THE UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2023 · 2023-01

Art, Migration, State-Building: India in the Indian Ocean World. This project aims to investigate the historical movement of objects, knowledge, and people across cultures in the Indian Ocean world, countering the Eurocentric framework of previous scholarship by adopting a trans-Asian network lens. Focusing on art and architecture in fifteenth-century central India, it examines how an independent, largely Muslim state comprised of migrants fashioned itself through works of art that challenged cultural and geographical boundaries. This project expects to advance new methodologies for studying hybrid visual cultures, generate new knowledge about the dynamics of global connectedness in the early modern era, and deepen our understanding of the mechanics of migration and cultural exchange today. Field of research: 3601 - Art History, Theory and Criticism This project will deliver a unique history of multicultural understanding through art and architecture of fifteenth-century India. It will analyse tombs, paintings, textiles, and public infrastructure (like water wells) to show how societies have used art to develop global connections, integrate migrant communities, address conflict, and promote religious diversity. New publicly accessible educational resources and cultural events will provide social and cultural benefits to Australia by showing how art can advance acceptance of cultural diversity. A key product of the project will be a website allowing individual Australians and teachers to explore the Bidar Tomb (India) through interactive digital media, and to see the role that public monuments played in building states and societies. Collaborative programs with the Art Gallery of NSW and migrant artists in Australia, will create a forum for the public to learn about the unique history of South Asia and Australia’s South Asian communities, and how multicultural societies like Australia can use art to debate important social issues such as migration, diversity, and inclusion.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2023 · 2023-01

Trading Privacy, Bandwidth and Accuracy in Algorithmic Machine Learning. This project aims to investigate the trade-offs between privacy, communication costs and accuracy of results when learning from users' sensitive data. The project intends to design faster and more accurate algorithms for a wide range of machine learning tasks by developing a novel and widely-applicable algorithmic framework. Expected outcomes of this project include new theoretical tools to guide the design of data-driven decision systems and rigorously analyse their performance and privacy guarantees. Privacy of individuals' information in data analytics pipelines is a key societal concern. This project should lead to significant benefits by strengthening privacy in these pipelines while also improving accuracy and cost-efficiency. Field of research: 4613 - Theory of Computation Data analytics applications have been immensely successful in enabling faster and more accurate decision-making in areas as diverse as health, business, education and policy. For example, our ability to constantly analyse individuals’ evolving health data, mobility patterns, and test results was key to Australia’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Protecting the privacy of our personal information in systems that undertake these analyses is a key societal concern. This project aims to design faster and more accurate algorithms for a wide range of machine learning tasks by developing a novel and widely-applicable algorithmic framework. Expected outcomes include new theoretical tools to guide the design of systems that use and analyse data and to rigorously assess their performance and privacy guarantees. Improved privacy-preserving data analysis tools will ensure Australians’ personal data is protected, even against malicious attackers. More broadly, the tools and techniques developed in this project will also improve the accuracy and cost-efficiency of these systems, leading to significant economic benefits for Australia.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2023 · 2023-01

Co-creating critical health literacy interventions. This project aims to enhance critical health literacy in culturally and linguistically diverse communities in western Sydney. Never in history has there been such an abundance of health information from numerous sources, with varying degrees of trustworthiness. This project intends to work with communities to co-create scalable interventions which promote critical health literacy and support people to navigate and appraise the sea of available health (mis)information. This project expects to provide significant social and health benefits through the development of innovative health literacy research methods for use with culturally-diverse communities and scalable interventions with the capacity to enhance critical skills across communities. Field of research: 4206 - Public Health 60% of the Australian population (~15.4 million people) have low health literacy, but there remain few health literacy interventions particularly for culturally and linguistically diverse communities who are disproportionately impacted. Improving health literacy is a national priority as evidenced by the 2020-2025 National Health Reform Agreement’s focus on “empowering people through health literacy” and 2021 Parliamentary Inquiry into adult literacy and its importance. This project will deliver a suite of health literacy interventions co-created with culturally and linguistically diverse communities. It will enhance critical health literacy (e.g. skills to critically appraise online information) and develop novel mechanisms to support distribution and amplification through social networks. Through its focus on culturally and linguistically diverse groups who are too often excluded from research, this project has the potential to reduce existing health literacy disparities.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2023 · 2023-01

