UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2020 · 2020-01

Co-design and dynamic mission optimisation of hypersonic flight vehicles. This project aims to deliver fundamental knowledge by integrating the modelling and control with the design of next generation hypersonic platforms. In an era where Australia's national security reliance on geographic isolation and support from allied forces are being challenged, the research outcomes of this project will play an important role in understanding the capabilities of hypersonic systems. The project will also have significant spillover benefits into other complex system domains, where computational tools can be used to aid in design leading to high embedded-IP products for Australian industry. Furthermore, the proposal encompasses a strong research training aspect, with graduates exposed to leading edge industry and academia. Field of research: 0906 - Electrical and Electronic Engineering There are future operational challenges of defending Australia in an era where long-range precision strike capabilities that are now appearing in our region will have eroded Australia's security derived from geography. Consequently, the 2016 Australian Defence White Paper lists hypersonics as one of the key technological advances for our region. BAE Systems have designated this as a domain of strategic importance internally and are devoting significant effort to research and development in this domain. This proposal will assist BAE Systems in developing key competencies and tools for design and control of next-generation hypersonic vehicles and train the future workforce. The program will also develop fundamental insights into the contributing disciplines of control systems, optimisation and fluid dynamics. These have application beyond the hypersonic domain to the broader sector of advanced manufacturing, since the design of complex systems is becoming more heavily reliant on simulation tools to reduce prototyping effort and control systems are expected to account for variability in manufacturing or use.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2020 · 2020-01

Resilient and adaptable urban landscapes: low input woody meadows. Cities around the world are investing hundreds of millions of dollars in urban green spaces. This project aims to improve the quality of low input public landscapes and make our cities more liveable. Typical low maintenance plantings have low diversity, visual appeal and function. This project expects to develop a novel low-cost and resilient approach to urban greening by utilising Australian shrublands as templates for woody meadows. Through interdisciplinary research and collaborations with eight Partner Organisations, the expected outcomes include knowledge and skill sharing for widespread adoption of resilient, management-friendly woody meadows to enhance and expand urban green spaces in Australia and around the world. Field of research: 1201 - Architecture By improving the appearance and function of public landscapes with novel, low-cost and resilient woody meadow plantings this project provides many economic, environmental and social benefits to the Australian community. These plantings will be installed along road and rail infrastructure and in parks and reserves and contribute to improving biodiversity, cooling cities, reducing stormwater runoff and increasing nature connectedness and physical activity. The Partner Organisations have an important role in shaping urban landscapes and this project will help them to build landscapes which have greater diversity and aesthetic appeal, with reduced maintenance and implementation costs. The diversity of Partner Organisations ensures implementation of woody meadows across many sites to demonstrate their value, applicability and success. Project outcomes will be translated in an ‘installation and maintenance guide’ to ensure implementation beyond these Partner Organisations into the future. Therefore, this research proposal provides on-going value to the Australian community beyond the 4-year project.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2020 · 2020-01

Contemporary Australian Comics 1980 – 2020: A New History. This project aims to document, preserve and investigate a new history of Australian comics and graphic novels created 1980 to 2020. This period represents a significant shift in the thematic content and material production of comics. In tracing the development of technologies and communities, this project expects to generate new knowledge about narrative innovations comics use to reflect diverse national identities and cultures in Australian society. By consolidating and providing public access to a wealth of contemporary Australian comics through a website and public programs, this project should feed the future of Australian comics industry and scholarship, providing significant benefit to Australian artists, readers, and the public. Field of research: 1904 - Performing Arts and Creative Writing The project will maximise social and cultural benefits to Australia by consolidating our national contribution to an arts medium for a global audience. The project will expand and diversify our national collection and acquisition strategies. The project will promote comics and graphic novels to the nation’s primary government advisory board for Arts funding. Building a sustainable and beautifully designed website to consolidate a picture of contemporary Australian comics will ensure the project's dissemination and outcomes extend well beyond the research sector. The project will benefit Australian artists, by increasing commercial viability of emerging and established comics creators, and laying the groundwork for the artists of the future. The project will also benefit the Australian reading public, by showcasing a medium that is both uniquely loved and uniquely overlooked. In Australian comics, a global audience will find a new way of looking at Australian life from 1980 to 2020.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2020 · 2020-01

Performance based assessment of building cladding against hailstorms. Hailstorms cause billions of dollars of damage in Australia and hailstorm events are increasing in frequency with climate change. Robust cladding to resist extreme weather events is imperative for new and existing building stock. This project will develop technology to accurately assess the performance of aluminium cladding, glass facades and skylights under severe hailstorm events. The research outcomes will enable cost-effective design of robust cladding solutions and the evaluation of the performance of existing cladding. This will benefit asset managers, homeowners, the insurance industry and the building and construction industry, and help save billions of dollars of economic loss. Field of research: 0905 - Civil Engineering Averting widespread damage to cladding and glazing on buildings caused by hailstorm will help save billions of dollars in economic loss. The Australian cladding and window manufacturing industries will benefit from access to better testing services for severe hailstorms, increased export opportunities for better performing products and gaining a competitive advantage in the global market. Australia’s $190B building construction industry will benefit from access to cost-effective solutions and a methodology to assess the plethora of products constantly entering the market with unverified performance. Building asset owners will benefit from lower cost maintenance due to more robust cladding and glazing and the ability to verify the performance of existing installations. The burden of hailstorm damage on Australia’s insurance industry will be significantly lowered through better performing products.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2020 · 2020-01

