UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2025 · 2025-01

Sources of hull friction drag on freshly cleaned and painted ships. 99% of Australia’s goods and raw materials are imported or exported by ship and pressure is mounting to reduce the environmental impact. Recent research by the assembled team shows that rough wall turbulence is responsible for surprisingly high drag, even on freshly cleaned and painted ships, challenging International Maritime Organization estimates that hull roughness causes only a 9% drag penalty over the global fleet. This project aims to identify the causes of this higher drag and develop tools to predict hull roughness drag penalty using inputs from dry dock inspection. Research outcomes will allow ship operators to make better decisions about hull maintenance to lower operating costs, reduce fuel use and reduce emissions of shipping. Field of research: 4012 - Fluid Mechanics and Thermal Engineering The Australian economy relies heavily on international freight, with over 1.5 billion tonnes of goods exported and 97 million imported annually. As a result, efficient shipping is crucial for Australia. Ships, like all vehicles, use energy to move, with most of it spent overcoming the friction (drag) between the hull and the water. This friction increases dramatically with roughness on the hull, and thus ship efficiency is closely tied to the smoothness of hulls. Current practices available to industry for estimating the energy penalty due to hull roughness remain unreliable. The International Maritime Organization estimates that 9% of ship fuel burnt globally is due to hull roughness, with a cost exceeding $10billion per year. Our research indicates that this figure is significantly underestimated and should be revised, as even newly dry-docked and cleaned ships exhibit higher drag penalties. This project will develop practical tools to quantify how hull roughness from paint quality, weld seams, and biofouling contributes to fuel consumption. It will permit ship operators to make more informed decisions about cleaning, painting and other modifications to hulls during dry-dock to reduce drag and hence fuel consumption. Our results will be shared with maritime organisations and industry through seminars and articles in journals and trade media. Australia will benefit economically and environmentally from more efficient marine freight and reduced greenhouse gas emissions.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2025 · 2025-01

Character sheaves and Langlands duality. In the recent years a large part of mathematics has been driven by the Langlands program. The aim of work proposed is to contribute to this program from our unique point of view. The expected outcomes include a comprehensive understanding of character sheaves and how they apply to longstanding difficult problems in mathematics. In addition to addressing fundamental questions in mathematics and expanding our understanding, the research program connects Australia to the most exciting recent mathematical developments thus benefiting Australian researchers and students. The project will also train highly qualified individuals who can make significant impact on science, industry, technology, and economy through their specialised skills. Field of research: 4904 - Pure Mathematics This project makes a fundamental contribution to representation theory, a pivotal branch of mathematics focused on the study of symmetries, particularly those that occur in nature. Representation theory serves as a vital tool across various mathematical disciplines, including topology, geometry, combinatorics and number theory. By researching representation theory, the project aims to bridge gaps in understanding algebraic and geometric structures essential to both mathematics and physics. Its findings will inform and support long-term applications in fields such as cryptography, GPS technology, Google search algorithms, machine learning, and quantum computing. This will provide commercial and economic benefits for Australia, positioning Australian information technology and finance industries at the forefront of pioneering developments. The research findings will be disseminated through open-access publications and presentations at public events, conferences and seminars, ensuring accessibility to a diverse audience.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2025 · 2025-01

World-first pipeline for anti-blowfly drug discovery . Flystrike causes ~$320M in losses in Australian sheep production and threatens billions in international trade per year. New anti-blowfly drugs are urgently needed to combat wide-spread drug resistance and reduce surgical mulesing. This project aims to forge a world-first pipeline for anti-blowfly drugs using (1) genomics and genetic technologies to discover novel drug targets, (2) machine learning to prioritise targets and identify candidate drugs and (3) larval killing assays to validate these drugs for commercialisation. New drugs will improve flystrike management, animal welfare and production, and protect international trade markets, providing hundreds of millions of dollars in economic benefit to Australian sheep growers. Field of research: 3009 - Veterinary Sciences Blowfly strike costs the Australian sheep industry $320 million per annum and is primarily controlled through anti-blowfly drugs and management protocols (e.g., surgical mulesing). However, increasing drug resistance and rising pressure to cease mulesing due to animal welfare concerns requires new drugs. Our program addresses this critical research gap by leveraging world-class expertise to develop an integrated platform for blowfly drug development. This project will benefit Australians economically by ensuring the sustainability of the Australian sheep industry including $3.5 billion in domestic and $8.0 billion in global trade per annum. We need new drugs to counter widespread drug resistance, reduce the cost of blowfly strike on sheep and wool production, and reduce our reliance on mulesing, as a failure to do so risks Australian access to global trade markets. New drugs also have significant commercial value to the Australian sheep industry. To maximize understanding, translation and adoption of our research outcomes, we are actively engaging with our industry partner Australian Wool Innovation Limited (AWI) and will leverage their well-established network to communicate with sheep growers, including through AWI-led publications (Beyond the Bale), Blowfly Control Workshops (SimpliFly™), Websites (DemystiFly™), Webinars (It’s Fly Time!™) and AWI’s social media ensuring our findings are accessible, relevant, and directly inform policy and practical applications.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2025 · 2025-01

