Grants & Opportunities

Circadian photoreceptor sensitivity and impacts of modern lighting on sleep. Light has powerful non-visual effects, including effects on sleep. These non-visual effects are mediated by cells in the eye that are most sensitive to blue light. There are large individual differences in sensitivity to non-visual effects of light that are not understood and that would give great insight into suboptimal sleep, which has become widespread in modern society. This study will be the first systematic examination of individual differences in the effect of blue light on sleep and will uncover how alterations in the gene responsible for the effects of blue light on sleep (OPN4) contribute to these differences. This will lead to scalable individualised solutions to the unmet problem of how modern light environments impact sleep.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 1701 - Psychology. Lead: A/Prof Andrew Phillips

Optimisation of piezoelectric metamaterials: Towards robotic stress sensors. This project aims to design new piezoelectric material microstructures that can enhance the measurement of complex local stress states within robotic limbs. The project expects to generate new knowledge of the achievable properties of multi-poled piezoelectric materials and develop computational tools for the analysis and structural optimisation of such materials. The designed microstructures may revolutionise piezoelectric sensor technology. Expected outcomes include manufactured proof-of-concept sensors that enable measurement of local stress fields. This should provide significant benefits, such as improved future robot capability and reliability, and research training for next-generation Australian computational mathematicians. . Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 0102 - Applied Mathematics. Lead: A/Prof Vivien Challis

Reducing Cyberbullying: Turning Bystanders into Constructive Defenders. This project aims to develop a theoretically driven internet-based training program to reduce cyberbullying among adolescents. It expects to discover how to turn passive bystanders (onlookers) into active constructive defenders who help to stop cyberbullying and assist those being cyberbullied. Expected outcomes include developing the first theoretical model of bystanders in the cyberbullying context and practical evidenced-based methods to increase constructive bystanding. The provision of an accessible training program for use in schools will produce significant benefits for the well-being of Australian youth by reducing cyberbullying and increasing the civility of Australian youth. . Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 1701 - Psychology. Lead: Prof Kay Bussey

Hunger flexibly modifies hypothalamic neural circuits responding to threat. Animal and human behaviour frequently involves a choice between actions or goals with conflicting positive and negative outcomes. However, the appropriate action or goal in conflicting situations often depends on physiological pressures like hunger, stress and mating opportunities. For example, the need for resources within an environment, such as food, drives approach behaviour, whereas threats to survival, such as predator cues, enhance avoidance behaviour. This project will uncover the neural circuitry and endocrine mechanisms through which hunger influences hypothalamic threat-detecting circuits that suppress food intake. These studies provide a new hypothalamic model to understand risk/reward decision in the brain.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 1701 - Psychology. Lead: Prof Zane Andrews

Rethinking walking infrastructure: AI-assisted footpath network modelling. The project aims to develop new macroscopic and network wide transport modelling and optimisation methodologies specific to walking suitable for large scale footpath network planning applications. The expected outcomes of this project are a novel Artificial Intelligence (AI) assisted tool for automated generation of footpath network attributes, and a set of equilibrium and non-equilibrium seeking walking route choice models driven by real-world individual walking trajectory data. This project will deliver a step-change in transport planning for walking infrastructure that will lead to increased active transport and improved urban infrastructure planning, thereby resulting in significant gains in population and environmental health.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 1507 - Transportation and Freight Services. Lead: A/Prof Meead Saberi

Advanced Bayesian Inversion Algorithms for Wave Propagation. This project aims to improve algorithms for detecting hidden items by developing new computational mathematical techniques capable of reconstructing the shape and location of objects using electromagnetic waves. This project expects to generate new knowledge in the areas of Bayesian Inversion and computational wave propagation. Expected outcomes of this project are algorithms that can be developed for use in nonintrusive radio wave security scanners. This should provide benefits such as the capability to scan a crowd without a checkpoint, which will have the potential to improve security in public places.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 0103 - Numerical and Computational Mathematics. Lead: Dr Stuart Hawkins

