University of New South Wales

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

Developing sustainable graded porous cementitious structures Category: Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (HASS) Research

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2025 · 2025-01

Environmental Communication for Whales, Dolphins, and Restorative Futures. This project aims to uncover the communication dimensions of globally popular whale and dolphin watching to advance effective strategies for sustainability awareness. It expects to produce vital insights into why nature tourism often falls short of its potential to increase environmental understanding. Using comparative multi-sited ethnographic methods, it will generate new knowledge about environmental discourses and modes of identification that allow threats to species and ecosystems to be normalised or overcome. Outcomes will be amplified through national best-practice guidelines and interdisciplinary researcher and industry, government, and stakeholder engagement to deliver significant environmental, social, and economic benefits. Field of research: 4701 - Communication and Media Studies As Australia’s biodiversity loss worsens, ineffective communication about environmental issues leads to wasted opportunities and resources, to the detriment of the country’s environment, economy, and society. This Australia-focused study delivers significant benefit by providing new insight into environmental communication practices and strategies that fail or succeed in improving ecological understanding and actions. This project promises broad benefits for conservation stakeholders. By engaging with scholars, it will generate important new data, frameworks, and avenues of inquiry to support conservation efforts across disciplines. Engaging with policymakers and Environmental Non-Government Organisations (ENGOs) will support effective communication design, with end users in mind. Engaging the nature tourism industry ensures this rapidly growing segment of the $166B tourism economy harnesses critical knowledge for Australia’s environmental and economic gain. As the first of its kind, this international comparative study positions Australia as a global leader in environmental action. With extensive consultations, practical industry guidelines, media outreach, and stakeholder engagement, it aims to enhance conservation capacity and the long-term viability of the $1.6B ecotourism economy, aligned with Australian policy (Nature Positive Plan 2023, EPBC 2000) to help shape restorative relations with nature.

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

Osteoclast recycling by asymmetric partitioning of damaged mitochondria Category: Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (HASS) Research

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2025 · 2025-01

E-VeloCity: Designing Car-Reduced Urban Street Networks. E-VeloCity aims to design sustainable, car-reduced urban networks by developing new mathematical modelling methodologies for reallocating street space to walking, e-bikes, and micromobility modes. The project will model the interactions of these modes, creating a novel urban network design framework for safe, efficient, and equitable mobility. By focusing on environmental sustainability and urban liveability, E-VeloCity will contribute to reducing transport emissions and enhancing accessibility for all. The outcomes will offer practical solutions for city planners and policymakers to create resilient, low-emission urban environments that support Australia’s net-zero carbon targets. Field of research: 3509 - Transportation, Logistics and Supply Chains E-VeloCity directly addresses Australia’s commitment to reducing carbon emissions and achieving net-zero targets by 2050. This project will optimise street space allocation to promote car-reduced urban networks, focusing on walking, e-bikes, and micromobility modes. As the transport sector accounts for 19% of Australia’s emissions, this research will significantly contribute to emission reductions by decreasing reliance on private vehicles and enhancing sustainable travel options. Additionally, it will improve urban liveability, reduce congestion, and provide equitable mobility options for all Australians, including disadvantaged communities. E-VeloCity aligns with the Australian government’s science and research priorities in net-zero transport, providing innovative models that can be applied in cities across the nation. The project's outcomes will support city planners and policymakers in designing low-emission, future-proof urban spaces, reducing infrastructure costs while boosting economic productivity. By addressing pressing environmental and social challenges, E-VeloCity ensures a more sustainable, healthy, and equitable future for Australian cities, fostering national and global leadership in sustainable urban mobility solutions.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2025 · 2025-01