A next-generation approach for selecting school leavers for university. This project aims to design and validate a new, efficient, national model for selecting school leavers for entry to tertiary courses, so that a broader range of school leavers can enter and succeed. It builds on new assessments and certification used by schools which reliably profile each learners’ unique strengths and capabilities. The design, to be validated jointly with school and tertiary sector agencies, is expected to provide better information about the match of student capabilities to a course’s requirements. This is expected to benefit university selectors by enhancing their understanding of applicants, and students, especially disadvantaged students, by building confidence and understanding of their capacity to thrive. Field of research: 3903 - Education Systems The Productivity Commission, the Australian Universities Accord and the National Skills Commission all report that too few school leavers enter and succeed at university, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds. Some blame for this rests with Australia's approach to sorting and selecting school leavers for university, typically using a single ranking of achievement in school subjects, and/or a range of confusing, ‘alternative’ entry schemes. This project will field-test a broader and more efficient model for university selection, in which a student’s unique profile of assessed capabilities can be digitally matched with and compared to the capacities and qualities specified for success in a particular course. This ‘matching’ model is expected to lead to a wider range of students being confident to apply. Universities will be better equipped to understand and plan for success of their entrants. Validation of the model based on data from three cohorts of school leavers is expected to demonstrate potential for positive impact on the pipeline of skilled graduates, and reduction of inequity. Outputs co-designed with project partners will include research papers, technical and policy-oriented reports and conferences aimed at Australian schools and universities, and materials for informing the wider community. Partners are well placed to lead implementation in each of their state jurisdictions and support national adoption and impact.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2025 · 2025-01

Single cell atlas for Haemonchus contortus – applied implications. This project aims to unravel fundamental molecular processes in economically important parasites at the cellular level using leading-edge post-genomic and machine learning methods. This project expects to create a single cell atlas for the barber's pole worm to discover novel targets to kill drug-resistant parasites affecting livestock animals. The resultant shift in understanding should lead, in the medium term, to innovative technologies or products to substantially reduce or eliminate the burden of parasites in these animals. The socioeconomic benefits flowing from this project will include lifting Australia’s scientific knowledge base, reputation in biology and biotechnology, animal health and investment in translational research. Field of research: 3009 - Veterinary Sciences This project aims to develop a groundbreaking approach to controlling parasites that cause substantial productivity and economic losses in livestock. These parasites impact agriculture and food industries in Australia and globally. Current treatments have become ineffective due to high parasite resistance, creating an urgent need for novel interventions and tools. Major research and knowledge gaps exist in this area. The project will focus on identifying critical weaknesses in parasite molecular pathways, enabling the development of a new strategy to selectively target and kill parasites in animals. The expected outcome is the discovery of key targets for designing innovative and disruptive treatments for parasitic diseases. This research will benefit Australia by: (i) generating new knowledge and technologies; (ii) training the next generation of scientists; and (iii) discovering innovative ways to reduce the burden of parasitic diseases in agriculture. It will underpin the development of novel anti-parasitic treatments, generating valuable intellectual property and strengthening collaborations with pharmaceutical, animal health, and livestock sectors. By actively engaging with these partners, we will ensure the rapid translation of research outcomes into practical applications. This collaborative approach will provide significant early benefits for farmers, agriculture and the broader food industries, enhancing productivity, profitability and sustainability.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2025 · 2025-01

