THE UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND

GrantConnect (Australian Government grants) · FY 2024 · 2024-01

Learning from the opioid crisis - Preventing the proliferation of... Category: Medical Research

GrantConnect (Australian Government grants) · FY 2024 · 2024-01

Tissue scaffolds for bony and soft tissue facial reconstruction in... Category: Medical Research

GrantConnect (Australian Government grants) · FY 2024 · 2024-01

Immune Regulation of Lung Injury: Pathways to Repair, Restoration and... Category: Medical Research

Fonds de recherche du Québec – Nature et technologies · FY 2023-2024 · 2023-04

Volet: Bourses de doctorat en recherche; Domaine: Environnement; Objet: Géomatique; Objet: Protection et gestion de l'environnement naturel et bâti; Application: Sciences et technologies; Application: Environnement; Mots-clés: COASTAL ENVIRONMENTS, SPACE-BASED REMOTE SENSING, BLUE CARBON, SUBMERGED AQUATIC VEGETATION, BIOMASS, UNCERTAINTY BUDGETS

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2023 · 2023-01

A next generation 'smart' superconducting magnet system in persistent mode. Superconducting magnet devices use splicing, a process required to maintain the persistence of operation. Currently, the formation mechanism of splicing using magnesium diboride superconductor is complex and not technologically robust for industrial magnet manufacturing. This project aims to develop novel, reliable and economical superconducting splicing technologies that can produce an ultra-stable and uniform magnetic field against unexpected power outages. Expected outcomes include the development of advanced green and cryogen free superconducting technologies, which would boost the Australian manufacturing industry through access to multi-billion-dollar global markets for power grids, medical imaging and energy generation and storage. Field of research: 5104 - Condensed Matter Physics Superconducting magnets producing ultra-stable magnetic field are a core component of many technologies including particle physics, fusion devices, power transmission, medical imaging tools, energy storage, and transportation. Current commercial low temperature superconducting magnets require liquid helium, which is expensive and difficult to handle. This project aims to develop liquid helium-free high temperature superconducting dry magnets that can be used in cheaper and safer next-generation superconducting technologies without any electrical power waste. This program will develop a robust platform technology for a broad range of superconducting devices and will expand Australia’s advanced manufacturing capacity and enable access to multi-billion dollar global markets for MRI scanners ($5b per year), NMR spectroscopy ($1.8b per year) and superconducting magnetic energy storage ($44.6b per year). The project will advance knowledge and bolster Australia’s leadership in this burgeoning field and, finally, accelerate the translation of innovative laboratory discoveries to impactful real-world applications.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2023 · 2023-01

Drought tolerance in sorghum: the roots of the solution. This project aims to develop an efficient, cost-effective sensing platform for visualising sorghum root systems in the field. Through innovative use of above and below ground sensing technologies, this project expects to generate new knowledge on the association between root structure and improved yield stability under drought stress. Expected outcomes include improved capacity for sorghum breeders and new digital agriculture products and services to support the industry more broadly. Given that sorghum is the main summer cereal grown in Australia, this should provide significant benefits, such as improved productivity and profitability for the Australian agriculture sector. Field of research: 3002 - Agriculture, Land and Farm Management Food production and the nutritional security of millions of people are interwoven with the health of our planet. The increasing demand for food is adding unsustainable pressures to our land and water resources. With Australia’s agricultural value expected to reach $100B by 2030, this is a pressing issue of national importance. The most viable option is to utilise science and technology to produce more food using less land and less water. This project will deliver the required tools to help plant breeders and farmers design crops that have more efficient root systems, so the crops can thrive under hotter and drier future climates. Project outcomes and commercial deployment through a digital agriculture service provider and a plant breeding company will deliver improved crops to farmers and more sustainable foods for the planet. Deploying new digital agriculture products and services that mitigate the impacts of droughts and create efficiency gains will deliver substantial economic benefits to farmers and significant environmental benefits to Australian society and the planet.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2023 · 2023-01

