Grants & Opportunities

Automated People Management: When algorithms manage employees. This project aims to explain the impact of technologies that automate people management. Through four integrated studies, this project expects to generate new knowledge on a currently invisible set of managerial and industrial practices that are profoundly reshaping work and employment relations. Expected outcomes include the first typology of automated people management technologies that will be used to reveal where and how automated people management is occurring in Australia and its effects on managers and workers. This much needed research should provide significant practical benefit to organisations and inform emerging policy and frameworks for the responsible adoption of AI and digital technologies in Australian workplaces. . Scheme: Discovery Early Career Researcher Award. Field: 3505 - Human Resources and Industrial Relations. Lead: A/Prof Penelope Williams

Photo-thermal ammonia decomposition . This project aims to develop of novel catalysts targeted to utilise light and heat for the photo-thermal decomposition of ammonia to produce hydrogen and generate new understanding on the role of light in thermal catalytic reactions. The emergence of the hydrogen economy has resulted in the urgent need for safe and efficient hydrogen transport and storage vectors. Ammonia, a hydrogen carrier, is being increasingly considered as a potential key to facilitate the hydrogen economy due to its relative ease of storage. The development of catalysts tailored toward capturing light for ammonia decomposition will enable a new potential pathway for the hydrogen economy, with ammonia as a hydrogen vector. . Scheme: Discovery Early Career Researcher Award. Field: 3406 - Physical Chemistry. Lead: Dr Emma Lovell

Mapping the genetics of brain connectivity. The brain is a complex biological system that gives rise to our consciousness, thoughts, and experiences, yet we still do not know how this complexity emerges. This project aims to comprehensively investigate the genetics of brain connectivity combining cutting-edge techniques in neuroimaging, genomics, mathematical modelling, and cognitive neuroscience, focusing specifically on the connectivity of functionally important brain network hubs. The outcomes will provide a mechanistic understanding of the genetic origins of brain network formation and an explanation for how genetic influences on brain organisation shape human behaviour advancing the fundamental knowledge about the complexity of the brain.. Scheme: Discovery Early Career Researcher Award. Field: 5202 - Biological Psychology. Lead: Dr Aurina Arnatkeviciute

Photothermal management with graphene metamaterials. Environmental and industrial thermal management represents major global energy consumption and CO2 emission. This project aims to investigate a game-changing passive thermal management solution to tackle both heating and cooling problems without using any electricity. This is made possible by designing a nanostructured graphene metamaterial to either totally reject or totally absorb electromagnetic waves in certain spectral ranges. Expected outcomes include new design and fabrication strategies for novel photothermal films with high performance and cost-effectiveness. This is expected to lead to the development of novel energy efficient technologies for Australian industries, producing direct economic, social and environmental benefits.. Scheme: Discovery Early Career Researcher Award. Field: 4016 - Materials Engineering. Lead: Dr Keng-Te Lin

From data to fast insights: a database system for seamless data exploration. This project aims to develop a next-generation database platform for seamless data exploration, where users can interactively search for insights buried in the data, without a clear outcome in mind. Unlike today's database management systems, this platform does not require costly experts to tune the database for fast responses, and guides users towards finding insights. Using the latest advancements in machine learning to facilitate data exploration and reduce the time and effort to discover insights, this open-source database platform should provide significant benefits to Australian businesses and boost scientific discovery, increasing Australia’s competitiveness in the global data-driven market. . Scheme: Discovery Early Career Researcher Award. Field: 4605 - Data Management and Data Science. Lead: A/Prof Renata Borovica-Gajic

Porous Tandem Catalyst for CO2 Conversion into Sustainable Chemicals. This project aims to develop new strategies to design and tune the performance of multifunctional catalysts for the conversion of carbon dioxide as a sustainable feedstock for the production of valuable commodity chemicals used in the manufacture of consumer products. New insights into reaction mechanisms, and relationships between catalyst structure and performance, are expected through innovative analytical tools. Anticipated outcomes include a toolkit of catalyst design principles, underpinning the development of next-generation catalysts with superior energy efficiency, waste minimisation, and associated socioeconomic benefits, which should contribute significantly to Australian science, industry and the environment. . Scheme: Discovery Early Career Researcher Award. Field: 3406 - Physical Chemistry. Lead: Dr Helena Wang