Transforming environmental governance for novel ocean-based climate action. Climate change is stimulating novel actions in oceans that are accelerating climate ambitions and disrupting communities and ecosystems. Government and community oversight of such interventions - which include chemically-modified seawater and genetically-modified coral - is unfit for purpose and ineffective. By developing new knowledge, partnerships, decision tools, and researchers, this program will generate governance innovations to minimise social-ecological risk and accelerate effective climate actions. The benefits and legacy of the Laureate program include transformative governance of novel ocean-based climate actions, a new climate-intensive field of marine policy research, and enhanced Australian leadership of global marine futures. Field of research: 4104 - Environmental Management This Laureate fellowship will generate crucial knowledge for governing Oceanic Climate Actions (OCAs). Subsidised by $1.2 billion/year of private global investment, OCAs include chemically modified seawater and genetically modified coral to address climate impacts across the world’s valuable marine ecosystems. However, legal, institutional and policy frameworks to govern OCAs are piecemeal and uncertain, exposing industries and communities to a variety of unforeseen risks. By fusing world-class climate, marine, and policy expertise across jurisdictions, the program will generate new knowledge and research capability for maximizing OCA benefits and minimizing risk. A global OCA Governance Network and Observatory will be established to empower policymakers, scientists, industries, and investors from around the world to co-design transformative and translatable governance frameworks and tools. The program’s legacy lies in the significance of climate-resilient marine estates to Australia’s future: sustaining $80 billion/yr industries, >250,000 species and >85% of communities and Indigenous nations, while absorbing 25% of carbon dioxide and 90% excess heat. By establishing Australia at the forefront of governing Oceanic Climate Action, the program will accelerate Australia’s climate action and ocean protection policies and offer a coordinated blueprint for oceanic climate action that stewards Australia’s marine resources, industries, and international climate responsibilities.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2025 · 2025-01

Enabling Thin Air Fuels. To promote the transition of Australia’s economy to net-zero, innovative approaches are imperative to accelerate the mitigation of CO2 emissions. Direct air capture of CO2 has emerged as a pivotal avenue for meeting the pressing need for carbon neutral products. However, to make high value utilization of this CO2, hydrogen sources must be provided to enable the conversion. This project aims to deliver a technology to produce carbon neutral fuels from thin air. By directly extracting CO2 and H2O from atmosphere, and catalytically converting them into fuels via renewables, we will demonstrate the integration of the value chain. The outcomes of this Fellowship will improve Australia’s emission reduction potential in hard-to-abate industries. Field of research: 4004 - Chemical Engineering Australia must reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions to meet its goal to transition to net-zero by 2050. Direct air capture of CO2 is an innovative approach to supply carbon from the atmosphere for sustainable fuels and chemicals, producing a green source of carbon anywhere on earth. Conversion of CO2, however, needs an adequate supply of water as a hydrogen source. Water supplies can be challenging in Australia, the driest inhabited continent on earth, particularly in water-scarce environments such as remote communities. This project will develop a novel sorption technology to harvest both CO2 and water from the air through process and material innovations. Subsequent production of sustainable fuels and chemicals will also be demonstrated, with a focus on serving remote communities and industrial sites. Research findings will be communicated to relevant industries and user groups via demonstrations as well as media for industry and the public. The development of our technology has important benefits for Australia and the world. It will showcase how the world can reduce emissions in hard-to-abate sectors, including mineral processing, aviation, and maritime transport. This technology will provide commercial, economic, environmental, and social benefits to Australia through mitigating the impacts of climate change. It will show global leadership in responding to climate change and support Australia’s transition to net-zero.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2025 · 2025-01

Capacity building for nature-based coastal protection. This project aims to build capacity for implementation of nature-based solutions for coastal protection. The project expects to generate new knowledge on the suitability of shorelines for different designs of nature-based coastal protection. Expected outcomes of this project include new technical guidance that will inform management actions to increase resilience of built, natural and cultural assets to current and future coastal hazards. This should provide significant socio-economic and environmental benefits through improving Australia’s ability to manage coastal hazard risk sustainably. Field of research: 3103 - Ecology Erosion and inundation are major threats to Australia’s coastal infrastructure worth more than $226 billion, as well as coastal ecosystems and Indigenous cultural heritage. Sustainable solutions are needed to increase coastal resilience of assets at scale. This project will overcome key barriers (e.g., lack of technical guidance and expertise) to nature-based coastal protection by analysing the nature-based methods best suited for different assets and environments. Nature-based coastal protection integrates ecology and engineering to provide an adaptive solution that will benefit Australians environmentally, economically and culturally through: (1) a more cost-effective approach to increasing coastal resilience; (2) balancing coastal protection with ecosystem restoration; and (3) maintaining natural land-sea boundaries that support communities and culture. The technical guidance developed through this project will inform state and local decision makers to take actions to increase the resilience of built, natural and cultural assets against current and future coastal hazards. The work will be integrated into the state mapping portal and training on the outputs provided to end-users via workshops and a written guideline to support adoption. The work could be further replicated nationwide for coastal hazard risk management and adaptation, potentially transforming current standard practice.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2025 · 2025-01

