In Summary

  • Australian Research Council awards $5.8 million to Swinburne researchers
  • Four early career researchers will share in the funding
  • Eight other Swinburne projects have been recognised 

Swinburne early career researchers shine in $5.8 million funding secured from the Australian Research Council (ARC).

Minister for Education and Training Simon Birmingham today announced $333.5 million worth of the funding as part of the ARC National Competitive Grants Programme.

“This round of grants will increase Australia’s research capacity by expanding our research infrastructure and facilities and support Australia’s most outstanding researchers, including our early-career and Indigenous researchers, so they can continue to undertake ground-breaking research into the future,” says Minister Birmingham.

The following four early career researchers from Swinburne were awarded more than $1.4 million through the ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award scheme:

  • Dr Jia Wang for a project aiming to understand the quantum phenomenon of many-body localization;
  • Dr Stephane Shepherd for a project aiming to evaluate the usefulness of violence risk instruments for Australian Indigenous and Culturally and Linguistically Diverse individuals who have contact with the justice system;
  • Dr Yanzhen Zhang for a project aiming to develop a unique approach for three-dimensional metal micro-printing;
  • Dr Behzad Nematollahi for a project aiming to develop a fibre-reinforced geo-polymer for three-dimensional concrete printing.

“It is fantastic to see Swinburne early career researchers leading the next generation,” says Swinburne Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Development) Aleksandar Subic.

“This is a wonderful outcome for Swinburne and I am especially pleased to see so many projects align with Swinburne’s objective to increase capacity for sustained excellence and world-leading research in science and technology.” 

In addition to ARC early career research success, Swinburne researcher Dr Eric Tan was recently awarded a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Early Career Fellowship valued at over $300,000 to continue his research into schizophrenia.

Other successful Swinburne staff awarded the remaining ARC $4.4 million in funding include:

Discovery Projects scheme recipients

  • Professor Yun Yang and Dr Qiang He for a project to develop a data-driven paradigm for service-oriented system engineering;
  • Professor John Wilson and Professor Emad Gad for a project to develop a displacement-based method of assessing precast concrete buildings;
  • Professor Xia-Ji Liu for a project to develop a novel, more accurate methods to better characterise universal exotic super-fluidity;
  • Professor Simon Moulton for a project to develop chemistries and fabrication approaches through innovative materials evaluation to develop ultra-low fouling active electrode surfaces;
  • Professor Margaret Reid for a project to probe the nature of quantum reality at the mesoscopic level;
  • Professor Guoxing Lu for a project to devise novel structures and advanced metamaterials to mitigate injury and death from impact or blast loading.

Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities scheme recipients

  • Professor Jane Farmer with Amanda Lawrence, Professor Dr Peter Newton, Professor Penelope Schofield, Professor Peter Graham and Professor Timoleon Sellis for a project to develop the Analysis and Policy Observatory further for the next generation of decision-support tools for interdisciplinary research on critical public policy issues;
  • Professor Christopher Vale with Professor Andrei Sidorov, Professor Peter Hannaford and Professor Peter Drummond for a project to create a quantum gas microscope for ultra-cold dysprosium atoms

Additionally, the following Swinburne researchers are involved in the following successful ARC grants submitted through collaborating institutions:

  • Associate Professor Deborah Dempsey, with La Trobe University         
  • Associate Professor Christine Critchley, with University of Tasmania
  • Dr Nadezda Sukhorukova, with Federation University Australia
  • Dr Frederico Frascoli, with University of Sydney   

A full list of all successful grant applicants is available from the ARC website.

Swinburne funding outcomes in biomedical research and technology innovation

Swinburne has also recently seen major funding success in several other areas.

The Healthy Living Design Hub, to be hosted at the Swinburne Innovation Precinct, has recently benefited from $1.5 million from the MTPConnect Project Funding Program, a competitive, dollar-for-dollar matched funding program investing in big, bold ideas to improve the productivity, competitiveness and innovative capacity of Australia’s medical technology, biotechnology and pharmaceutical sector.

Swinburne researchers, Professors Elena Ivanova and Andrew Wood and are also key participants in a NHMRC Centre for Research Excellence in Electromagnetic Bioeffects Research ($2.5 million total value) led by the University of Wollongong.