Grants & Opportunities

Not Our Future: How Prospective Social Identity Fuels Reactionary Movements. This project aims to investigate the psychology underlying the formation of reactionary social movements—groups that push back against or try to undo progress toward greater rights, equality, and dignity. By considering how a group’s view of its future may be shaped by its present or past, this project expects to generate a new understanding of reactionary attitudes: as stemming from rejection of social changes seen to lead to a future at odds with a desired group identity. Expected outcomes include a novel tripartite model of reactionary movements, international collaboration and advanced insights on this pressing topic. Findings will benefit national intelligence agencies’ efforts to support national security and protect social progress.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 5205 - Social and Personality Psychology. Lead: Prof Michael Wenzel

Next Generation Hybrid Columns to Mitigate Vehicular Impacts. Vehicular crashes into infrastructure result in huge economic and societal costs. This project aims to protect roadside bridge and building columns from structural failure due to vehicular crashes. The project innovation is development of high-performance tube columns with rubberized concrete infill for application at vulnerable locations in bridges/buildings to mitigate their risks to damage. These columns with enhanced impact resistance are optimized using materials technology. Expected outcomes include a new strategy for impact protection, theoretical model and design guidance of this column which provide enhanced safety for vulnerable infrastructure and increase international competitiveness of Australian construction industries.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 4005 - Civil Engineering. Lead: Prof Tommy Chan

Use plain carbon steels as high-performance alloy steels by 3D printing. This project aims to enhance properties of plain carbon steels by metal 3D printing through leveraging its features of sequential microscale melting and rapid cooling. Research outcomes enable to use such low-cost, the most common carbon steels as more expensive high-performance alloy steels without size limitations, while eliminating the long-standing part distortion and cracking issues related to conventional steel heat treatment. The research broadens the usability of carbon steels and expands applications of 3D printing. This should provide substantial benefits, including improved material sustainability and plainification, process simplification, and enhanced steel recyclability, leading to cost savings, and reduced carbon emissions.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 4016 - Materials Engineering. Lead: Prof Ming-Xing Zhang

Logic-based planning under ignorance. Programs that interact with their environment (agents) are widely deployed in our society. However, they are not very good at making decisions under ignorance, which is typical in the real world, due, e.g., to unpredictable human behaviour. The aim of this project is to develop the theory and algorithms to fill this gap. This will equip engineers to use computer-aided techniques to construct agents that make more rational decisions, thus advancing Autonomous Systems and Robotics, listed as Critical Technologies in the National Interest. With a team of top international researchers, it will develop new interactions between mathematics and computer science, and contribute to Australia’s visibility amongst eminent scientists abroad. . Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 4904 - Pure Mathematics. Lead: Dr Sasha Rubin

Modeling the impact of online social information on judgments and decisions. Our most consequential decisions are chiefly informed by sampling views from our offline and online social networks. This project aims to uncover the cognitive processes that underlie how we make such decisions. We will develop and test a new computational model of social sampling. We will also examine how the sampling process is affected by age and social media access. The expected outcomes are advances in our understanding of how adults and adolescents use social sampling to make decisions, and the relative impacts of offline and online information. By identifying which information sources have the most influence on people’s beliefs, our project will guide the formulation of policies for combating misinformation and youth radicalisation.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 5204 - Cognitive and Computational Psychology. Lead: Dr Christin Schulze

Statistical methods for the analysis of spatial omics technologies. This project aims to develop bioinformatics methodology to analyse data generated by advanced spatial proteomic and transcriptomic technologies, enabling deep characterisation of cells in their native tissue environment. This project expects to generate multiple quantitative frameworks essential for studying complex cell relationships with these technologies using an innovative combination of statistical and bioinformatics techniques. Expected outcomes of this project include an enhanced analytical capacity to understand how cells interact with each other and their surroundings. This should provide significant benefits by strengthening Australia’s research capabilities in spatial biology, bioinformatics, and data analysis.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 3102 - Bioinformatics and Computational Biology. Lead: A/Prof Ellis Patrick

