MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2023 · 2023-01

New Foundations for Algebraic Geometry. Differential calculus is one of the most important and widely applied areas of mathematics. Differential categories are a modern foundational theory of differential calculus with applications throughout mathematics and computing. This project aims to use differential categories to create new foundations for algebraic geometry, and to generate new knowledge on the connection between algebraic and differential geometry. The generality of these foundations will allow for novel applications of algebraic geometry with significant benefits to computer science, such as in machine learning and differentiable programming. We expect this to build Australia's profile in these important fields and help train the next generation of mathematicians. Field of research: 4904 - Pure Mathematics As technology evolves, there is an ever-growing reliance on computer systems, which in turn are becoming more complex and difficult to work with. The project will study the mathematical foundations of these computer systems and solve some of the most pressing challenges that are limiting the capabilities of computer programming. This research project will develop new tools for machine learning, which in turn can be applied to the development of artificial intelligence. As artificial intelligence begins tackling real-life situations, the complexity of the problems encountered will increase rapidly. This will require the new mathematical approaches pioneered in this project to provide solutions. Through its application to computer science in collaboration with industry partners, the project will have social and economic benefits for the Australian community as the mathematical discoveries can be used by Australian industries in mining (to increase productivity), financial services (to protect against money laundering), healthcare (through assisted reproductive services), and to advance artificial intelligence.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2023 · 2023-01

A multifaceted technology platform to enhance single cell genomics. A major limitation of traditional cellular studies is that they scrutinise DNA or RNA extracted from thousands of cells, resulting in a population average of what is there. This blunt approach misses key differences and interactions between cells in populations. This project aims to build capacity within the Ramaciotti Centre Consortium for single cell genomics by acquiring equipment for enhanced sorting or spatial mapping of single cells. This will enable innovative science across diverse fields including industrial biotechnology, environmental microbiology, neurobiology, and biosecurity and ensure that Australian researchers remain at the forefront of single cell genomics in organisms ranging from bacteria to animals to humans. Field of research: 3105 - Genetics Access to advanced research infrastructure is a crucial part of ensuring Australia is at the forefront of delivering real-world solutions to real-world problems. This project will innovate our ability to understand cellular genetics by enhancing much-needed capabilities in the ability to separate single cells from complex bacterial communities, mapping of important cells within tissues, and rapid genetic sequencing. This state-of-the-art research equipment will support a wide variety of applications by generating significant advances across multiple sectors, including producing fuels, plastics and industrial biochemicals in microbes, and in identifying agricultural pests and diseases. These outcomes will ultimately benefit Australia's economy (by creating jobs implementing the advances created by this research in manufacturing and other industries), environment (through enhanced management of crops and animal stocks, and production of alternative fuel sources) and society.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2023 · 2023-01

Energy-efficient liquid-flow system for electroreduction of carbon dioxide. Concerns about fossil fuel depletion and rising carbon emissions have brought about an urgent demand for carbon dioxide (CO2) capture and utilisation technologies. Facilitated by the mechanism-driven catalyst development and engineering innovation, this project aims to deliver a durable and cost-effective approach to electrochemical transformation of CO2 into the valuable products. The proposed automatic liquid-flow reactor system is expected to enable an energy efficient and practical viable CO2 reduction in benign aqueous electrolytes. The resulting innovations will not only reduce the environmental impact of atmospheric CO2 but also generate highly concentrated industrial feedstocks for the sustainable production of commodity chemicals. Field of research: 4016 - Materials Engineering Global concerns about fossil fuel depletion and rising carbon emissions have brought about an urgent demand for carbon dioxide (CO2) capture and utilisation technologies. This project aims to design an energy-efficient liquid-flow system that could transform CO2 into a key building block for advanced manufacturing, such as in the chemical production industry, as well as addressing the need to reduce excess carbon in our environment. This research will provide real-world solutions to turning reclaimed CO2 as a carbon feedstock into a usable product by using the latest scientific innovations to build an energy-efficient liquid-flow reactor system, enabling sustainable chemical manufacturing. By investing in this innovative technology, the Australian public will seed the global response to the time critical issue of finding real-world solutions to global rising carbon emissions. The new technology developed through this research means that we can move towards our zero-emissions targets and provide usable carbon for advanced manufacturing in Australia.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2023 · 2023-01