Towards dignity-based knowledge practices in global health. When the dignity of its beneficiaries is not respected, especially their dignity as knowers, global health efforts in low-income settings perpetuate falsehoods and promote wrong interventions. This project aims to fill an urgent gap in the field of global health – how to institutionalise respect for beneficiaries’ dignity as knowers. The project will do so by investigating strategies that helped to institutionalise evidence-based practices in the fields of health care and health policy. Expected outcomes include practical strategies to institutionalise dignity-based practices in knowledge production, use and circulation. This should lead to major social, health and economic benefits by improving the effectiveness of global health efforts. Field of research: 4203 - Health Services and Systems Ensuring that Australia’s foreign and local health spending reduces health disparities requires working with disadvantaged groups in ways that respect their dignity as people with intimate knowledge about their problems and how to solve them. This research will develop strategies to entrench such dignity-based practices – whereby decisions about the health of disadvantaged groups are not made in isolation from them, and research on their health is conducted with their full ownership. These strategies will ensure, for example, that people from disadvantaged groups are included and empowered to participate in decision making rather than assuming practitioners know what they want, and that they are aware of tools that are available to assist with understanding scenarios they are experiencing. The project will work with key stakeholders (including researchers, practitioners, funders, activists and the World Health Organization) to develop and disseminate these new practices – and new rules to ensure that researchers and practitioners implement them – resulting in improved health outcomes and reduced health disparities. To achieve this, the research will study the wide success of a similar initiative that successfully entrenched new practices (on how to generate and use rigorous evidence) in health care and policy decision-making in Australia and elsewhere, using new rules including ethics requirements and decision aids.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2023 · 2023-01

Assessing climate risk for future food supply. The aim of this project is to assess the impacts of future disruptive climate events and disasters on Australia's food system. This will be achieved by developing a world-first Integrated Assessment Modelling Lab, a collaborative research platform for comprehensive assessment of the effects of extreme climate events (bushfires/drought/floods/cyclones) on Australia's food supply. The project will use this capability to assess impacts on Australia's national and international supply chains, industry sectors and on socio-economic groups. The outcomes will offer opportunities to improve national responses to the changing climate and build resilience by designing adaptation plans to safeguard national and international food supply chains. Field of research: 4011 - Environmental Engineering Assessing the impacts of natural disasters, such as bushfires, cyclones, droughts and floods, on Australia's food supply is complex and challenging. This project will create an Integrated Assessment Modelling Lab that is able to comprehensively assess how extreme climate events can impact Australia's food and industry sectors. The Lab is a collaborative research platform that will bring together the range of experts and data to address this complex problem. The Lab will provide information and analysis to Australian policy-makers in order to secure food production as our climate changes, and to help improve how we respond to extreme events. The deep understanding of Australia's interconnected systems, including national and international food supply chains, provided by this project will help in implementing strategies to safeguard our economy from future environmental change. This research will contribute to Australia’s economic growth by building healthy and resilient rural and urban communities adapting to a changing climate.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2022 · 2022-01

Large Scale Natural Convection Boundary Layers with Non-Boussinesq Effects. This proposal aims to understand and predict heat transfer by turbulent natural convection in two scenarios, firstly at very large environmental scales, such as occur on melting Antarctic ice sheets, and secondly convection involving very large temperature differences such as occur in solar thermal power plants and industrial processes. These natural convection flow regimes are incredibly difficult to investigate directly but by focusing on the fundamental dynamics of the turbulent flows using large scale numerical simulations and innovative experiments, the project is expected to develop better analytical and computational models which will underpin improvements in global ocean models and improve energy efficiency. Field of research: 0915 - Interdisciplinary Engineering Natural convection boundary layers are intrinsically linked to heat transfer in fluids and so are unavoidable in our natural environment and in industrial processes. It is critical to accurately predict the cooling they provide. Our most complex physical systems are driven by them. They are the mechanisms by which Antarctic ice sheets melt and buildings are ventilated. Engineers and Scientists rely on accurate relationships to represent these flows within larger more complex models. As engineers seek to improve energy efficiency or expand the power density of telecommunications equipment they must be able to predict how these flows will behave and how much heat will be transferred. Scientists developing models for climate change require accurate models for ice melt rates in order to accurately represent ocean dynamics. The understanding gained through this project will support these activities and result better designed natural ventilation systems, improved safety of industrial process and more accurate modelling of the effects of climate change.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2022 · 2022-01

