MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2018 · 2018-01

Midwives, social recovery and the politics of health in Aceh, Indonesia. This project aims to better enable policy makers to reduce health inequalities. It will address the question of how healthcare workers care for their communities during periods of violence and social recovery, by documenting the experiences of midwives in the Indonesian province of Aceh during a period of conflict (1976-2005) and up to the present. The outcomes are expected to support efforts to reduce Aceh’s high rates of infant and maternal mortality, and to identify new ways to understand and address the complex health inequalities that face many contemporary societies. Field of research: 1601 - Anthropology

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2018 · 2018-01

Defining the spatial and temporal regulation of neurite branching. This project aims to identify mechanisms via which the cytoskeleton regulates the branching of nerve cell extensions. The formation of branched cell extensions is essential for establishing a complex network of connecting and communicating nerve cells in all higher organisms. This project expects that by combining advanced light microscopy technology and recently developed tools for the study of the cell architecture in vitro and in vivo, we will be able to define the molecular changes in neurites that control neurite branching. This should provide significant benefits, such as gaining crucial insights into the mechanisms of forming complex neuronal networks. Field of research: 0601 - Biochemistry and Cell Biology

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2018 · 2018-01

Cane toads in southern Australia: invasion dynamics and options for control. This project aims to investigate the spread of cane toads through southern Australia, an invasion front that has attracted far less research than the same species’ expansion through tropical regions, even though toads severely impact native wildlife in both areas. This project expects to generate new knowledge to determine why the rate of toad invasion is so much slower in New South Wales than in the tropics, and how best to modify newly-developed approaches to toad control to the conditions in southern Australia. Expected outcomes include predicting future trajectories of expansion, and identifying optimal approaches to toad control and impact mitigation. This should provide significant benefits for biodiversity conservation. Field of research: 0602 - Ecology

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2018 · 2018-01

A large-scale distributed experimental facility for the internet of things. This project aims to establish a large-scale, real-world experimental facility for the Internet of Things (IoT), which is currently missing in Australia, as well as in the rest of the world. The project is expected to be an essential instrument to achieve Australia’s leadership on key enabling technologies of the IoT, and to provide Australian research community with a unique platform for large-scale experimentation and evaluation of IoT technologies and services. The project will also serve as a vehicle for the education and training of Australia’s next generation of scholars and engineers, and contribute to Australia’s scientific visibility. Field of research: 0806 - Information Systems

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2018 · 2018-01

Nanosensors in artificial cochlea for natural hearing. This project aims to develop a miniaturised and implantable cochlear that closely mimics the human auditory system by utilising advanced microfabrication techniques. This project expects to generate new knowledge in engineering hearing and vestibular hair cells and also on tonotopic organisation of cochlear. Expected outcomes include study of auditory hair cells and development of implantable ear-on-a-chip devices. This project is expected to enable low-cost production of highly engineered implant cochlear with great potential for commercialisation. Field of research: 0910 - Manufacturing Engineering

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2018 · 2018-01

Sex chromosomes and speciation: chromosome inversion and the large Z-effect. This project aims to understand the divergence of species and the importance of two genomic features of often disproportionately large effect between young taxa – the sex chromosomes, and chromosome inversions. The research will integrate genomics and transcriptomics with the study of traits closely aligned to speciation in birds – song, colour, and sperm morphology and protein composition. The project will provide significant benefits such as enhancing Australia’s strength in the field of evolutionary biology. Field of research: 0602 - Ecology

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2018 · 2018-01

Rediscovering Aboriginal dispersal pathways. This project aims to use cutting-edge and transdisciplinary tools in partnership with Aboriginal people to rediscover deliberate prehistoric plant dispersal pathways along the Australian east coast. By working on three unrelated species with similar disjunct distributions, expected outcomes include detecting significant ‘cultural’ vegetation patterns that will challenge current assumptions about 'natural' plant distributions. New associations between plant biogeography and deliberate Aboriginal manipulation of Australian environments will benefit cultural heritage, land management and restoration initiatives. Field of research: 0502 - Environmental Science and Management

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2018 · 2018-01

Reverse chemical proteomics: harnessing yeast display for drug discovery. This project aims to develop a technique that can rapidly identify the cellular protein targets of biologically active natural products. This project expects to provide fundamental biological and chemical insights into Australia's unique biodiversity that will facilitate the development of new therapeutic agents and agrochemicals based on leads provided by Nature. Expected outcomes of this project include an optimised and validated platform technology for accelerating drug discovery and development. This should substantially reduce the costs associated with fighting human and animal diseases, leading to improved health, productivity and quality of life. Field of research: 0601 - Biochemistry and Cell Biology

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2018 · 2018-01

Slow diffusion of information in asset pricing and risk management. This project aims to develop a unified investment and asset pricing theory for the slow diffusion of information in financial markets, such as momentum, reversal and post-earnings announcement drift. Expected outcomes of this project include the development of optimal methods to explore historical information, a systematic understanding of the impact of investor sentiment and heterogeneity on the speed of asset price response to news, and novel empirical hypotheses and tests that improve return predictability and reduce crash risks. The project will provide a potential competitive advantage and guidance to Australian investors, including superannuation fund managers, in competitive globalised financial markets. Field of research: 1502 - Banking, Finance and Investment

