In summary

  • Swinburne researchers have been awarded $2.7 million in funding through the 2025 ARC Discovery Projects scheme
  • The five successful Swinburne-led projects span human-robot collaboration, self-cleaning marine coatings, big graph data processing, electromagnetically driven flows and the discovery of dark galaxies
  • Together, the projects will benefit diverse areas, including robotics, the circular economy, big data management, microfluidics, and astrophysics

Swinburne University of Technology researchers have achieved tremendous success in the latest Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Projects scheme, receiving $2,690,390 in combined funding for five Swinburne-led projects.

Commencing in 2025, the five projects will deliver research excellence in areas including the discovery of dark galaxies – a predicted type of galaxy without stars.

Professor Karen Hapgood, Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research at Swinburne, said the latest ARC success is a testament to the world-leading research underway at the university.

“Congratulations to the researchers behind this year’s successful projects, whose dedication is not only driving future-focused research, but delivering genuine social, environmental and economic impact for Australia,” Professor Hapgood said.

“Through the Discovery Projects, our researchers will apply innovative methods, generate fundamental new knowledge, and boost Australia’s standing in areas from robotics and machine learning, to galaxy formation and the very nature of dark matter.”

ARC Discovery Projects led by Swinburne

The Swinburne researchers leading ARC Discovery Projects in 2025 are: 

  • Associate Professor John McCormick, Associate Professor Mats Isaksson, Professor Jonathan Roberts, Associate Professor Petra Gemeinboeck and Dr Stephanie Hutchison ($682,105) for the project Moving With Robots: Advancing Human-Robot Collaboration and Communication. This project aims to generate machine learning strategies to understand how people and robots can reliably and fluently move together. Using choreographed interactions with movement experts, the project will improve the quality and safety of shared movement in human-robot collaborations – such as assistive robots in health and social settings.
  • Associate Professor Lily (Yali) Li ($482,778) for the project Green fabrication of robust micro/nano hierarchical surface morphology. This project aims to use biowaste, minerals and waste plastic to fabricate coating materials that self-clean and reduce drag, for use in maritime environments. The coatings will feature a robust micro/nano hierarchical structure surface, created by translating natural biological processes into sustainable, scalable and low-cost manufacturing techniques.
  • Professor Chengfei Liu ($619,780) for the project On processing and knowledge discovery in large dynamic multilayer networks. In the context of big graph data management, this project aims to devise efficient strategies for processing large and dynamic multilayer graphs, and explore different effective methods for searching different cohesive groups in various applications. Its findings will help build the cutting-edge technology required to effectively model, search and track key information in large, dynamic multilayer networks.
  • Professor Duncan Forbes, Professor Kenji Bekki, Professor Warrick Couch, Professor Jean Brodie, Professor Baerbel Koribalski and Professor Roberto Abraham ($678,542) for the project Into the Darkness: Measuring the Properties of Dark Galaxies. A fundamental prediction of cosmology is that galaxies without stars – known as ‘dark galaxies’ – should exist. This project will use the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder telescope, combining its deep radio imaging with optical wavelengths, to identify large numbers of dark galaxies.
  • Professor Sergey Suslov and Associate Professor Andrey Pototsky ($227,185) for the project Electromagnetically driven flows in electrolyte layers with free interfaces. This project aims to understand electromagnetically driven flows in thin deformable layers, relevant to microstirring and metallurgical uses. The researchers expect to develop new methods for manipulating fluids when mechanical intervention is impossible – such as in aggressive or extremely confined environments – to advance Australia’s hi-tech microfluidic and metal recycling industries.

About the ARC Discovery Projects scheme

The ARC’s Discovery Projects scheme aims to expand Australia’s knowledge base and research capacity, through projects that deliver economic, commercial, environmental, social and/or cultural benefits for Australia. 

The Discovery Projects scheme is part of the ARC’s National Competitive Grants Program (NCGP), which supports the highest-quality fundamental and applied research and research training through national competition.

Related articles