Cooperative Single Atom Catalysts for Zn-CO2 Batteries. This project aims to develop cooperative single-atom catalysts for efficient and selective electrocatalytic CO2 conversion and Zn-CO2 batteries. Cooperative catalysts at the single atom limit can potentially achieve enhanced electrochemical properties beyond state-of-the-art and will trigger significant theoretical and technological interests in energy conversion and storage fields. It is expected to generate new knowledge in materials science and electrochemistry, using interdisciplinary approaches of atom-precise material engineering, in situ characterisation and full-cell optimisation. Significant economic and environmental benefits are expected from developing carbon-neutral CO2 electrolysers with low cost and high energy efficiency.. Scheme: Discovery Early Career Researcher Award. Field: 4018 - Nanotechnology. Lead: Dr Wenhao Ren

Quantum sensing of magnetism in two dimensions. This project aims to use innovative quantum sensing technologies to investigate the novel emerging field of two-dimensional magnetism; imaging both static and dynamic forms of 2D magnetism. This project expects to generate new knowledge about magnetic van der Waals materials and their potential application to ultra-thin electronic and spintronic devices. Expected outcomes of this project are a deeper understanding of the formation and modulation of magnetic order in 2D, new fabrication methods for deliberate domain wall formation, production of near-zero energy gap spin-waves, and new encapsulation methods for ultra-stable 2D materials. This should provide significant benefits towards fundamental physics and future device engineering. . Scheme: Discovery Early Career Researcher Award. Field: 5104 - Condensed Matter Physics. Lead: Dr David Broadway

Muslim Museums: Curating Islam in Multicultural Societies . This project aims to determine how contemporary Muslim communities use museums as a medium to think about and display their collective identities in non-Muslim-majority societies. Drawing on a comparative ethnographic study of Muslim-led museums across Australia, Europe, and North America, the project expects to generate new knowledge about how Muslim communities collect, curate, and exhibit their heritage in a comparative frame. Outcomes include the first transnational study of Muslim museums and a radio documentary on the Islamic Museum of Australia. Anticipated benefits include a greater understanding of the experiences of communities in caring for their heritage and improved competency in displaying multicultural heritage in museums.. Scheme: Discovery Early Career Researcher Award. Field: 4302 - Heritage, Archive and Museum Studies. Lead: Dr Virginie Rey

Regulating the Future of Protein . Australia needs to produce more protein, sustainably into the future. This project aims to determine how this can be achieved by developing optimal ways of regulating alternative proteins. Alternative proteins imitate meat and dairy but are often made using new technologies. This project combines an innovative mix of empirical and legal analysis to understand the full range of expectations, opportunities and risks regarding alternative proteins and their regulation. It uses this new knowledge to determine how to regulate for healthy, sustainable and prosperous future food systems. Expected outcomes include a new approach to regulating food and the creation of new pathways for stakeholder engagement in regulation for better food futures. . Scheme: Discovery Early Career Researcher Award. Field: 4804 - Law In Context. Lead: A/Prof Hope Johnson

A geospatial toolkit to assess community risk to environmental change. This project seeks to strengthen our understanding of the role of environmental change in driving patterns of community risk, by building a spatially and temporally explicit model, and a risk index that will be designed with input from decision makers. This project expects to improve the implementation of geospatial tools for risk assessment using an innovative approach based on evidence and practice. Expected outcomes include increased and optimal implementation of geospatial data in Australian systems, and enhanced research capacity to proactively respond to environmental change.. Scheme: Discovery Early Career Researcher Award. Field: 4202 - Epidemiology. Lead: A/Prof Aparna Lal

Predicting the future threat of mosquitoes under climate change. This project aims to predict the future distributions of local and invasive mosquito species under climate change by testing their ability to adapt to hot, cold and dry environments. The project expects to generate new knowledge by identifying traits that underpin climate change adaptation in mosquitoes. Expected outcomes of this project include an enhanced understanding of future mosquito distributions through new predictive models that incorporate adaptive changes. This should provide significant social and economic benefits, with outcomes intended to improve the management of local pest mosquitoes and prepare Australia to tackle invasive mosquito threats.. Scheme: Discovery Early Career Researcher Award. Field: 3104 - Evolutionary Biology. Lead: Dr Perran Stott-Ross

Illuminating the dark Universe with explosive astrophysical events. Explosive astrophysical events are critical to understand what the Universe is made of and its physics. This project aims to single out the most exciting exploding stars and extreme events out of the millions detected each night at the world’s largest optical telescope. It will magnify Australian leadership and optimise investment in astronomical facilities by obtaining unique information before these events fade forever. Expected outcomes include improved knowledge on the nature of exploding stars and the discovery of new events and physical processes. It will benefit the Australian community at large by training young Australians in data-intensive technologies required to lead ground-breaking research and advance our innovative economy.. Scheme: Discovery Early Career Researcher Award. Field: 5101 - Astronomical Sciences. Lead: Dr Anais Möller