Can cyanobacteria use organic nutrients to thrive in future oceans? Marine cyanobacteria are central to regulating the global climate and underpin entire marine food webs. Though they possess genes necessary to uptake diverse organic nutrients, we know very little about whether and how organic nutrients shape the physiology and ecology of cyanobacteria. Using our innovative high-throughput approach, this project aims to systematically characterise organic nutrient uptake in picocyanobacteria. Our molecules-to-ecosystems approach expects to transform our understanding of alternate nutrient acquisition in cyanobacteria and how it may shape populations of these important photosynthetic organisms in a rapidly-changing ocean landscape. Field of research: 3107 - Microbiology Blue-green algae are the most abundant photosynthetic organisms in oceans. They play a key role in marine ecosystems by providing oxygen and nutrients at the base of the food chain, which in turn supplies protein for >1 billion people. Evidence suggests in addition to carrying out photosynthesis, they can utilise other nutrient sources, which enables them to cope and live in changing ocean conditions. Understanding this novel nutrient uptake strategy will provide crucial insights into how blue-green algae can adapt to climate change-driven ocean warming and low oxygen conditions. Changes in their abundance and distribution will significantly impact the productivity of Australia’s valuable fisheries and the livelihoods of people who depend on them. The discoveries from this project will be shared with government agencies responsible for safeguarding Australia’s oceans from extreme climate events and, by working with industry, will build sensors to detect environmental change and monitor the health of Australian marine ecosystems.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2023 · 2023-01

Enabling wide area mm-wave mobile broadband networks. This project will define a new architecture and algorithms based around a network of access points with overlapping coverage that will support broadband, wide-area services to mobile users in mm-wave bands. The project will develop tools to characterise the information carrying capacity of this network, and tradeoffs between key parameters. The outcomes will be used by Mobile Network Operators in planning their deployments and developing their operations software to deliver diverse and flexible data services. The benefit will be an unlocking of radio spectrum beyond isolated hot spots, supporting vastly greater traffic densities and data rates worth billions of dollars to the economy. Field of research: 4006 - Communications Engineering This project aims to deliver faster, farther reaching, and more reliable mobile broadband services to the Australian public and industry. Australian mobile service providers have adopted the use of higher-frequency mm-wave spectrum as a critical element to meeting future data demands over their 5G networks, however they are currently not able to support seamless, wide-area broadband coverage in this spectrum. Only local hotspot services are possible for mobiles in very close proximity to access points. This project will design a radically new way of providing wide area mobile broadband connectivity. It will overcome the signal blockage that is characteristic of the mm-wave frequency bands which is currently the main obstacle for network operators. It will enable vastly greater traffic densities and data rates than is currently possible. We will collaborate with Australian mobile network providers to deliver this innovation that will put Australia at the vanguard of mm-wave mobile network deployment.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2023 · 2023-01

Situational Assessment as a Marker of Cognitive Skill Decay. The aim of this study is to test how differences in exposure to complex tasks change the capacity for situational assessment. Amongst drivers, pilots and electricity controllers, the capacity to assess and respond effectively to changes in the operational environment are critical in sustaining performance and ensuring the safety and security of the public. Establishing the nature of this relationship will enable, for the first time, objective measures of cognitive skill decay. In evaluating cognitive skill decay more accurately, we will provide a cost-effective, easily administered tool, enabling practitioners to identify and address areas of development and providing data to anticipate when cognitive skill decay is most likely to occur. Field of research: 5201 - Applied and Developmental Psychology The performance of trained professionals, such as airline pilots and electricity workers is dependent on a set of specific, trained skills. These skills must be maintained in a range of situations and on a regular basis to prevent skill loss and the subsequent impact on safety. COVID-19 and the resultant lockdowns has increased skill loss, impacted performance, increased errors, and reduced productivity in the workplace. This project will develop the first online assessment tool for assessing safety-critical skills, such as flying passenger airplanes and operating electrical equipment, and provide accurate and reliable feedback on performance. In evaluating skill loss more accurately, this project will deliver a cost-effective, easily administered tool, to identify and address areas for development and provide data to anticipate when skill loss is likely to occur. This will help Australian workplaces manage skill loss and the requirements for improving productivity. Applications also include the military, healthcare and other high-risk environments with safety outcomes beneficial to all Australians.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2023 · 2023-01

