UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2022 · 2022-01

Learning to think and talk about events in the APY lands. This project aims to investigate differences between languages in how events are described. Do these linguistic differences relate to differences in how people think? And how does the relationship between the way people think and talk about events develop throughout childhood? The project focuses on the Indigenous languages Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara with a comparison to English. It expects to significantly improve our understanding of event cognition as well as how children learn Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara. The project also intends to provide valuable materials for use in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) lands to assist in maintaining their traditional languages while also improving access to English. Field of research: 2004 - Linguistics This project contributes to Australia’s national interest in the areas of cultural heritage, education, and wellbeing. It will support the maintenance and use of Indigenous languages which has been connected with increased wellbeing and strong identity among Indigenous Australians, especially for young people. Research partnerships within the project will provide mentoring, training and employment for emerging researchers in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) lands to aid them in ensuring their languages remain strong for the next generation. The project will significantly improve understandings of how Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara think and talk about events in stories, with explicit comparisons to English. Story-based learning and assessment are major components in education and resources will be developed for English, Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara. These will aid initiatives to close the gap in education outcomes, especially within the SA Department for Education’s target to move towards a bilingual education model as a key focus of their 2019-2029 Aboriginal Education Strategy.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2022 · 2022-01

A new 3D data model to integrate underground land information in Australia. This project aims to develop a novel 3D digital approach to managing subterranean ownership spaces by referencing these spaces to the physical reality of the underground environment. This project expects to generate new knowledge in the area of underground land administration using new 3D data modelling techniques. Expected outcomes of this project include a new underground 3D data model to improve management and communication of physical location and ownership extent of Australia’s underground assets. This should provide significant benefits such as protecting underground assets, decreasing the risk of damaging utilities, avoiding unnecessary disruptions and delays when planning, constructing and managing underground infrastructure. Field of research: 0909 - Geomatic Engineering With rapid urbanisation necessitating optimal land use both above and below ground, Australia, and particularly Victoria, has invested in significant development of underground urban spaces, with projects such as West Gate Tunnel, the Victorian Desalination Project, and M4-M5 Link Tunnels. An integrated 3D digital environment that can curate and communicate the physical location and legal ownership of underground assets will provide significant benefits by reducing legal disputes (e.g. registration; boundary disputes), economic damages (e.g. project delay; utility relocation) and social issues (e.g. ownership rights) when planning, constructing and managing underground assets. This project’s proposed 3D underground data model presents a significant shift from current fragmented 2D representations and the opportunity to modernise land administration in Australia.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2022 · 2022-01

Technology, sustainability, and social equity through Science Fiction. This project aims to investigate how youth create science fictions in order to think critically and innovatively about issues related to sustainability, technology, and social equity. The project expects to foster youth voice in mining communities and metropolitan communities in three commonwealth countries (Australia, Canada, and Wales) in collaboration with teachers and experts in the fields of English, arts, and STEM. Expected outcomes include promoting youth wellbeing and creativity and pedagogical collaboration across the arts and STEM to generate co-designed creative solutions for technological, environmental, and social equity futures. Field of research: 1302 - Curriculum and Pedagogy This project is expected to benefit Australia socially, culturally and economically. Through addressing the pressing and highly publicised issues of youth anxiety regarding sustainability, technologies, and social equity, this project will contribute to stronger social and cultural school communities in Australia in collaboration with communities in Canada and Wales through fostering youth voice and well-being through creative writing. Through foregrounding youth voice in collaboration with teachers in English, arts, and STEM as well as international experts in the field, the project will benefit pedagogical practice in schools and the wider public through generating youth co-designed creative solutions for technological, environmental, and social equity futures.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2022 · 2022-01