Deciphering the effects of self-repair on human language and communication. Language production is complex, fast, and fallible. Its latent troubles are a fundamental but understudied constraint on human languages and communication. This project aims to explore the formative effects of troubles with language production by establishing how people self-repair them in conversation. It will examine this subtle yet crucial process using a novel observational approach incorporating important forms of human diversity. Expected outcomes include new knowledge on the multimodal and interactive forces shaping language production and diversity in human communication. Benefits include improved support for Australians who experience language and communication barriers and future strategies to measure human skills and competency.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 4704 - Linguistics. Lead: A/Prof Scott Barnes

Unravelling the bactericidal biomechanics of nanoengineered surfaces. Bacterial resistance to antibiotics could bring Australia back to the dark ages. The project aims to generate fundamental understanding of surface engineering technology that efficiently kills bacteria upon contact, through rationally designed interactions specifically devised for targeting bacterial weaknesses. This project is expected to discover novel pathways to tackle bacterial infections by preventing surface colonisation and revealing the underlying molecular mechanisms that make bacteria susceptible to antimicrobial compounds. This should provide new knowledge to inform the development of future antibacterial materials and treatments urgently needed in many areas of society, ranging from healthcare to water supply.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 4018 - Nanotechnology. Lead: A/Prof Abel Santos

Can quantum computers solve sensing problems? This project aims to tackle the critical challenge of integrating quantum sensors with quantum computers, unlocking their combined potential for transformative applications. It expects to integrate quantum sensors into quantum computers, enabling practical, large-scale, high-sensitivity precision measurement and computational advancements. Expected outcomes include capacity building, forging collaboration between the sensing and computing communities and advancing applications in magnetometry, gravimetry, astronomy, and medical imaging. This work will significantly enhance scientific and industrial capabilities while strengthening Australia’s leadership in next-generation quantum technologies.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 5108 - Quantum Physics. Lead: Dr Zixin Huang

Governance, Diversity, and Information Design in Teams. This project aims to investigate how teamwork can be improved through effective design of team governance and information flow. It expects to determine how different team governance structures can improve the design of information about individual contributions to overcome issues of underperforming teams. Expected outcomes include (i) new knowledge on effective governance to implement information systems in project-based team tasks, and (ii) tools which are directly applicable and low-cost interventions. This will provide significant benefits for fundraising platforms, community groups, and workplaces by mitigating under-provision of collectively beneficial goods, poor firm performance, and insufficient responses to environmental problems.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 3801 - Applied Economics. Lead: Prof Nisvan Erkal

A New Approach to Inverse Problems for Minimal Submanifolds. Aim: This project will determine the geometric structure of an a priori unknown manifold from knowledge of only the volumes of the minimal submanifolds embedded in it. Significance: This project will encapsulate the celebrated Michel's conjecture for boundary rigidity into a broader framework of minimal submanifolds. For physics, this inverse problem is widely seen as a way of connecting quantum mechanics with general relativity through the framework of the AdS/CFT correspondence. Expected Outcomes: We will establish geometric rigidity results relating to minimal surfaces. Benefits: Creating a mathematical framework for minimal surfaces that potentially leads to new connections between quantum mechanics and general relativity. . Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 4904 - Pure Mathematics. Lead: A/Prof Leo Tzou

Exploring Rural Women's Needs for Creative Spaces Through Co-design. Rural women make up a third of the nation’s female population but have more limited access to support services than urban counterparts. To help overcome this they crave women-only spaces for creative and social connection to combat social isolation. Through a series of co-design workshops and interviews with rural women the project will develop models for culturally diverse creative spaces that are unique to living in rural Australia. Based on robust evidence and successfully piloted approaches, expected outcomes from the project will directly address National Research Priorities providing models for rural women’s creative spaces. Benefits from the project include reduced social isolation and stronger individual and community wellbeing.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 4405 - Gender Studies. Lead: Prof Lia Bryant