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2018 · 2018-01

Listen and learn - statistical learning and the adapting auditory brain. This project aims to explore the link between rapid neural adaptation - a form of learning referred to as statistical learning - and human listening performance in noisy environments. The project aims to generate a new understanding of mechanisms that contribute to listeners' abilities to understand speech in noise, and to complex communication disorders such as dyslexia. Expected outcomes will include increased capacity to investigate a broad range of cognitive and communication functions. Benefits will include potential technologies and algorithms to assist listening (in devices such as hearing aids), language development and reading. Field of research: 1109 - Neurosciences

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2018 · 2018-01

Does spurious maternal-fetal signalling support the evolution of a placenta. This project aims to test a model that explains how the placenta has evolved as a new organ more than 100 times in fishes, reptiles, and mammals including our own ancestors. The project will assess whether regulatory components of the placenta evolve as a result of spurious maternal-fetal signalling following egg retention and eggshell loss in viviparous reptiles. Expected outcomes of this project include a new understanding of how complex organs originate and evolve in animals. This will benefit society through a broader depth of understanding of our own evolutionary history and provides a framework for future studies to investigate the origin and evolution of organs more broadly in animals. Field of research: 0603 - Evolutionary Biology

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2018 · 2018-01

Changing philosophical perceptions of belief in a post-truth world. This project aims to investigate and illuminate the processes underlying belief formation by using the tools of philosophy and cognitive science. Recent events have led many commentators to suggest that we live in a post-truth world. Beliefs seem decreasingly sensitive to evidence and instead, we believe what we want to believe. By developing a deeper understanding of the nature of belief and of the mechanisms that cause belief change, the project will develop concrete proposals for making beliefs more responsive to evidence, and to assess the ethical permissibility of utilising these proposals. It will develop tools that allow for better informed decision-making. Field of research: 2203 - Philosophy

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2018 · 2018-01

Reputation-based trust management in crowdsourcing environments. This project aims to address the critical need for enabling trustworthy crowd sourcing environments. Expected outcomes include innovative solutions to evaluate the reputation and expertise portfolio of workers and identify malicious workers, with the ultimate goal of making personalised recommendations of trustworthy workers with expertise to the requesters who have published tasks. This project is expected to provide key solutions to globally leading crowd sourcing platforms originating in Australia and benefit Australian and worldwide Internet users. Field of research: 0806 - Information Systems

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2018 · 2018-01

Liquids to semiconductors: the formation of solution-processed electronics. This project aims to understand and control the formation of solution-processed organic semiconductors. This project will create unique experimental methodologies to study, in situ, the evolution of the structure and the emergence of electrical transport all the way from the initial solution to the final film. These findings will be used to formulate design rules and principles that will accelerate the development of solution-processed semiconductors beyond current trial-and-error approaches. This will provide significant benefits, such as unlocking the potential of soft and flexible semiconductors for new technologies based on sustainable manufacturing. Field of research: 0912 - Materials Engineering

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2018 · 2018-01

Femtosecond laser micropyrolysis gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer. This project aims to build a femtosecond-laser, micropyrolysis gas-chromatographmass spectrometer. The facility will have the capability to selectively analyse very small petrographically-recognisable organic components, hence bridging the analytical gap between organic petrography and organic geochemistry. The project aims to understand the early evolution of life, the response of the biosphere to mass extinction, the migration of fluids in petroleum reservoirs, the heterogeneity of organic matter in shale gas reservoirs, and the composition of macromolecules in biominerals and macerals. The facility will contribute to a broad range of Australia’s theoretical and applied problems in geoscience and geobiology. Field of research: 0402 - Geochemistry

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2018 · 2018-01

Terahertz lasers in the fight against illicit substances. This project aims to investigate the application of cutting-edge terahertz laser technology with new spectroscopic methods, for detection of illicit substances. Using a collaborative approach, the project aims to bring together expertise in laser physics, spectroscopy, law enforcement and instrumentation, and seeks to develop new sources and detection protocols which will offer new capabilities to law enforcement, aiding in detection and identification protocols for illicit substances. Field of research: 0205 - Optical Physics

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2018 · 2018-01

Information-theoretic capacity of outdoor mm-wave wireless communications. This project aims to fundamentally characterise the practical information carrying capacity of future mm-wave wireless communication networks. The mm-wave spectrum offers 10-100 times the bandwidth used by current mobile networks, but comes with many challenges. An information theoretic model will be developed incorporating state of the art mm-wave channel models, and practical engineering implementation constraints. The expected outcome will be new network designs and data transmission technologies that unlock the spectrum by enabling secure outdoor mobile cellular deployments with wide-spread coverage. This will support vastly greater traffic densities and data rates. Field of research: 1005 - Communications Technologies