30% Tree Canopy but How and Where? A Novel Urban-Forest Digital-Twin. The project aims to address the urgent need to increase urban tree coverage in Australian cities to mitigate climate impacts. With 100 councils declaring a climate emergency, innovative solutions are crucial to harness urban forests’ potential for carbon sequestration, water management, and cooling. This project will develop an urban-forest digital twin, integrating advanced analytics and modelling to help local governments calculate, coordinate, negotiate, communicate, and prioritise urban forest expansion. Action-research combined with speculative design will promote knowledge transfer and industry adoption. By optimising tree-planting, this project can transform landscapes, boosting climate resilience for healthier, sustainable cities. Field of research: 3301 - Architecture Increasingly frequent and extreme weather events, including catastrophic heat waves, have led to over 100 local governments across Australia declaring a ‘climate emergency’. Immediate action of substantially increasing urban tree canopy is needed, but local governments lack the methods, models, and tools to answer the deceptively simple question of ‘what trees, and where should they go?’. This project will address these urgent gaps by developing and industry-testing, novel urban-forest-focused digital-twin tools for integrated and effective green-infrastructure decisions. It will help local governments and professionals calculate, coordinate, negotiate, and prioritise opportunities for increasing canopy coverage. Expected insights from partner organisation-tested research will substantially contribute to the wider industry through detailed methods, metrics, frameworks, and toolkits shared via industry seminars, conferences, and organisation networks including Greenhouse Alliance Action groups at Local, State and Federal levels. The project will address this crucial national challenge by empowering decision-makers and designers to meet canopy cover targets, improve shade for vulnerable populations including children and older adults, provide comfortable conditions for active travel along with the associated environmental and health benefits, and enhance climate resilience of Australian cities.

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

Exploiting interactions between microbiota and T cells to improve... Category: Medical Research

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2025 · 2025-01

Unlocking Hydrogen Storage Potential in Australian Depleted Gas Reservoirs. Hydrogen (H2) is a key element of the world's energy transition. Underground hydrogen storage (UHS) in depleted gas reservoirs (DGR) can make a significant contribution to achieving the required storage capacity in Australia for a fully developed H2 industry (over 5 million tonnes). This project aims to generate new knowledge regarding the mechanical stability of DGRs and their caprock during UHS and identify environmental/safety risks in this poorly understood technology. Expected outcomes include a comprehensive geomechanical model and guidelines for risk-controlled UHS. These will offer a safe operational protocol for the industry and encourage investment in UHS projects, assisting Australia's transition to a renewable energy future. Field of research: 4019 - Resources Engineering and Extractive Metallurgy Hydrogen (H2) will play a key role in decarbonising the Australian economy. Meeting our future H2 demand requires over 5 million tonnes of storage capacity. This cannot be achieved without underground hydrogen storage, over 10 times cheaper than surface storage when handling such quantities. Depleted gas reservoirs are widely available in Australia offering the potential for storing H2 safely. Yet, the geomechanical hazards of these gas reservoirs are not understood. Hazards include strength degradation of storage-reservoir rock and seal (caprock) by geochemical interactions, associated multiple cracking mechanisms, fault reactivation, and other issues. This project will investigate these hazards and propose a safe operational protocol for Australian underground hydrogen storage projects as new guidelines. The research has economic, commercial, and environmental benefits to Australia. The government's Hydrogen Headstart program is targeted to generate over $50 billion by 2050 through H2 production for export and domestic use. The proposed safe operational protocol will be applied to Victoria's first underground hydrogen storage project, H2RESTORE, and presented as an Australian standard for broader use. Thus, the research will offer assurance and promote industrial and government investments in large-scale underground hydrogen storage projects, providing commercial opportunities. Environmentally, green hydrogen will support Australia's transition to net zero carbon by 2050.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2025 · 2025-01

