UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2026 · 2026-01

Slow emergencies, policy change, and hopeful futures for young people. This project aims to address the combined negative impacts of the ‘slow emergencies’ of climate change, artificial intelligence, and pandemics on young people in Australia. It generates new knowledge on how to respond to slow emergencies through education and youth policies, and on how participatory methods advance policy change. Expected outcomes include policy development through the co-design of solutions, and building youth agency via toolkits for schools and policy bodies. The project will enable significant benefits in enabling young people to be healthy and thriving instead of hopeless in facing the future. This has longer term benefits to Australia, including in protecting the environment and building a secure and resilient nation. Field of research: 4406 - Human Geography This project will i) build new knowledge on how the ‘slow emergencies’ of climate change, artificial intelligence, and pandemics are together affecting young people’s hope for the future; and ii) inform policy to address the resulting impacts on youth wellbeing. Slow emergencies are crises that are mostly imperceptible in everyday life and thus worsen due to insufficient policy action. However, there is concern these crises are particularly affecting Australian young people, with a 50% increase in mental health issues and rising suicide rates over the past 15 years. This project addresses critical gaps in knowledge and action by making the impacts of slow emergencies on young people more visible and actionable for policymakers. Through interviews, policy forums, and tools and outputs distributed across states and territories, the project will generate new knowledge and contribute to policy reform in addressing the impacts of slow emergencies. The project has social benefits in improving the wellbeing of young people, who are essential to Australian national priorities to protect the environment, transition to net zero, and build a secure and resilient nation that can manage the rapid development of artificial intelligence and future pandemics. Understanding and adoption of the research will be furthered through collaboration with policymakers, national engagement via policy briefs, and an online platform to support policy decision-making.

GrantConnect (Australian Government grants) · FY 2026 · 2026-01

Defining and overcoming disease drivers in pregnancy to ensure... Category: Medical Research

GrantConnect (Australian Government grants) · FY 2026 · 2026-01

Exercise to Complement the Management of Polymyalgia Rheumatica Category: Medical Research

GrantConnect (Australian Government grants) · FY 2026 · 2026-01

From sugarcane to reef: ammonia emission, deposition and mitigation Category: Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (HASS) Research

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2026 · 2026-01

Unravelling community assembly rules to understand biodiversity maintenance. Biodiversity is vital to humanity, yet there remains the long-standing problem of what drives and maintains it in ecological communities. Leveraging the team’s recent breakthroughs, this project aims to address this problem by unravelling the assembly rules governing ecological communities using interdisciplinary approaches: field experiments, ecological modelling, and machine learning. This project is expected to generate crucial new mechanistic insights into biodiversity maintenance. Expected outcomes include advancing biodiversity theory and strategies to protect Australia's vulnerable coastal ecosystems. Significant benefits include predictive models linking local biodiversity to regional processes and practical conservation solutions. Field of research: 3103 - Ecology Australia is facing a biodiversity crisis, with marine ecosystems particularly at risk. Climate change, rising sea levels, and coastal urbanisation threaten species and habitats that underpin key industries, including Australia’s $3.6 billion fisheries sector, tourism, and local economies. Yet, we still do not fully understand what drives and maintains biodiversity. This limits our ability to predict biodiversity loss and develop lasting conservation solutions. This project will address this gap by testing leading biodiversity theories through a large-scale experiment and field studies in Australia’s coastal ecosystems. Using a state-of-the-art approach incorporating machine learning, we will determine how species communities form and persist and develop models to predict biodiversity at various scales. Our research will provide a basis for conservation tools to help policymakers, environmental managers, and industry leaders safeguard marine ecosystems. Aligned with Australia’s national priority to protect and restore the environment, it will improve biodiversity understanding and inform sustainable management. These efforts will strengthen climate resilience, support key industries, and ensure long-term environmental and economic sustainability. We will share findings with government and industry (e.g., DEECA) to inform conservation strategies and marine policies. Public engagement via media, outreach events, and open-access publications will maximise impact beyond academia.