Planet Formation at Solar System Scales with the James Webb Space Telescope. Planetary systems like our own form within vast disks of primordial gas and dust around newborn stars. This project will observe such disks spanning a range of ages with the James Webb Space Telescope to reveal the detailed in-situ physics of planet-forming disks themselves. We will deliver the sharpest-ever infrared images in astronomy, exploiting the only Australian-designed instrument on the spacecraft: the Aperture Masking Interferometer. This yields new physics for actively growing protoplanets, carved rings and gaps in disks, and gravitationally sculpted patterns of leftover cometary debris. Confronting state-of-the-art models with these data will immediately yield profound insights into planetary system formation, including our own. Field of research: 5101 - Astronomical Sciences This project employs the most ambitious astrophysics facility yet launched, NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, to directly observe the processes of planetary formation. This explores the origin of our planet's geology and atmosphere, illuminating profound connections between the planets and Sun. This project aims produce high resolution images of disks where planets form, using an instrument - the Aperture Masking Interferometer - which is the unique Australian hardware contribution to the mission. Employing the same underlying mathematics as MRI medical imaging, the program will develop new algorithms for rendering complex data and into high fidelity images surpassing all prior work. All algorithms will be released as open-source products applicable widely in and beyond astronomy. Astronomy is of great importance to Australian society: it is a key gateway to STEM studies, and addresses the deep cultural question of how we came to be. Our path involves an integrated project of optical hardware design, applied mathematics, and machine learning, and will train students and researchers in these technologies.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2023 · 2023-01

Supporting dynamic multidimensional entrepreneurial resilience in Australia. This project aims to model entrepreneurial resilience, its formation and its influence on how creative transformation occurs, and whether ex ante adaptive capacity is in turn enhanced by having mastered crises. The project proposes a theoretical model to holistically measure resilience across the life course. Using longitudinal data for self-employed individuals in Australia the project analyses the impact of crisis and economic policy on entrepreneur’s behaviour and SMEs entry exit decisions. The project informs policy making through employing discrete choice experiments to elicit entrepreneur’s preferences for government policy and support post crisis. Field of research: 3507 - Strategy, Management and Organisational Behaviour Small and Medium Enterprises constitute the backbone of the Australian economy and support Australia’s economic success and social cohesion. Times of unprecedented challenges involving climate change, supply chain disruptions and recovery from a global pandemic require SMEs’ resilience. With a compelling focus on SMEs’ entrepreneurs, this project will unpack the notion of resilience to identify its key managerial traits and the drivers of firms’ successful adaptation to change in the face of large shocks. By relying on strong and ongoing communication with SME groups, associations and government departments, this project will capture entrepreneurs’ voice on their resilience and analyse their strategies that support resilient businesses. With the purpose of creating an evidence-base for decision-making, the project delivers a new approach to measure entrepreneurial resilience. The project also develops a web-based tool to measure entrepreneurial resilience to facilitates discussion among stakeholders, and benefit Australia’s policy makers and business associations in supporting owners of small business.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2023 · 2023-01

Mitonuclear incompatibility, speciation, and the Z sex chromosome. This project will characterise the interaction between the mitochondrial and nuclear genome in several species and its contribution to the divergence of species. This interaction is at the heart of energy transformation and storage in all animals and its importance to evolution is yet to be fully understood. The research will provide insight into speciation processes by focusing on recent divergence in Australian finch species. We will integrate genomics, bioenergetics, and whole organismal performance in growth, mobility and reproduction by studying birds in the wild and the laboratory. An overarching aim is to unite data from genomics, phenotype and physiology to understand the forces underlying the evolution of species, and biodiversity Field of research: 3104 - Evolutionary Biology Mitochondria are the powerhouses of cells in animals and are a fundamental building block of complex life forms. The project will address the yet to be answered question of how the genes of the mitochondria interact with the genes of the animal itself, and how ‘mismatches’ may make life for certain animals unviable. The research will deliver new knowledge about cellular genetics that will contribute to our understanding of animal physiology and evolution. Beyond new knowledge, the practical applications are vast and include developing more robust endangered animal breeding programs to ensure the cellular genetics will match and thus slow or stop the extinction of endangered species. Additionally, the outcomes of this research can advance human medical treatments and the gene-targeted therapies to cure mitochondrial diseases. The research team will ensure the research findings are available to medical and biological researchers to dovetail new understandings of mitochondrial genes with human-centric genomic medical innovations and accelerate the end-user impacts.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2023 · 2023-01