Novel process and reactors design for metal leaching in battery recycling. This project aims to design an efficient and scalable leaching process with high feasibility for commercialisation, contributing to ReNew Materials Pty Ltd's strategic investment plan in battery industry. Through advanced modelling and experiment approach, a closed-loop leaching process including scalable reactors and a wastewater treatment unit using green chemicals will be developed with high conversion efficiency and adaptability to industry settings. Expected outcomes include a next-generation leaching system prototype and advanced knowledge in mathematic models, green leaching process fundamentals and prototype manufacturing. This drives the process technology innovation for Australia’s waste battery on-shore recycling industry. Field of research: 4004 - Chemical Engineering The spent lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) in Australia are expected to reach 1.8 million tonnes by 2036, anticipated by emerging sources (electric vehicles (EVs)). In Australia, landfilling and exporting overseas for off-shore recycling are the two means for LIBs waste management. Continuing landfilling disposal will pose a big burden on the Australian environment and off-shore recycling of valuable battery metals (lithium ~62,500 US$/ton, cobalt ~41,250 US$/ton, and nickel ~17,467 US$/ton) will cause around US$ 9.3 billion loss to the Australian economy. This project aims to design an efficient and scalable leaching process for valuable metal recovery from spent LIBs in a strong university-industry setting that mainly aligns with the Federal Government’s identified priority areas in value-add in resources. Expected outcomes are a next-generation leaching system prototype and advanced knowledge in mathematic models, green leaching process fundamentals and prototype manufacturing. ReNew Materials Pty Ltd will translate the prototype into their future plant and utilise the advanced knowledge to train their technical staff. Through outreach programs, internships, and partnerships, the outcomes will also be promoted to research-end users from universities and institutions and Australian communities such as governments, residents, environment groups and legislatures to enhance their understanding of spent LIBs recycling, contributing a nationwide impact among the Australia Society.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2025 · 2025-01

Nano-Enhanced Towpregs for Advanced High-Temperature Composite Applications. This project aims to develop nano-enhanced carbon fibre towpregs for fabricating composites capable of withstanding high temperatures. Compared to traditional wet winding, the composite manufacturing process using these advanced towpregs will be safer, more efficient, more cost-effective, and offer better quality control, making it suitable for large-scale production of composites for high-temperature applications. By incorporating flame-retardant polymers and nanomaterials with excellent thermal stability into the towpreg, the resulting composites will provide improved mechanical strength and thermal stability, benefiting industries such as aerospace, defence, and energy, and contributing to Australia's advanced manufacturing capabilities. Field of research: 4016 - Materials Engineering This project directly supports Australia's strategic goals in aerospace, defence, and advanced manufacturing by developing nanomaterial-enhanced towpregs, providing a cutting-edge solution for manufacturing carbon fibre reinforced composites for high-temperature applications such as rocket casings. These advanced materials will strengthen Australia's defence capabilities, contributing to the Guided Weapons and Explosive Ordnance (GWEO) Enterprise, a national priority. The new manufacturing process will be safer, more efficient, and cost-effective, addressing challenges in scalability and quality control that exist in traditional methods. This innovation will reduce reliance on foreign suppliers for critical defence technologies while enhancing thermal stability, strength, and heat resistance in composite materials. The project fosters collaboration between academia and industry through the partnership with Thales Australia, a major defence contractor. The outcomes will boost Australia's competitive edge in the global advanced composites market, supporting local job creation and contributing to national economic growth. Furthermore, this technology has cross-sector applications in industries such as energy and oil/gas, driving innovation and enhancing Australia’s leadership in high-performance materials for extreme environments.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2025 · 2025-01

Advancing Steerable LLM-powered Agents for Dynamic Multimodal Interactions. This project aims to develop advanced, interactive AI systems by leveraging large language models (LLMs) to create adaptive, multimodal agents that are capable of understanding and interacting through texts, images, and audios. The research will revolutionise decision-making, planning, and alignment with user preferences by advancing multimodal alignment techniques and reinforcement learning. The significance lies in addressing current limitations and making AI adaptive, context-aware, and responsive in real-world scenarios. Expected outcomes include transforming AI performance in dynamic environments such as manufacturing and education, with benefits including scholarly advancements and practical applications in user-centered AI systems. Field of research: 4605 - Data Management and Data Science This project focuses on developing advanced interactive AI systems that leverage large language models (LLMs) to create adaptive, intelligent agents that are capable of making better decisions, planning effectively, and responding to user preferences. It addresses the current AI gaps in handling complex, real-world scenarios, such as long-term decision-making and personalised interactions. By improving AI's capabilities in sectors like energy management, and education, this research aims to significantly enhance the performance and reliability of AI systems in Australia. The potential benefits for Australians are substantial. Economically, the project will drive innovation and job creation in high-growth areas like AI, manufacturing, and energy. Socially, it will lead to more personalised and efficient services, improving outcomes in areas like education and support for older populations. Environmentally, the AI systems developed will optimise renewable energy management, contributing to Australia’s sustainability goals. To maximize the impact of this research, we will actively engage with industry, government, and community stakeholders. This will ensure that the outcomes are translated into practical applications, thereby focusing on real-world adoption. The project aims to drive widespread understanding and integration of advanced AI technologies in Australia's key sectors by promoting the results through public outreach, industry partnerships, and policy discussions.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2025 · 2025-01