GrantConnect (Australian Government grants) · FY 2026 · 2026-01

Novel circulating biomarkers of neuroendocrine tumours Category: Medical Research

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2026 · 2026-01

Improving the wellbeing and retention of early-career teachers in Australia. This project aims to advance understanding of ways to promote wellbeing and retention in early-career teachers, who are amongst the professionals with the highest levels of stress and turnover. The project expects to generate new knowledge of how teachers use proactive strategies such as job crafting and playful work design to optimize their job demands and resources, and test whether such interventions can draw on artificial intelligence to support teachers during the early-career stages. Expected outcomes include the generation of novel insight of approaches to support teachers as they begin their careers. Benefits include improving the wellbeing and retention of early-career teachers in Australia. Field of research: 5201 - Applied and Developmental Psychology Teachers are a critical workforce. Yet, due to intense job demands, they are among the professionals with the highest rates of stress, burnout, and turnover in the developed world. Retaining new teachers who enter the profession is an urgent challenge that will help to prevent an impending teacher shortage. While policy-level solutions are often discussed, this project explores novel strategies based on employee proactive behaviour as complementary ways to mitigate these issues. Our team of world-leading experts will conduct a series of studies to determine the extent to which a range of proactive behavioural strategies may help early-career teachers to optimise their job demands and resources, and in turn, enhance their wellbeing and retention. The project will have social and economic benefits for Australia by determining whether novel approaches that are led by employees themselves can improve the working lives of early-career teachers. This will also help relieve the substantial estimated $4.25 billion annual national replacement cost caused by the premature departure of teachers from the profession. Importantly, to enable maximum impact on teacher wellbeing and retention, the research findings will be translated into practical resources that are shared with education policymakers and schools, including free training sessions, workshops, online modules, and instructional materials. Schools and student learning will be boosted by enhanced retention of teacher talent.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2026 · 2026-01

Living memorials, art in dialogue. There is a lack of memorials acknowledging and addressing the violences of the past toward Indigenous people in Australia. Speech in the form of testimony is one powerful mechanism for acknowledging past wrongs and creating a shared memory of trauma and injustice. Art is another. Art in facilitating a dialogue between artist and audience, and between artists and the world, traverses language, borders and histories. This project investigates art as a witness to past violence and trauma, and produces a living memorial through dialogue between Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists and audiences. It seeks to provide pathways toward national healing through an innovative model of bearing witness to Australia’s history through art and dialogue. Field of research: 4702 - Cultural Studies There is a lack of memorials acknowledging the violences of the past toward Indigenous people in Australia. Aligned with the aims of The Uluru Statement of the Heart, the National Cultural Policy, vital truth-telling processes, and in the aftermath of the failed Voice to Parliament referendum, this project will produce art through dialogue between Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists as a form of witness to past violence and trauma in Australia. Through fieldwork, specific site visits and a model of collaborative dialogue, eight Indigenous and settler artists will work together with trauma specialists to create and document an innovative model of bearing witness to Australia’s painful history. The project aims to support pathways for national healing through developing an innovative model of bearing witness; establish a complex and cohesive expression of memorials on this land; and create a better understanding of cultural heritage, the impact of its destruction, and the re-imagining of its preservation. The project will produce a public art exhibition to be hosted by a major art gallery, as well as present a model for dialogue about past trauma and violence at an international symposium.