Testing links between genomic and morphological evolutionary rates. This project aims to identify, understand, and characterise patterns of evolutionary rates across different levels of biological variation. The project expects to generate knowledge about the tempo and mode of evolution by using a phylogenetic approach to test fundamental models of evolutionary rates, including the link between rates of genomic and morphological evolution. Expected outcomes of this project include detailed insights into the tempo and mode of macroevolution, better modelling of genomic and phenotypic evolution, and improved design of studies in evolutionary genomics. Benefits of the project include greater understanding of the evolutionary processes that have generated the diversity of the Australian biota. Field of research: 0603 - Evolutionary Biology This project will address fundamental questions about how biological diversity is generated by the evolutionary process. The project will generate new genomic resources and will develop a strong framework for studying rates of evolution across the Tree of Life. By focussing on several important groups of organisms, the project will increase understanding of the tempo and mode of evolution in flowering plants, Australian marsupials, Australian cockroaches and termites, and songbirds. The project will build on collaborations with researchers across Australia, while also strengthening important international links with major genome consortia and researchers in three continents. The results of the study have the potential to improve our understanding of the evolutionary processes that produced the remarkable diversity of life and the present-day Australian biota.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2022 · 2022-01

Biologically inert probes to unravel nutrient directed cellular processing . In this project we will develop novel compounds that can act as probes of the pathways present in cells for the uptake of nutrients and other essential molecules and show how to generate new agents for identifying and targeting specific populations of cells. The project will generate new tools for understanding biological processes including cell transport and processing. The insights gained from this work are expected to help guide the development of new agents for selectively delivering imaging and biologically active agents to cells. Field of research: 0601 - Biochemistry and Cell Biology The primary focus of this project is to advance our knowledge of how cells collect and process nutrients. This knowledge is important because many compounds are being developed that are delivered by attaching them to nutrients, an approach that has potential application in developing tools for understanding biology and for developing imaging agents and treatments for a range of diseases. Work in these areas is already showing commercial promise with a number of new imaging and treatment agents undergoing development and testing. Providing a better understanding of the fundamental processes associated with nutrient uptake and how these processes are affected by the cargo will help to drive these developments and further boost the Australian economy.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2022 · 2022-01

Using venoms to map critical and evolutionary conserved vulnerabilities. We have developed and applied new functional genomic approaches to study venom evolution. Using CRISPR screening, we find that unrelated venoms act on cells by exploiting the same vulnerabilities. By functionally mapping these vulnerabilities for all venom classes, we can begin to develop universal venom antidotes. Conversely, much of what we know about venom mechanisms comes from a small percentage of the biodiversity within a venom, and we have developed genomic tools to study the venom “dark matter”. This work will lead to the full molecular characterisation of venom biodiversity, and new venom components will be useful for research or as novel medicines. Field of research: 0604 - Genetics The outcome of this work will be an understanding of conserved molecular vulnerabilities exploited by venomous animals, and a molecular profiling of venom components that modulate physiology. As our environment changes, we can anticipate new biological threats will similarly be constrained by the same target vulnerabilities exploited by venoms or other harmful biologics. By developing a basic understanding of animal vulnerabilities, we can more rapidly negate emerging threats as they are identified. Moreover, the tools we develop here will change how researchers access the biodiversity contained within animal venoms, and allow our field to rapidly isolate new venom components based on an expanding set of cellular responses. These efforts will generate IP and have significant I commercial potential, both via a future generation of effective universal venom antidotes, and through a new capacity to mine the venom “dark matter” for new bioactive tools or future medicines.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2022 · 2022-01