Investigating neuronal oscillations and motor function in older adults. . This project aims to identify changes in brain function that contribute to age-related reductions in movement control. By implementing a novel, multimodal approach involving cutting edge non-invasive brain stimulation, this project expects to identify the causal role of brain oscillations in the ability of older adults to learn new motor skills. Expected outcomes include a critical understanding of the basic neural mechanisms that contribute to altered motor function during healthy ageing. These outcomes will provide significant benefits, including important neurophysiological insight that is required to develop targeted interventions aimed at improving movement in older adults. . Scheme: Discovery Early Career Researcher Award. Field: 5202 - Biological Psychology. Lead: Dr George Opie

Kesterite/Si Tandem Structure for Unassisted Overall Solar Fuel Production. This project aims to develop Kesterite/Si tandem device for photoelectrochemical carbon dioxide reduction to produce solar fuels. It is expected to reveal the photoelectrochemical mechanism of the p-n heterojunction, thereby promoting solar energy utilisation and greenhouse gas reduction. Expected outcomes include delivery of a high-performance kesterite photocathode for efficient CO2 reduction, a kesterite/Si tandem device for overall unassisted solar fuel production, and an in-depth understanding of structure-performance correlation to guide future heterojunction photocathode design. This project should provide significant benefits in minimising fossil fuel consumption, increasing energy security, and expanding the clean energy industry.. Scheme: Discovery Early Career Researcher Award. Field: 4016 - Materials Engineering. Lead: Dr Kaiwen Sun

The evolution of venom and its role in shaping biodiversity. This project aims to study how venom, nature's most powerful weapon, evolves and shapes biodiversity. Using the iconic Australian and New Guinean venomous snakes as a model, this project expects to develop a novel approach to profile venom composition from museum specimens, test competing hypotheses on the evolution of venoms, and test for the association between the evolution of venoms and the evolution of diversity in species richness and morphology. Expected outcomes include the largest venom database for any animal group and a better understanding of how venoms evolve and what role they play in earth’s biodiversity. The generated venom data has potential to be used in future studies to aid in the development of anti-venoms and drugs.. Scheme: Discovery Early Career Researcher Award. Field: 3104 - Evolutionary Biology. Lead: Dr Damien Esquerre

Indigenous mathematical transforms. A class of mathematical transforms, or systematic conversions between related spaces or objects, was practised by some Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups. Such transforms from ground to night sky were used in long-distance route-recording and wayfinding techniques. This project aims to elucidate these transforms, and to use this knowledge to extend the mathematical framework and applications of Fourier analysis. There is significant potential for new mathematics to emerge at this exciting interface of Indigenous/non-Indigenous knowledge. Expected outcomes are interdisciplinary research training for Indigenous students and new understanding of Indigenous sciences. Emerging big data technologies such as holography may benefit. . Scheme: Discovery Indigenous. Field: 4901 - Applied Mathematics. Lead: Prof Rowena Ball

Co-designing a Food Sovereignty Model with Indigenous Communities. Food sovereignty asserts the rights of people and communities to healthy and culturally appropriate foods through determination of their own food and agriculture systems. With food insecurity higher among Indigenous households; a food sovereignty approach offers the potential for sustainable long-term solutions that maintain human dignity and reinvigorate knowledge systems. Drawing on national and international perspectives and using Indigenous research methodologies, this project aims to co-design a food sovereignty model that will enable Indigenous communities to effectively address food insecurity according to their local contexts. Both the process and solutions will contribute to improvements in physical, mental and social wellbeing.. Scheme: Discovery Indigenous. Field: 4504 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health and Wellbeing. Lead: A/Prof Debbie Duthie

Fine Tuning: A Reconciliation of Indigenous and Western Musical Traditions. Focusing on central Australian song lines, the project strengthens our knowledge, understanding and application of the intricate tuning systems that underpin traditional Indigenous musical practices. Employing a unique methodology that combines Indigenous and contemporary Western musical performance practices with cutting-edge digital technologies, the project will show how the highly nuanced and sophisticated tunings at the heart of Indigenous music-making can be preserved when transposed to contemporary Western art music contexts. In so doing, the case is made for a more genuine, equitable dialogue between Indigenous and non-Indigenous music-makers, to the mutual benefit of musicians, audiences, and society at large. . Scheme: Discovery Indigenous. Field: 4501 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Culture, Language and History. Lead: Dr Dylan Crismani

ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery. ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery. The mission of our Centre is to use gravitational waves to investigate the fundamental nature of relativistic gravity, ultra-dense matter, and cosmology. This will generate critical discoveries that cement Australia's leadership role in the gravitational wave mega-science instruments of the 2030s and 2040s. By bringing together a world-class team with broad and complementary expertise we will develop core technologies for future detectors, discover new sources of gravitational waves, probe fundamental physics, and lay the foundations for an Australian gravitational wave observatory. Our discoveries will inspire Australia's youth to pursue high tech careers and position our staff and students to become leaders in both industry and academia.. Scheme: ARC Centres of Excellence. Field: 5101 - Astronomical Sciences. Lead: Prof Matthew Bailes

ARC Centre of Excellence in Plants for Space. ARC Centre of Excellence in Plants for Space. This Centre aims to create on-demand, zero-waste, high-efficiency plants and plant products to address grand challenges in sustainability for Space and on Earth. Significant advances in plant, food, and sensory science; process and systems engineering; law and policy; and psychology are expected to deliver transformative solutions for Space habitation – and create enhanced plant-derived food and bioresources to capitalise upon emergent and rapidly expanding domestic and global markets. Anticipated outcomes include industry uptake of innovative plant forms, foods, technologies, and commodities; and an ambitious education and international co-ordination agenda to position Australia as a global leader in research supporting Space habitation.. Scheme: ARC Centres of Excellence. Field: 3108 - Plant Biology. Lead: Prof Matthew Gilliham

Towards a Green and Sustainable Energy-efficient Metaverse. This project aims to establish a world-class facility for conducting research on green and sustainable energy-efficient metaverse technologies. The metaverse is widely anticipated as the next technological breakthrough that will revolutionise the way we interact, learn, work, shop and entertain in the new digital economy. However, metaverse technologies, including virtual reality, AI, big data, cybersecurity and blockchains, require a tremendous amount of computation and energy to serve millions of concurrent users. The proposed facility is expected to support the development of energy-efficient algorithms and systems for the metaverse, and establish Australia’s leadership in this emerging area of major economic and societal impact.. Scheme: Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities. Field: 4604 - Cybersecurity and Privacy. Lead: Prof Willy Susilo

Androgen receptor: A master regulator of lipid metabolism. This project aims to understand how male sex hormones, or androgens, affect the amount and metabolism of fats in normal body tissues. By integrating our multi-disciplinary expertise in androgen action, molecular biology, metabolism and bioinformatics with novel techniques and instrumentation, this collaboration expects to generate the first detailed picture of how fat metabolism is controlled by androgens in humans, and how closely this relates to mice. Expected outcomes and benefits will be a new understanding of which aspects of fat metabolism are most influenced by androgens, and an ability to anticipate potential metabolic impacts of natural or pharmacological fluctuations in androgen levels in humans, laboratory animals and livestock.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 3101 - Biochemistry and Cell Biology. Lead: Prof Lisa Butler

Unveiling the dead and dusty Universe with the James Webb Space Telescope. This project aims to find the earliest dead and dust obscured galaxies in the Universe. Understanding their astrophysics, explosive growth, and demise have long been among the most important unsolved mysteries of astronomy. Decades in the making, the imminent availability of the James Webb Space Telescope mid-2022 marks a watershed moment. This project uses guaranteed access to the revolutionary space telescope to discover the first dead galaxies and unveil the previously hidden "dusty" galaxies and shed light on their suspected evolutionary link. The project is expected to significantly enhance Australia's international standing through leadership in use of the world's flagship scientific facility.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 5101 - Astronomical Sciences. Lead: A/Prof Ivo Labbe

Revealing the impacts of super-charged photosynthesis on leaf respiration. This project aims to use state-of-the-art technologies to develop a novel framework that links a super-charged version of photosynthesis (known as C4 photosynthesis) to changes in nocturnal leaf respiration. A quarter of global land photosynthesis occurs in C4 plants that include several important cereal crops. Although advances have been made in modelling C4 photosynthesis, these advances are unable to model variations in nocturnal respiration. Expected outcomes include equations that predict respiration in C4 plants growing in current/future climates. Benefits to include knowledge needed to engineer faster-growing crops and providing climate modelers the ability to more accurately predict carbon exchange in C4-dominated ecosystems. . Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 3004 - Crop and Pasture Production. Lead: Prof Owen Atkin