Bioengineering self-assembly of innovative core-shell nanomaterials . This project aims to generate new knowledge in nanoscale bioengineering. It expects to develop a disruptive platform technology for design and manufacture of advanced nanomaterials to provide solutions for unmet needs in industry. It will explore an innovative bioengineering concept that merges biopolymer synthesis with virus-like particle self-assembly to produce innovative tunable core-shell nanomaterials. Expected outcomes are the development of advanced techniques for design and manufacture of innovate nanomaterials with enhanced stability and performance. This innovative platform technology for precision engineering of high-performance nanomaterials should provide significant benefits for biotechnological and agricultural industries.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 1007 - Nanotechnology. Lead: Prof Bernd Rehm

Generating Highly Entangled Photons from Nonlinear Monolayer Domes. This project aims to investigate novel monolayer domes for the development of high-performance quantum photon sources. This research expects to expand our understanding of fundamental physics of photon pair generation in nonlinear optical materials. Such monolayer domes have ultra-high optical nonlinearity, which gives rise to strong light-matter interactions and enables high-efficiency photon pair generation. The expected outcome is demonstration of a prototype light-weight and intense quantum photon source based on novel materials, which can be readily integrated with photonic circuits for quantum communication technologies. This research could strengthen the development of new industries and lead to job creation.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 1007 - Nanotechnology. Lead: Prof Yuerui Lu

Innovation in police gender equity management: Looking back, moving forward. This project aims to investigate gender equity recruitment and career support policies in all nine Australian and New Zealand policing agencies. A wide range of equity initiatives that have been implemented across police agencies will be examined, along with affirmative action measures including recent 50/50 male/female recruitment targets. The project expects to generate an advanced best practice model that can be used by domestic and international police agencies. This will allow police organisations to better manage equity issues and support a more inclusive and representative workforce. The benefits of this project are significant, they range from stronger police-community relations through to better service delivery by police.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 1602 - Criminology. Lead: Dr Jacqueline Drew

Understanding the Geodynamo: Putting Australia on the Map. This Project aims to construct high-quality Australian palaeomagnetic records from lake sediments for incorporation into models of Earth’s magnetic field history. Earth’s magnetic field is generated by a dynamo within our planet’s outer core, it underpins modern navigation and forms a shield against space radiation. International efforts to understand ancient geodynamo evolution lack Australian palaeomagnetic data, a shortcoming referred to as the “Australian data wasteland”. This Project aims to address this data deficiency and is expected to reinvigorate Australia’s role in understanding the geodynamo. Furthermore, models of Earth’s ancient magnetic field are anticipated to provide ages for Australian archaeological and climate records.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 0404 - Geophysics. Lead: A/Prof David Heslop

All-on-chip twisted light modulator for ultrahigh-capacity data processing. The project aims to develop a conceptually new all-on-chip twisted light modulator via photonic integration of a customised twisted-light metasurface with on-chip optical waveguides. The goal is to replace current bulky, slow, and costly spatial light modulators by a compact nanophotonic chip for the generation and detection of multiple twisted-light modes. Project outcomes include new knowledge in photonic integration and 3D meta-optics, and novel nanophotonic devices for twisted light, which will expand applications of twisted light for all-on-chip fibre-optic communications and holographic displays. The ultra-compact, high-capacity, efficient twisted-light modulators are expected to have a practical impact on many photonic applications.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 1007 - Nanotechnology. Lead: Dr Haoran Ren

The impact of female sex hormones on neurodevelopment. This project aims to characterise the contribution of sex hormones to the development of emotional brain circuits in female adolescents. Puberty is associated with profound changes in emotional behaviours in females, but we know little about the underlying brain mechanisms. In particular, research has neglected to consider the role of the sex hormones for which changes are a defining feature of female puberty (eg, oestradiol). This work will be the first to comprehensively advance our understanding of the unique role of sex hormones in shaping the adolescent female brain. It will provide critical understanding of how individual differences in hormonal factors increase risk for emotional problems in females, and inform treatment strategies.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 1701 - Psychology. Lead: Prof Sarah Whittle

Next Generation Bridge Monitoring using Novel Synergic Identification. Over 70% of the bridges in Australia are made of prestressed concrete, yet many do not meet the requirements of current Australian Standards. This project aims to provide a cost-effective system for monitoring bridges in real time along with systems that track the prestressing force and rate of damage for ongoing health assessment and necessary repairs. The use of innovative engineering techniques, solving long standing problems of engineers, will enable the safe operation of bridges, which play a primary role in Australia’s national transport system. Improved methodology for turning tired infrastructure into ‘smart bridges’ will be developed and commissioned first in Australia and then applied internationally.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 0905 - Civil Engineering. Lead: Prof Tommy Chan