Understanding the cell and molecular processes directing memory T cell fate. This proposal aims to define the key cellular processes driving effective T cell-mediated immunity. Immune protection is mediated by the formation of distinct T cell subsets, each serving specific roles. By leveraging advanced expertise, techniques, and multidisciplinary collaborations, this project will dissect the processes underlying the differentiation of these memory T cell subsets. The outcomes of this proposal will facilitate further discovery and innovation in T cell biology, and accelerate life science research in Australia. Moreover, since T cell biology is relevant to all vertebrates, the findings from this work may have far-reaching implications, benefiting the conservation of threatened species, biosecurity and agriculture. Field of research: 3204 - Immunology My research investigates how certain immune cells, called T cells, decide whether to become a circulating T cell which stay in the vasculature or take up long-term residence in tissues as tissue-resident memory T cells, which provide rapid, localized protection against infections that might reappear in those areas. This project addresses a critical research gap by investigating the detailed cellular and molecular mechanisms that direct T cell fate decisions. Through the development and utilisation of cutting-edge technologies, this project will dissect how these cellular processes contribute to memory T cell lineage choice. The insights from this research have wide-reaching implications, advancing our understanding of immune cell behaviour and potentially driving innovation in biotechnology and immunology. Through continued fundamental advances in our understanding of immune regulation, this project may also have potential to extend beyond cell biology and address other major challenges, including the agricultural control of emerging infectious diseases and improving the biosecurity of Australia. To extend the impact of my research beyond academia, I will promote research outcomes through public forums, lectures, and strategic collaborations with industry partners. All publications will be freely accessible through open access platforms and public repositories.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2025 · 2025-01

Balancing Autonomy and Control in Interactive Social Agent Design. The project aims to develop a comprehensive framework for designing AI-driven social agents that align with social roles and values. It will create innovative control mechanisms, enabling users to manage and adjust the behaviour of interactive social robots and avatars, as well as robust feedback systems that let users communicate preferences to ensure the agents’ actions are observable and aligned with expectations. By exploring agentic programming and social learning techniques, this research will allow AI agents to adapt to user preferences in real-time. This work will make social robotics technology safer, more adaptable, and accessible for diverse applications, including aged care, education and remote collaboration. Field of research: 4608 - Human-Centred Computing AI-driven social surrogates, such as social robots and agents, are increasingly integrated into daily life in sectors such as healthcare, education, and customer service. Despite their technological advancements, these agents often lack alignment with human social roles, values, and user preferences, which can erode trust in users. This project will establish a framework to design adaptable AI surrogates that balance autonomy with user control, empowering non-experts to adjust AI behaviours to reflect their expectations. Through innovative control mechanisms, feedback systems, and social learning, we aim to foster AI agents that respect user-defined boundaries and support a balanced, risk-aware interaction model. This project has many benefits for Australia. Economically, it positions Australia as a leader in the expanding global market for social agents, creating new business opportunities and attracting investment. Socially, it addresses accessibility needs, supports mental well-being by reducing isolation, and promotes inclusivity in remote and underserved communities. Environmentally, AI-enabled remote collaboration reduces carbon emissions through less travel. Project outcomes will be shared as open-source tools with user-friendly guides. Public engagement through events, media, and online platforms will enhance understanding and adoption of safe, human-aligned AI systems across Australian industries and communities.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2025 · 2025-01

Anticipating impacts and improving response to HPAI in Australia. The avian influenza panzootic has been catastrophic for wildlife and domestic animals, but has not yet arrived to our shores. This project is positioned shift HPAI preparedness and response from a reactionary to a proactive stance through evaluation and integration of state-of-the-art environmental surveillance approaches, revealing putative impacts of HPAI on Australian wild birds and identifying those which may play a role as virus movers is critical, and translating this data to the identification of high risk locations and periods for the poultry industry. HPAI is unlikely to be the only virus knocking on our door, and outcomes from this proposal are critical for us to prepare and respond to the next panzootic on the horizon. Field of research: 3107 - Microbiology Bird flu (HPAI) is causing a global panzootic (animal pandemic) which is having devastating impacts on animals. To date, Australia is the only continent free from the virus, with HPAI even spreading to Antarctica where the extent of spread is unknown due to poor surveillance. Despite the immediate threat of arrival in Australia, little action has been taken to address the potential impact of this virus on Australian wildlife, and to improve existing labour intensive, patchy surveillance. This project directly aligns with priority areas identified by national HPAI working groups. It addresses: 1) potential impact on wildlife, 2) revealing how the virus may spread, (3) improving surveillance through innovative approaches, and 4) anticipating pathogens of the future. This project will develop approaches to improve resource allocation and surveillance for wildlife and provide insight into HPAI dynamics in wild birds. These findings will directly benefit the Australian poultry sector through identification of high spillover risk windows and locations, as the fate of wildlife and poultry are intertwined. Outcomes of this project will be shared with national jurisdictional bodies and industry partners through well-established stakeholder forums. Outcomes will be shared with the general public through media and platforms such as The Conversation. Together, this proposal will inform nationally coordinated responses and future policy developments.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2025 · 2025-01