Improve genomic testing tools for fertility traits in beef cattle. Fertility is a key driver of productivity and profitability for beef industry; however, a substantial industry challenge is poor fertility and the difficulty and expense of measuring fertility in remote Australia. By integrating multiple omics datasets and fifty thousand fertility phenotypes recorded on beef cattle, the project will identify sequence variation, including structural variants, that underpin genetic variation in cattle fertility. Our industry partner, which genotypes hundreds of thousands of cattle a year, will produce new genotype arrays and novel low-cost sequencing approaches including these variants, enabling selection that could potentially increase herd reproductive rate by 4%, returning $40M per annum to the farmers. Field of research: 3102 - Bioinformatics and Computational Biology The beef industry in Australia contributes a significant amount of money, about 14.7 billion dollars, to the country's economy every year. However, there's room for improvement, especially in the northern part of the country where only 40% of cows are successfully weaning calves. This project plans to use data from multiple sources, including genetics and fertility traits from tens of thousands of tropical beef cattle, to identify genetic differences that affect fertility. This information will be used to develop a cheaper and more accurate way to select cattle with superior genetics for fertility at an early age, which will increase profitability for farmers. By improving fertility in cattle, this research may also have positive implications for addressing climate change in agriculture as more fertile cows dilute their emissions over a greater number of kg of beef produced. Therefore, the proposal presents an option to mitigate greenhouse gases by 30% by 2030. Overall, the project aims to make cattle farming more efficient and profitable while also having potential benefits for the environment.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2023 · 2023-01

Understanding drivers and deterrents of Australia's illicit tobacco market. As Australia implements policies that reduce the availability and affordability of tobacco, demand for illicit tobacco is likely to grow. This research aims to generate new knowledge about the drivers and deterrents of demand for illicit tobacco through three inter-related projects. Expected outcomes include a comprehensive understanding of factors influencing Australians’ demand for illicit tobacco, and expert-informed policy recommendations to reduce demand for and deter use of illicit tobacco. With no substantive Australian research on this topic for more than 15 years, this research will be essential to reduce the impacts of the illicit tobacco market, including substantial losses in tax revenue and the funding of organised crime. Field of research: 4407 - Policy and Administration There is evidence that Australia’s illicit tobacco market is growing. As Australia implements new policies to reduce tobacco’s availability and affordability, there are concerns about further stimulating this illicit market, which cost Australia $621 million in lost tax revenue in 2019-20, funds organised crime, and undermines Australia’s world-class tobacco control policies. There has been no Australian research on drivers of illicit tobacco use for more than 15 years. This project will result in a world-first tool for measuring susceptibility to purchasing illicit tobacco, a comprehensive understanding of factors driving consumer demand for illicit tobacco, evidence on messages most likely to deter consumers from purchasing illicit tobacco, and expert-informed policy recommendations to reduce demand and deter use of illicit tobacco. Recommendations to deliver educational and operational activities to deter illicit tobacco use are likely to be adopted by relevant Government agencies

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2023 · 2023-01

Detecting Key Concepts from Low-Quality Data for Better Decision. The project aims to develop data analytics techniques that aid better decision making in high-stake scenarios when data are less-trustable. While data-aided decision making has been widely used, less-trustable data may significantly distort the decisions made and hurt people impacted by these decisions. The outcome of this project expects to be a series of techniques covering data understanding and enhancement, model development and fitting, and novelty detection, to reduce the damage of less-trustable data. The research expects to benefit the people and companies impacted by data-aided decision making in cybersecurity, healthcare and financial fraud detection, providing risk-control services. Field of research: 4605 - Data Management and Data Science Large data is an important national asset of Australia that drives evidence-based decision-making for government and a multitude of industries. This project aims to develop innovative techniques to analyse data that can be put together into a system to generate insights with minimum data preparation cost. A major issue with many existing data-driven techniques is that we do not know whether we can trust the recommendations made. The system based on our techniques will provide an understandable process to enhance transparency in data analysis. Such a process means our techniques can also be integrated into existing systems such as cybersecurity to improve risk-based decision-making by revealing how insights are generated from data. The research outcomes have strong potential to benefit Australia’s economy in many data intelligence-based sectors, such as health, finance, and transport, given its great advantages for reducing costs in data preparation and improving trust in data-driven decisions.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2023 · 2023-01