Survival & Wellbeing among Migrant Precariat in Australia’s Gig Economy . The food and parcel delivery industry is now a structural feature of the Australian labour market. Little is known about the social consequences of this development for the workforce. especially temporary and long-term migrant workers involved in this industry. This project aims to investigate the risks to safety and wellbeing to migrant cohorts who undertake this work, interrogating the intersecting impact of age, gender, class, and ethnicity and particularly migration status. The project produces major national benefits, such as an enhanced capacity to inform future labour market policies and regulation as well as conceptual innovation in describing the 'everyday survival' strategies of migrant workers in Australia. Field of research: 4410 - Sociology The Gig economy is rapidly expanding in Australia and elsewhere. It has opened new employment opportunities for many, and delivery work (food, courier and parcel services) has become increasingly popular since the COVID lockdowns. However, increasing reports of the exploitation including the deaths of delivery workers call for urgent responses to unfair and insecure employment practices that citizens and non-citizens disproportionally experience. This study situates gig workers in the context of their lives, hopes, and struggles and advances understandings of how the 'citizen' and 'non-citizen' migrants among Australia's working poor absorb the 'everyday' risks and social consequences of gig work. This research has national benefits related to the health of Australians working in the Gig economy. It will offer further insights into how insecure gig employment affects individual and community well-being as well as contribute to current national and corporate policy development to improve gig employment and work.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2023 · 2023-01

New Graph Mining Technologies to Enable Timely Exploration of Social Events. This project aims to develop scalable and effective graph mining techniques for the timely exploration of social events that are the hottest happenings in online information networks. The research will primarily exploit the complex network structures and non-structural properties of streaming social data to report what is happening in a timely fashion. This project will lay the theoretical foundations of this emerging field to strengthen Australia’s world leadership role in data science. Practically, the novel theories and data analytics technologies developed will benefit the Australian economy and society by monitoring emergencies, tracking prevailing sentiments, and spotting investment opportunities through timely event responses. Field of research: 4605 - Data Management and Data Science Discovering, monitoring, and analysing events on social media platforms have proven to be critical during the pandemic. However, the sheer overload of information makes it difficult for the public to recognise relevant from irrelevant information, or information that is recent or not. The project will develop advanced data mining tools which investigate in large-scale and in real-time the relationship between trends sourced accurately from those that are irrelevant. The outcomes will place Australia on the map as having world class capability in communicating through official channels across government sectors to reach their intended audience in a timely manner, providing for example, a quick and cost-effective means to communicate with Australians during emergencies. It will also guide marketing firms on strategies to promote Australian goods to a global audience providing economic benefits. It is anticipated that future initiatives will include automating this process so that critical trends are picked up instantly with automated responses aligned with predictive trends.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2023 · 2023-01

Trust-Oriented Data Analytics in Online Social Networks. Trust-oriented data analytics is essential in online social networks for reducing deceitful interactions and enhancing trust between users. This project aims to systematically devise innovative solutions by considering rich social contextual information as an important source of trust. The expected outcomes of this project include innovative solutions from a fundamental perspective to the challenges of context-aware trust propagation, trust network searching/matching, and trustworthy/malicious user prediction in online social networks. This project is significant as it will advance the knowledge base for enabling a trustworthy social networking environment, benefiting billions of Australian and worldwide online social network users. Field of research: 4605 - Data Management and Data Science Online Social Networks reflect the culture of online users and such networks have proven critical for sourcing public perceptions and shaping policies. The misuse of such networks, however, leaves online users vulnerable to cyber-attacks and threats to data and personal safety. This project will devise innovative solutions to evaluate and predict trust relations among users of Online Social Networks and assist users in their decision making on whom to trust. The strategies and models generated by the project will inform government and businesses on how to tap into the online culture in a way that builds public trust and confidence, and resources to increase the digital literacy of Australians. Project outcomes will also advise social media platforms and cybersecurity developers on cultural strategies and empower them with innovative techniques to recognise harmful online behaviours and deter misinformation, scams, and data theft.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2023 · 2023-01

Seeing the light: high-power visible-light generation using silicate fibre. Unlike their near-infrared counterparts, visible-light-emitting lasers are inefficient and complicated, impacting their broader deployment in industry, medicine, and telecommunications. To address this, we will create a new class of laser and amplifier based on an entirely new doped silicate glass fibre that will display low background loss and resilience to photodegradation from high-power visible light. This will solve one of the last important problems in fibre laser research. The primary outcome will be a series of high-power continuous-wave, ultrashort-pulse, all-fibre lasers emitting at yellow and red wavelengths, with significant benefits for space, defence, manufacturing, and human health. Field of research: 4006 - Communications Engineering Unlike their near-infrared counterparts, visible-light-emitting lasers are inefficient which limits broader use in industry, medicine, and telecomms. We aim to create a new class of laser that emits intense visible light using silicate glass optical fibre, which is stronger, crystal clear, and able to channel high optical power. Silicate fibre is used across many sectors, for example telecomms, where it supports faster moving data into our homes and businesses. The use of innovative visible light emitting lasers coupled with silicate glass optical fibre is a modern boost that will enhance our ability to send complex, large information across distances without signal disruption or distortion. This innovation will aid in more efficient and reliable communications and will also level-up Australia’s contribution to telecommunications, defence, and medical treatments (such as ophthalmology and tattoo removal). On completion of this project, we will work with Australian companies to introduce these innovative lasers to our high-tech sector, boosting Australia’s economy and global competitive advantage.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2023 · 2023-01