Engineering T cells to promote peripheral immunity. Tissue-resident memory T cells (TRM) are key for immune protection against infections and cancer. This has led to much interest in understanding how these immune cells develop, although elucidation of molecules that regulate TRM are still scarce. This project aims to (i) identify genetic drivers of TRM in peripheral organs and (ii) modulate TRM generation utilising state-of-the-art genetic engineering techniques. Expected outcomes include generating new knowledge that will contribute to the development of novel therapeutics against infectious disease and cancer, together with the benefit of promoting national and international collaboration with the ultimate goal of improving health. Field of research: 1107 - Immunology This research will significantly contribute to Australia’s national interest by providing social and commercial benefits. This project aims to generate advances in fundamental T cell biology knowledge, informing how to regulate peripheral immunity. Findings arising from this proposal will shine new light on mechanisms involved in the establishment of tissue-resident memory T cells, crucial for protection against infections and cancer. This proposal will leverage Australia’s leadership in immunology research, bringing state-of-the-art techniques to modulate the immune system for enhancing protection against diseases, which is essential to improve individual and community health. Identifying new pathways to regulate immunity will facilitate the development of new vaccines and immunotherapies, generating patents, attracting commercial partners and fostering the development of commercial pharmaceutical products. These outcomes will benefit Australian health, industries and the economy.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2022 · 2022-01

Decoding the evolution of killer T cell immunity across human lifetime. The immune system is a potent weapon for protection against pathogens. T cells have a central role as their receptors monitor the body for threats. The thymus (organ) educates receptors to discriminate between healthy and infected cells. Receptor diversity and T cell strength change throughout human life. This project aims to unravel how T cells gain and lose optimal receptors and strength. The aims are to understand 1) The role of thymic education in diversifying receptors 2) Whether gradual loss of thymic education affects receptor diversity 3) The molecular mechanisms underlying T cell strength. The project is essential for understanding how optimal T cell immunity is formed, critical if we wish to harness this to improve healthy aging. Field of research: 1107 - Immunology This project contributes to Australia’s national interest through its potential for social benefits, as this project will generate abundant fundamental knowledge on how T cell immunity changes throughout human life, which currently represents a missing link in our understanding of aging immunity. This knowledge will provide new insights into protective versus detrimental T cell functionality. Australia has a world-renowned reputation for excellence in immunology research, and we are in an unmatched position to leverage this rich history, and critical mass of expertise to shed light onto this elusive biology. It is anticipated that this project will make major headway for the internationally competitive field of T cell immunology, resulting in high impact publications. Thus, this project directly aligns with the ARC Medical Research Policy and ARC discovery objectives, as it will provide fundamental knowledge, enhance Australia’s international research standing, maintain our research at an international arena, foster collaborations, all leading to economic, health and commercial benefits later down the track.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2022 · 2022-01

Interrogating the adaptive potential of skeletal muscle. Disruptions to muscle oxidative capacity and growth signalling underpin atrophy and dysfunction with ageing, which impacts on an individual’s quality of life. These biological processes are thought to be mutually exclusive and compete during muscle adaptation. This project aims to define how these processes regulate the extent of muscle adaptation, and how modifying these attributes influence functional capacity in the context of ageing. This project will provide fundamental new knowledge in understanding how modifying muscle attributes influence successful ageing. This knowledge will improve resilience, productivity, and wellbeing of all Australians, with implications for reducing societal and economic burden. Field of research: 0601 - Biochemistry and Cell Biology Skeletal muscle has a remarkable capacity to adapt to imposed demands. The adaptive potential of muscle is diminished with ageing, and disruptions to muscle oxidative capacity and growth signalling underpin age-related atrophy and dysfunction. Unfortunately, there is a knowledge gap in our basic understanding of how muscle oxidative capacity and growth processes regulate muscle adaptation, as they are thought to be mutually exclusive and competitive. This proposal will investigate how these cellular processes regulate the extent of muscle adaptation, and how modifying these attributes influence functional capacity in the context of ageing. This project will build basic knowledge of how muscle attributes can be modified to influence successful ageing. Outcomes from this research include knowledge gain, training of emerging researchers in cutting-edge research, enhancing Australia’s international research standing, and providing societal and economic benefits through translation of knowledge gains into improving resilience, productivity, and wellbeing of all Australians, with implications for healthy ageing.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2022 · 2022-01