Developing Polymer Electrolytes for Operational All-Solid-State Batteries. This project aims to advance the development of safe rechargeable all-solid-state batteries (ASSBs) by innovating fluorinated block copolymers as solid-state electrolytes. ASSBs are the most promising power source for emerging energy storage goals, however, low ionic conductivity and poor long-term cycling stability are critical bottlenecks to their successful application. This project seeks to tackle these challenges by fabricating unique ionic conduction channels and stabilising electrode-electrolyte interfaces using fluorinated block copolymer electrolytes. The expected outcomes are new knowledge in polymer electrolytes and advancement in the commercialisation of ASSBs toward more efficient, safe and reliable energy storage technologies. Field of research: 4018 - Nanotechnology Australia needs new battery storage technologies that are efficient, reliable and safe to meet its energy priorities. Currently available batteries that are being used in cars and homes to harness renewable energy contain flammable liquid electrolytes that are dangerous and prone to explosion. This project aims to develop an innovative technology for safe, rechargeable all-solid-state batteries that provide long-lasting energy storage capacity. This project will benefit Australia by advancing knowledge and developing intellectual property in the design and construction of market-ready solid-state batteries. With increasing demand for batteries to support renewable energy targets, the competitive advantage of the battery technology developed in this project will lead to significant economic benefits by positioning Australia at the forefront of the $600 million/year global battery storage market. The new technology will also help to secure Australia’s energy future by ensuring highly reliable electricity storage and supply for Australians.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2023 · 2023-01

Investigating the agency of Aboriginal Frontier War memorials. This project aims to unite conflicting versions of Australian history by investigating the impact and effectiveness of Australian Aboriginal Frontier War memorials. It will expand our understanding of the shared sacrifices by First Nation and settler Australians during the frontier war and demonstrate the reconciliatory potential of memorialising art informed by Indigenous oral history and creative arts research and practice. The social and cultural benefits include developing a new understanding of the historical construction of Australian national identity and the potential of Indigenous art to transform the function of Australian military monuments as well as a permanent archive of short documentary films and publication. Field of research: 4501 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Culture, Language and History This project contributes to the current recalibration of Australian war memorialisation, which has to date been largely founded on military campaigns in foreign lands. The project contributes to the national strategy of Closing the Gap (2019) by illuminating Indigenous voices in the ongoing truth-telling necessary to understand our shared history. Such memorialising will help conciliate the intergenerational and transgenerational trauma for Indigenous Australians who have until recently been refused the right to express the forfeiture and grief of the colonial conflicts in the form of public monuments. These social and cultural benefits will be enhanced by the economic impacts of establishing aesthetically powerful and inclusive war memorial sites for regional, national and international tourism.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2023 · 2023-01

Scalable and Lightweight On-Device Recommender Systems. This project aims to address the resource-intensive and non-resilient nature of existing cloud-based personalised recommendation services. This project expects to generate new knowledge in the intersection of on-device machine learning and recommender systems. The expected outcomes include a novel auto-deployment platform that can efficiently customise a model for each user device's configuration, supporting on-device recommendation and model updates with tiny computational footprints. The benefits of these outcomes will position Australia at the forefront of AI and give numerous businesses the tools needed to deploy innovative business systems with a secure and cost-effective advantage. Field of research: 4605 - Data Management and Data Science Personalised recommendation services are mostly cloud-based, incurring huge infrastructure costs, resource consumptions, and privacy concerns. This project puts forward a novel on-device recommendation platform that allows each user to locally deploy a personalised recommendation model tailored for the device specification. The deployed on-device models can perform recommendations and self-updates with no dependence on the cloud server. The direct benefit will be seen in the advancement of Australia’s reputation as a leader in the era of Artificial Intelligence of Things (AIoT). The platform's personalised applications have strong real-time, privacy, and low-cost advantages, and will especially benefit the digital transformation of Australia's small-to-medium businesses with increased revenue and reduced costs in computing infrastructures.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2023 · 2023-01

Should I stay or should I go? How brain stem cells leave quiescence. Most adult stem cells in our brains are sleeping (quiescent). Quiescence helps ensure animals have a lifelong population of brain stem cells, which is crucial for the maintenance of brain circuitry. This project aims to investigate how this process is regulated at a molecular level. This project expects to define the molecular playbook controlling quiescence and explain why brain stem cells progress into deeper states of quiescence during aging by combining novel tissue culture and genetic models, where brain stem cells have disrupted quiescence, with innovative methods of reading gene expression. The benefits of these outcomes include the development of methods to control the quiescence of brain stem cells for bioengineering purposes. Field of research: 3209 - Neurosciences A feature of healthy aging in most animals is the ability of brain stem cells to continue to generate nerve cells. The mechanism enabling brain stem cells to retain some function, even in older animals, is the fact that they exist in a low activity, sleep-like state for much of life. This project seeks to uncover how this sleep-like state is regulated by combining novel and powerful experimental models, where the sleep-like state of brain stem cells is disrupted, with advanced genomic techniques such as single-cell RNA-sequencing that allow for the depth of sleep to be tracked at high resolution. Understanding how this sleep-like state is regulated will enable the design of approaches to enhance brain stem cell function. The intellectual property generated may lay the foundation for the design of new drugs or bioengineering approaches that slow cognitive decline during aging and in neurodegeneration, which will be of interest to pharmaceutical/biotechnology companies. Therefore, the findings from this project will likely lead to commercial, economic, and social benefits to Australia’s aging population.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2023 · 2023-01

