THE UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY

GrantConnect (Australian Government grants) · FY 2025 · 2025-01

OPTIMISING TARGETED THERAPIES IN OPTIC NERVE DISEASE (OTTER STUDY) Category: Medical Research

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2025 · 2025-01

Human Rights and Corporal Punishment: Australia and Britain, 1970-2000. This project aims to provide a transnational and comparative history of efforts to abolish corporal punishment in Australia and Britain, and to explain the partial success of these efforts. It expects to generate new knowledge about human rights and children’s rights campaigns based on extensive archival research, including the analysis of recently declassified material. Expected outcomes include an explanation of why abolitionists succeeded in banning the hitting of children in schools but not in the home. Anticipated benefits include a better identification of paths to reform in this space than the idea, common in the public health literature, that scientific studies and human rights reports will ‘trickle down’ into public opinion. Field of research: 4303 - Historical Studies Neuroscientists and child psychologists have demonstrated that the physical punishment of children has adverse consequences on the brain development and mental health of children into adulthood. The widespread use of corporal punishment by carers is a pressing health concern for young Australians. International human rights bodies condemn the physical punishment of children and young people. Liberal democracies face a countervailing pressure to respect parents' choices about how to raise their children. Today 65 countries have full legal bans on the punishment of children and young people. Australia and the United Kingdom have outlawed it in schools but not in the home. Why are Australia and Britain outliers? And why have parents' right to smack their children proved more resilient than teachers' powers to cane their pupils, when not so long ago the two were in lockstep? This project will use unpublished archival sources from approximately 1970 to 2000 to fill this gap in knowledge and provide this explanation. The research has the potential to benefit Australians socially and culturally by drawing out the lessons of this still-live history: historical case studies from the recent past provide an opportunity to think through these dilemmas more clearly and dispassionately. Through a policy paper and other public-facing outputs the project team will promote its findings beyond academia to maximise understanding of this history and its ongoing consequences.

GrantConnect (Australian Government grants) · FY 2025 · 2025-01

OPTIMISING TARGETED THERAPIES IN OPTIC NERVE DISEASE (OTTER STUDY) Category: Medical Research

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2025 · 2025-01

A Heterarchical Model for Soil Erosion from Internal Flow to Global Failure. This project will develop a new approach to understand soil erosion in earth dams, from internal mechanisms to large-scale failures. It fills a significant gap in existing models, which cannot fully represent the complex, multi-scale processes of internal erosion. This approach combines detailed laboratory and field experiments with sophisticated computational modelling. It will create a reliable tool for predicting and mitigating dam failures, improving safety, resource management, and sustainability in water infrastructure. The escalating climate crisis and the imperative for the energy transition have triggered an unprecedented surge in global dam construction, and this model will help reduce the risks of these structures. Field of research: 4005 - Civil Engineering There are no adequately accurate models to predict the onset of failure in dams. This is because existing models miss the connection between the behaviour of individual particles and the failure of the whole dam. This Project will address this by developing a comprehensive multi-scale model for soil erosion. This new heterarchical model directly responds to the lack of existing models that integrate the physics of erosion from particle-scale to large-scale failures, crucial for safeguarding against climate-induced disasters. The model will be validated against laboratory experiments using two cutting edge techniques, X-ray radiography and Spatial Time Domain Reflectometry. The model will be tested against data from custom built field scale dams which will be instrumented and monitored. This research can prevent costly dam failures, saving resources and enhancing water management. Environmentally, it promotes ecosystem protection by forecasting and mitigating erosion risks. Socially, it will ensure community safety through improved infrastructure resilience. Culturally, it can aid in preserving historical dams, which are an important part of Australia's heritage. To maximise the research's impact, we will disseminate findings through open access research publications, scholarly conferences and will host a workshop on the topic. We aim to integrate the research into engineering practice, contributing to long-term national benefit and international research collaborations.