Understanding the neural mechanisms underlying adaptive behaviour. Some species exhibit the ability to suitably adapt their behaviour in dynamic environments. A key gap in knowledge is how new experiences can be properly intertwined with pre-existing learning while avoiding interference and disarray. This project seeks to identify the cellular and circuit mechanisms underlying behavioural change. Using established behavioural tasks to measure memory interference, with cutting-edge neuroscience techniques for in vivo imaging and manipulation of brain circuits in behaving mice, this Fellowship aims to unravel how major neuromodulatory systems intersect to modify future behaviours. The translation of this work may lead to better ways to treat inflexible traits and to develop new adaptive artificial networks. Field of research: 3109 - Zoology This Fellowship will elucidate the processes that fine-tune brain circuits controlling behaviour. It will employ advanced methods in behavioural neuroscience and computational biology, to record and manipulate the activity and system dynamics of large ensembles of neurons. This in-depth knowledge can only be gained through the implementation of these sophisticated models and techniques, which are available in my laboratory. Understanding the mechanistic basis of adaptive behaviour is essential for comprehending how humans and non-human animals interact with an ever-changing environment. Accordingly, these findings are relevant to disorders characterised by maladaptive and inflexible traits. Moreover, outcomes from this Fellowship will inform those working at the frontiers of systems engineering and learning theory, and may help develop novel biologically-inspired neural networks. Finally, this Fellowship will facilitate interdisciplinary training for emerging scientists and collaboration with international partners, strengthening Australia's international scientific reputation.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2025 · 2025-01

Transforming gene testing to make communities safe. Waterborne pathogens pose a significant public health threat globally, leading to adverse health impacts and high prevention costs. This Fellowship will support the development and future commercialisation of a new gene testing technology for such pathogens based on programmable nucleases. While these nucleases are known for precise gene editing, we discovered their potential for ultrasensitive biosensing. Driven by innovative biochemistry, the new method promises to be faster than conventional gene-based tests, offering a highly accurate (>99%) and scalable alternative to lab-based diagnostics at lower cost. In collaboration with the Key Industry Partner, we will faciliate market entry of the new tests and train an industry-ready team. Field of research: 3101 - Biochemistry and Cell Biology This Fellowship project aims to develop innovative methods of testing for waterborne microbial contaminants. Working in partnership with an Australian water testing company Biopoint Pty Ltd. this program will create world-first ultrasensitive tests that offer a combination of low cost and high throughput. The test results will be based on genetic profiles of the tested microorganisms allowing precise distinctions between harmful and harmless strains. Such tests do not currently exist because it has been challenging to achieve adequate sensitivity to meet the regulatory environmental standards, especially under field testing conditions. In the short term, the project outcomes will reduce the costs of testing water quality and monitoring wastewater conditions. In the longer term, the commercially significant testing platform created in this project will be applied to the highly sensitive detection of a wide range of genetic sequences. This will transform the $1.4 billion water testing market, and make a further significant impact on the molecular testing market ($ 16 billion). Australia will benefit by establishing a new commercial-ready highly customisable methodology tailored for water monitoring and management of national biosecurity. The outcomes will include the domestic production of test kits for both Australian and export markets, supporting the long-term growth of the national industry, while delivering environmental and social benefits to the Australian community.

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

Delving Deeper into the Matrix: Translating new stromal targets into... Category: Medical Research

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

Decolonising the History of Childhood(s), 1946-2023 Category: Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (HASS) Research