A long-lasting interface for communicating with the brain. This project aims to address the most urgent challenges in developing the next generation of implantable devices for communicating with the brain. Using a new type of carbon-based electrode, along with light therapy, this project expects to build innovative technologies that can greatly enhance the functionality and longevity of these devices. Expected outcomes include a novel tool that can be implemented to obtain detailed insights into neural circuits, advancing our understanding of neural function and pioneering feedback and closed-loop neuroscience. This project should provide significant benefits in neuroscience research and the neural interface industry, both of which have the ultimate goal to unlock the mysteries of the brain. Field of research: 0903 - Biomedical Engineering This project has the potential to benefit Australia from three aspects. First, it provides novel strategies to improve the functionality and longevity of implantable microelectrodes that directly communicate with the nervous system. Such microelectrodes are critical tools in neuroscience research for studying the function of neural circuits. Therefore, this technologies developed in this project will advance our understanding of brain function, provide a pathway to advance Australian neuroscience research and enhance the research output in Australia. Second, the successful outcomes from this research will lead to Australian Intellectual Property as the results have the strong potential for commercialisation and may attract industrial collaboration and investment. This research will strengthen Australia in the industry of neural interfacing technologies. Last, this proposed project is strategically aligned with advanced manufacturing, one of Australia’s current research priorities, as it develops high-performance materials for neural interfacing.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2022 · 2022-01

Measuring social media speed and the acceleration of informational crisis. The project aims to investigate the role that time plays in the production of misinformation on social media. The speed of digital communication is frequently implicated in destabilising the reasoned discussion upon which democracy depends. However, the temporal study of the internet is hampered by a contradiction in time theory between mathematical-scientific time and intuitive-social time. This project advances a theoretical solution to this problem and aims to measure the production of time online, developing digital methods to fulfil this purpose. A better understanding of the relationship between time and communication could support strategies to counter misinformation and promote better informed and more consensual discourse. Field of research: 2001 - Communication and Media Studies The Covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated the production of misinformation, conspiracy and polarisation online, increasing the risk of dislocation, uncertainty and extremism among the Australian public. There is evidence that the speed of digital communication is a critical factor in the destabilisation of information. This project examines the role that social media software plays in constructing the conditions for informational crisis, and in particular its influence on the temporality of information production. It will deliver a digital methods infrastructure to assess and understand communication across major social media platforms in Australia. This infrastructure will help government communication specialists and policy makers to better identify and respond to informational trends that may threaten social cohesion and public debate. Additionally, the project will deliver a digital interface allowing young Australians to visualise how social media use shapes their temporal experience. The interface will be an important addition to Melbourne Science Gallery’s education program.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2022 · 2022-01

The influence of conscious state on cortical processing and perception. This project aims to understand the brain circuits that link consciousness with sensory perception. By using state-of-the-art imaging and electrical recording techniques, I will determine how different types of cells in the brain interact to transform sensory information into perception, measured under different states of conscious awareness. The project will apply the rigorous approaches of neuroscience to solving the puzzle of consciousness. The findings will have major implications for our future ability to treat brain disorders and build artificially intelligent machines. Field of research: 1701 - Psychology This project will enhance Australia’s research capacity and technological innovation by investigating how changes in consciousness affect the way the brain processes sensory information. The outcomes from this research will substantially shift our current understanding about how the brain produces perception, with impacts across a broad range of sciences. First, this project will improve our understanding of the neural circuitry that is linked to a number of development disorders, such as Autism Spectrum Disorder and Attention Deficit Disorder. Second, this project uses advance computational modelling which will enhance artificial intelligence and neuromorphic engineering. It will provide new biologically inspired framework by mimicking the physical architecture and design principles of brain circuits revealed by this project.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2022 · 2022-01

Green Water is Good: Control and Design of Low-Carbon Water Pumping Systems. This project aims to develop new theoretical tools for the control and design of low-carbon water pumping systems powered by renewable energy. One expected outcome is to establish advanced control frameworks that significantly reduce operational cost for water pumping systems and meanwhile produce the least carbon emissions. The control frameworks will integrate stochastic uncertainties of solar cloud cover, electricity price and water demand. The control frameworks will be incorporated into a two-stage constrained optimisation as a codesign strategy for future low-carbon water pumping systems. This project will gain significant economic, commercial and environmental benefits to the Australian community. Field of research: 0906 - Electrical and Electronic Engineering Australia is a dry country in general. Total water taken for consumptive use was 15100 GL mainly from the surface water sources in 2018-2019, which was 10% lower than the previous year. The dry conditions and low water availability resulted in a 24% decrease in the volume of water allocations traded compared to 2017-2018 but a tripling of average allocation prices due to strong demand for the limited available water. Apart from the costs of water sources, the operating cost for water supply also makes up a significant portion of water prices. More energy use for water supply, especially for water pumping, may cause climate change. This project will contribute to the optimal operation and design for low-carbon water pumping systems. The developed control and design strategies can help the Australian water industry to find a good trade-off between operating cost minimisation and low carbon emissions, which will potentially gain significant economic, commercial and environmental benefits.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2022 · 2022-01