New Causal Foundations for Space and Time. The project aims to solve a philosophical problem arising from physics. Recent developments suggest space and time don’t exist at certain scales. This poses a serious conceptual challenge: scientific experiments usually happen in space and time and so when these are missing we have no idea what experimentation means. Drawing on methods from philosophy, the project will explore causation as a replacement for space and time in our conceptual framework for science. The expected outcome is a seed-bank of models that philosophers and scientists can use to study nature. Anticipated benefits include generating new knowledge in philosophy, strengthening international collaboration and enhancing interdisciplinary research capacity in Australia. Field of research: 5003 - Philosophy Despite a century of work, and a worldwide investment of billions, we still don’t know how gravity works at quantum scales. New experimental data is needed. However, this data must be gathered at scales where space and time don’t exist. That’s a problem: we currently have no way to make sense of experiments without fixed notions of space or time. This project aims to solve this problem by using philosophical theories of causation---theories of how one thing brings about another---to develop a new framework for science that captures a world without space or time. This framework will support scientists to make new progress in quantum gravity, which has the potential for long-term benefits in developing quantum technologies, anticipated to add $6.1 billion to Australia’s GDP by 2045 (National Quantum Strategy, 2023). Addressing this important problem will bolster Australia’s profile in philosophy of science, ensuring that Australian universities attract the best students to pursue cutting-edge research that will contribute to the economy and to Australia’s intellectual capacity. Popular science articles, media articles and broadcasting will make the research widely available for future use beyond the academy and provide cultural benefit by giving Australians a better understanding of how science works.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2025 · 2025-01

Informational Foundations of Monopoly Power in the Digital Age. This project aims to determine how digital information-sharing affects demand, pricing, competition, and welfare. Using the retail fuel industry as a real-world laboratory, this project expects to generate new knowledge on the informational foundations of monopoly power by combining unique large-scale, real-time datasets on firm and consumer behaviour, field experiments, and theoretical models. Expected outcomes include new economic frameworks for quantifying the competitive effects of digital information sharing. These frameworks should yield substantial economic and social benefits through new policy instruments to detect and disrupt anticompetitive conduct to ensure systemic competition – and not collusion – emerges in the digital age. Field of research: 3801 - Applied Economics Digital information sharing platforms are reshaping goods and services markets worldwide, presenting a double-edged sword for competition. They empower consumers to make informed decisions, which spurs competition between firms. However, they can also facilitate collusion. Australia is undertaking the largest competition policy reforms in 30 years to address these growing concerns. Yet, we lack evidence and an economic framework for understanding these platforms' competitive effects. Using the retail fuel industry as a real-world laboratory, this project will build such an evidence base and framework, combining unique datasets on consumer and firm behaviour with novel policy experiments and state-of-the-art economic models. Doing so will deliver twin benefits for competition policy: new data-driven methods to rapidly detect collusion and scalable technology-enabled policies that enable consumers to harness digital platforms in decision-making. To promote the adoption of this digitally evolved economic framework and these policies, the project will establish partnerships with Australian and international competition agencies. Enhancing policy will foster competition between firms, lowering prices in markets where digital platforms shape outcomes, such as healthcare, energy, food, and fuel. This will provide significant societal benefits, particularly for low-income groups, who derive more value from cost savings and face additional barriers to engaging with digital platforms.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2025 · 2025-01