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2025 · 2025-01

Skeletal Editing of Bioactive Molecules for New Pharmaceutical Drug Leads. This project aims to develop novel methods for late-stage modifications of natural product based bioactive compounds to enhance their biological potency. By precisely modifying the core structures of these molecules, we will create more potent frameworks with tailored properties. This research will significantly contribute to innovation of chemical synthesis, addressing challenges in the design and modification of valuable complex organic architectures. The project will produce a range of structurally optimized compounds with improved potency for application in drug discovery and therapeutic development. These advancements will benefit the pharmaceutical industry, providing more efficient approaches to the synthesis of bioactive molecules. Field of research: 3405 - Organic Chemistry Currently, the synthesis of biologically active molecules is limited by inefficient methods that produce significant waste and consume high levels of energy. This project aims to overcome these limitations by developing innovative, highly applicable methods for late-stage skeletal editing and functionalization of bioactive molecules. The precise structural modifications, based on meticulous modelling and design, will enhance their potency and expand their therapeutic utility. Compounds produced in this project will find important applications within the pharmaceutical industry, leading to improved healthcare outcomes and supporting the sector's growth. This project aligns well with the National Science and Research Priority of "Supporting healthy and thriving communities". The project underpins the future development of new chemical processes that are cost-effective, generate less waste, consume less energy, and exhibit higher productivity, thereby providing substantial economic and environmental benefits to Australia. Economically, the project will invest in Australia’s intellectual capital by allocating a significant portion of its budget to training postdoctoral researchers and PhD students, preparing them for careers in emerging scientific fields. Socially, it enhances Australia's research capacity through academic-industrial collaborations and multidisciplinary engagement, fostering knowledge exchange and boosting national capabilities in a critical scientific area.

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

Development of pre-clinical platforms for enhancing antibody quality in... Category: Medical Research

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

Innovative strategies to reduce the global burden of stroke Category: Medical Research

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

Harnessing plasticity to prevent and treat metastatic and... Category: Medical Research

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2025 · 2025-01

ARC Research Hub for Next Generation Mining Methods. A leap forward in mining practices is essential for the sector to achieve net-zero targets, participate in certified green product markets, and sustainably meet projected 20-40-fold increases in critical minerals demand. This Hub’s coordinated agenda for sector transformation aims to deliver next-generation mining methods (zero-waste, zero-emission, zero-human-entry) for extracting critical minerals and strategic materials. Advanced machinery guided by integrated digital systems will minimise emissions and environmental disturbance and dramatically reduce the volume of mine waste for challenging deposits. National benefits include value-adding exports, competitive advantage in the global low-carbon economy, and improved sector resilience. Field of research: 4019 - Resources Engineering and Extractive Metallurgy To retain and grow its global comparative advantage, the Australian mining industry must transition from traditional practices to more efficient and sustainable operations. Current mining methods focus on bulk extraction and come with notable environmental impacts. The challenge is greatest for critical minerals, which have lower grades than other mined commodities and very low ratios of product to spoil (e.g. obtaining just 1 gram of platinum currently involves moving >1 tonne of waste rock). Demand for critical minerals is projected to increase dramatically given their role in various green technologies, and Australia has abundant such mineral reserves. The zero waste, zero emissions and zero human entry methods developed by this Hub will make it possible for Australia to establish a leadership role in sustainable minerals supply. The new approaches will reduce energy and material use, increase mine productivity, and underpin linkages with domestic and global value chains for certified green mineral products. As such, the Hub aims to contribute significantly to Australia’s Critical Mineral Strategy and our nation’s net-zero and economic resilience goals. Benefits span increased value-add to resource exports; securing market share in the global low-carbon economy; direct and supply chain emissions reductions; IP in next-generation mining technologies; new open-access knowledge for improved safety, training, and environmental outcomes; and skilled jobs for Australians.

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

Decolonising the History of Childhood(s), 1946-2023 Category: Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (HASS) Research

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

Better use of established medicines Category: Medical Research

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2025 · 2025-01

Multimodal mapping of punishment learning. This Discovery Project aims to provide the first integrated, multimodal mapping of how punishment learning is assembled in the brain. Combining an animal model directly relevant to humans, with innovative, cutting-edge methods it expects to identify the brain cell activity, connectivity, and spatiomolecular mechanisms of punishment learning. This outcome has the potential to transform contemporary understanding of associative learning and decision making, showing how the brain helps us make better choices, benefiting academic and downstream industry users. It also has potential to generate new capacity and identify new ways to mitigate the social and economic impacts of poor decisions, benefiting the wider Australian community. Field of research: 5202 - Biological Psychology We all make poor decisions some of the time. However, some people make poor decisions a lot of the time. Across a variety of domains, from health to the environment, the impacts of poor decisions by individuals are staggering. For example, excessive alcohol use costs the economy $67bn/year. Tobacco use, lack of physical activity and poor dietary choices cost $27bn/year. Australians lead the world for gambling-related losses ($21bn/year). There is a pressing need to understand how we learn from our mistakes to mitigate these impacts on individuals and the community. Yet we know very little about the psychological and brain mechanisms that help us learn from our mistakes. This Discovery project addresses this need by generating a transformative, new understanding of the cognitive processes and brain mechanisms supporting learning from our mistakes and driving better versus worse decisions at the level of the individual. It uses innovative behavioural, cellular, and molecular genetic tools to map how we learn from our mistakes to make better decisions in the future. With a clear established pathway from innovation to impact on real world settings, this Discovery expects to deliver new technology, new knowledge, and new capacity to address the mechanisms of better decisions and mitigate the individual, social and economic impacts of worse decisions.