GrantConnect (Australian Government grants) · FY 2025 · 2025-01

Mapping the burden of systemic sclerosis in Australia using healthcare... Category: Medical Research

GrantConnect (Australian Government grants) · FY 2025 · 2025-01

Improving the assessment and management of vulvar lichen planus Category: Medical Research

GrantConnect (Australian Government grants) · FY 2025 · 2025-01

Towards New Reference-free Cancer Genome Analysis for Better Addressing... Category: Medical Research

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2025 · 2025-01

Perovskite transistor memories for neuromorphic intelligent applications. In the era of big data, efficient in-memory computing overcomes traditional computing architecture bottlenecks. Inspired by neural networks, artificial synaptic memory, or non-volatile memory, in the form of floating-gate field-effect transistor (FG-FET) holds great promise. Metal halide perovskite FG-FETs offer cost-effective, energy-efficient solutions, especially for flexible and wearable devices and offer additional photo-memory capability for image recognition. This project aims to discover lead-free perovskites with reduced dimensional structure to enhance charge mobility and photosensitivity for non-volatile memory. The anticipated outcome is the first demonstration of perovskite transistors in synaptic floating-gate memories. Field of research: 4016 - Materials Engineering This project aims to develop non-volatile memory devices, inspired synapses in human neuronal networks, for high-efficiency and low-energy in-memory computing. Such devices can be realized by floating-gate field-effect (FG-FET) transistors as they do not require additional capacitor or resistor for memory functions. Two-dimensional lead-free metal halide perovskites with excellent semiconductor properties are suitable materials for these transistors. Current developments have been limited to optimizing transistor components in a piece-wise manner. Therefore, this project aims to demonstrate a fully integrated rationally designed floating-gate synaptic memory via a multi-national collaborative and integrative research approach. Expected outcomes will benefit one of Australia’s critical technologies, “machine learning, including neural networks and deep learning” technology for “neuromorphic computing” application. Applications can be further extended to wearables or flexible electronics due to perovskites’ compatibility with flexible substrates and solution-based fabrications. Their tunable opto-electronic properties enable additional photo-memory, useful for image recognition. This project will bring social and economic benefits to Australia by training a new generation of scientists and engineers for the growing field of global neuromorphic computing.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2025 · 2025-01

Climate change mitigation strategies for food security in northeast India . India, a major agriculture exporter, is at risk of climate-induced food insecurity, a fast-growing global threat. This project aims to identify strategies for climate change resilience in the northeast Nagaland region through a study of past and present agriculture, earlier climate adaptations, vanishing traditional knowledge and dietary health. Working with local communities, it is expected to deliver new data to mitigate climate-related disasters, which jeopardize regional stability. Anticipated outcomes include policy recommendations and test projects to improve farming practices and address climate change impacts. As well as India, the project should deliver significant benefits for Australia, a major trade and diplomatic partner. Field of research: 4301 - Archaeology India is a fast-growing major economy but also a nation prone to instability. Over 80% of the population lives in areas at risk from the effects of climate change, such as extreme weather events, unusually high or low temperatures and unexpected floods and droughts, all of which endanger the water supply, agriculture, health and infrastructure. Economic and social turmoil resulting from threats to food security in India – Australia’s fourth-largest export market, a fellow member of The Quad diplomatic partnership and one of the world’s biggest food producers – would adversely affect this country and have global implications, while posing the risk of financial crises and famine locally. Focusing on Nagaland, a highly vulnerable region in India’s northeast, this project will use techniques derived from archaeology and the environmental sciences to help local communities to develop food security strategies and resilience in the face of climate change, by uncovering the deep history of Naga agriculture, recording past responses to environmental variability, rescuing fast-fading traditional knowledge and documenting the wide variety of current farming practices. The findings, which will reduce the risk of regional insecurity and population migration, will be presented in accessible form to Naga communities to maximise their potential for direct translation.