Digital authoritarian practices and the 21st century autocrat. This project aims to examine the emerging digital practices of authoritarian regimes, generating new knowledge on authoritarianism through qualitative methods that are underused in cybersecurity research. It proposes to determine whether such ‘digital authoritarianism’ is a new and distinct phenomenon, or rather the transposition of offline authoritarian practices into the online space. Expected outcomes include enhanced understanding of technology’s impacts on autocratic agendas and generating data that supports effective national security policy. This should create benefits such as (1) furthering knowledge on authoritarianism and (2) supporting evidence-based policies to respond to the authoritarian cyber threat. Field of research: 1606 - Political Science Cyber security is a top national priority for Australia, with our 2020 Cyber Security Strategy warning that a successful attack on critical infrastructure ‘could have significant ramifications for the broader economy and Australian way of life.’ To date, government agencies, businesses and universities in Australia have been targeted in costly attacks linked to authoritarian regimes. This project is of significant national interest. By examining how autocrats are weaponising technology against domestic and foreign targets—a phenomenon known as digital authoritarianism—the project will support Australia’s cyber security strategy. It will create a comprehensive database of worldwide authoritarian cyber tactics and undertake detailed regime case studies. The project will benefit Australia by facilitating greater understanding of digital authoritarianism, and provide an evidence base to support Australian policy responses to authoritarian cyber threats.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2022 · 2022-01

Making Anomaly Detection Interpretable & Actionable in Hostile Environments. Anomaly detection plays a vital role in cyber security to identify threat patterns hidden within large volumes of data. However, current approaches experience high false alarm rates in noisy, heterogeneous and adversarial environments. This project aims to identify and interpret anomalies that can disrupt system performance by introducing the concept of actionable anomalies. It will significantly advance the effectiveness of anomaly detection by developing algorithms that distil local and global structures of data to characterise actionable anomalies and explain their outlying aspects. Project outcomes will enhance the security, trustworthiness and fault-tolerance of critical systems, contributing to international efforts in cyber security. Field of research: 0801 - Artificial Intelligence and Image Processing This project directly contributes to the Australian government’s Science and Research Priority on Cyber Security by advancing the effectiveness of anomaly detection and developing distributed algorithms that can accurately identify cyber intrusions, better understand their impact, resist malicious attempts, and interpret the outcomes. The tools developed in this project will be foundational resources for responding to actionable anomalies, critical decision making and contributing to the emerging field of security analytics. The project outcomes will have broad application in network intrusion and fault detection, contributing to (inter)national efforts in cyber security. This project will also train highly skilled graduates with expertise in machine learning for cyber security who can then contribute their skills to continue to advance the field in Australia. Robust and reliable anomaly detection will also benefit a wide range of critical systems, helping to safeguard banking, health, energy, transport and urban infrastructure systems.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2022 · 2022-01