Mangroves reveal history of Australia's forested shorelines. This project aims to reveal the history of shoreline change and resilience of mangrove forests preserved in mangrove forest structure and substrates. In doing so, it seeks to reconcile the carbon benefits sea-level rise can provide with the risks sea-level rise poses to mangrove shorelines. A framework for integration of Earth observations with field and laboratory-based analyses will be proposed, and will complement a modelling approach that can be modified to generate both exploratory and real-world simulations based on future scenarios. This research seeks to centre Indigenous knowledges, provide confidence in forested shoreline resilience, and support investment in restoration, conservation, and blue carbon and nature repair markets.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 3709 - Physical Geography and Environmental Geoscience. Lead: Prof Kerrylee Rogers

An agreeable price: Discovering the path to critical road pricing reform. This project aims to investigate the timely and critical pathway for transitioning to a fair, equitable and parsimonious road user charging system for passenger cars. This project expects to generate knowledge in the area of road pricing using innovative experimental methods and field trials incorporating new technologies. Expected outcomes of this project include an enhanced understanding of responses to different pricing structures and sources of resistance in road pricing reform. This should provide significant benefits, such as a validated road pricing structure that is acceptable to drivers and policy-makers, and future-proof funding for road infrastructure that is essential to perform economic, commercial and social activities.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 3509 - Transportation, Logistics and Supply Chains. Lead: Prof Michiel Bliemer

Multiscale design approach to photocatalytic selective methane oxidation. The project aims to enhance photocatalytic systems for converting methane to methanol, focusing on the discovery of highly-efficient photocatalysts that can facilitate this process. This involves a multiscale design approach, spanning atomic-level catalyst engineering to large-scale reactor development. The goal is to improve the efficiency, selectivity, and stability of selective methane conversion to methanol, addressing key challenges in reducing methane emissions. Fundamental insights into the mechanisms driven by radicals are sought, paving the way for targeted catalyst and reactor designs. This initiative represents a significant step in applying solar-driven catalysis to support the decarbonisation of the energy and chemical sectors.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 4016 - Materials Engineering. Lead: Prof Rose Amal

Forever Chemicals Accidentally Produced in a Modern, Cleaner Atmosphere. Fluorinated gases used for heating/cooling are becoming more important as they are compatible with renewable energy. In the past, unexpected chemistry has caused ozone depletion and global warming. Contemporary gases, e.g. hydrofluoroolefins (HFOs), are reported to have no ozone or climate impact. However, their atmospheric chemistry is not fully understood. Decisions are based on areas with high nitrogen oxide (NOx) levels. Australia is low NOx. The rest of the world is also reducing NOx. HFO chemistry is unknown under these conditions. Modern HFO emission has rapidly accelerated the accumulation of phytotoxic "forever chemicals" in other countries. This project will determine the HFO chemistry relevant to Australia and avoid this fate.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 3406 - Physical Chemistry. Lead: Dr Christopher Hansen

Understanding the role of compressible mixing in high-speed combustion. This project aims to deepen understanding of fuel/air mixing and combustion in high-speed, air-breathing propulsion engines like scramjets and rotating detonation engines. Through a combination of experiments, direct numerical simulations, and large eddy simulations, it seeks to uncover the intricate relationship between flow Mach number, turbulence intensity, and flame stabilisation mechanisms. Expected outcomes include insights into compressible mixing and effects of novel burner configurations on flow expansions and shock wave structures, and refinement of combustion models for improved designs. This should provide significant benefits, such higher efficiency and reduced weight of space-launch and defence propulsion systems.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 4012 - Fluid Mechanics and Thermal Engineering. Lead: Prof Matthew Cleary

