans. This research is expected to significantly enhance our understanding of how our marine environment contributes to the global production of an important greenhouse gas and will enable more accurate predictions of future nitrous oxide emissions.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 3107 - Microbiology. Lead: Prof Torsten Thomas

The Mismatch between Photochemical Reactivity and Molecular Absorptivity. It was a long-held belief in photochemistry that the color of a photoactive compound was the best guide to achieve the most efficient photochemical reaction. For example, if a molecule appeared blue, then complementary orange light was the optimum excitation source. Recently, our team has upended this paradigm. Our findings that maximum absorptivity (color) and maximum reaction efficiency are not necessarily congruent has far-reaching consequences for all production process that involve photochemical reactions, from 3D printing to surface curing, as much milder light sources can be used than previously thought. This project will investigate the underpinning cause of the mismatch and enable us to predict photochemical reactivity.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 3406 - Physical Chemistry. Lead: Prof Christopher Barner-Kowollik

Hamonic analysis and spaces of functions on manifolds. Harmonic analysis is at the frontiers of many branches of mathematics including partial differential equations (PDEs) and differential geometry. Aim I of this project is to resolve an important conjecture in harmonic analysis on manifolds concerning boundedness of the prototypical operator, the Riesz transformations, on manifolds. Aim II is to study fractional powers of operators and their associated function spaces. Expected outcomes are solutions to the proposed long-standing problems, original ideas and techniques to solve further important problems in PDEs. Benefit includes expanding knowledge to mathematical sciences, training future mathematicians and mathematical foundation for experts in some important industries in Australia.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 4904 - Pure Mathematics. Lead: Prof Xuan Thinh Duong

Australians and the Past Revisited. Twenty-five years ago, researchers carried out an ARC-funded survey about how Australians discover, think about and use the past in their lives. The digital revolution has since transformed the ways that people access historical knowledge and understanding. Using online surveys, focus groups and interviews with diverse Australians this project aims to investigate how Australians learn about, value and respond to their history and use it to address today’s social issues. Expected outcomes include better understanding of the value and significance of history and heritage for all Australians. This will benefit the Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museum sector, teachers, the media and policy makers and help foster social inclusion.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 4303 - Historical Studies. Lead: Prof Laurajane Smith

Observer design for complex systems: robust convergence and performance. Estimation algorithms can estimate unmeasured variables using sensor measurements and the mathematical model of the system. This project aims to develop a novel estimation design methodology for systems characterised by complex dynamics and complex networked structure. Expected outcomes include novel estimation algorithms and novel methodologies for tuning the existing algorithms for the purpose of enhancing their convergence and robustness properties. As estimation is a critical enabling technology spanning all sectors, significant benefits are expected, including enhanced monitoring, control and optimisation for important classes of complex systems, including those arising in collaborative robotics and energy storage.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 4007 - Control Engineering, Mechatronics and Robotics. Lead: Prof Dragan Nesic

Uncovering Australia’s hidden minerals. Airborne electromagnetics is a crucial technology for mapping conductive minerals and water resources over large areas that cannot be covered with ground-based methods. This project aims to increase the accuracy of airborne electromagnetic surveys by precisely measuring the transmitter-receiver geometry. The project expects to help airborne surveys look under conductive overburden and better characterise highly conductive features such as massive nickel and copper sulphide deposits. Expected outcomes include the discovery of critical minerals and rare earth elements as well as water resource mapping. This should provide significant benefits to the mining and agricultural industries and contribute to the clean energy transformation. . Scheme: Linkage Projects. Field: 3706 - Geophysics. Lead: Prof Li Ju

Improving the accuracy of the justice system with systematic reviews. This project aims to improve the accuracy and efficiency of the legal system by making the scientific knowledge it relies on more accessible, understandable, and current. To do so, we will create fully transparent systematic reviews of commonly used forensic practices and topics, such as fingerprint analysis, and consult with lawyers, judges, and the public to build evidence-based strategies for effectively communicating these reviews. Long-term impact is ensured through training forensic scientists to produce future systematic reviews and by building a library of reviews hosted by the Australian Academy of Science. These tools will help prevent wrongful convictions, bring knowledge into courts more efficiently, and foster public trust. . Scheme: Linkage Projects. Field: 4804 - Law In Context. Lead: Dr Jason Chin