Constructing Communities on Country: Building the Olkola Knowledge Centre. This project researches new ways of building on remote Indigenous homelands that contribute to culturally, environmentally and economically sustainable livelihoods on Country. This will be done by conducting the first construction and use analysis of a ‘Cultural Knowledge Centre’ in partnership with the Olkola People on their Cape York homeland. Combining participatory design and appropriate technology theories, expected project outcomes include enhanced understandings of how sustainable material technologies and self-building practices can be harnessed to deliver meaningful local economic outcomes. Significant research benefits include effective and economically sustainable ways building can support Indigenous peoples to live on Country. Field of research: 1202 - Building Due to their extreme remoteness, including limited access to markets, restrictive land tenure and high construction costs, existing building practices on Indigenous homelands provide limited support for the formation and operation of sustainable livelihoods. In collaboration with Olkola Traditional Owners, this project will define and enhance understandings of an alternative homeland building typology, a Cultural Knowledge Centre. By researching new self-building methods and building material technologies, the collaboration will support Olkola’s vision to show and share their cultural artefacts, expand cultural tourism activities, improve the land management research and capacity and support Olkola people to return to living on country. In an era when building investment on homelands is in doubt, this innovative collaboration illustrates an alternative that synthesises technical, practical and traditional cultural knowledge that is beneficial for both Olkola and remote Indigenous peoples across Australia who are looking for ways to build culturally meaningful and sustainable livelihoods on their Country.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2022 · 2022-01

Engineering ion specificity for water electrolysis. This project aims to understand how foreign ions in water can be manipulated to selectively control the activity and selectivity of electrocatalytic water splitting and explore the potential if seawater or low-grade-water can be used as water feed to mitigate the economical barrier for large-scale hydrogen production through electrolysis. The new knowledge gained will be helpful for future design of more cost-effective electrolyser systems to underpin Australia’s emerging hydrogen economy. Field of research: 0912 - Materials Engineering This project aims to leverage the effect of ion specificity at the electrode/electrolyte interface to advance the fundamental knowledge and benefit the engineering applications. This is a highly novel approach to steer the activity and selectivity of electrocatalytic reactions compared with traditional electrode-centred research. A targeted application is to help solve the incompatibility between direct seawater electrolysis and current water electrolysis technologies for economical production of clean and renewable hydrogen. The Australia Energy Council released Australia’s National Hydrogen Strategy in November 2019, setting a vision for a clean, innovative, safe and competitive hydrogen industry that benefits all Australians. This project also strongly aligns with the Australia’s Science and Research Priority of Energy, by contributing to low emission energy production from fossil fuels and other sources and to providing new clean energy sources and storage technologies that are efficient, cost-effective and reliable.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2022 · 2022-01

Elucidating the genesis of MAIT cell-mediated immunity. T cells develop in the thymus and proceed to survey our body probing molecules that signal if anything is abnormal. A specialised subset of T cells, mucosal associated invariant T (MAIT) cells are crucial in detecting microbial molecules and infection, yet their numbers vary widely between individuals. A key problem is that the factors controlling their development and function are poorly understood. This proposal aims to decode this critical issue in MAIT cell biology, using innovative tools to investigate the molecular basis underpinning their development in the thymus. This work will provide vital, fundamental discoveries into how MAIT cells are produced and regulated, as we ultimately wish to harness MAIT cells to improve human health. Field of research: 1107 - Immunology Australia has a history of pioneering excellence in immunology research, built upon studies that decode missing links in our understanding of immune biology. This project will generate new knowledge towards understanding how the body generates a specialised immune cell type [MAIT] which represents a poorly understood mechanism of immunity. In better understanding this process and cell-type that is present in everyone, it will lay the foundation for further studies, internationally and nationally, and continue to build Australia’s leadership in this critical area. Research findings will contribute to improved understandings of human health and immunity, bringing significant social, wellbeing and economic benefits for the Australian community. The research also has the potential for important applications and the generation of novel intellectual property. The research project is well-positioned to develop commercially viable opportunities to build cellular or molecular products, and patent applications that will foster Australian research industry’s capacity and growth.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2022 · 2022-01

Teichmueller dynamics and the birational geometry of moduli space. The project aims to leverage recent cutting-edge advances in the area of Teichmueller dynamics to answer longstanding open questions from algebraic geometry on the moduli space of curves, an object with deep connections to many diverse areas of science including quantum gravity and theoretical physics. The project expects to generate new theories and increased understanding in both areas through the innovation of relating these perspectives, as well as uncovering new connections between the viewpoints. Further benefits should include building international collaborations and the contribution of this diverse perspective to the growing algebraic geometry community in Australia and to mathematics and related scientific fields more generally. Field of research: 0101 - Pure Mathematics Developments in pure mathematics have long been shown to have cascading benefits to all other sciences, from Riemannian geometry, crucial to the functioning of modern GPS systems, to representations of groups, central to quantum mechanics and the functioning of iPhones, computers, and all electronic devices we today take for granted. The acceleration of the benefits of pure research in recent decades only further evidences that the presence of world leading mathematics research and researchers in Australia directly benefits all scientific research inAustralia. The results will have consequences in the understanding of the moduli space of curves, an object with complex connections across many areas of science including the flow of water, quantum gravity and the origins of the universe. Further, the innovative new techniques developed will increase the future capacity to address the current problems in this area, while the perspective and results developed in the project are expected to have broader applications increasing understanding across number theory, cryptography, and mathematical physics.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2022 · 2022-01

