National funding success for Swinburne researchers

Swinburne University of Technology researchers have been awarded more than $4.4 million in competitive federal government funding for ARC Discovery Projects starting in 2022.

The range of projects represent Swinburne’s vision of bringing people and technology together for a better world across a diverse range of fields, including cybersecurity, astrophysics, mixed reality, hydrogen energy and the Internet of Things among others.

Swinburne researchers were also awarded $1.5 million in funding through the ARC Linkage Program, which supports greater collaboration between industry and research.

Chief Scientist and Acting Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) Professor Virginia Kilborn highlighted the importance of these research grants.

‘This is an outstanding result for our research community. These projects reflect the world-leading research being done across Swinburne to help advance our understanding of the Universe, develop innovative technologies, and drive outcomes that will positively impact society,’ said Professor Kilborn.

‘I congratulate all the successful applicants for their dedication, innovation and entrepreneurial spirit after another challenging year.’  

ARC Discovery Projects

The Swinburne researchers leading ARC Discovery Projects in 2022 are:

• Dr Sheng Wen and Dr Surya Nepal ($450,000) for the project MemberGuard: Protecting Machine Learning Privacy from Membership Inference.
• Professor Jean Brodie, Professor Duncan Forbes, Professor Warrick Couch, Professor Kenji Bekki and Professor Roberto Abraham ($420,000) for the project Ultra Diffuse Galaxies: Challenging the galaxy formation paradigm.
• Associate Professor Ryan Shannon, Associate Professor Adam Deller, Professor Tara Murphy, Professor Matthew Bailes, Dr Keith Bannister, Professor Jason Prochaska and Professor Kendrick Smith ($900,000) for the project Illuminating the cosmic web with Fast Radio Bursts.
• Professor Chengfei Liu ($415,000) for the project Modelling and Searching Cohesive Groups over Heterogeneous Graphs.
• Professor Kim Vincs, Professor Jeniece Paay, Professor Rachael McDonald, Dr John McCormick and Professor Ryszard Kowalczyk ($464,000) for the project Holobody: Advancing the Future of Mixed Reality Technologies.
• Professor Christopher Blake and Assistant Professor Alexie Leauthaud ($360,000) for the project Uncovering the laws of gravity using the largest map of the cosmos.
• Professor Dimitrios Georgakopoulos, Associate Professor Prem Prakash Jayaraman, Dr Kewen Liao, Professor Panos Chrysanthis and Dr Shiping Chen ($450,000) for the project  SenShaMart: A Trusted Internet of Things Marketplace for Sensor Sharing.
• Professor Christopher Blake and Dr Paul Lasky ($450,000) for the project Precision cosmic expansion in the era of gravitational-wave astronomy.
• Associate Professor Tianyi Ma, Professor Baohua Jia and Dr Han Lin ($570,000) for the project Monolithic Solar Thermal Photocatalytic Membrane for Hydrogen Production.

ARC Linkage Program

Two Swinburne projects were successful in the latest round of the ARC Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities scheme. The scheme enables researchers to participate in cooperative initiatives so that expensive research infrastructure, equipment and facilities can be shared with industry and other higher education organisations.

The researchers are:

• Professor Melanie Swalwell and Professor Kim Vincs ($751,723) for the project The Australian Emulation Network: Born Digital Cultural Collections Access
• Professor Saulius Juodkazis, Associate Professor Yvonne Durandet, Professor Paul Stoddart, Professor M. Akbar Rhamdhani, and Professor Geoff Brooks ($320,000) for the project Transportable high-power blue laser for processing of reflective materials

In addition, Professor Baohua Jia, Associate Professor Jinchuan Zheng and Tao Yao were awarded an ARC Linkage grant of $470,000 for their project High yield adaptive laser nanomanufacturing system for photonic devices. Working with industry partner Innofocus Photonics Technology, the project aims to enhance Australia’s leading position in advanced manufacturing by developing a new nanofabrication platform.