Investigating biological processes in tissues by spatial profiling. This project will establish a new system for spatial profiling of protein and gene activity in tissues to advance research in the life-sciences. Spatial profiling enables more refined understanding of biological processes in tissues by recognising patterns of gene expression and proteins at defined tissue locations. This addresses the limitations of conventional gene and protein profiling methods that produce averaged data which fails to consider the discrete spatial organisation that occurs within tissues. The project will support investigators from numerous disciplines of molecular biosciences, neuroscience, bioengineering, plant biology and bioinformatics and train the next generation of research students in this technology. Field of research: 0601 - Biochemistry and Cell Biology Life-science researchers investigate biology through large-scale analysis of the activity of genes and proteins. This project will deploy innovative new technology to understand what genes and proteins are driving biological processes in the context of spatial organisation within tissues. These studies will provide new fundamental understanding of cell biology processes occurring in tissues, knowledge that is relevant to Australia's scientific community. Outcomes of this knowledge are used by Australian academic and industrial researchers in broad discipline areas including biological research, medical research, bioengineering and agriculture. Applied research using knowledge of spatial biological processes has potential for commercial use and subsequent societal benefit. Examples include the design of new diagnostics and improved agricultural products with higher yields.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2022 · 2022-01

Analysis and design of midrise built-up cold-formed steel structures. The project will develop an analytical and computational basis for designing midrise buildings in cold-formed steel. It will enable solutions with high column capacities and high lateral load resistance to be realised by using built-up sections, thus overcoming the current barrier to constructing buildings up to 10 storeys from cold-formed steel and enabling green, fully recyclable and rapidly constructed buildings to be achieved. Experimental, analytical and computational studies will be undertaken and synthesised into efficient design guidelines for practising engineers, including structural reliability analyses at system level of midrise buildings featuring innovative built-up multi-section columns and integrated shear panels. Field of research: 0905 - Civil Engineering The project addresses the growing need for midrise residential buildings in Australian cities to meet the increasing demand for medium-density apartments in close proximity to services, workplace and entertainment. The project will develop a framework for designing midrise cold-formed steel buildings using multiple intermittently connected (built-up) sections to achieve buildings with sufficient load carrying capacity and stiffness. New solutions for the key structural elements, i.e. columns and shear panels, will be researched featuring built-up sections to greatly enhance the building’s resistance to wind and seismic loads. The project will develop advanced analytical solutions and efficient computational tools to aid the structural design of mid-rise cold-formed steel buildings. The design tools will benefit the end consumer and enable the Australian steel industry and structural engineering firms to enhance their preeminent record of producing innovative structural solutions and maintain their competitive edge nationally and internationally.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2022 · 2022-01

Charge and energy transport in disordered functional materials. This project aims to understand how energy and electric charge move through disordered materials. Many next-generation materials—including organic semiconductors, hybrid perovskites, and conductive metal-organic frameworks—promise better solar cells, sensors, and electrocatalysts; however, they remain incompletely understood because they are disordered and noisy systems that are difficult to describe mathematically. This project expects to develop the first theoretical techniques that capture all essential features of transport in disordered materials. The resulting understanding of structure-function relationships should accelerate the rational design of cutting-edge devices for energy conversion and storage. Field of research: 0303 - Macromolecular and Materials Chemistry This project aims to provide Australia with world-leading capability in chemistry and materials science, with the potential to advance local manufacturing and energy industries. To do so, it aims to provide new computational tools to solve challenging problems in computational chemistry that form bottlenecks in the discovery of better disordered materials for energy conversion and storage. Devices such as organic and perovskite solar cells or electrocatalysts based on metal-organic frameworks promise energy that is both cheaper and cleaner than is used today. By developing the necessary computational techniques and expertise to accelerate the rational design of these types of next-generation, high-performance technologies, this project would advance Australia’s strategic vision of advanced manufacturing and energy sectors.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2022 · 2022-01

Lightly Loaded Energy Farm Foundations in Cracked Desiccated Soil. This project aims are to understand the effects of seasonal changes in moisture on piles in clayey soils that develop desiccation cracks during dry times of the year. The project is significant because the economics of energy farms requires low cost foundations for their viability, but current methods of foundation design require long piles to overcome uncertainties in capacity and serviceability when soil shrinks in dry periods and swells in wetter periods. The main outcome of the project will be recommendations for the design of lightly loaded pile foundations in soils that shrink and swell significantly. The benefits will be the reduced risk and cost associated with the geotechnical aspects of foundation design. Field of research: 0905 - Civil Engineering Australia's arid climate can create an upper soil layer that is prone to expansion and contraction and desiccation cracking. These conditions lead to requirements for expensive foundation systems, often involving deep foundations. The proposed research will look at foundations on desiccated soil where vertical soil movements are less important to determine whether simple piled foundations can perform satisfactorily. Current design methods suggest that short piles can provide sufficient capacity provided that they are unaffected by the cracked soil, but the extent to which desiccated soil reduces capacity is unknown. The ultimate aim is to reduce the length of piles, or to demonstrate alternative screw piles can provide sufficient resistance and control movements. This will be of particular benefit to potential solar farm foundations which can involve 100,000 piles in a single project and for which foundation design is a significant part of the cost and a major risk factor.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2022 · 2022-01