Understanding nutritional interactions for targeted microbiome manipulation. This project aims to identify how microbial communities, known as microbiomes, can be effectively manipulated to the benefit of their host. Microbiome manipulation has been in the spotlight as a potential solution to maintain or improve the health of several hosts, from threatened coral species to livestock and humans, but the development of industry-scale strategies has been slow. This project proposes to chart the nutritional interactions among microorganisms and to identify cascade effects of microbiome manipulation. This will generate fundamental knowledge on the biological processes underlying community stability and malleability, which will ultimately help engineering optimised microbiomes. Field of research: 0605 - Microbiology The rich community of microorganisms associated with animals provide untapped resources that can benefit human health, the productivity of food animals, and the resilience of Australia’s unique biodiversity. This project will generate fundamental knowledge to inform the design of microbiome manipulation strategies while strengthening Australia’s international position in microbiome research. By mapping and modelling microbial food-webs, it will be possible to forecast cascade effects of microbiome manipulation and therefore design more effective microbiome optimisation strategies. The potential to engineer microbial communities to better cope with our quickly changing environment and lifestyle is expected to have significant economic and environmental benefits.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2022 · 2022-01

Resolving ocean convection: new knowledge for a changing Antarctica. This project aims to improve our understanding of the role of convection on the Antarctic margins using a high-resolution, cutting-edge numerical approach. Convection is an important, but poorly understood oceanic process, which diverts heat away from the melting Antarctic ice shelves by transporting cold and salty water from the ocean surface to depth. The project outcomes will be new knowledge of the physics from novel numerical models and theory, supported by insights from observations and model parameterisations. This timely research will improve prediction of sea level rise due to a changing Antarctica and enhance our ability to adapt to future climate scenarios, providing significant environmental and health benefits to Australians. Field of research: 0404 - Geophysics Convection is a vital, but poorly understood, ocean process. This project seeks to understand convection on the Antarctic continental shelf because it affects the melting of the ice margins, which is strongly linked to sea level rise. The project will enhance the interpretation of ocean observations and revolutionise climate models by improving representation of these critical convective processes. International collaborations with prominent institutions will help this project build a track record for, and strategically position, Australia to continue advancing climate science. Accurate predictions of climate change and sea level rise is critical for Australia’s national security and ability to adapt to future climate scenarios. By improving the prediction of sea level rise, this project is very timely. It will provide significant and cost-effective environmental and economic benefits to the Australian community, now and into the future.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2022 · 2022-01

Practical Automated Software Bug Fixing via Syntactic and Semantic Analyses. This proposal aims to advance the practical adoption of automated software bug repair, which has recently been adopted by industry, e.g., Facebook. It will produce novel methods that use mining software repositories, program analysis, and human-guided search to help automated repair to scale and be accurate. Expected outcomes include a publicly available automated bug repair framework. This project will help the software industry deliver to users high quality software with improved reliability and safety, and increase education quality for students learning to code via automated feedback generation. Field of research: 0803 - Computer Software Software bugs cause considerable economic and social disruption, with one estimate that in 2017 alone they cost 1.7 trillion US dollars and affected 3.7 billion lives. This project aims to advance research on automated software bug repair, and in doing so promote greater practical adoption of bug repair solutions. Almost every aspect of our lives nowadays is operated by software – public transportation, telephones, cars. This project aims to deliver high software quality and ensure that our environment is safe and secure. Advances in the automation of bug repair will also create opportunities for further innovation in software development. Findings from this research have the potential for wide-ranging and significant national benefits, from improved safeguarding of sensitive data to reducing current costs and delays associated with software repair. Overall, the project aims to bring Australia to the frontier of research on automated bug fixing and for it to be adopted world-wide.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2022 · 2022-01