GrantConnect (Australian Government grants) · FY 2026 · 2026-01

Proactive pregnancy care: Developing a risk calculator to identify women... Category: Medical Research

GrantConnect (Australian Government grants) · FY 2026 · 2026-01

A gene drive to control malaria Category: Medical Research

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2026 · 2026-01

Demand- and Supply-Side Policies for Improving Housing Affordability. This proposal aims to address Australia’s housing affordability crisis using an innovative economic life-cycle model of the housing market. It expects to generate new knowledge about housing affordability proposals related to superannuation withdrawals, government equity participation, pension means-testing, and increasing housing supply. Expected outcomes include understanding how policy impacts on homeownership, prices, and wealth distribution, with a focus on low-income households and younger households. This should provide significant benefits to policymakers by offering them model-driven insights to guide the design of effective, equitable housing policies and addresses a critical gap in the Australian housing economics literature. Field of research: 3801 - Applied Economics Australia’s housing affordability crisis is worsening, with record high house prices and limited supply making it increasingly difficult for Australians to own their own home. Despite widespread policy discussion, the quantitative effects of government interventions such as early access to superannuation for house deposits, government equity sharing, removing the exclusion of owner-occupied housing from the pension means test, and relaxing other supply constraints are still under researched, making an effective solution further out of reach. This project studies these key economic policy interventions and develops models and measures to calculate the mismatch between buyers and the supply of available housing. This research will benefit Australians economically and socially by identifying which policies effectively improve housing affordability without unintended consequences. Effective housing policy can enhance affordability, support the transition to home ownership for young Australians, reduce inequality, improve geographical mobility, and decrease the strain on social services caused by homelessness and financial stress. We will extend our research impact beyond academia by sharing our findings with the wider community, the housing industry, policymakers and state and federal government. To maximize reach, we will publish articles in mainstream media and collaborate with journalists to ensure our insights inform both decision-makers and the broader public.

GrantConnect (Australian Government grants) · FY 2026 · 2026-01

Targeting whole genome duplication as a therapeutic vulnerability in... Category: Medical Research

GrantConnect (Australian Government grants) · FY 2026 · 2026-01

A randomised multi-centre open-label trial of Tolvaptan vs. Urea for... Category: Medical Research

GrantConnect (Australian Government grants) · FY 2026 · 2026-01

Imaging the explosive birth of the Universe Category: Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (HASS) Research

GrantConnect (Australian Government grants) · FY 2026 · 2026-01

Understanding biomarkers of response and resistance to 177-Lutetium-PSMA... Category: Medical Research

GrantConnect (Australian Government grants) · FY 2026 · 2026-01

Clinical and scientific predictors of response to faecal microbiota... Category: Medical Research

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2026 · 2026-01

Revolving door lobbyists: harmful industries & public interest policymaking. Vested interests can weaken public interest policies like soft drink taxes and emissions reductions. This project aims to investigate a specific type of corporate political influence: hiring former members of government as lobbyists and/or lobbyists moving into government – the ‘revolving door’. Expected outcomes include: enhanced methods and datasets for measuring the revolving door of alcohol, food and transport industries; deeper understanding of perceived revolving door risks and benefits; and recommendations for best practice regulation. By synthesising empirical, normative and regulatory inquiries, this research aims to support robust, feasible reforms to protect public interest policy making from undue corporate political influence. Field of research: 4206 - Public Health Corporate political activities have the potential to accelerate or cripple Australian progress on public health and sustainability goals. Without adequate safeguards, businesses can undermine public interest policies (like soft drink taxes and emission reduction targets), and little is known or can be done about it. This project focuses on a specific type of political activity: where former members of government become lobbyists, or lobbyists move into government roles – the ‘revolving door’. This practice can lead to beneficial knowledge exchange, although it can also lead to conflicts of interest and poor policy outcomes, leading to differing views about how it should be regulated. To date, there is little empirical work to determine the optimal relationship between businesses and government that supports inclusive and informed policymaking while minimising conflicts of interest. This world-first project will integrate empirical data, legal analysis and stakeholder insights to generate a new, optimal model for regulating the revolving door to ensure greater transparency and accountability. Beyond open-access publications, this project will engage with public health and political integrity organisations to share findings with policymakers through public seminars, reports and media. By supporting stronger safeguards around corporate political activities, this project should take a compelling step towards strengthening trust in government – a significant social benefit.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2026 · 2026-01