Child health and developmental inequities: Evidence for precision policy. The project aims to use cutting edge analytic approaches applied to existing data to identify how policy interventions related to parents’ mental health, preschool programs, and the built environment can be optimised to reduce inequities in children’s mental, academic, and physical health outcomes. The project will be informed by our partners and advisers from across government portfolios and service delivery, ensuring that the evidence generated has contemporary policy relevance. The project expects to identify clear and actionable policy pathways to reduce child inequities in Australia, which can benefit decision makers by helping them to direct limited public funds towards intervention opportunities that will have the greatest impact. Field of research: 1117 - Public Health and Health Services Inequities in children’s health and development refer to differential outcomes that are unjust and preventable, and are driven by the circumstances in which children live, learn, and develop. This project aims to generate evidence that can inform the development of more effective and precise policies to reducing child inequities, particularly those relating to children’s mental, academic and physical development. The potential benefits of reducing child inequities through existing policy mechanisms are significant. Estimates from Australia suggest that eliminating child inequities could achieve a 70% reduction in poor cognitive, physical and social-emotional outcomes, with international studies suggesting a potential 20% contribution to GDP growth over the next 60 years. Addressing child inequities could therefore generate substantial savings in health, education and welfare budgets, as well as raise the productivity of society at large.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2020 · 2020-01

Intelligent bioprocessing for next-generation nutritional yeast extracts. This project aims to provide new, science-based levers for optimising the industrial production of tailormade yeast extracts for food applications. Advanced biochemical and engineering methods will be used to develop new knowledge of the links between yeast growth conditions, cell biochemistry, processing and the flavour and texture profiles of yeast hydrolysates. This understanding will allow the properties of yeast hydrolysates to be accurately tuned during yeast production and processing. The resulting process improvements and innovations will increase the efficiency and quality of current yeast extract products and allow the development of new food products. Field of research: 0908 - Food Sciences Advanced food manufacturing is of growing importance to Australia’s economy and there is an increasing demand for sustainably produced food ingredients and alternative proteins. Yeast biomass has untapped potential as a source of high-quality protein and other nutritional food ingredients. Bega, an Australian company, is a leading producer of yeast extract products that recognises the need to secure the supply of yeast biomass to meet increasing future demands. This project aims to support current and future yeast-based foods, by developing a core understanding of the biochemistry of the yeast production and processing. This will enable improved production of current yeast extract products and the development of new products for expansion into new markets. Australia has an established reputation as a producer of quality food, and close ties and proximity to massive and expanding markets in Asia. The outcomes of this project are expected to provide a technological boost that is required to take advantage of the Australia’s strength as food producing nation.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2020 · 2020-01

Multi-Modal Dictionary Learning for Smart City Operation and Management. This Project aims to provide new digital asset management tools for city councils to improve city services by utilising new sensing and automated learning technologies for recognising, tracking and auditing of assets. Currently, there are no digital tools available to handle these services. This project proposes new multi-modal sensing and mapping of city asset techniques by building new multi-modal dictionary learning procedures. The new framework will recognise different conditions of city assets in real-time to make decisions. Expected outcomes of this Project include integration and easy access of assets with unique digital identities to help city councils, governments, and navigation services for real-time asset monitoring. Field of research: 0801 - Artificial Intelligence and Image Processing Australia’s gross replacement value of assets is $438 billion, of which $47 billion value of assets are in poor or in very poor condition. Managing city assets (such as traffic signs, parking signs) is becoming difficult because of rapid development of cities and most cities lack a complete database of assets. No automated methods exist to integrate and track each asset. Currently councils deploy personnel to verify the asset every few weeks and update their database. The current practice of managing assets are prohibitively expensive due to personnel cost and time. This project will develop new tools to facilitate automated digitization and auditing of city assets. The outcomes would automate asset auditing in urban areas (cities), reduce time in auditing, reduce cost of auditing and eliminate subjective error. This will be the world’s first automated asset auditing technology. This project contributes to an area of national concern: modelling and regulation of urban design, sensor technologies, real time data and spatial analysis (under Transport priority).