Directionality-Aware Cohesive Subgraph Search over Directed Graphs. Searching cohesive subgraphs around a set of user-specified seed vertices in big graphs has many applications including cybersecurity, crime detection, social marketing and public health. This project aims to investigate directionality-aware search of cohesive subgraphs over directed graphs by designing effective models and developing efficient and scalable algorithms. This project expects to address key challenges and lay scientific foundations for searching big directed graphs. The expected outcomes include novel models, computing paradigms, algorithms, indexing techniques, and distributed solutions. The success of the project will not only provide technological breakthroughs but also benefit the development of key industries in Australia Field of research: 0806 - Information Systems Graphs are widely used to capture the relationship and information flow between entities in many applications such as social media, online communities, mobile communications, e-commerce, and financial transactions. Advances in these information technologies have generated huge, and rapidly growing, amounts of graph data. Managing and extracting knowledge and insights from large graphs poses great computational challenges, but also opens extraordinary opportunities across a vast range of sectors, including science, engineering, business and public health. This project aims to unlock these opportunities by developing effective, efficient and scalable big graph data processing techniques to enable individuals, business, and organisations to exploit the information contained in big graph data. The research will address key scientific challenges as well as key problems in real applications to the direct benefit of e-commerce, cybersecurity, risk management, social networks, and other applications, including online fraud detection and health management, in Australia.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2022 · 2022-01

Life among giants: Jovian exoplanets and the habitable zone. How and where do gas giant planets like Jupiter form? The best answers would come from direct studies of the cradles of planetary birth themselves. This project takes direct aim at the forbidding technological challenge to recover the first images of planetary birth at the required scales of size (around Jupiter's orbit) and contrast. In revealing the architecture of formation of the giants, we simultaneously make an enormous stride in understanding the potential for habitable rocky worlds such as Earth, whose orbits will be dictated by the Jovians. Our program is driven by unique and innovative photonics technologies integrated within the best modern telescope facilities, allowing us to open a new window in exoplanetary science. Field of research: 0201 - Astronomical and Space Sciences This project will map the formation pathways and evolution of planets and reveal the underlying physics that drives planetary formation within solar systems. To achieve this, the project will deliver a new observational capability, using novel fabrication technologies to build optical photonic chips with unique design and properties. This photonic chip technology will be translatable into the next generation of Extremely Large Telescopes, putting Australia at the forefront of delivering the technology required for the science of tomorrow. As well as building Australia’s technical research capacity, the unique photonic architectures this project will develop will be able to be applied in optics and advanced imaging technologies. These developments will provide new capabilities and potential spin-offs that can be harnessed by Australian high-tech industries.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2022 · 2022-01

System-level characterisation of the siphonophore, Indo-Pacific man o' war. The Indo-Pacific man o' war (bluebottle), is a cnidarian from the siphonophore order. These animals frequent Australian beaches in swarms and cause thousands of stings every year. The project proposes to profile the genome, transcriptome, epigenome, and proteome of the bluebottle to gain insight into its life cycle, its behaviour, and toxins. Expected outcomes include the generation of novel information related to bluebottle gene regulation and its toxin repertoire, which will be highly beneficial for the design of future sting treatment strategies. Given that the bluebottle is a colony made of functionally specialised polyps, this study will also provide significant novel insight into the origins and evolution of animal multicellularity. Field of research: 0604 - Genetics The bluebottles frequent Australian beaches every year resulting in tens of thousands of stings. For example, during a single week in January 2019, more than 13,000 people were treated for bluebottle stings in Queensland. Nevertheless, despite their frequent interactions with humans, surprisingly little is known about bluebottle behaviour, its life cycle, and its toxins. Through this project we aim to establish a framework to start understanding this iconic Australian species and identify a way to ultimately manage its interactions with beachgoers in Australia and globally. Most importantly, we will aim to provide a platform that will enable us to start tackling the composition of bluebottle toxins with potential future applications for sting treatment. Finally, this project will provide excellent opportunities for interdisciplinary PhD / early career researcher (ECR) training, establish strong long-lasting ties with world-renowned scientific institutions, and increase Australia’s capacity for cutting edge genomics research.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2022 · 2022-01