Mapping resources, demands and constraints to critical metal supplies. This project aims to assess the mineral resources of five metals needed for renewable energy transitions and map the potential impacts of their mining. It uses novel geochemical proxy models to build highly detailed resource databases and demonstrates a world-first use of cloud-computing power to assess worldwide satellite data of mine areas. Expected outcomes include in-depth knowledge of geological endowments and global-scale patterns of mining emerging to meet changing metal demands, plus the discovery of geological and socio-environmental constraints to future supplies. This will enhance government and industry capacities for de-risking metal supply chains, and facilitate more sophisticated land use planning of mining regions. Field of research: 0909 - Geomatic Engineering Australian manufacturing makes use of virtually the whole periodic table, and while Australia hosts a variety of mineral resources, it lacks domestic refining capacity for many by-products used in high-tech applications. For these metals, it relies heavily on overseas imports that are at higher risk of supply disruption. In 2019, Australia released its first Critical Minerals Strategy, in which it highlighted a vision of becoming a “world leader in the exploration, extraction, production and processing of critical minerals”. Achieving this vision and unlocking Australia's resource potential will require advanced knowledge of the enrichment of critical metals in various ore types, the potential impacts of their mining, and an understanding of how resources and production capacities distribute between nations. This project assesses these aspects in unprecedented detail, allowing Australian importers, exporters and policymakers to access targeted and comprehensive data on the environmental, social and economic risks of critical metal supply chains, and to minimise their exposure in response.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2022 · 2022-01

Advanced Chemical Protein Synthesis and Applications. This project aims to develop enhanced methods for the chemical assembly of peptides, oligonucleotides and proteins. This will lead to the creation of new knowledge in chemistry and structural biology, and underpin advances in the drug discovery process, pharmaceutical manufacture and biocatalysis. Once complete, it is expected that lower cost, greener processes for manufacturing drugs such as Enfuvirtide (for HIV) will ensue. A new generation of hyper-stable, environmentally friendly catalysts will also be developed. This could enable domestic production of fine chemicals and essential medicines, and thus create high-tech jobs in a more diversified, resilient economy. Ultimately, it could lead to improved outcomes in human health. Field of research: 0304 - Medicinal and Biomolecular Chemistry This project aims to develop enhanced methods for the chemical synthesis of peptides, oligonucleotides and proteins such as receptors and enzymes. The intellectual property that may be generated could underpin the establishment of several technology startups - for example, one based on the low-cost manufacture of pharmaceuticals and another on enzyme development for green chemistry. This will create high-tech jobs, generate export income and increase diversification of the Australian economy, making it much more resilient. The environmental benefits could be enormous too, with a significant reduction in toxic solvent and reagent waste generated from various industrial processes. New research tools will also be developed, which will lead to greater insights into the biological sciences and thus enhance Australia’s research capability. Finally, this technology could bolster the domestic manufacture of essential medicines. This will ensure a secure supply for all Australians, particularly during turbulent global events such as the COVID-19 pandemic, whereby international supply chains are disrupted.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2022 · 2022-01

A Brain-Behaviour Model of Decision-Making Under Distraction. People make thousands of decisions each day, such as judging whether it is safe to cross the street at a busy intersection. This project aims to investigate how decision-making is impacted when a person is temporarily distracted, for example when receiving a text message alert from one’s phone. By combining recordings of brain activity with cutting-edge mathematical modelling techniques, this project expects to develop a novel theoretical framework that captures the effects of distraction on brain networks that underpin human decision-making performance. This knowledge should be highly beneficial for developing informed policies that reduce effects of distraction and preserve decision-making capacity in safety critical situations. Field of research: 1702 - Cognitive Sciences We rely on our ability to make rapid and accurate judgements based on visual information in our environment. For example, when driving through a busy intersection we must be able to precisely judge the speeds and locations of surrounding cars to avoid collision and injury. In these situations, we often encounter distracting events (such as text message alerts from our phone) which make us slower and more error-prone in our decision-making. This project aims to provide a detailed understanding of how our decision-making is impacted by a distracting event, and how this is reflected across distributed networks in the brain. This knowledge can be used as the basis for developing better informed technologies and policies that help preserve the decision-making capacity of Australians in safety critical situations, such as when driving. Reducing distraction-related decision errors has the potential to confer health and economic benefits to Australians through improved safety and productivity.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2022 · 2022-01