Topology of four-dimensional spaces. The project aims to comprehensively study 4-dimensional topological manifolds, with a focus on questions related to finding embedded surfaces in such spaces and the existence of exotic smooth structures. This will be a significant achievement in the study of manifolds in general, where the fourth dimension remains highly mysterious and a subject of intense investigation. The project will produce high-quality publications in top journals and increased scientific collaboration between Australia and the rest of the world, specifically Germany, the UK, and the USA. Expected benefits include enhancing Australia's research reputation by producing excellent research in a field not historically represented in the country. Field of research: 4904 - Pure Mathematics Topology is the study of abstract shapes with applications to DNA configurations and protein folding, economics, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and cosmology. This project aims to answer fundamental questions related to the classification of shapes, and their basic properties, about which little is currently known. The particular focus of the project is on four-dimensional shapes, which can serve as models for space-time, and which demonstrate unique features and challenges, specifically establishing new connections to the study of knots and links. The project will benefit Australia socially and culturally, through enhanced international collaborations and by facilitating the training of early career researchers, boosting the higher education sector. Beyond the theoretical implications, the new knowledge arising from this project could contribute in the future to a deeper understanding of the shape of our universe. The research outcomes will be disseminated through open-access publications and presentations at seminars, conferences, and public events, to ensure visibility and accessibility to a broad audience.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2026 · 2026-01

Automated assessment of 'everyday nature' in urban streetscapes. This project aims to develop a new metric that measures 'everyday nature' in urban streets, using a novel artificial intelligence (AI) method to assess vegetation from streetscape images. This project expects to generate a scalable measure that captures the key characteristics of nature in cities, urgently needed to inform urban planning and design. Expected outcomes of this project include a globally relevant metric, validated internationally across 3 cities, that can be used to drive city-wide investment in urban nature. Datasets and AI models should be useful in many conservation settings. This should enable decision-makers to quickly evaluate and improve access to the multiple benefits that nature brings to Australian urban residents. Field of research: 4104 - Environmental Management While many cities around the world have tree canopy cover targets, it is possible to fill a city with trees with little benefit for biodiversity. This is a problem because cities have an important role to play in stopping the extinction of plants and animals and because people living on streets with more biodiversity are healthier and happier. This project will design a new benchmark of ‘everyday nature’ for streetscapes and will develop automated assessment technology to enable rapid, broadscale measures of streets throughout a city. This will motivate cities to enhance biodiversity in streetscapes, with substantial benefit to biodiversity conservation, human wellbeing and resilience to climate change. Economic benefits will also be unlocked as streetscapes with more nature have increased foot traffic (which benefits retail strips), higher occupancy rates and increased value of housing stock. This project will also produce global datasets, models and assessment techniques that could be used in multiple contexts, including the automated detection of native and non-native vegetation in diverse landscapes. Through outreach activities such as workshops and accessible communication products, the project will engage policymakers and the urban development industry in Australia. We will work with real estate websites to encourage our metric to be included in key information provided to customers. International partners in Germany and Israel will ensure global reach of the project.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2026 · 2026-01

Unlocking the Potential of Next-Generation Magnets in Accelerators. Particle accelerators have revolutionised science and society, yet future proposals demand ever larger machines. This project aims to enable accelerators which are more compact, efficient and sustainable, by advancing knowledge in how beams behave in next-generation superconducting magnets. This project expects to generate new knowledge in accelerator physics, using a combined theory, computation and experimental approach. Expected outcomes of this project include new methods and case studies of two different discovery science colliders and compact particle therapy technologies. This should provide significant benefits, from future scientific breakthrough capacity to societal benefits in both applications and public engagement. Field of research: 5110 - Synchrotrons and Accelerators This project will unlock the potential of particle accelerators, a key technology used in Australia and globally, by examining the behaviour of particle beams in non-linear magnetic fields. This knowledge is critical to the development of sustainable, compact and advanced accelerators for a wide array of applications, and this research will position Australia at the forefront of the field. This research can provide social benefits to Australia by shaping new health treatments and technology, such as the development of better methods to treat cancer with radiation. It will enable advanced manufacturing, including in the semiconductor industry for quantum devices and the design of scientific facilities like synchrotrons, providing commercial and economic benefits for Australian industries. The outcomes of this research will be disseminated to local and global communities, including academic and industry organisations. The investigators will further leverage their expertise and engagement experience to engage industry and potential end-users, enhancing the translation and adoption of this research in the development of commercialisable technologies.