Reaching deeper into neuronal networks using optical physics. Understanding the functions and intricacies of the brain is a fundamental challenge in scientific research. This project aims to develop new technologies to construct a microscope able to alter and make sense of neuronal activity in situ. This project also aims to investigate the precise role of a key brain region involved in sensory processing: the locus coeruleus. The results will reveal how this brain region influences brain dynamics as well as behaviour. Expected outcomes include state of the art microscopes, high impact publications, and international collaborations. The anticipated benefits are the high quality training of the Australian workforce and further establishment of Australia as a leader in microscopy and neuroscience. Field of research: 3109 - Zoology This project aims to develop new technologies to investigate brain function, with a particular focus on the role of a key region involved with physiological response to stress. The outcomes will reveal how this region of the brain influences attention, perception of the environment, and behaviour, which are critical for engagement in society. This project could also benefit the Australian quality of life through the longer term development of technology to enhance people's ability to pay attention and process information. To study the brain we will develop new technologies in computer analysis, and microscopy: where possible, these discoveries will be patented and licensed by our industry partners so that they can be translated into commercial products. This project will therefore enhance Australian research, train the next generation of Australian neuroscientists in our novel approaches, and generate significant long term societal, and economic benefits.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2023 · 2023-01

Characterising brain networks of intelligence through information tracking. For intelligent behaviour, the human brain needs to engage several processes including sensory, memory and motor processes. How it does this is one of the most significant questions in cognitive neuroscience. This project characterises the neural networks of human intelligence by advancing and building on the most recent advances in neuroimaging analyses. It will determine the interaction of different brain processes by developing novel connectivity methods that track the flow of information through the brain with high temporal and spatial accuracy. The outcomes will be fundamental insights into the mechanisms of human intelligence and new connectivity analysis software that will have wide application in brain research. Field of research: 5202 - Biological Psychology The project will study how the human brain engages sensory, memory and motor processes for intelligent behaviour. By tracking the flow of information through the brain with unparalleled accuracy, the project will reveal the role of cognition and brain function in supporting intelligence – a strong predictor of many life metrics ranging from educational attainment to risk of incarceration and death. Understanding the neural underpinnings of intelligence is therefore essential in understanding what it means to be human and how we can improve lives. The project will deliver a novel brain connectivity analysis toolbox (computer software) that can track the flow of distinct types of information in the brain, enabling the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders, such as depression and anxiety, bringing social benefits to the millions of Australians who experience these mental health conditions. This project will work at the intersection of machine learning and cognitive neuroscience bringing economic benefits to Australian technology industries that work in artificial intelligence.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2023 · 2023-01

Child sleep development in the context of family work lives. Sleep in early childhood is the single most critical activity for healthy brain development. Yet, a third of young children are identified by their parents as having a sleep problem. This study aims to test the hypothesis that social mechanisms underpin developing sleep patterns and problems. The study examines the change in sleep patterns as children enter non-parental care and the daily and weekly regularity of sleep as they transition between home and their diverse care arrangements. Discovery of the ways family work lives influence child sleep presents the potential to offer new solutions to support healthy sleep development and avert sleep problems. The benefits are for caregivers, family well-being, and children’s development. Field of research: 5201 - Applied and Developmental Psychology A child’s early sleep patterns are significant in the short and long term. Sleep is the single most critical activity for healthy brain development in early childhood with potential to affect wellbeing and achievements across the life course. Sleep problems incur significant human and economic cost. For the child, sleep problems are implicated in reduced capacity for attention, learning, behavioural regulation, and poorer health outcomes. For parents, sleep disruption reduces work productivity and well-being with estimated cost to the Australian economy of $45 billion per year. Parent work and the child’s care patterns affect sleep regularity. Yet the effect on child development is not well understood. This study brings together sleep science and the social science of family lives in an international first examination of the effects of care patterns on child sleep development and wellbeing. Such evidence presents opportunity to guide appropriate parental and non-parental care practices and promote optimal development with benefit to children, families, social wellbeing, and the economy.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2023 · 2023-01