GrantConnect (Australian Government grants) · FY 2025 · 2025-01

Hijacking the mycobacterial protein degradation system for new drugs... Category: Medical Research

GrantConnect (Australian Government grants) · FY 2025 · 2025-01

A stronger voice for Australian patients and health consumers: toolkit... Category: Medical Research

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2025 · 2025-01

Deep learning: Governing the City in the Age of Artificial Intelligence. The diffusion of AI across city life & city space will transform cities & their governance. First-mover cities (eg London, Singapore, NY) are devising novel frameworks to govern AI urbanism, AIs’ emergent capabilities and the risks autonomous, algorithmic decision-making pose to urban life. Australian cities, on the precipice of this transformation, urgently require such frameworks. Analysing the governance of AI urbanism internationally, this project aims to develop new empirical understanding of and conceptual frameworks for urban governance involving non-human intelligences. Its outcomes will guide the development of appropriate institutions and practices to govern AI urbanism to mitigate inherent risks and enhance urban outcomes. Field of research: 4406 - Human Geography Cities are now in a new phase described as ‘AI urbanism’ in which the diffusion of AI deeply influences urban life, governance and planning. AI is being adopted by public and private organisations, spanning algorithmic design and decision-making, robotics, public safety, mobility management, service delivery and more. National policy in Australia expects AI will make ‘better towns, cities and infrastructure’, but that can only occur if Australian cities marshall the appropriate set of institutions, the relevant combinations of expertise and practices, and effective regulatory mechanisms. This project identifies key lessons from the ‘first mover’ sites of urban AI application inside and outside Australia and translates these learnings into the Australian context. Through its findings, methodologies and outputs including a podcast it will position Australian urban scholarship at the cutting edge of international debates and position urban governance practitioners to take advantage of first-mover lessons. The lessons learned will be vital to devising a uniquely Australian approach to governing the risks and capability of AI in producing better cities.

GrantConnect (Australian Government grants) · FY 2025 · 2025-01

Xenotransplantation a Next Generation Cure for Diabetes using Transgenic... Category: Medical Research

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2025 · 2025-01

Digital humans as a mixed-reality solution to real-world racism. The cultural, health, and economic costs of racism are significant. New and effective racism reduction methods that target the barriers to achieving positive intergroup contact are urgently needed. Mixed-reality (MR) technologies can create highly realistic digital humans, that provide researchers with experimental control, ecological validity, and a unique functionality to change the negative intergroup dynamic via a cooperative exchange, in more natural ways than ever before. This project will uncover the optimal MR methodologies needed for an immersive, multi-sensorial and dynamic interaction to reduce racism. A significant outcome will be a scalable and effective racism-reducing MR toolkit for researchers and stakeholders to implement. Field of research: 5205 - Social and Personality Psychology Racism is a growing social problem inadequately addressed by current science. With an increasing number of global ethnic-religious conflicts, racism is on the rise in Australia where racial hate speech has become an epidemic. Racism is estimated to cost Australia between $21.1 and $54.7 billion annually due to its significant psychological, cultural, and economic impacts. However, current racism reduction tools are insufficiently engaging and sensory poor, and we urgently need effective and scalable intervention tools. This project is designed to meet this critical need. By harnessing technological advancements in generative Artificial Intelligence, this project will create interactions with highly realistic digital humans called ‘high fidelity mixed reality’ (hfMR) to discover how negative intergroup racial dynamics can improve via optimal contact and identity-transformation embodiment. A significant outcome will be effective racism-reducing hfMR toolkits for researchers, stakeholders, and policy makers to implement, facilitating impactful racism reduction. Importantly, this project will respond to the Government’s (2022) $7.5MIL commitment to a national anti-racism strategy by providing viable strategies to combat race hate speech. At a public level, outcomes will be shared amongst relevant national (Australian Human Rights Commission) and international (UK Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities) agencies.