GrantConnect (Australian Government grants) · FY 2026 · 2026-01

Understanding biomarkers of response and resistance to 177-Lutetium-PSMA... Category: Medical Research

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2026 · 2026-01

Trustworthy Model Reprogramming: Learning with Imperfect Pre-trained Models. Large pre-trained machine learning models can be tailored to specific tasks through a process called fine-tuning. However, existing fine-tuning methods face significant challenges when applied to models that are unfair or insecure. This project seeks to develop a responsible model reprogramming methodology to address these issues. The proposed approach involves: (i) establishing a new learning theory for model reprogramming that prioritises addressing unfairness and backdoors, and (ii) developing techniques to eliminate inheriting these vulnerabilities from pre-trained models. These innovations aim to enhance user trust in fine-tuned models, promoting their broader adoption in the pursuit of responsible AI and machine learning. Field of research: 4605 - Data Management and Data Science Large-scale model-based machine-learning methodologies play an increasingly central role in data analytics, business decision support systems, and other digitalised applications in Australian industry and government. Yet recently, many studies have shown that these large-scale models are imperfect and have serious issues related to fairness and security that affect their safe use in practical scenarios. Focusing on finetuning and trustworthy machine learning, this project aims to develop a new learning scheme that can extract fair and secure features from any large-scale model. It will improve the safety and reliability of machine learning and related intelligence information systems. The project will benefit all Australian sectors online, including e-commerce, e-business, e-learning, and e-government, through increased customer trust and improved sustainability of data analytics in dynamic and complex environments. As well as supporting businesses and government agencies, the project will greatly benefit Small and Medium Enterprises with limited computing resources. This direct increase in public trust of machine learning will transform Australia into a leading and reliable digital economy and society. Project methodologies will be freely available, and findings will be shared at a public international workshop on the topic of ‘How to safely use large-scale models’.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2026 · 2026-01

From sugarcane to reef: ammonia emission, deposition and mitigation. The project will advance our understanding of ammonia (NH3) emissions from sugarcane and nitrogen deposition to the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) by integrating measurements, remote sensing, machine learning and modelling. It will identify hot spots and timing of NH3 emissions across soils, climates and management practices; analyse spatial and temporal patterns of NH3 deposition; and predict how NH3 deposition responds to emission reduction strategies. Expected outcomes: a high-resolution NH3 emission map, pioneering assessment of NH3 deposition to the Reef lagoon, and regional evaluation of measures to reduce NH3 loss. This will guide sustainable sugarcane management, mitigate NH3 pollution, and protect the GBR’s ecological and economic value. Field of research: 3002 - Agriculture, Land and Farm Management Ammonia emissions from fertiliser use in sugarcane farming contribute to nitrogen pollution in the Great Barrier Reef, affecting water quality and marine ecosystems. However, there is limited understanding of where and when these emissions occur and how much nitrogen is deposited into the Reef. This project will combine field measurements, remote sensing, data-driven modelling and atmospheric transport simulations to quantify ammonia emissions, identify high-emission hotspots, and track nitrogen deposition in the Reef lagoon. It will also assess the effectiveness of improved fertiliser management practices in reducing ammonia losses. This research will provide significant benefits. Economically, it will enable data-driven decision-making to reduce fertiliser waste and enhance sugarcane farm profitability. Environmentally, it will contribute to safeguarding the Reef by informing policies and management practices that minimise nitrogen pollution. Socially, it will promote more sustainable agriculture and help farming communities adapt to environmental challenges. To maximise impact beyond research, the project will actively engage policymakers, industry stakeholders and farmers through policy recommendations, decision-support tools, workshops and digital media. By transforming scientific insights into practical solutions, this research will support sustainable nitrogen management in Australia’s $2.2 billion sugarcane industry while mitigating environmental damage to the Reef.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2026 · 2026-01