Australian Peptide Display Facility. The aim of this project is to develop a globally unique facility for the discovery of bioactive peptides for application in the chemical and biological sciences and industry. We expect to build an integrated technology platform for the identification, synthesis, purification and confirmatory testing of such molecules with unprecedented speed and efficiency. The intended outcome is the establishment of a national peptide display facility that will be accessible to all Australian researchers, leading to enhanced capacity to discover bioactive molecules for a range of applications. This should provide economic benefits through commercial development, including the discovery of new agricultural products. Field of research: 0304 - Medicinal and Biomolecular Chemistry The discovery of bioactive molecules represents a crucial first step in the development of new medicines and agrichemicals that provide enormous benefit to humanity. Current discovery approaches, such as those used in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry, are relatively slow and inefficient. This project will integrate new specialised scientific equipment with existing infrastructure to establish an automated platform capable of identifying, synthesising and validating such molecules faster and more efficiently than any other approach currently available. The national peptide display platform that we will establish with this cutting-edge instrumentation will position Australia at the forefront of molecular discovery science, providing immediate commercial benefits with diverse, longer-term outcomes ranging across areas of economic, health, environmental and social importance.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2022 · 2022-01

Advanced materials synthesis and environmental characterisation facility. This facility combines advanced materials synthesis, in-situ characterisation, and a capability to study materials’ structure and composition when exposed to a range of operating environments. The controlled environment characterisation system, unique and first-of-its-kind in Australia, is underpinned by a revolutionary differential pumping technology to enable X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy at pressures far above UHV. It will provide researchers the capability of performing measurements under conditions that simulate both expected operating and extreme environments to support the development of high-performance materials, ranging from biomaterials/sensors, catalysts, photonic, electronic and energy-storage materials, to pharmaceuticals. Field of research: 0912 - Materials Engineering This state-of-the-art facility will support dozens of research programs ranging from biomaterials, sensors, catalysts, photonic, electronic and energy-storage materials. It will enhance and enable domestic and international research collaborations by implementing new cutting-edge materials development with great potential to solve global challenges and improve our lives. It will aid in understanding and modeling the growth and subsequent transformation processes under environmental conditions of a variety of thin film materials. The fundamental atomic-scale knowledge of surface physics will help to design next-generation, high-performance devices that are optimised for robustness in operation. This equipment enables the chemical analysis of interactions between gases/liquids and surfaces with crucially important implications in many fields ranging from biological and catalytic systems to construction materials. With the capability of operating in the near ambient pressure regimes, it also offers an entirely new opportunity to investigate biological materials and processes.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2022 · 2022-01

Versatile laser processing system for multi-disciplinary research . This project aims to meet the growing needs for laser-assisted material processing and device fabrications supporting multi-disciplinary research at multiple institutions. The unique multi-wavelength pulsed and continuous wave laser system will provide additional capacity and capability expanding material systems processable especially organics and hybrid materials for laser-assisted surface cleaning, ablation, doping, and crystallization for optoelectronic, photonic, biomedical and carbon fibre reinforced plastics research. The system will support existing and future fundamental and applied research and industry projects benefitting Australia via research training and by boosting capacity for advanced manufacturing. Field of research: 1007 - Nanotechnology The laser system will expand laser manufacturing capabilities in Australia meeting growing demands for new applications and new device designs that require small feature size, fast scanning, large substrates, use of different types of lasers for a multi-step-process and organic and hybrid materials. The latter is particular important as many existing systems only cater for inorganic materials. Its strategic placement within the Australian National Fabrication Facility (ANFF) will make the system highly accessible to research community at large and will accelerate process developments where existing up-stream and downstream processing equipment are also housed in the same Facility. The expected outcomes include i) novel low cost fabrications of various types of Si-based tandem solar cells, high efficiency perovskite solar modules, flexible LEDs, Si-based modulators for microwave photonics ; ii) advanced surface cleaning for composite materials; iii) pattern-on-demand quantum dot opto-electronic devices; iv) advanced brain-on-chip devices; and v) polymer-free glass bonding.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2022 · 2022-01

