Grants & Opportunities

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

Revolutionizing Extracellular Vesicle Research: A Single-Particle Approach. This project aims to address a major technical challenge in studying small extracellular vesicles (sEVs): the need for an integrated method to purify, detect, and sort them at single vesicle level. By combining the new digital colloid-enhanced Raman spectroscopy with microfluidics to create “Raman-sEV-Flow,” this project will provide a transformative solution for high-precision sEV analysis and sorting. The project is expected to generate new knowledge of how cells communicate and offer new insights on their potential as biomarkers and nanocarriers. The expected outcomes include a better understanding of sEV heterogeneity and insight into how sEVs can be used in biotechnology with commercial benefits to the Australian biotech industry.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 4016 - Materials Engineering. Lead: Prof Yuling Wang

Can artificial enzymes that are more versatile than natural enzymes? . This project aims to address the issue of enzyme instability by developing nanoparticles that have the same 3D geometry as enzymes to give catalysts as selective as enzymes but more stable and more versatile. This is significant as expand the range of applications enzymes can be used for, already a $25 billion industry. The outcomes will be an understanding of how to make selective artificial enzymes and the scope of their potential applications. This should provide better and more stable catalyst for fine chemical production and biosensing devices.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 3401 - Analytical Chemistry. Lead: Prof John Gooding

How individual variation drives collective motion. A key yet unrealistic assumption of many collective motion models is that individuals are identical. This project aims to extend these models and build a unified framework to predict animal collective motion when individuals have heterogeneous influence on the collective. It will study (a) locusts, a major agricultural pest, where behaviour is linked to hunger and individuals appear identical to conspecifics and (b) sheep, a core Australian livestock, where individuals recognise each other and build social relationships. The strength of this project is its multispecies and multi-disciplinary approach, linking biological experiments, data science and mathematical biology to improve predictive tools used to manage these groups.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 4901 - Applied Mathematics. Lead: Dr John Green

Quantum computation combining learning and simulation for molecular design. This project aims to develop methods for quantum computing to design molecules and materials. Much research on quantum algorithms has focused just on the task of simulating quantum systems, but the real impact of these simulations will be to develop new technology. This project addresses this gap in knowledge, by examining the critical tasks that need to be performed for design, and combining quantum simulation with quantum machine learning to achieve those tasks. The expected outcome of this project is new quantum algorithms for the design of batteries, drug discovery, and catalyst design. The potential benefits include improved technology for renewable energy, better medicines, and more efficient nitrogen fixing for fertiliser production.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 5108 - Quantum Physics. Lead: Prof Dominic Berry

Hunting the Most Extreme Accelerators in our Galaxy. This project aims to reveal the highest energy cosmic-ray particles in our Galaxy, produced in extreme and still unknown astrophysical processes. By probing where and how the most intense light (gamma rays) was produced, it links the forthcoming multi-national 330 MEUR Cherenkov Telescope Array gamma-ray observatory with Australia's high-investment world-class radio facilities. Expected outcomes include the most precise 3D models of the interstellar gas and gamma-ray emission ever created, to gain insights into the most extreme accelerator in our Galaxy. This will provide significant benefits for Australian leadership in astroparticle physics, and student training in complex machine learning methods to equip them with industry-ready skills.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 5101 - Astronomical Sciences. Lead: Dr Sabrina Einecke

Shining light on novel strategies to improve crop water use efficiency. Crop production uses >50% of Australia’s fresh water. With droughts and heatwaves predicted to increase, reducing crop water use while maintaining yield is a national priority. This project aims to identify new regulators that reduce plant water loss. A ground-breaking approach combining innovative light-activated ion transporters with single cell transcriptomics and phosphoproteomics is expected to deliver new targets for breeding or genetic manipulation, and demonstrate the utility of these cutting-edge tools for discovery. Likely outcomes include translation of findings from model plants to canola and providing validated candidates for extension to other crops to benefit food sovereignty and agricultural sustainability.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 3108 - Plant Biology. Lead: Prof Matthew Gilliham

Energy on Wheels: A New Approach to the Smart Grid with Electric Vehicles. This project will pioneer a transformative approach to the optimization of distributed Smart Electrical Energy Grids with intermittent, renewable energy sources, electric vehicles and battery storage. It will leverage the movement of electric vehicles that are capable of storing significant amounts of energy in their batteries, and investigate how to harness these movements to increase the capacity and efficiency of a metropolitan-area Smart Grid. It will answer the question: how much could mobility of electric vehicles increase the capacity and reliability of the Grid? Expected outcomes include significantly reduced reliance on base-load fossil fuels, less blackouts, and new tools for dimensioning battery storage in the smart-grid. . Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 4008 - Electrical Engineering. Lead: Prof Stephen Hanly