Dispersing myths; Characterising human migration through Asia . The human journey across the globe is one of our greatest achievements, yet the archaeological evidence for the earliest migrations is poorly dated, plagued by uncertainty and often overlooked. This project aims to characterise the nature of early human dispersals across Asia en route to Australasia by going beyond the timing and identification of human evidence to explore their behaviour, health and adaptability. Reconsidering early migrations within their environmental context will allow an assessment of their feasibility and address the disparity between the genetic and physical evidence. By elucidating the story of the greatest human journey we will develop a new understanding and appreciation of our survival and adaption capabilities. Field of research: 4301 - Archaeology Human migration across the globe is one of our greatest achievements but the archaeological evidence for early human migration is poorly dated and does not tell us the full story of how our ancestors came to Australia via Asia. This project will reconsider the earliest known journeys of our ancestors to better understand how they travelled and why they were so successful at reaching our shores. By uncovering new human fossil evidence and applying new scientific dating techniques to bone, teeth and sediments, this project will build new knowledge of the human story and document human survival, migration and adaption capabilities. This project will have social and cultural benefits for First Nation communities in Australia reinforcing their connection to country through a deeper understanding of their ancestor’s genetic and cultural heritage and adaptability and installing a deeper pride in their achievements. By documenting human adaptability and survival during past changing climates, this project will provide benefits to Australian policy makers who shape our responses to future climate change challenges.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2023 · 2023-01

Creating coolspots: eco-engineering heat-resistant intertidal communities. This project aims to identify structural characteristics of marine intertidal habitat patches, formed by seaweeds and shellfish, that protect associated species from thermal extremes. This project will generate new knowledge about how thermally sensitive intertidal species can persist in stressful environments. Expected outcomes of this project include new approaches for building heat-tolerant ecological communities on coastal infrastructure, and improved tools for predicting the response of intertidal seaweeds and animals to environmental change. The results of this project will benefit coastal management by identifying conservation and rehabilitation strategies that maximise the resilience of coastal ecosystems to environmental change. Field of research: 3103 - Ecology This project will identify geometries and configurations of marine intertidal habitats, formed by seaweeds and shellfish, that protect other intertidal species from increasing thermal extremes under climate change. This knowledge will enable the development of conservation and rehabilitation strategies for sensitive species and will build heat-tolerant ecological communities. The results generated by this study will assist in climate-proofing Australia’s coastal ecosystems, worth over $895 billion to the economy every year, which include species important to recreational and commercial fishing. This directly aligns with the government priority of adapting to the impacts of environmental change on biological systems. The results will provide evidence-based support to be used by coastal managers and policy makers to decide which types of habitat to conserve and rehabilitate to provide thermal resilience. They will also be used to develop strategies with developers and environmental managers for building heat-resistant habitats into marine constructions to benefit both humans and nature.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2023 · 2023-01

Towards Generalisable and Unbiased Dynamic Recommender Systems. This project aims to develop the foundations, including models, methodology, and algorithms for building generalisable and unbiased dynamic recommender systems to facilitate intelligent decision-making, prompt contextualised and personalised strategic plans, and support context-aware action recourse. To ensure that fundamental principles, such as fairness and transparency, are respected, a set of algorithms and techniques are proposed to develop recommender systems in a more responsible manner. The result of this project will not only maintain Australia's leadership in this frontier research area, but also serve as an excellent vehicle for the education and training of Australia's next generation of scholars and engineers. Field of research: 4605 - Data Management and Data Science ‘Recommender systems’ – a type of information filtering system that provide suggestions for items tailored to a particular user - are a powerful machine learning tool for various human decision-making activities from healthcare, cyberattack defence, prison sentence recommendation to personalised shopping and music recommendation. Existing recommender systems are constrained by inadequate data, biased algorithms, and a lack of transparency and ‘explainability’, causing concerns about their robustness, trustiness, and fairness. This project will address these challenges and develop new models, methodologies, and algorithms to establish ‘responsible’ recommender systems with boosted decision-making capacity. Through partnerships with industry and policymakers, outcomes of this research have potential to deliver significant commercial and social benefits, such as expediting demand and supply analyses to drive manufacture automation, increasing cyber security capabilities, and optimising medical resource allocation amid pandemics.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2023 · 2023-01