Metallurgical Facility for Solid-State Additive Manufacturing. This project aims to create a Metallurgical Facility for Solid-State Additive Facility, to radically enhance the Australian capability for Additive Manufacturing. The Facility will revolutionise manufacturing research in Australia, by creating access and opportunity to develop novel materials and procedures via this rapidly growing technology. This strategic facility will give researchers a significant advantage in the development and optimisation of advanced manufacturing and maintenance technologies by providing a state-of-the-art friction-stir 3D printing hybrid manufacturing capabilities with substantial downstream benefits to the civil, transport, automotive, aerospace, mining, oil and gas, defence, recycling and medical industries. Field of research: 0910 - Manufacturing Engineering Solid-state metallurgical processes are a rapidly emerging form of additive manufacturing. They are time and cost effective and enable processing of alloy systems that are difficult to 3D print using other technologies. This project will create a national metallurgical facility for solid-state additive manufacturing that will significantly enhance Australia’s additive manufacturing capability. Leveraging partner organisations’ substantial investments in additive manufacturing, this purpose-built solid-state hybrid facility will be unique in the world, and will revolutionise manufacturing research in Australia. Access to comprehensive state-of-the-art capabilities and unique modern manufacturing tools will drive Australian innovations in solid-state additive manufacturing technologies, enabling researchers and industry to develop novel materials and procedures. The application of these technologies to create lightweight structures with exceptional properties will bring substantial downstream benefits across the civil, transport, automotive, aerospace, energy, defence, recycling and biomedical industries.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2022 · 2022-01

Urban Rewilding: Ecologically and Community-informed Futures. Biodiversity is highly threatened in Australian cities. This project aims to prevent further wildlife loss by creating a blueprint for the ecological restoration of urban spaces. Working with seven Councils and three State government agencies in northern Sydney, this project will experimentally assess a new approach to conservation by restoring regionally-present but locally-missing wildlife. Expected outcomes include the restoration of ecosystem services provided by wildlife and increased opportunities for community engagement with nature. Project benefits include initiating rewilding in urban areas, improved public education on the benefits of restoring wildlife and greater potential to conserve our biodiversity and cultural heritage. Field of research: 0502 - Environmental Science and Management The natural processes we rely on to produce clean air and water, grow food and regulate the climate are dependent on interconnected communities of plants and animals. In urbanised areas much of this biological diversity has been lost, contributing to environmental challenges such as water crises, increased air pollution and changes in local climate. This project will demonstrate how best to reintroduce native plants and animals to urban Australia in order to restore local biodiversity. Working with local government and the community in northern Sydney, it will assess barriers to wildlife restoration and identify the species best suited for reintroduction. This could re-establish native wildlife populations of eastern pygmy possums, long-nosed bandicoots, eastern water dragons, bush rats and superb lyrebirds which used to be common in this area. Councils and state agencies will be able to employ the framework this project develops to help restore biodiversity in urban areas across the nation. This will ultimately improve natural ecosystems, create opportunities for Australians living in cities to engage with nature and illustrate the importance of conservation and green-spaces for our well-being and quality of life.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2022 · 2022-01

The Aristotelian Soul in Late Ming China. This project aims to uncover a seminal moment during the first stage of Sino-Western intellectual encounters when the Jesuit Francesco Sambiasi (1582-1649) collaborated with the mandarin Xu Guangqi (1562-1633) on the Lingyan lishao (1624), a Chinese translation of Aristotle’s On the Soul. Since Ming Chinese lacked direct analogues for the Aristotelian soul, this work provides significant insights into how conceptual translation is conducted between disparate cultures. The intended outcome of this project is to reveal the semantic transformations between the European and Chinese contexts. Benefits include the opening up of pioneering yet understudied texts and insights into why certain ideas fail to resonate in their new target culture. Field of research: 2103 - Historical Studies This project will generate new knowledge about Europe’s first intellectual and cultural exchanges with China in the early seventeenth century. It will provide valuable insights into the linguistic and cultural challenges faced by attempts to exchange ideas across different intellectual contexts. By analysing the reception of European thought among the Chinese, this research will yield a new understanding of the conditions under which such exchanges succeed or fail. This will greatly benefit our understanding of how cross-cultural dialogues can be successfully conducted, and the results of the research will be able to inform contemporary efforts to foster dialogue between countries with a mostly European heritage (like Australia) and China. This project will forge new research partnerships between Australian academics and overseas scholars and build up Australia's capacity for future cutting-edge research in cross-cultural exchange.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2022 · 2022-01