Advancing Human Perception: Countering Evolving Malicious Fake Visual Data. The aim of this project is to provide new effective and generalisable deepfake detection methods for automatically detecting maliciously manipulated visual data generated by misused artificial intelligence (AI) techniques. It will present innovative computer vision and image processing knowledge and techniques, enabling the developed methods to advance human perception in recognising fake data, enhance cybersecurity, and protect privacy in AI applications. The anticipated outcomes should provide significant benefits to a wide range of applications, such as providing timely alerts to the media, government organisations, and the industry about misleading fake visual data, and preventing financial crimes on synthetic identity fraud. Field of research: 4603 - Computer Vision and Multimedia Computation The aim of this project is to produce accurate and explainable deepfake detection algorithms that not only detect forged visual data effectively but also localise the forgery parts, thus protecting decision makers and the public from misinformation. The expected outcomes will provide commercial, economic and social benefits to a wide range of sectors, such as security, forensics, media, and the economy. For instance, the developed methods will be able to identify fake news containing malevolently manipulated images or videos of a public figure. This would benefit the cybersecurity sector (by detecting fabricated visual data accurately) and social media (through improvements of data examination). It is anticipated that the project will advance deepfake detection systems to address various deceitful images/videos in due course, considering fabricating fashions evolve invariably to pursue indistinguishable visual effects. This project will enable individuals and the government to access authentic visual data, protect government and media credibility, and improve the safety and stability of the community.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2023 · 2023-01

Establishing a national program to characterise indoor chemical exposures. This project aims to establish the first Australian indoor air monitoring program that identifies hazardous chemicals and their sources and trends under a changing climate. The project expects to provide key evidence to policy-making decisions including prioritising indoor chemical threats for regulation. The expected outcomes include the establishment of criteria for home recruitment for indoor pollution research, identification of new chemical pollutants and their sources, and assessment of their trends. The benefit is to advance the knowledge on indoor exposure research, raise the awareness of the climate change conditions, addressing the government priority research area of Environmental Change. Field of research: 4104 - Environmental Management Australians spend most of their time indoors, but there is a poor understanding of what chemical pollution they are exposed to while inside. This DECRA aims to establish an Australian indoor exposure monitoring program that allows the characterisation of hazardous chemicals in the home and their sources and trends. As a changing climate impacts the way houses are built and lived in, this program will also assess the effects of climate and climate change on indoor pollution. This program will inform the government and is expected to lead to a reduction of indoor chemical exposures through better building design and improved regulation of products in homes. In Australia, health issues related to poor indoor air quality cost approximately $12 billion annually. Reducing chemical exposures in homes will therefore improve quality of life for all Australians, while delivering substantial economic benefits by reducing the health care burden related to indoor pollution.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2023 · 2023-01

The role of resource fluctuations in structuring microbial communities. The flow of nutrients through ecological systems fluctuates through time and yet the impact this variability has on the maintenance of biodiversity is poorly understood. Drawing on emerging theory and a tight integration of modelling and experiments in a model microbial system, this project aims to investigate the impact of modified nutrient regimes on the structure and stability of ecological communities. This project expects to generate new knowledge at the forefront of research into diversity maintenance, ecosystem functioning and higher-order interactions. The outcomes should provide a deep mechanistic understanding of microbial community dynamics, with applications from animal health to environmental flows and insect pest management. Field of research: 3103 - Ecology Diverse communities of microbes (bacteria, fungi and viruses) influence the health of people, plants, animals and the environment. However, we lack a clear understanding of why the microbes found in one person’s gut, or a farmer’s field, may be very different from those of their neighbours. Understanding these differences is key to promoting beneficial microbial communities that support animal and human health, agricultural production, and biosecurity in Australia. This project will explore how changes in the availability of nutrients (e.g., fasting vs. snacking) affect microbial communities found in the animal gut. A better understanding of how cycles of feast and famine impact microbial communities will provide a critical foundation for translational research into the optimisation of animal diets for adoption by farmers, or collaboration with agritech partners to develop fertiliser schedules targeting soil productivity. This would deliver economic benefits such as increased agricultural productivity and reduced costs, and improved wellbeing for people and animals.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2023 · 2023-01