FlexUnlock: Discovery of demand flexibility in residential buildings. This project aims to reduce energy costs and create demand flexibility (i.e. capacity of end users to change their consumption patterns) of Australian residential homes. It expects to generate new knowledge regarding demand flexibility using an interdisciplinary approach leveraging structured surveys, digital twin modelling, data analytics and machine learning. Expected outcomes include an open-source tool for raising awareness and accelerating demand flexibility in residential homes, data-driven forecasting models, and data-enabled predictive control strategies. It will provide significant economic and environmental benefits, improve energy affordability and security, and contribute to climate change mitigation and clean energy transition.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 3302 - Building. Lead: Prof Zhenjun Ma

Structural health monitoring by using generative and physics-informed AI. This project aims to develop advanced generative and physics-informed Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques for structural health monitoring of civil structures. The developed approach applies novel generative and physics-informed deep learning techniques with synthetic data and domain knowledge, for reliable structural condition monitoring. This project expects to significantly improve data generation and interpretation by enhancing AI capacity. Expected outcomes of the project include novel generative and physics-informed AI approaches to conduct structural condition monitoring with limited monitoring data. This will provide significant benefits to infrastructure asset owners to ensure public safety and reduce maintenance costs.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 4005 - Civil Engineering. Lead: Prof Jun Li

Unlocking the potential of radiogenic isotopes for ocean conservation. Monitoring biodiversity is key to understanding and managing ecosystem health. The development of radiogenic isotopes for tracking terrestrial and freshwater biodiversity has become a gold standard because of their precision and predictability. But the poster child of radiogenic isotopes, strontium, does not work in marine systems. This project aims to road test a radiogenic isotope that is suitable for marine biodiversity: neodymium. This project expects to establish neodymium isotopes as a go-to method for tracking diverse marine organisms, from sharks to sea snails, and generating crucial data on their mobility and origins. This project should result in improved monitoring and conservation of marine biodiversity under threat. . Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 3103 - Ecology. Lead: A/Prof Zoe Doubleday

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

Strategic Management of Agentic Artificial Intelligence for Innovation. This project aims to transform how organisations manage generative Artificial Intelligence agents to drive innovation. It will develop a robust groundbreaking theory-based framework, practical methods, metrics, and tools to tackle the growing strategic challenges organisations face with rapid AI advances. The anticipated outcomes include new strategies for organisations to increase performance, create transformative value and drive innovation. Key benefits include improving productivity, competitiveness, collaboration and innovation. The project will enhance Australia's competitive edge and global standing, increase new investment, economic complexity and high-skilled jobs, and strengthen the local and global innovation ecosystems.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 3507 - Strategy, Management and Organisational Behaviour. Lead: Prof Mary-Anne Williams

Metabolic control of genome integrity - Insight into mechanisms. This project investigates how caloric restriction enhances organism fitness by improving DNA repair through the Target of Rapamycin (TOR) pathway, a key nutrient and energy sensor in all eukaryotes. Preliminary research has revealed a novel energy-dependent mechanism by which the TOR pathway boosts DNA repair. This interdisciplinary project will use innovative methods to provide new insights into the effects of caloric restriction on DNA repair. Expected outcomes; include fundamental insights into the energy regulation of genome integrity to enhance organism fitness, new knowledge benefiting both basic and applied biology across all eukaryotes, potential future interventions in longevity and cancer research; fostering global collaborations.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 3101 - Biochemistry and Cell Biology. Lead: Prof Janni Petersen

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

It takes two: defining the genesis of metabolites that activate T cells. Immune cells detect threats by recognising conserved molecules made by microbes, termed “antigens”. The generation and presentation of peptide antigens, leading to T cell activation, is well studied. In contrast, how metabolite-based antigens form is unknown. This project aims to define how bacterial and host cell metabolites react together to form an antigen that activates specialised T cells, with anti-microbial functions. Using conceptually novel approaches, it should provide benefits by resolving a key knowledge gap in immune detection of microbes that unlocks new research directions and may inform future translational research. It is also expected to support the training of researchers and to develop new methods and research tools.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 3204 - Immunology. Lead: Prof Alexandra Corbett