Shared-space interactions between people and autonomous vehicles. This project aims to understand how autonomous vehicles in urban environments need to interact with the people that they share those spaces with. Autonomous vehicles that are able to operate in shared spaces, such as campuses and pedestrian zones, promise to improve urban life. However, their uptake depends heavily on public acceptance as they operate in close proximity to people. The project investigates whether people are more likely to trust the technology and feel safe if they are able to understand how the system makes decisions and to directly influence its behaviour. Outcomes are expected to promote safe behaviour around urban robotic applications and accelerate the uptake of autonomous systems in Australia’s cities. . Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 0806 - Information Systems. Lead: Prof Martin Tomitsch

Inorganic/organic Hybrids for flexible thermoelectric generators. Flexible thermoelectric generators can directly harvest electricity from body heat, offering a new technology for wearable electronics, but their unsatisfied performance limits their applications. This project aims to design high-efficient and mechanically robust flexible thermoelectric devices based on novel hybrids with quantum dots and conducting polymers as key components. The key breakthrough is to establish unique devices with record-high thermoelectric efficiency and to illustrate the underlying mechanisms for searching new-type flexible thermoelectrics. The expected outcomes will lead to innovative technology for energy conversion and advanced manufacturing and place Australia at the forefront of energy and manufacturing fields.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 1007 - Nanotechnology. Lead: Dr Xiaolei Shi

Large-scale and long-term storage of Hydrogen in underground reservoirs. This project aims to test effective strategies to re-use Australia’s depleted gas fields for large-scale, long-term, renewable energy storage. With Australia’s energy system undergoing a radical hydrogen-based energy transformation, a critical challenge in the years ahead will be to effectively store massive volumes of hydrogen for long periods (months and years). The overall expected outcome of this research is to fully understand the performance and the geological and environmental implications of long-term storage of hydrogen in empty gas fields. Benefit: this foundational scientific knowledge is crucial if Australia is to effectively bring about this new, sustainable, affordable, long-term, hydrogen-storage solution. . Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 0914 - Resources Engineering and Extractive Metallurgy. Lead: Prof Pathegama Ranjith

Understanding the Antipodean 'Fair Go'. There is bipartisan support for the 'fair go' in Australia and New Zealand, but what does the fair go actually mean? This project aims to generate new knowledge about the role of the fair go in political debate and policy making. It will examine the values that have been historically connected to the fair go. It will assess how the public and politicians currently understand the fair go and will investigate how the fair go has influenced public policies. Expected outcomes include the first systematic analysis of one of the most pervasive and enduring social and political ideas in Australia and New Zealand. This will give policymakers a better understanding of citizens’ values and will build knowledge about how values shape public policies.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 1605 - Policy and Administration. Lead: A/Prof Cosmo Howard

A more sound approach to the neurobiology of language. How does the brain attain spoken language? Current neurobiological models assume either implicitly or explicitly that there is no relationship between a word's sound and its meaning. Yet considerable evidence shows this strong assumption about the arbitrariness of language is invalid. This project will use a combination of behavioural, neuroimaging and computational studies to characterise how the brain processes statistical regularities in sound-to-meaning correspondences as probabilistic cues to attain spoken language. The outcome will be a better neural account of language comprehension and production. The benefit of this new account will be a stronger basis for assessment and treatment of developmental and acquired language impairments.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 1702 - Cognitive Sciences. Lead: Prof Greig de Zubicaray

Locating LGBTIQ+ youth in the archive: Telling new stories for belonging. This project aims to produce the first study of LGBTIQ+ youth in Australia’s past and investigate what these histories mean to LGBTIQ+ youth today. We will generate new knowledge of Australian LGBTIQ+ history and links between historical knowledge and wellbeing in relation to LGBTIQ+ youth. Working with LGBTIQ+ youth we will also develop new archival storytelling techniques, theorising archives as ‘laboratories of belonging’. In doing so, the project forges links between cultural studies of storytelling, LGBTIQ+ youth studies and Australian history. Benefits include innovations in reparative historical methodologies, new resources for the GLAM, youth and education sectors and improvements in LGBTIQ+ youth wellbeing.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 2002 - Cultural Studies. Lead: A/Prof Daniel Marshall