Catalyst design for converting carbon dioxide into valuable chemicals. This project aims to use solar energy to convert carbon dioxide, the primary greenhouse gas that drives global climate change, into valuable chemicals via catalytic reduction. This project expects to facilitate the selective production of valuable ethylene from carbon dioxide reduction by developing novel cocatalyst materials derived from metal-oxo cluster molecules. Expected outcomes include fundamental understanding of the structure-property relationship in new catalytic systems, and technological breakthroughs in reducing carbon dioxide emissions. The success of this project will bring significant environmental and economic benefits, and position Australia at the frontier of global transition to a low-carbon economy. Field of research: 4016 - Materials Engineering Ethylene is a chemical building block used to manufacture a range of plastics and resins for in-demand consumer and industrial products, such as packaging materials. The global market for ethylene is worth more than USD 160 billion (2019), and almost all this ethylene is currently produced from fossil fuels. This conventional ethylene production consumes vast amounts of energy and emits huge amounts of carbon dioxide, which contributes to global warming. This project will develop new catalytic technologies that can use Australia's abundant solar energy to convert carbon dioxide into the valuable ethylene. It will thus switch ethylene production from a carbon dioxide emitter to a carbon dioxide consumer. The development of these technologies will contribute to achieving Australia’s 2030 Emissions Reduction Target and improving the environment and sustainability. Besides the environmental benefits of this project, the scientific and technological progress will also accelerate Australia's transition to a low-carbon economy.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2023 · 2023-01

Strain-stabilised perovskite optoelectronics: from fundamentals to devices. This project aims to develop deep structure-property relationships and strain engineering protocols to generate stable forms of the emerging inorganic halide perovskite semiconductors, which are promising for next-generation solar cells and light emitting diodes. This project expects to arrive at working light emitter and detector prototypes via a three-dimensional, multi-length scale strain engineering approach that utilises materials processing techniques already used in the semiconductor industry. The expected outcomes include the development of new stabilisation methods which are compatible with facile and scalable device processing, which will directly impact the success of future perovskite optoelectronic devices and technologies. Field of research: 5104 - Condensed Matter Physics Australia’s dependence on non-renewable energy generation has seen no decrease in the past ten years, which contributes directly to global warming and approximately 20% of the electricity used is for lighting loads. Consequently, the global solar cell market ($250B, 2021) and LED lighting market ($90B, 2021) are expected to grow rapidly in the coming ten years. This project will develop next-generation optical materials, known as halide perovskite semiconductors, which are cheap and easy to make, as well as capable of effectively converting light into electricity, and vice versa. While these optical materials are extremely promising, they remain unstable, hindering real-world adoption. This project aims to develop new ways of stabilising halide perovskites within working prototypes and help device engineers to move beyond older semiconductor technologies, like silicon, which have slowed with respect to realising more efficient and energy conservative optical devices. Market-relevant intellectual property will also be secured via project outcomes that are compatible with the existing semiconductor industry.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2023 · 2023-01

Glassy metal-organic framework membranes for CO2 separation and conversion. This project aims to develop a new class of glassy metal-organic framework (MOF) membranes for CO2 separation and conversion. By constructing membrane reactors, it is expected to simultaneously separate CO2 from gas mixture and subsequently convert it into value-added chemicals in a continuous single operating unit. The expected outcomes include fabrication techniques for ultrathin MOF glass membranes, cutting-edge knowledge in advanced MOF membrane design, a new generation of MOF devices, and efficient membrane reactors for CO2 conversion with mixed gas feed. This project expects to accelerate the development of low-carbon technologies and provide significant benefits in mitigating the adverse effects of anthropogenic CO2 emissions. Field of research: 4004 - Chemical Engineering This project closely aligns with Australia’s Long Term Emissions Reduction Plan released in 2021, which aims to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. This project will develop new membrane reactors that enable simultaneous carbon dioxide capture from dilute sources and carbon dioxide reduction using Australia’s abundant solar energy. Substituting separation and conversion of carbon dioxide in a single operating unit will significantly reduce the cost of the system via eliminating carbon dioxide transport and storage processes, thus promoting the efficient and profitable conversion of carbon dioxide emissions into fuels and valuable chemicals. It will provide substantial environmental benefits to Australia and the world, and position Australia at the forefront of carbon dioxide utilisation and solar energy conversion. This project will also deliver scalable techniques for new-generation membranes, which are highly promising for industry-level applications. It should lead to commercial benefits in the national priority of advanced manufacturing and improve Australia’s competitiveness in the global market.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2023 · 2023-01