Real-time control with safety guarantees: theory and applications . Modern network control systems, such as transport systems with self-driving cars, are becoming bigger, more complex and human-involved. The systems are usually equipped with intelligent devices, such as numerous sensing, fast processors and communication components. To adapt to this change and to benefit from these new intelligent devices, efficient algorithms for control and management need to be developed. This project aims to develop novel optimisation-based control techniques, as well as efficient optimisation algorithms, for future control systems with an emphasis on distributed implementations, taking safety and real-time constraints such as limited computation and communication resources into consideration. Field of research: 0906 - Electrical and Electronic Engineering This project will benefit both academia and industry. On the one hand, the project is expected to deliver novel theory in safe control subject to real-time constraints, e.g., limited computational time and communication resources. On the other hand, this project aims to develop practical optimisation algorithms for real-time control and prediction, with an emphasis on efficient distributed implementations. Future control systems, such as transport systems with self-driving cars and power grids with renewables, will bring new opportunities, but also face challenges such as scalability and safety. This project will provide a fundamental tool for advanced control and management of these real-world applications. The benefits to Australia from this research cannot be overstated. Large scale control networks are already integrated into our modern world and their importance is continually growing. More active devices are joining ever-expanding networks. Thus, the benefits of developing efficient and safe control techniques in these networks are huge and will improve our finances, society, health and environment.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2022 · 2022-01

Is SPINT1 a key regulator of placental development? . The placenta is an essential organ required for reproduction in placental species. This project aims to elucidate the fundamental biology of SPINT1 in placental development. It will generate new knowledge about whether the spatial and temporal expression of SPINT1 is conserved across several species; cow, sheep, lizard, mouse and human. It will also define the molecular mechanisms by which SPINT1 directs formation, maturation and expansion of the placental exchange interface which is critical for offspring survival. The project will increase understanding of placental development, enhance collaboration and research knowhow, and promote future applied projects in all species that reproduce via placental support. Field of research: 0608 - Zoology This project seeks to understand the function of a key protein, SPINT1, involved in the development of the placenta and the placenta is critical to healthy fetal development in placental animals. The project will provide a knowledge base that could be widely applied to improve reproductive outcomes in any placental animal. Improved understanding of this serves the Australian national interest, particularly the potential of these findings to aid livestock production and conservation breeding programs for threatened species and therefore have significant commercial, economic and environmental benefits for Australia. This project will also provide outstanding training opportunities, whereby we will mentor future leaders within the area of placental biology.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2022 · 2022-01

Unravelling the rules on particle assembly into superstructures. Nanoparticle superstructures are assemblies of particles that exhibit high surface-to-volume ratio, periodicity and large packing density useful for drug delivery, photonics, sensing and energy storage. To realise the potential of these materials requires a predicative understanding of how interparticle forces control superstructure formation. This project will create a one-of-its-kind multiscale simulation framework to tailor the assembly of anisotropic engineered nanoparticles into superstructures in liquids. Nanoparticle assembly simulation will be validated with a novel particle tracking microscopy in solution-based studies. This will enable the design and large-scale production of nanomaterials with controlled properties and functions. Field of research: 0306 - Physical Chemistry (Incl. Structural) Simple nanoparticles are prevalent in Australian industries and in commercial products but often lack the benefit of engineered nanoparticles that are evolving today. Nanoparticle superstructures are networks of nanoparticles that exhibit remarkable properties making them attractive for drug delivery, photonics, sensing and energy storage. Despite their superior properties, however, it remains difficult to harness their potential in commercial applications due to current restrictions in scalability, stability and control of their assembly and integration into devices. The project will provide a new framework to understand the underlying mechanisms that rule the assembly of nanoparticles into mesoscale superstructures. The outcomes will revolutionise the engineering of nanostructured materials manufactured in Australia and will open new avenues for their implementation into functional devices.