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

All-Polymer Desalination Batteries. This project aims to develop an all-polymer desalination battery containing no metals. It will study a new mechanism for the electrochemical salt-in/salt-out effect of polyelectrolytes during simultaneous ion removal and energy storage. Expected outcomes include an all-polymer battery designed for salt removal from seawater with high efficiency and safety. By combining such desalination batteries with solar and wind farms along the coast, the efficient use of renewable energy to address Australia's energy-water crisis is highly anticipated. The benefit includes new water resources suitable for agriculture and breeding industries and extends to polymer antifouling and anti-corrosion coatings for marine industries and civic applications.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 4016 - Materials Engineering. Lead: A/Prof Zhongfan Jia

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

Shaping net-zero cities with safe and efficient micromobility solutions. This project aims to develop a cutting-edge tool for network-level modelling and design that captures the complex multimodal nature of urban traffic, addressing the interactions between micromobility devices (e.g. e-bikes, e-scooters) and other road users. The project is expected to generate fundamental knowledge on multimodal traffic dynamics and develop innovative tools for network redesign. Expected outcomes of the project include advanced agent-based models integrating efficiency goals and safety strategies to develop cohesive, safe, and efficient micromobility networks.This should provide significant social, economic and environmental benefits through optimal redesign of transport networks, contributing to net-zero goals.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 3509 - Transportation, Logistics and Supply Chains. Lead: Dr Mehmet Yildirimoglu

Reversible patterning of surfaces for biomolecule immobilisation. Development of biomolecule capture and purification methodologies is the cornerstone for many disruptive advances in the field of biotech and pharma but advances are often hamstrung by only incremental improvements. This project aims to develop a unique methodology for selectively modulating the immobilisation of biomolecules on a designed polymer surface. Anticipated outcomes provide unique insight into factors dictating spatially-resolved patterning of biomolecules, and methodologies that improve control over immobilisation using wavelength-dependent stimulii and bioorthogonal chemistries. This could improve translation of advanced polymer materials, expanding capability/applications in biomolecule capture, interrogation and manipulation.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 3403 - Macromolecular and Materials Chemistry. Lead: Prof Kristofer Thurecht

Australia's Path to Net Zero: Capitalising on Carbon Markets. This project aims to assist Australia’s efforts to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050 by identifying the most effective, low-cost market mechanisms to incentivise the largest polluters to reduce their emissions. Using the novel approach of game theory modelling to analyse key elements of the carbon market, the research is expected to generate new knowledge on auction theory and market mechanisms and design. Its anticipated outcomes include guidance for policy-makers drafting the carbon market rules that will be crucial to achieving the 2050 goal. Given the urgency of limiting global temperature rises to 1.5 C, the project is expected to deliver potentially far-reaching environmental and social benefits in Australia and beyond.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 3801 - Applied Economics. Lead: Prof Isa Hafalir

Solo Agers and Decision-making: Promoting Choice and Control. A growing number of older Australians are solo agers without close family or friends. They face the serious problem of decisional isolation – the lack of people to appoint into legal roles to support and, if needed, make decisions in the event of impaired capacity. This project aims to investigate expanded options for statutory decision roles for older people that fill the gap between absent family or friends and state-appointed guardians. It will generate multidisciplinary insights into stakeholders’ views, experiences and preferences. Expected outcomes include evidence-based recommendations for legal, policy, and practice changes to enhance choices for older Australians, ultimately reducing reliance on public guardianship systems. . Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 4804 - Law In Context. Lead: Prof Nola Ries

Impact of forced migration on Tasmanian convicts and their descendants. This project aims to investigate the impact of convict transportation on life outcomes across generations by linking historical records of Tasmanian convicts with their siblings in Britain and Ireland. It will focus on the effects of transportation, punishment, and environmental factors using advanced causal methods. The project expects to generate new knowledge on forced migration's long-term effects. Expected outcomes include refined methods for historical data linkage, enriched datasets on convicts and family, and capacity building of the next generation of researchers. This project should provide significant benefits by informing modern discussions on forced migration, as well as a better understanding of Australia’s colonial past. . Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 3801 - Applied Economics. Lead: Prof Adeline Delavande

Tracking phenology changes linked to climate change and biodiversity loss. Vegetation phenology (plant life cycles) is a key bio-indicator of climate change, an essential biodiversity variable, and a key driver of ecosystem processes. This project aims to identify, map and assess changes in phenology life cycles across Australian biome types. This project analyses long term satellite data (>50 years) to quantify changes, establish baselines and identify hotspots. Climate and citizen science species observations will be incorporated in a geospatial model to study the interactions among plant diversity, climate and phenology. This new knowledge will be vital to agriculture (pollination), public health (asthma), conservation and benefit Australia’s land surface models and climate/ ecological forecasting capabilities.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 4013 - Geomatic Engineering. Lead: Prof Alfredo Huete