Novel interlayered membrane for highly efficient separation processes. The project aims to develop high-performance membranes with excellent permeability and selectivity to allow efficient separation processes with reduced energy consumption and products with high purities that cannot be achieved by conventional membranes. By introducing the functionalized interlayer, the novel membrane can achieve up to an order of magnitude higher solvent permeance with significantly enhanced solvent-solute selectivity. Machine learning algorithms will be applied to search for the ideal interlayer based on a newly-launched online and comprehensive database. This project will contribute to accelerating Australia’s progress towards net-zero carbon emission and allowing a sustainable environment. Field of research: 4004 - Chemical Engineering This project contributes to Australia’s national interest through the development of a new membrane technology that will lower cost and increase productivity for key Australian industries, including water, food, dairy, mining, and energy. Membranes are materials that let some things pass through and stop others, and are used to separate liquids and gases or to filter unwanted substances. Conventional membrane technology is limited as it is unable to produce large amounts of yield efficiently and effectively and therefore consumes high amounts of energy but generates a low-quality product. The goal of the project is to address this challenge by developing new membranes that have structures that allow better filtration using less energy. Many Australian industries, particularly pharmaceutical purification companies and major resource recovery industries, will be able to take advantage of these new membranes. This project expects to strengthen Australia’s capacity in advanced manufacturing and assist Australia in lowering emissions by 2050.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2023 · 2023-01

Tracing the epigenetic life-history of cells. Each cell of the human body contains identical genetic information that is activated in different ways to form varied cell types. This research aims to develop novel single-cell genomic technologies to explain the origins of different cell types. This project expects to discover the molecular mechanisms through which specialised cell types are formed, which has been difficult to decipher using existing methods. My novel approach will elucidate how a small population of seemingly homogenous cells can give rise to a myriad of types of cells. Tracing the life histories of cells across time should lead to broad applications including in developmental biology, neuroscience and immunology. Field of research: 3105 - Genetics Understanding how a single cell (the fertilised egg) becomes a myriad of different cell types in the human body is a central objective of developmental biology. This project aims to develop an entirely novel method to trace the life histories of cells as they develop from the egg to stem cells into specific cell types e.g. brain, muscle, liver. This new approach will enable identification of the precise moments the future fate and function of an individual cell is decided. Expected outcomes include new understanding of the mechanisms underlying tissue growth that can be used to manufacture cells for different parts of the body or manipulate the behaviour of cells in plants and animals. This has applications including improving drought tolerance in crops, developing disease resistant livestock, or growing tissues for use in medicine which will position Australia at the forefront of the multibillion-dollar stem cell industry, while bringing broader economic and health benefits for Australians.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2023 · 2023-01

The past, present and future of Indigenous ethnobotanical knowledge. This project aims to resolve the interrelated and compounding problems that Indigenous Australians face in relation to their ethnobotanical knowledge, such as biopiracy, loss of biodiversity, knowledge, and opportunity. This Indigenous-led project aims to build community-based databases to protect, preserve and facilitate community controlled use of ethnobotanical knowledge. This will support and promote Indigenous economic self-sufficiency and sustainability which will be of direct benefit to the partner communities. In addition to providing direct benefits to the communities involved in the research, the project is designed to be replicated across Australia, bringing benefits to Indigenous communities throughout the country. Field of research: 4503 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Environmental Knowledges and Management Over the last few decades, many Indigenous Australian communities have begun to develop an Indigenous-led native foods industry. While some progress has been made, uncertainty about whether Communities are able to wild harvest plants, how they are to prevent third parties from appropriating Indigenous knowledge, and meet the necessary legal requirements has hampered the growth of this emerging industry. This research will develop appropriate legal mechanisms to address these problems. This will result in significant economic, commercial, environmental, social, and cultural benefits for Australia and for Indigenous communities in particular. Benefits will include promotion and preservation of knowledge about plants in Indigenous communities, fostering interest in plant science and technology research amongst Indigenous youth, preservation of Australian native plants, and growing a sustainable Indigenous-led native foods industry that provides economic growth and employment opportunities for Indigenous communities.