Hello, Mr America: Americans on R&R Leave in Australia in the Vietnam War. This project will provide the first comprehensive history of an important but neglected aspect of Australia's relationship with the United States. From 1967 until 1971 nearly 300,000 American servicemen - one tenth of the total number of Americans who served in Vietnam - travelled to Australia for their R&R Leave. What began as a matter of military expediency became an exercise in cultural diplomacy that left lasting economic, social and political legacies in Australia. Outcomes include a deeper understanding of the history of the US-Australian alliance, the international history of the Vietnam War, and Australian history during a period of dramatic transformation. Outputs will include a book, journal articles, and a symposium. Field of research: 4303 - Historical Studies This project will provide the first comprehensive history of the American presence in Australia during the Vietnam War, an important but neglected aspect of Australia's relationship with the United States. American servicemen travelling to Australia on Rest and Recreation leave shaped social, cultural, and economic change. The innovative combination of military and diplomatic history with cultural, tourism and memory studies will provide Australians with relevant historical context to the ongoing relationship between Australia and the United States, reflected in recent comments from US President Biden of an enhanced Australia-US alliance and greater American presence in the region during the ‘Asia-Pacific Century’. At a time when the US-Australian relationship is under increasing scrutiny, project outputs including the book and public symposium will provide government agencies, business, education and not-for-profit stakeholders with key insights into the history of Australian-US military and cultural relations, the shifting geo-politics of the region, and Australia's security and future within it.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2023 · 2023-01

Action selection in insects: how a microbrain knows what to do. Identifying what to do demands integrating sensory information with our current physiological state and memory of past experience to select the best possible action. This is the action selection problem. Our project aims to discover how tiny insect brains solve this fundamental problem. The project combines neural recordings from animals exploring virtual reality, behavioural analyses and computational modelling. The expected outcome is a new understanding of the brain as an effective behavioural control system. This will benefit systems and comparative neuroscience. Our findings may also inspire solutions for robotic systems that must operate autonomously in remote and challenging environments such as disaster relief or exploration. Field of research: 3109 - Zoology The most important function of an animal’s brain is the ability to select the most appropriate action in any situation from all the possible options. The decision involves gathering information about the world and the state of the animal and reflecting on learned experiences and memory to transform that information into the most appropriate response. The project will investigate the action selection process of the brain in highly visual insects that have sophisticated and complex behaviours. This will deliver a new understanding of how nervous systems transform information into action. The biological discoveries will provide solutions in autonomous robotics with opportunities for technology translation with the US Air Force and industrial robotics partners. Innovations in robotic autonomy will enable their use in challenging remote Australian environments, like disaster relief, mining and environmental monitoring. With a focus on honeybee and hoverflies, two of Australia’s most important pollinators, the project will advance knowledge of insect behaviour that will benefit the country’s food security.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2023 · 2023-01

Storying and repairing water places in Wiradjuri Country. This project will centre Aboriginal knowledges to story, care for and repair Wiradjuri Country around the Mudgee area, central west NSW. Sharing information is a key goal of this project. Wiradjuri people are keen to see their cultural, economic, social and environmental knowledge about Country recorded and shared for people in the Mudgee area and beyond. By documenting in story form the proposed on-Country Learning, this project can facilitate this process and serve as a pathway for other co-management contexts. At the heart of the project is on-Country Learning which will bring key collaborators, community members and local school students together on, and with, Country. Field of research: 4406 - Human Geography This project will deepen cross-cultural connections through on-Country Learning involving storying and repair in Mudgee, NSW. The project will develop a strong understanding of environmental issues by sharing stories on-Country to promote pathways for repairing Country that centre Aboriginal knowledges. On-Country Learning will include sharing art and conservation practices that are grounded in cross-cultural exchange and storytelling. This will provide opportunities for custodians to share, collate and curate stories about Country in a collaborative way that will be distributed on a project website. A key output of this learning will be a water storying framework for on-Country Learning that focuses on repair and can be adopted in other places. Both local Aboriginal Communities and NPWS branches could use this framework to develop similar collaborations. As a result, policymakers in environmental management will be better positioned to centre Aboriginal knowledges in future decision making processes.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2023 · 2023-01