The psychology of gridlock: Compromise, coalitions, and radicalisation. This project aims to test an innovative psychological model of collective gridlock. Using interviews, surveys, experiments, small group research, and analysis of social media data, the project aims to examine critical pathways in gridlock psychology, where opponents are locked into mutually suboptimal outcomes, unable to move forward. These pathways include the exit or self-censorship of moderates; normative pressure towards purity and refusal to compromise; tactical choices to avoid coalitions; and radicalisation. The research aims to develop novel interventions to reduce polarisation and radicalisation, and to promote compromises, which together will help society respond more nimbly and effectively to social and environmental challenges.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 1701 - Psychology. Lead: Prof Winnifred Louis

Defining and engineering the rhizosphere for Australian rainfall patterns. The manner in which plants use carbon and water defines agricultural and natural landscapes. Today's models that predict plant improvement rely on carbon and water usage by plant leaves. However, the first interaction between plants, carbon and water occurs in the rhizosphere; a diverse zone with dynamic root-microbiome interactions. We will use advanced visualisation and mathematics to determine fine scale relationships between microbes and roots in the rhizosphere when exposed to water levels reflective of current and projected rainfall values. From generated knowledge of water and carbon dynamics caused by intimate microbe-root interactions, we will provide water saving, soil regeneration and improved carbon biosequestration strategies.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 0605 - Microbiology. Lead: Prof Michelle Watt

Authoritarian populism and livelihood change in the Philippines. This research aims to explore the impacts of authoritarian populism on development, governance, and livelihood change in the Philippines. The project will generate new knowledge on the consequences of the interrelated erosion of environmental protections, acceleration of development projects, and human rights violations for poor people in Southeast Asia. Expected outcomes of the project include new empirical insights into how poor, resource-reliant households respond to converging environmental and political pressures across rural and urban areas in the Philippines. Project outcomes will provide significant benefits for Australian responses to declining social and environmental safeguards occurring in the region.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 1601 - Anthropology. Lead: Prof Wolfram Dressler

Remote sensing of biotic stress with hyperspectral-fluorescence imaging. This project aims to investigate new indicators of crop biotic stress using innovative airborne remote sensing and imaging spectroscopy for biosecurity applications. Current satellites used to monitor crops and forests do not meet the spectral and spatial details that are required for the early -previsual- detection of biotic and abiotic stress. Accordingly, this project's significance focuses on new insights to detect the alteration of photosynthetic indicators of plant functioning, building on recent breakthroughs with airborne hyperspectral imaging and remote sensing technologies. The outcomes will provide significant benefits to Australia in the detection of harmful diseases and improved water and nutrient monitoring methods.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 0909 - Geomatic Engineering. Lead: Dr Pangzhen Zhang

Magnetohydrodynamic Aerobraking for Spacecraft Entry to Earth's Atmosphere. A spaceship returning from Mars will undergo unprecedented aerodynamic heating as it enters Earth's atmosphere. Magnetohydroynamic aerobraking involves applying a strong magnetic field to the plasma which forms around the spacecraft at these speeds, theoretically protecting it by reducing structural heat loads and enabling less severe flight trajectories. This project aims to experimentally study this technology for Earth return from deep space. It is significant because it will evaluate a new mechanism for managing the tremendous heat loads of planetary entry. The expected outcome and benefit will be development of a new technology to reduce spacecraft heating, leading to safer, more efficient, and potentially reusable spacecraft.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 0901 - Aerospace Engineering. Lead: Dr David Gildfind

Using assisted evolution to win the war against invasive species. Invasive species disrupt ecosystem functioning, causing severe economic costs. This project investigates the use of native insects, alongside assisted evolution, as a novel approach to control invasive plants. Combining experimental and observational data we aim to accelerate adaptation already underway and entrained by selection from interactions between invasive plants and Australian insects. These data will not only address unresolved questions in evolutionary biology but will also provide knowledge on the role native insects can play in the biocontrol of invasive weeds. This will be crucial for conservation managers and agricultural practitioners dealing with plant movement and/or crop development under ongoing environmental change.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 0501 - Ecological Applications. Lead: Prof Johannes Le Roux