GrantConnect (Australian Government grants) · FY 2025 · 2025-01

Xenotransplantation a Next Generation Cure for Diabetes using Transgenic... Category: Medical Research

GrantConnect (Australian Government grants) · FY 2025 · 2025-01

Defining Treatable Traits of Interstitial Lung Disease Category: Medical Research

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2025 · 2025-01

Communication-Cyber-Human System Co-design for Human-Machine Collaboration. This project aims to pioneer fundamental theories and technologies crucial for advancing wireless Human-Machine Collaboration (HMC) within the context of Industry 5.0, an emerging industrial transformation. The project will lay the groundwork for co-designing wireless communications and cyber-human collaborative mechanisms to optimise operational efficiency and prioritise human well-being in wireless HMC. Anticipated outcomes include models, analytical frameworks, and optimisation tools tailored for wireless HMC systems. These innovations hold the potential to significantly reshape Australia’s manufacturing sector, delivering substantial economic and societal advantages by reducing operational costs and enhancing efficiency. Field of research: 4006 - Communications Engineering The project aims to develop fundamental sciences for wireless human-machine collaboration (wHMC) to enable harmonious interaction between humans and intelligent machines in the emerging Industry 5.0. wHMC requires the co-design of tightly integrated communication and cyber-human control systems. Currently, there is a lack of theoretical foundation and practical frameworks for seamlessly fusing automated machines and human control loops to create safe, scalable, and flexible wHMC systems with assured performance. This project will establish the research foundation for wHMC, unlocking its full potential as a transformative force in advanced manufacturing. It aligns with Australia's focus on advanced manufacturing and digital transformation. The developed wHMC technologies will drive significant benefits for Australia. Economically, wHMC systems will revolutionise the manufacturing, healthcare, and agriculture sectors by reducing operational costs and enhancing efficiency. This is particularly crucial for Australia, which has high labour costs and stringent safety standards. Socially, wHMC will improve workplace safety and foster innovation and collaboration, contributing to overall social well-being. Environmentally, the enhanced efficiency and automation in various sectors will lead to more sustainable practices. Proof-of-concept experiments for wHMC will be developed to promote understanding and demonstrate its potential to tackle intricate manufacturing challenges.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2025 · 2025-01

Human Exceptionalism: Mental Time Travel in Humans and Non-human Animals. This project investigates mental time travel in humans and our closest relatives, chimpanzees. This capacity underlies far reaching abilities in humans and is often taken to distinguish the human from the non-human mind. The project will utilise new experimental methods to probe different ways humans and animals represent when an event is located. It will generate better understanding of this capacity and shed light on whether it is uniquely human, using an interdisciplinary approach including cognitive ethology, psychology, and philosophy. Expected outcomes include the development and implementation of new theoretical and experimental frameworks, and benefits in understanding human and animal cognition. Field of research: 5003 - Philosophy Historically, it was often claimed that consciousness is unique to humans, and that this grounds certain treatment of animals. As this claim about consciousness has become increasingly disputed, the idea has arisen that what makes humans unique is that they can mentally time travel. This project seeks to better understand mental time travel by investigating how this ability develops from childhood to adulthood, and whether it can be found in our closest non-human relatives, chimpanzees. This project will connect Australian research and policy development with a bourgeoning international movement that aims to better understand whether non-human animals have long-term interests that we should be considered when making decisions about their treatment. It will inform critical national debates about how we treat non-human animal in farming, medical research, and as companion animals and well as illuminating the cognitive mechanisms that ground human agency. This will connect Australia to a broader research network, contribute to important national policy decisions regarding non-human animals, contribute to important social and community dialogue about the role of non-human animals in our society, and to a furthered understanding of the relationship between humans and other animals.

GrantConnect (Australian Government grants) · FY 2025 · 2025-01

Long-term perfusion of a metabolically active organ for transplantation Category: Medical Research