Using cane toads to eradicate cane toads. This project aims to develop effective ways to reduce the devastating ecological impact of cane toads, by exploiting the cannibalistic behaviour of tadpoles. This project expects to generate new knowledge in the area of invasion biology and amphibian development utilising recent discoveries about cannibalism. Expected outcomes of this project include a powerful new method to reduce or eliminate recruitment of juvenile toads from natural waterbodies. Benefits of this project include conservation of native wildlife that are threatened by the cane toad invasion across much of tropical and subtropical Australia. Field of research: 3103 - Ecology Cane toads are a devastating invasive species, for which current control methods are ineffective. The tadpoles of cane toads pose little threat to native wildlife, but are voracious cannibals of eggs of their own species, and produce chemicals that disrupt development of those eggs; native amphibian species are not affected. If we can prevent cane toad tadpoles from metamorphosing (transforming into terrestrial toads), those tadpoles will kill any toad eggs laid into the pond, and disrupt the development of any survivors, such that no toads can emerge from that pond. This approach can have massive environmental benefit by eliminating a high-profile invasive species, and saving countless native animals. The proposed methods are simple and well-suited to wide adoption by community-based conservation groups across tropical and eastern Australia.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2023 · 2023-01

Improving efficacy of biopesticides through understanding mode of action. Insecticides are used extensively to control agricultural pests, but options are increasingly limited owing to environmental and human health concerns. A biopesticide, Bt, provides a valuable ‘soft’ option for control of caterpillars that are amongst the world's most damaging insect pests. However, little is known about how ingested Bt kills insects and this knowledge gap constrains options to improve efficacy and to counter resistance. This project connects industry end users (Cotton RDC; Bayer CropScience) with research training (Macquarie University) and applied research (CSIRO) to model how Bt interacts with the insect gut. This model will make valuable contributions to ensuring sustained and improved efficacy of Bt biopesticides. Field of research: 3101 - Biochemistry and Cell Biology Australian farmers are heavily reliant on pesticides as an effective way to control insect pests across the landscape. Many of the unwanted impacts of pesticide use are due to the ways they are delivered into the environment, so there are now plants that produce the pesticides as they grow – Bt cotton in Australia. The value of Bt cotton led to the development of stringent industry wide management requirements by the industry representatives and by the supplier, Bayer CropScience, involving continually monitoring of insect populations by the supplier. But exactly how these pesticides work inside the insects is not well understood. This project aims to reveal how a particularly effective type of Bt works in two very damaging insect pests. By understanding how the Bt works inside the insect, we can predict new ways in which the insect might evade the Bt. The outcomes of this work will help us to control insects more efficiently and may contribute to identifying new pesticides.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2023 · 2023-01

Highly Efficient Solar Window Technology Enabled by Quantum Dots. The transition to zero-greenhouse gas emitting buildings is hindered by the lack of efficient energy generating building components with good aesthetics. This project will develop integrated solar windows that can effectively convert the facades of urban buildings into energy generation sites, enabled by our nanomaterials having outstanding light emission efficiencies of over 90%, accompanied by our advanced light guiding strategies and innovative PV cell integration. This next generation technology can reduce the electricity cost and increase renewable energy adoption, placing Australia in a competitive position in the billion-dollar building integrated photovoltaic market whilst also contributing to decarbonising electricity generation. Field of research: 4018 - Nanotechnology To protect the environment from climate change, the project will make advanced nanomaterials that guide light to solar cells for application in green buildings. Nanomaterials with sufficiently high light emission efficiency currently do not exist, nor do light guides and solar cells optimized for integration into electricity generating solar windows. The project aims to develop these solar windows. Australia’s large urban population requires substantial renewable energy to power our buildings. We can lead the way by transforming our building facades into clean electricity generation sites, using the highly efficient solar windows that will be developed in this project with our Australian partner, ClearVue Pty Ltd. They will commercialise this technology by integrating these innovations into their products. Our innovations will lead to Australia having the best performing solar window products globally. This low-cost and high efficiency technology will pave the way for rapid adoption in expanded markets and revolutionise the billion-dollar building integrated PV industry not just in Australia but globally.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2023 · 2023-01