Evaluating the impact of Metascience and its role in research policy. The ‘replication crisis’ has raised concerns over the credibility of published scientific research. Metascience—or the ‘science of science’—has risen in its wake, aiming to influence and improve the way science is practised, funded, evaluated and disseminated. Metascience has grown rapidly in recent years, and it is now having a significant impact on research policy in the UK and elsewhere. This project aims to document Metascience's origins, connections to prior reform efforts and to other science studies disciplines. Grounded in an understanding of its history and purpose, the expected output is a framework for evaluating Metascience impact, ensuring it delivers relevant, high-quality evidence for research policy in Australia. Field of research: 5002 - History and Philosophy of Specific Fields Metascience—the “science of science”—has potential to uncover more effective ways of conducting and supporting research. It aims to systematically test interventions on scientific practice (e.g., changes in statistical reporting practices), research evaluation (e.g., new models of peer review), and allocation of resources (e.g. experimenting with new funding models). But entailed in this is a complex monitoring and evaluation challenge: how can we tell if interventions are working and at what point should we deem them successful or otherwise? This is precisely the challenge our project aims to meet. This work matters because despite existing ambiguity around its goals and effects, Metascience is already shaping policy in other countries. Last year the UK government embedded a metascience unit with the goal of improving the overall quality and efficiency of UK research. Now is a critical time for reflection in Australia. Our project will take stock of past and present Metascience projects and analyse existing measures of impact. It will identify opportunities for improvement, and develop new guidelines to support future metascientific interventions, and their associated monitoring and evaluation programs. It will contribute to building a Metascience field capable of delivering relevant, high-quality evidence to support research policy in Australia.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2026 · 2026-01

Hunting for gamma ray bursts with an Australia-Italy satellite swarm. This project aims to study gamma ray bursts, explosions that make a dying star million times brighter than an entire galaxy, using an innovative constellation of Australia- Italy satellites equipped with miniaturised detectors. The project expects to generate new knowledge in time-domain and high-energy astrophysics, and to advance satellite remote sensing technology. Expected outcomes include a new understanding of the extreme physics at play during the production of rare elements such as gold, and the demonstration that nanosatellite swarms are cost effective compared to traditional large spacecraft. This will bring concrete benefits for Australia's space sector international reputation and its economic growth, and inspire the public. Field of research: 5101 - Astronomical Sciences The study of exploding and colliding stars is at the frontier of modern astrophysics as it offers a unique window on physics at extreme conditions that cannot be replicated in laboratories yet have profound impact for understanding the origin and evolution of the Universe. This project will contribute to these fundamental science questions by including data gathered by an Australian satellite. This project also aims to demonstrate the effectiveness of a novel approaches to the design and fabrication of future space telescopes as constellations of interconnected nanosatellites. Discoveries from this project will be used to engage the public to share the wonders of the Universe, while student participation will build capacity in the Australian space sector. Advances in data processing techniques, and innovative concepts for space instrumentation in this project have the potential to transform remote sensing of space and Earth, promoting Australia’s economic prosperity. Furthermore, curiosity-driven science often underpins broader socioeconomic benefits as well, with key astrophysical examples including Global Positioning System and WiFi. This project will take steps to position Australia as an international leader in the rapidly growing global space economy by generating intellectual property for translation and transfer, as well as by attracting and retaining the world’s best researchers in Australia.