Enhancing ethical design and use of data in child tracking apps. This project aims to enhance the ethical design and use of data in child tracking apps. It will employ innovative co-design research with children, and analyse family practices, public discourses, mobile platforms, developer perspectives, and the regulatory environment of children’s mobile tracking app technologies and services. Expected outcomes include recommendations for families about the benefits and risks of child tracking apps, ethical design guidelines for educators and app developers, and policy advice for regulating child tracking technologies and protecting children’s personal data. This will bring significant benefits to Australian families via improvements in the ethical design and data privacy of child tracking apps. Field of research: 4701 - Communication and Media Studies Children’s everyday lives are now routinely tracked through the widespread and daily use of mobile applications, or apps, designed to measure and manage childhood activities. As they measure their sleep, physical activity, location and movement, screen time and alertness, chores and spending, apps generate valuable data about the lives of children. Although this personal data collection is valued within families, it is also of societal concern for risks to children’s privacy, independence, safety, health and wellbeing. This project will work with children and families, app developers, and policy advisory organisations to understand the use of tracking app technologies. It will improve the ethical design of children’s apps and strengthen children’s personal data protections. The project will produce consumer safety resources for families, ethical design guidelines for educators and app developers, and policy resources on best practice for regulating child tracking technologies. Outcomes will be communicated outside academia through public engagement activities including news coverage, documentary materials, website information, public talks and a conference. Improvements to the design, education, and regulation of tracking apps for children will bring significant benefits to Australian families and the mobile app economy. Protecting children’s personal data will ultimately contribute to the digital health and wellbeing of Australian children.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2025 · 2025-01

Understanding the role of microscale fluid dynamics in biology. Water is vital for life, yet traditional experiments and theory in biology routinely overlook the fact that water tends to flow. Ubiquitous fluid flows disperse cells, mix chemicals, and influence the ecology of microbes which underpin entire ecosystem functioning, sometimes in seemingly paradoxical ways. This project aims to develop novel mathematical models and experimental tools for visualising, analysing and predicting microscopic fluid flows in biology. The expected outcomes include an improved capacity to predict and manage changes in coral reefs, elucidating the role of microscale flows in agriculture, and revealing novel strategies for controlling microbes in healthcare settings and biotechnological applications. Field of research: 4901 - Applied Mathematics Despite their minuscule size, microbes drive large scale processes such as carbon storage in the ocean and the health of plants. Traditional approaches in biology routinely treat microbes as if they are stationary, yet moving fluids are the medium through which biological matter interacts. Microscale fluid flows fundamentally alter the behaviour of microbes, transporting and concentrating them into preferred locations, mixing and redistributing food sources, and shaping chemical gradients that organisms use for navigation. A better understanding of these ubiquitous flows is integral to solving multidisciplinary global challenges, from resilience of corals to disease transmission. This project will reveal how microbes move, grow, and communicate in flow, providing novel quantitative tools required to accurately predict their behaviour in systems ranging from the open ocean to soils, coral reefs and the human gut microbiome. The synergistic combination of mathematical modelling and advanced microscopy developed in this project will be communicated broadly through academic journals, public lectures, press releases and public engagement, and will be directly transferrable to other model systems by researchers in Australia and worldwide. This will have major economic and environmental benefits to Australia, guiding principles for maintaining and restoring healthy reefs, influencing agricultural yields, and actively controlling microbial behaviour in healthcare settings.

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

Metallic glass nanomaterials: New theory and syntheses Category: Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (HASS) Research

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2025 · 2025-01

Enabling Sustainable Fuel Production from Thin Air. To help transition Australia to a net-zero economy, we need innovative solutions to reduce CO2 emissions. Direct air capture (DAC) of CO2 is a key technology for producing carbon-neutral products. However, to turn captured CO2 into valuable fuels, we also need a reliable source of hydrogen. This project aims to develop a technology that can produce carbon-neutral fuels directly from the air. By capturing CO2 and water vapor from the atmosphere and using renewable energy to convert them into fuels, we will demonstrate how these technologies can work together. The results of this project will enhance Australia’s ability to reduce emissions, particularly in industries that are difficult to decarbonize. Field of research: 4004 - Chemical Engineering Australia is committed to reach net-zero CO2 emissions by 2050. This requires reducing our reliance on fossil fuels, particularly in sectors like aviation, shipping, and heavy industry that are difficult to decarbonize. Direct air capture of CO2 is an innovative approach to provide carbon sources to the synthesis of sustainable fuels and chemicals. Working with the industry partners, Dotz Nano and Dimer Technologies, this project aims to capture CO2 and water directly from the air, providing a green source of fuel. It will develop a novel process to harvest both CO2 and water from the atmosphere, and use advanced manufacturing techniques to enable scalable, efficient energy supply anywhere on earth. This technology bypasses traditional, resource-intensive methods and can operate in remote, off-grid, and/or water-scarce environments. By producing sustainable fuels on-site, this technology has the potential to decarbonize hard-to-abate sectors, reduce Australia’s emissions, and support energy security. It will deliver economic, environmental, and commercial benefits to Australia, helping Australia become a global leader in emissions reduction. Findings with commercial values will be patented. The results will be shared to stakeholder sectors, companies with industrial sites and energy companies servicing remote communities to promote adoption of the technology. The public will be informed via articles and social media.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2025 · 2025-01