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2018 · 2018-01

Sparse link discovery for mobile millimeter-wave communications. This project will advance knowledge of designing wireless networks by providing new design principles and delivering innovative techniques for ultra-high data-rate mm-wave communications.. Drawing upon advances in signal processing and optimisation theory, this project will provide new design principles and deliver innovative techniques that will reduce the cost of operating mm-wave networks. The project will release the tension of spectrum crunch, facilitate the development of the next generation cellular systems and will lead to improved wireless service. Field of research: 0906 - Electrical and Electronic Engineering

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2018 · 2018-01

Australian Aboriginal conversational style. This project aims to re-examine claims that Aboriginal Australians conduct conversations in different ways to Anglo-Australians. It will investigate and compare ordinary conversations in these groups on a large scale. The project expects to provide new evidence to explicate Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal conversational norms, pinpointing differences which may lead to intercultural miscommunication. Expected outcomes include endangered language documentation, and evidence-based findings to disseminate to service providers, to communities and to Aboriginal organisations to improve ways of engaging with each other. In addition, the project will benefit Aboriginal communities with new approaches to language revitalisation. Field of research: 2004 - Linguistics

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2017 · 2017-01

Significances of 'childhood' in postcolonial Australia. This project aims to investigate the rhetorical and political use of the figure of the Aboriginal child as a site of mediation in efforts to reconcile cultural tensions in Australia, particularly between Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities. Utilising an interdisciplinary critical analysis of concepts of childhood, the expected outcomes of the project include enhanced understanding of the specific character of injury inflicted upon Aboriginal communities through interventions targeting their children, such as their removal into out of home care. This should provide significant benefits to the contemporary social project of reconciliation, through increasing critical attention to the part of cultural misunderstanding in perpetuating Aboriginal disadvantage. Field of research: 2203 - Philosophy

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2017 · 2017-01

Designer defects in diamond for solid state quantum networks. This project aims to develop an artificial atom in diamond that can connect to other nodes in a network. Network connectivity and data distribution are increasingly important in today's information economy. Tiny glowing artificial atoms in coloured diamonds can receive, store and send information in a network using laser light and microwaves. Because they work at the level of individual atoms and photons, they can use quantum-weirdness to achieve feats impossible even for supercomputers on the classical internet. The proposed device is expected to make it easier to construct technologies that move beyond the limitations of existing infrastructure thus satisfying the unmet core requirements for a quantum network. Field of research: 0206 - Quantum Physics

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2017 · 2017-01

Pioneering measurements of hidden gas in our Milky Way Galaxy. This project aims to measure hidden gas in our Milky Way Galaxy. The dynamic transformation of diffuse gas to dense clouds and then to stars is a crucial component of how galaxies function. Recent work implies vast reservoirs of undetected gas intermediate between the diffuse and dense phases – a missing link connecting diffuse gas to star-forming clouds. This project aims to uncover that hidden gas, using radio spectral line observations and theoretical models to understand its role as an intermediary on the road to star formation. These results are expected to change understanding of how galaxies form and evolve from the early universe to the present day. Field of research: 0201 - Astronomical and Space Sciences

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2017 · 2017-01

Uncovering the dynamics of object selection from movement trajectories. This project aims to establish the dynamic properties of selection for perception and action, and develop a computational model of object selection across perception and action. Everyday actions depend on isolating the relevant object (perceptual selection) and appropriate grasp (action selection). It was long thought that distinct and sequential stages of processing carried out perceptual and action selection, but recent findings suggested that a single mechanism may subserve both. Through a two-pronged approach including rigorous empirical work and computational modelling, this project aims to study this fundamental aspect of human cognition. Field of research: 1702 - Cognitive Sciences

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2017 · 2017-01

Calibrating astronomical spectrographs to discover Earth-like planets. This project aims to develop a robust, ultra-precise calibration system that improves the precision of Doppler spectrographs by a factor of ten –sufficient to discover rocky planets. The holy grail of exoplanet research is the discovery of an Earth-like planet in the habitable zone of a Sun-like star. The planet’s tug on its host star causes a periodic Doppler shift of the star’s spectrum which precision astronomical spectrographs record. Detecting minute shifts from rocky planets needs better precision than the best spectrographs provide. This project expects to help to discover Earth twins, habitable worlds outside the Solar system. Field of research: 0201 - Astronomical and Space Sciences

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2017 · 2017-01

Hyper-domain luminescence lifetime imaging for mapping molecular dynamics. This project aims to enable lifetime-multiplexed optical imaging of molecular dynamics of biological systems in real time. The grand challenge of modern life sciences is to understand the molecular origins of complex processes. Using lifetime measurement, this project will realise highly-multiplexed real-time luminescence imaging with simultaneous ultrahigh detection sensitivity and spatial resolution. By generating fresh insights into molecular fingerprints of relevance for future disease diagnostics and treatment, the project outcomes are expected to consolidate Australia’s leading position in the health sciences. Upon commercialisation, the intellectual property is expected to generate considerable economic returns. Field of research: 0906 - Electrical and Electronic Engineering