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2025 · 2025-01

Diagnostics and management of heat for electrolyser upscaling. This project aims to understand the issue of heat generation and its impact on CO2 electrolysis. CO2 electrolysis enables production of renewable fuels and chemicals from Earth-abundant sources of CO2 and water, but the thermal management poses a challenge in scaling up the process. This project expects to generate new knowledge in electrocatalysis using in-situ characterisation and theoretical modelling. Expected outcomes include innovative cooling strategies and designs for large-scale CO2 electrolysers, which will significantly benefit carbon emissions reduction in Australia. The successful implementation of these outcomes will make it possible to store intermittent renewable electricity over long term and produce sustainable chemicals. Field of research: 4004 - Chemical Engineering Carbon dioxide (CO2) electrolysers offer a promising solution for recycling CO2 and storing renewable electricity from solar and wind. Powered by electrical energy, CO2 electrolysers produce fuels and chemicals that are in high demand across industries—a market valued at over $300 billion, including everyday materials such as plastics and Lycra. By storing and transporting energy through chemical bonds, we can safely and efficiently harness intermittent renewable energy for both domestic use and export. However, a significant challenge in scaling up CO2 electrolysers is the excessive heat they generate, which can compromise stability of materials, quality of products, and overall efficiency of electrolyser components. Presently, over 50% of the energy input is lost as heat. This project seeks to address this issue by employing novel methods to monitor heat production and developing advanced heat mitigation strategies specifically for large-scale CO2 electrolysers. The project is expected to generate patentable technologies that will be leveraged by Australia’s leading renewable energy sectors, facilitating the adoption of this sustainable technology. The project will enhance public awareness of net-zero goals through the dissemination of research findings via media channels and social media platforms. The project is poised to play a pivotal role in Australia’s journey towards a global leader in reducing carbon emissions and in generating and exporting sustainable energy.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2025 · 2025-01

Ambient Backscatter Communications for Mining Internet of Things. This project will develop a novel ambient backscatter communication (AmBC) - empowered IoT system. AmBC technology represents a ground breaking advancement in the realm of energy harvesting for the deployment of IoT devices for various industries, including mining, smart cities, and transport and logistics. This project expects to generate new knowledge in the area of AmBC. Expected outcomes of this project include enhanced capability for AmBC signal detection, theory development of novel cooperative receivers and improved techniques for AmBC interference analysis. This should provide significant benefits in mining and smart city IoT applications, promoting the use of cleaner, renewable energy sources and minimising electronic waste. Field of research: 4006 - Communications Engineering The project will develop next-generation passive IoT devices for device radio frequency (RF) identification (ID) applications in the areas of mining and smart city applications. In these applications, energy harvesting, with the potential to provide a perpetual power supply, becomes an attractive approach to prolong these devices’ battery lifetime. This project will research a passive radio ID without any battery. It will harvest radio energy from the environment and then generate and broadcast a Beacon through Ambient Backscatter communications (AmBC). The underground and city environments are rich in radio energy. If these energies are harvested to a level high enough to power the Backscatter ID, millions of radio IDs deployed or to be deployed in underground mines or cities will become passive devices. The benefits are significant: (1) the device will never need to replace batteries - cost saving (2) batteries are redundant - environment protection. We will develop functional prototypes of IoT backscatter devices that showcase the effectiveness of ambient backscatter technology, and engage in discussions and joint initiatives with the industry partners to integrate the developed backscatter devices into their existing or future products. We will deploy the IoT backscatter devices in selected underground mines and smart city environments, understand the unique requirements of mining or smart city sectors, and customise the backscatter devices accordingly.

GrantConnect (Australian Government grants) · FY 2025 · 2025-01

Defining the clinical and serological phenotypes of autoimmune... Category: Medical Research