Science for monitoring biodiversity to meet Australia’s policy needs. This project aims to provide the first comprehensive evaluation of Australia’s monitoring capacity to meet national and state needs for biodiversity policy. Working with federal and state environmental agencies, the project will undertake a horizon scan of data and knowledge needs, evaluate current data and indicators, and translate findings into tools and guidelines for governments and across sectors. Expected outcomes will include a roadmap to fit-for-purpose indicators and data. Benefits will include alignment of local, state and national monitoring, maximising synergies and cost-effectiveness, and helping Australia meet its global commitments to biodiversity conservation and reporting. Field of research: 4104 - Environmental Management Loss of nature threatens biodiversity, human wellbeing and the economy. The UN’s Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) sets out an ambitious plan to reverse biodiversity loss. Australia has committed to achieving the GBF’s goals and targets, along with other environmental policies at federal and state levels. However, these are monitored using different data and indicators, giving an inconsistent, inefficient and inadequate picture of biodiversity. This project will provide the first comprehensive evaluation of Australia’s biodiversity monitoring capacity, testing how we meet international, national and state needs for priority environmental policies and targets, including reporting on the GBF. It will conduct a horizon scan of data and knowledge needs, evaluate current data and indicators, and translate findings into concrete tools and guidelines. Key outcomes will include a roadmap to fit-for-purpose indicators and data to meet Australia’s policy needs. The research will enable alignment of local, state and national data collection, maximising synergies and cost-effectiveness, providing not just environmental but also economic benefits for Australia as it meets its global commitments and improves biodiversity outcomes. The project’s outcomes will be shared with governments and policymakers through partnerships with Commonwealth and state environmental agencies.

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

Enhancing Cardiovascular Risk Prediction in Patients undergoing Liver... Category: Medical Research

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

Advancing Precision Medicine for Lung Cancer Category: Medical Research

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2025 · 2025-01

ARC Training Centre for Transformative Health Sensing Technologies. This Centre focuses on health sensing technologies (HST), such as wearables and smart implants collecting continuous data from human bodies. It aims to transform HST into trusted, validated, and data-compatible medical-grade devices to provide a measurement-based understanding of individual health. Also, it will train a new generation of entrepreneurial researchers to solve ongoing challenges in the Australian HST industry. HST has a large and increasing global market. With huge potential to transform healthcare as we know it, and extend into all health-related areas such as aged care, sports, defence and workplace safety, it will provide many economic and social benefits to Australia. Field of research: 4003 - Biomedical Engineering Health sensing technologies (HST), such as wearables and smart implants, collect continuous digital information from human bodies. The HST grand vision is to provide trusted information used to create a digital twin for individuals, which would provide important insights into their future health and enhance real-world abilities. Yet, the technological, ethical, privacy, legal and societal implications of continuous data monitoring are major barriers. Australia has world-leading R&D in Medtech and sensors, but the HST industry is in urgent need of talent, infrastructure and interdisciplinary expertise in these broad research areas to overcome these challenges. The Centre will create robust and reliable sensors and algorithms to process long-term and real-time continuous HST data that can accurately predict health status while ensuring data security and privacy. With our partners, the Centre will train a new generation of HST engineers with industry-ready skills. Findings will be shared widely to the public through media, seminars, and demonstrations. Shorter term, our industry partners will promote fast adoption of new products providing commercial benefits and growing Australian companies into global competitors. Longer term, releasing the full potential of HSTs will transform healthcare, aged care, workplace safety, sports management, and national security, benefitting Australia socially, culturally and economically.

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

Saving Sight in Uveitis: The cornea as a novel window to the ocular... Category: Medical Research