More than $1.1mil in funding for Swinburne industry-linked projects

Swinburne has been awarded more than $1.1 million in funding for three industry-linked projects as part of the latest round of ARC Linkage Projects.

The projects will look at using recycled glass to make roads and pavements more sustainable, improving Australia’s 5G network, and implementing new technologies to improve quality of life in aged care facilities.

Swinburne achieved an impressive 100 per cent success rate in the latest round, compared to a 42 per cent success rate overall. In addition to Federal Government funding, contributions from partner organisations bring the value of the projects to over $2.5 million.

Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research Professor Karen Hapgood said, “these three projects demonstrate Swinburne’s strength in working with industry to develop practical solutions to real-world problems. Our 100 per cent success rate in this round is a testament to the quality of work being produced by the Swinburne community in partnership with industry.”

“By pushing the boundaries of what is possible in three of our flagship research areas – Innovative Planet, Digital Capability and Innovative Society – these ARC Linkage projects are demonstrating the power of people and technology coming together to build a better world.”

Industry-linked research

Working with ASAS Foundations and Stretford Civil Constructions, a research team led by Professor Arul Arulrajah is developing green ground improvement technology using biocemented recycled glass columns.

The project builds on Swinburne’s leading work on utilising recycled grass in new roads and pavements, helping divert waste from landfill, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and finding novel commercial uses for glass waste. 

Associate Professor Qiang He and Professor Yun Yang are continuing their pioneering work on supercharging Australia’s transition to 5G with a new project with AIBUILD. The project will make it cheaper and safer for software vendors to move to 5G by developing new models and techniques to improve multi-access edge computing (MEC), one of the key technologies enabling faster 5G network speeds.

The team, which includes Deakin University's Dr Feifei Chen and CEO of AI BUILD Yifei Wang, are also working on an ARC funded project to support an innovative 5G-enabled AR/VR learning platform.

Finally, Professor Sonja Pedell and Professor Leon Sterling will work with not-for-profit aged care provider Martin Luther Homes and edu-tech company The Brainary to effectively bring technology into aged care. By codesigning services and strategies to increase technology uptake by residents, the project aims to improve better quality of care and increase equity in technology use.