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

Better use of established medicines Category: Medical Research

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

Two to Tango: The synergistic power of RNA-protein interactions in... Category: Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (HASS) Research

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

Achieving HIV elimination and control of related conditions in gay and... Category: Medical Research

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

Innovative strategies to reduce the global burden of stroke Category: Medical Research

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2025 · 2025-01

Modular nanopores as conduits for nanoreactors. Nanoparticles that can store, transmit, and process chemical signals are required for nanoscale reaction and computation networks. The aim of this project is to develop artificial cells that can programmably communicate. This strategy uses modular, responsive DNA nanostructures to form nanopores and channels in synthetic compartments. Controlling the mixing and transfer of cargo within these networked systems will harness knowledge in nanotechnology and self-assembly to generate nanoreactors for chemical transformations. Engineering the migration of molecules across membrane boundaries will offer benefits in biotechnology and nanochemistry – for the triggered release of cargo, data transmission, and chemical fractionation and computation. Field of research: 3106 - Industrial Biotechnology Cells are miniature factories where different compartments handle specific tasks. Directed communication between molecules and reaction pathways in each zone ensures that tasks are undertaken efficiency, but current technologies cannot replicate this level of programmable information transfer. To develop sensing, catalysis, and tissue engineering technologies inspired by cellular systems, we need to engineer information highways between artificial compartments. This project uses DNA structures to create reversible gateways between synthetic compartments. The development of artificial cells that dynamically connect and communicate will lead to downstream economic and commercial benefits ranging from targeted delivery systems to highly sensitive environmental sensors, new chemical separations methods, and ways to improve catalysis. Benefits to the Australian biotechnology market will be pipelined through partnerships with Swann Genetics, Moderna, and the CSIRO. Australia’s synthetic biology industry is expected to generate $27 billion in revenue and 44,000 jobs by 2040. This project’s focus on Australia’s Research Priorities (2023) of 'developing impactful emerging technologies' will ensure highly trained personal for the bionanotechnology industry, enabling an innovative economy. This project will bring social benefits for Australia by demonstrating the importance of strategic fundamental science to broad audiences, through public talks, online videos, and social medias.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2025 · 2025-01

Arithmetic Statistics, Dynamics and Quantum Chaos. The aim of the project is to investigate various aspects of arithmetic statistics and pseudorandomness in Number Theory and Dynamics, with applications to Quantum Chaos. These include arithmetic statistics of matrix groups over number theoretic domains, randomness aspects of orbits generated by arithmetic dynamical systems, as well as investigating the pseudorandomness nature of the renowned cat map, providing a discrete model of quantum chaos. Important outcomes include progress towards several conjectures, as well as developing a variety of new number theoretic methods which are both novel and deep. It will continue to drive and influence research in mathematics as well as more applied areas beyond the confines of this project. Field of research: 4904 - Pure Mathematics Australia relies on the continuous research developments in Number Theory, a very active and prestigious area of mathematics which forms the theoretical foundations of cybersecurity and encryption. The project will solve fundamental problems on the statistics and randomness of number theoretic objects that appear naturally in cryptography, computer science, engineering, telecommunications and more. For example, despite their apparent abstraction, number theory and arithmetic dynamical systems underlie all modern cryptosystems and encryption. Outcomes of this research could therefore be of significance to modern financial, computer and defence systems in Australia and internationally. This project will also make a major contribution to satisfying the demand for talented researchers and developers in these areas. This area has attracted some of the world's best mathematicians and brightest students whose problem-solving prowess is valued highly by employers. It will also attract the attention and direct involvement of many world leaders in this area, placing Australia as a major contributor to this rapidly expanding and influential area.