Kids, bugs and drugs: Human-microbial relations in everyday family life. This project aims to investigate human-microbial relations in everyday family life within the context of escalating Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR). While AMR is widely recognised as a potentially catastrophic global health threat, antimicrobials still feature prominently in families’ daily attempts to care for their health. Using innovative qualitative methods, this project expects to generate better understandings of how human-(anti)microbial relations are understood and negotiated in community settings in daily life. Expected outcomes include new knowledge in the field of health sociology and a crucial evidence base that will yield significant benefit by informing and enabling community-centred responses to the growing AMR threat. Field of research: 1608 - Sociology Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) is a major concern for societies, healthcare systems and governments in Australia and worldwide. If left unchecked, AMR is anticipated to have extremely negative effects on human health and national economies causing up to 10 million deaths and USD$6.3 trillion in direct costs each year by 2050. The findings of this project will aid the Australian response to the global challenge of AMR by advancing community-focused perspectives on how antimicrobial drugs are understood and used as part of families' everyday practices of health, illness and care. It will contribute interdisciplinary, multi-sectoral perspectives that will enable novel practice guidelines and health and educational policies that advance a community-centred approach to AMR. In so doing, it will help ensure that responses to antimicrobial resistance are firmly embedded within the social and cultural fabric of Australia's communities.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2022 · 2022-01

Developing Sustainable and Reliable Anode-free Lithium Metal Batteries. This project aims to investigate and optimise the functional properties of anode-free lithium metal battery electrodes. The project expects to develop a novel, high-throughput electrochemistry platform that can rapidly screen new materials and chemistries across length scales, from single atoms to entire battery cells. Understanding battery performance in such detail is expected to enhance our capability to design and manufacture smart battery materials that are higher performing, safer and longer lasting than current technologies. This should provide significant socio-economic and environmental benefits, through the development of commercially-feasible next-generation devices, used by households or businesses to store renewable energy. Field of research: 1007 - Nanotechnology The commercialisation of “post lithium ion batteries” is hindered by a general lack of understanding on the elementary processes that limit the performance, cycle life and safety of alkali metal anodes. This project aims to overcome this shortcoming, and in doing so directly addresses the “Energy” research priority, specifically the research challenge “New clean energy sources and storage technologies that are efficient, cost-effective and reliable”. Indeed, the development of commercially-feasible anode-free materials/chemistries would have significant environmental and socio-economic benefit, supporting Australian government initiatives on climate change mitigation (for example, the Mandatory Renewable Energy Target “MERT” program), as well as providing a means for safe, clean, secure and sustainable energy production/storage. Beyond this, the project will provide fundamental knowledge, training and intellectual property to support emerging energy storage industries in Australia and further ensure that Australian researchers remain in the driving seat of this globally-important and rapidly growing market.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2022 · 2022-01

Cyber Repression and Political Protests in Thailand. This project investigates the impact of digital repressive technologies on activism in autocracies through a case study of online opposition movements in Thailand. The project advances a new conceptual framework for the analysis of networked counterpublics, which outlines the conditions under which social media aids or contains digital dissidents. Expected outcomes include a comprehensive study of interactions between the Thai State and Free Youth Movement and a series of conceptual tools to assess strategies for collective action in digitally repressive environments. It will also provide a roadmap to assist civil society and policymakers in building resilience against cyber repression and reclaiming online spaces for progressive change. Field of research: 1606 - Political Science The Australian government has a direct interest in addressing cyber repression in Thailand. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) has invested $48 million through its International Cyber Engagement Strategy to advance open, free and secure cyberspace. One of the six pillars of the Strategy is ‘human rights and democracy online’, which includes supporting civil society organisations that defend human rights online. This project's examination of how civil society groups in Thailand respond to and manage cyber repression will provide greater understanding of the key drivers of online human rights abuses and strategies to combat them. The project will provide a strong and robust evidence base for how DFAT could better support civil society organisations to defend human rights and democracy.