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2025 · 2025-01

Re-storying Kakadu National Park. As a globally celebrated national park, Kakadu plays a pivotal role in storying Australia. Previous historical heritage assessments in the park have emphasised a dualistic representation of Indigenous past/colonial present. Rejecting this conceptual divide and developing a collaborative, strengths-based methodology, this project will examine places of the recent past that tell important stories of the lives of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people. This interdisciplinary project integrates archaeological, ethnographic, cultural landscape and archival approaches. It provides significant local, regional and national benefits for communities, researchers, government and wider public by telling a more nuanced and inclusive story of Australia. Field of research: 4302 - Heritage, Archive and Museum Studies Kakadu, one of Australia’s most celebrated national parks, plays a central role in telling a truthful, inclusive, and dynamic story of Australia. Yet, a significant conceptual gap exists in the official representation of Kakadu between Indigenous past and European present—a colonial imaginary reminiscent of Terra Nullius. Despite ongoing requests from Bininj Mungguy Traditional Owners, the stories and heritage places of the more recent past have been neglected and are now at risk of being permanently lost or forgotten. With the Federal Government’s Growing Tourism in Kakadu initiative, there is an urgent need for more destination tourism and Indigenous-led experiences in the area. This project aims to bridge this gap, employing traditional and innovative re-storying techniques and interdisciplinary approaches it will generate comprehensive understandings by recording significant stories and heritage places of the recent past from the perspectives of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal local and everyday lives. Working with and for Bininj Mungguy, the project takes place within a context of truth-telling and truth-listening, using strengths-based research methods and participatory processes to support local priorities. Expected outcomes include the creation of valuable resources for professionals and communities that will strengthen relationships both locally and nationally, and advance the promotion of inclusive heritage tourism in alignment with national objectives.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2025 · 2025-01

Online neuromorphic encoding to unlock biological neurocomputation. A fundamental challenge in neurocomputation technology is how to communicate with neurons to harness their innate biological intelligence. This project aims to develop an interface that translates input digital data into brain-like signals recognisable by biological neurons in a neurocomputation platform. By leveraging this innovative approach, this project expects to secure Australia’s leading position in the advancement of this technology. Expected outcomes include new knowledge and enabling capabilities in computational intelligence that extend beyond the limits of artificial intelligence. Economic and commercial benefits are anticipated in critical technology areas including advanced manufacturing, biotechnology and autonomous systems. Field of research: 4003 - Biomedical Engineering Biological neurocomputation is an emerging technology with the potential to disrupt the landscape of computational intelligence, currently dominated by artificial intelligence. Australia has a first-mover advantage in the race to commercialise this technology, thanks to Cortical Labs, which is at the forefront of international efforts, particularly in the USA and China. This project will secure Australia’s competitive advantage and accelerate the development of this technology by developing an innovative solution to the digital-biological interface needed to effectively harness biological intelligence. The research leverages multiple Australian critical technology sectors, including advanced manufacturing, semiconductor fabrication and biotechnology, which will bring economic benefits to Australians by contributing to creating high-skilled jobs and building capacity for a higher quality workforce. The project’s contribution to maintaining a pipeline of home-grown STEM researchers with industry experience will have flow-on socio-economic benefits and help cultivate a research ecosystem with a stronger focus on translation and innovation. All of these outcomes will have downstream impact on Australia’s position in the global economy, which is increasingly being driven by emerging technologies. Research outcomes will be promoted through commercialisation by Cortical Labs, which plans to disseminate the technology world-wide by establishing a cloud server based in Australia.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2025 · 2025-01

Securing a future for Australia’s blue forests. This project will develop a biorepository program to protect and enhance the resilience of threatened seaweed forests to climate change. By integrating experimental marine ecology with conservation genetics, climate modelling and Indigenous considerations in novel ways, this project will identify at-risk and heat-tolerant seaweed populations and develop culturally safe biobanking and assisted adaptation strategies for seaweed forests. Outcomes include the development of novel approaches to cryopreserve seaweed cells and preserve genetic diversity. This will provide significant benefits, such as ensuring the persistence of coastal ecosystem services and the socio-economic benefits they provide. Field of research: 3103 - Ecology In the southern half of the continent, Australian coastal ecosystems are dominated by highly diverse and productive seaweed forests, which cover an estimated 7 million hectares and provide key services such as enhanced water quality, fisheries and tourism, valued at over $10 billion/yr. Seaweed forests are, however, declining at unprecedented rates and projected environmental conditions will worsen such declines, with significant impacts on the critical environmental and socio-economic services they provide. To safeguard these key ecosystems and the benefits they provide, this project will develop a culturally safe biorepository program to protect threatened seaweed populations and boost their tolerance to rapid environmental change. This approach will allow the development of new and effective management strategies to restore and future-proof our marine estate, ensuring its persistence into the future. This will benefit Australian coastal communities and industries underpinned by this valuable coastal ecosystem.