Predicting the benefits of legal reform for marine and coastal restoration. This project aims to build the case for legal reform to facilitate marine and coastal restoration. Currently, restoration is hindered by the need to obtain numerous development and environment approvals, and engage with legal processes not designed for restoration. These problems are amplified when attempting to restore multiple habitats simultaneously. This projects draws together legal research, social science, restoration science and environmental modelling to build the evidence base for why reform is needed, how reform can be done, and what difference this reform can make to ecosystem health. This will support the restoration needed to meet international restoration targets, and to secure critically important ecosystem services. . Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 4802 - Environmental and Resources Law. Lead: Prof Justine Bell-James

New platforms for the rapid synthesis of valuable polycyclic molecules. This project will invent original metal-catalysed coupling cascades to establish new, rapid, and inherently modular routes to complex organic molecules. By design, these unprecedented methods will create divergent access to an array of structurally distinct families of therapeutically significant, fused polycyclic heterocycles. The mechanisms of these novel catalytic processes will be comprehensively studied to understand the fundamental structures, properties, and interplay of the transient on-cycle intermediates involved. Ultimately, this should lead to more efficient and sustainable production of pharmaceutically relevant polycyclic alkaloids and other high-value molecules required to meet society’s current and future needs.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 3402 - Inorganic Chemistry. Lead: Prof Alexander Bissember

Is bad stronger than good when it comes to youth experiences in sport? . “Bad is stronger than good” reflects a broader psychological phenomenon where negative events or experiences have a stronger impact on individuals than positive ones. This concept has been explored in various contexts, including education, relationships, and media consumption. This innovative project aims to investigate this phenomena in the context of youth sport and explore strategies used by sport coaches that may support or thwart young people’s wellbeing. Expected outcomes of this multidisciplinary project include a tool for measuring the observable characteristics of sport that influence wellbeing. It will also generate new knowledge to inform international guidelines about how to ‘optimise’ sport to enhance wellbeing in youth.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 3901 - Curriculum and Pedagogy. Lead: Prof David Lubans

Revolving door lobbyists: harmful industries & public interest policymaking. Vested interests can weaken public interest policies like soft drink taxes and emissions reductions. This project aims to investigate a specific type of corporate political influence: hiring former members of government as lobbyists and/or lobbyists moving into government – the ‘revolving door’. Expected outcomes include: enhanced methods and datasets for measuring the revolving door of alcohol, food and transport industries; deeper understanding of perceived revolving door risks and benefits; and recommendations for best practice regulation. By synthesising empirical, normative and regulatory inquiries, this research aims to support robust, feasible reforms to protect public interest policy making from undue corporate political influence.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 4206 - Public Health. Lead: Dr Jennifer Lacy-Nichols

Universal multi-scale population modelling with applications to biology. This project aims to develop a universal mathematical framework for multiscale modelling in biology by deriving innovative models that bridge changes across scales. It expects to generate new knowledge in areas such as epidemiology and cell biology by advancing techniques that address multiscale challenges. Expected outcomes include novel methods that enhance the efficiency and accuracy of simulations for biological populations, supporting improved predictions in disease transmission near elimination and cellular chemical reactions. This research should provide significant benefits in biology and offer applications beyond the discipline. . Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 4901 - Applied Mathematics. Lead: Prof Jennifer Flegg

My Mother's Polio: Australian Experiences of Poliomyelitis, 1950s to 1960s. This project will reveal the health and illness experience of poliomyelitis (polio) in Australia in the mid-twentieth century, especially for families, and with attention to regional histories. Polio’s grim history remains largely hidden from narratives of Australian life in the postwar period. This research aims to model historical research into the common and divergent experiences of illness by using collections of oral memories of polio alongside archival records such as welfare organisational records, published and unpublished memoir, fiction, and medical writing. Drawing valuable connections between cultural and historical collections held in libraries, archives, and museums, it will raise awareness of the public memory of polio.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 4303 - Historical Studies. Lead: Prof Catharine Coleborne

Bridging biological boundaries: modelling to explore the role of interfaces. This project aims to use multiscale mathematical modelling alongside statistical optimisation to leverage experimental data on multicellular interfaces (external or internal boundaries) to investigate how multicellular systems develop. This project expects to generate significant new knowledge in the areas of mathematical modelling and multicellular biology. By developing coupled simulation and statistical tools the project will answer open biological questions. Expected project outcomes include an increased understanding of the development of multicellular systems with applications in: wound healing; biofilm development and tumour plasticity, thereby laying the foundation for future benefits in manufacturing, food production and health.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 4901 - Applied Mathematics. Lead: Prof James Osborne

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