Flipping the mattress: infinite polyurethane recycling by synthetic biology. Australia is covered in billions of tonnes of plastic and yet <10% is recycled today. Polyurethane (PU) is ubiquitous in our everyday lives, from lacquer coatings to elastane clothing to durable foam padding in car seats, cushions and mattresses. Currently, there are few avenues for PU recycling and much ends up in landfill e.g., a single mattress produces 15-20kg of PU foam waste. Luckily, biodegradation of PU can occur naturally via various microbial means and from insects, like Galleria mellonella larvae. The overall aim of this research project is to understand plastic biodegradation and translate nature’s solutions into flexible and efficient synthetic enzyme technologies that can sustainably recycle commonly used PU foams. Field of research: 3101 - Biochemistry and Cell Biology Polyurethane (PU) foams, such as those in mattresses, are durable and dense plastics and particularly difficult to recycle. This project will harness nature's solutions to plastic waste, by identifying naturally occurring molecular machines (enzymes), optimising them and applying them to recycling of PU. We will start by searching for new plastic degrading enzymes in the gut microbiome of plastic-degrading caterpillars and environmental bacteria. Nature's enzymes will be cleverly redesigned by computer modeling to make them more efficient and produced in yeast cell factories. Then our optimised PU recycling enzymes will be used to recycle real world PU foams in a working prototype. The outcomes have the potential to transform the ineffective current methods for PU disposal into flexible, cost-effective and sustainable solutions of benefit to multiple sectors, in particular manufacturing and recycling and aligns with the National Waste Policy. The prototypes produced will have great commercial potential, positioning Australian partner organisation Samsara Eco as a world leader in PU recycling.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2023 · 2023-01

The ABC, its Archives and its Audiences. This project aims to enable deeper understandings of the role of Australia’s principal public service broadcaster in the lives of audience members across the country, and the community needs and interests that have shaped it. The project, in partnership with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and the National Archives of Australia, is significant because it will uncover and interpret paper records relating to listeners and viewers during the broadcaster’s first 50 years. Expected outcomes include an enlarged and more discoverable media archive for the benefit of researchers, industry and all Australians; an innovative audience-centred approach to the ABC’s history; and enhanced academic, archival and media collaborations. Field of research: 4701 - Communication and Media Studies This project, in partnership with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and the National Archives of Australia, will uncover and interpret records relating to listeners and viewers during the broadcaster’s first 50 years. It will enhance links between the ABC and the NAA, which holds its enormous paper archive, as well as links between the Commonwealth institutions and the higher education sector. It will help the ABC to better understand its audiences, from children to adults, Australian-born to migrants, and from metropolitan to rural. It will make known and accessible a large volume of under-utilised records in the NAA and create a discoverable body of archival material for the benefit of students, researchers, industry, and all Australians. By crossing not just platforms (radio and television) but genres (from science and current affairs to music and drama), this project and its program of research dissemination will illuminate diverse aspects of our national broadcaster’s long but under-examined history as it develops plans to mark its centenary in 2032.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2023 · 2023-01

Designing a spectrometer to search for life on extrasolar planets. Finding indicators of life on extrasolar planets is one of the greatest science questions of our time. Astronomers have found rocky, earth-like exoplanets; now we need powerful spectrometers to search for biomarkers in their atmospheres, detecting the faint imprints from molecules associated with life in the colour spectrum of stars. This project will develop the instruments and technologies required to enable spectroscopy with massively multiplexed telescopes. A spectrometer design with large spectral bandwidth and high resolution, optimised for a facility consisting of thousands of small telescopes, and novel optical fibres to link them, will open the door for breakthrough science requiring an entirely new class of telescope. Field of research: 5101 - Astronomical Sciences This project will develop new instrument technologies needed for the next generation of precision spectroscopy instruments under development worldwide to discover planets orbiting distant stars. This will ensure that Australia is an integral part of the global quest to discover planets with signatures of life, and ultimately a new Earth, an Earth-like planet orbiting a sun-like star. Such a discovery will have a profound effect on our understanding of our own place in the universe. The technologies developed in this project will help position Australian Astronomical Optics (AAO) to bid for multimillion dollar telescope instrumentation contracts worldwide. Australian Astronomical Optics is a world leader in providing advanced spectroscopic systems for leading telescopes worldwide, and relies on innovations that will be developed in this project to maintain Australia’s global leadership and competitiveness. The optical fibre technologies and spectrometer designs developed will bring economic benefits by supporting a nascent Australian industry in optical spectroscopy, a billion dollar global industry.