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2020 · 2020-01

Mapping the Political Ecology of the Edible Birds’ Nests Trade in Indonesia. This study examines the origins and impacts of the rapidly emerging edible birds’ nests (EBN) trade for rural livelihoods and ecologies in Southeast Asia. A high-value Chinese delicacy, the EBN trade has surged across rural Indonesia and beyond. In partnership with the WWF and Tropenbos, our pioneering study investigates how rural producers negotiate the uneven social, economic and environmental influences of the EBN commodity chain in the threatened Heart of Borneo, Indonesia, and the major urban trading centres of Jakarta, Singapore, and Hong Kong. The project offers novel insights into the trade’s sustainability across rural and urban regions of Asia and informs policy for poverty reduction and environmental management in the region. Field of research: 1604 - Human Geography Across both rural and urban Indonesia, the production and trade of edible birds' nests (EBN) represents an increasingly lucrative economic activity. Linked to booming culinary and pharmaceutical demand from middle- and upper-class consumers across Asia, commercial EBNs are now a $1.6 billion industry, with Indonesia holding an 80% share. As Australia’s closest, most populous neighbour, Indonesia’s intensifying EBN trade introduces new agrarian opportunities and challenges—from poverty reduction, migration and financial flows—that impact food supply chains in, and remittances flows to, major Australian cities with unknown social, economic and environmental impacts. Our study enhances knowledge and policy design on the EBN regulatory regime and transnational connections between Indonesia and Australia, and overall outcomes for livelihood security, environmental sustainability and Australian donor aid in the region. To communicate results, we develop stakeholder workshops, policy briefs and social media tools targeting government, civil society, traders, and farmers.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2020 · 2020-01

RAINBOW - RAdIo Networks Based On machine learning for situation aWareness. This project aims to develop software-defined and cognitive radio networks (SDR) to detect adversarial communications and achieve situation awareness on radio frequency (RF) spectrum. The project will generate novel SDR architectures and new attack-resistant detection algorithms through innovative approaches combining machine learning and game theory. Expected outcomes include a strategic alliance between the University of Melbourne and the Northrop Grumman Corporation. Among significant benefits, the project will improve cybersecurity of RF spectrum as a national asset, help protect critical infrastructure relying on wireless networks such as telecommunications and defence, and build skills in cybersecurity and Artificial Intelligence. Field of research: 1005 - Communications Technologies The project will create a strategic alliance between the University of Melbourne and the leading global security company Northrop Grumman Corporation (NGC), which aims to increase access to university research with an emphasis on developing R&D partnerships with Australia. Collaboration with NGC will provide direct benefits to Australian defence and communications sectors through novel products and solutions. The machine learning research undertaken at the host organisation in Australia will contribute to local know-how and train multiple Australian researchers within the strategically important field of Artificial Intelligence (AI). High quality research results will be openly published in conferences and journals. Research outcomes will play an important role in securing AI methods and wireless networks such as 5G, which will be widely used in the future, against adversarial attacks. Hence, the project contributes significantly to the cybersecurity priority area. Situation awareness in radio spectrum will help protecting a number of critical infrastructure and industry sectors.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2020 · 2020-01

New anti-parasitic drugs for a global veterinary market. This project aims to establish an advanced, industry-linked pipeline for the development of new drugs against resilient infectious agents (parasites) that cause serious diseases in billions of animals worldwide. The research expects to discover new ways of killing parasites that survive in their host animal, despite being under severe attack by the host immune system. The resultant shift in fundamental understanding will lead to innovative technologies or products to ameliorate the burden of parasites in livestock animals. Expected socioeconomic benefits include commercial products for end-users and lifting Australia’s scientific knowledge base, reputation in biotechnology, livestock production and investment in translational research. Field of research: 1002 - Environmental Biotechnology Parasitic diseases of animals cause economic losses of tens of millions of dollars annually to farmers and the livestock industries in this country alone, and hundreds of millions of dollars worldwide. The benefits and impact of this project to Australia include creating a new scientific knowledge-base about parasitic diseases for biotechnological translation; capturing IP to develop commercial products (new treatments and vaccines) of major relevance to industry and end-users; increasing the profitability of livestock animal production; reducing drug resistance risk and improving the sustainability of agriculture, particularly in regional and rural communities; and increasing the quality and number of highly skilled life scientists, and providing them with unique employment opportunities.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2020 · 2020-01

Women in Local Government: Understanding their Political Trajectories. This project aims to investigate the chronic under representation of women in Australian politics through a local government lens. It expects to generate new knowledge about barriers to female political representation, their political performance and pathways to higher tiers of elected office. By following men and women councillors across an election cycle, this research seeks to robustly compare and measure women's experiences of local politics to develop a new framework to map and address obstacles preventing political equity. Expected outcomes include theoretical advances and a 'best practice' guide for achieving parity.This should provide significant public benefits by advancing female participation across all levels of governments. Field of research: 1606 - Political Science This project directly aligns with Australia's national interest priority to develop healthy communities, thus providing social, cultural and economic benefits. Female politicians are more likely to support policies for families, education and healthcare and are more conservative in their spending, mandating fiscal responsibility over budget deficits. Yet, Australia lags behind many OECD countries in its female representation and which has declined dramatically since 1999. Local governments are an important entry point for women into higher political offices. Local government officials hold less power, are more rural and garner less media attention and thus are overlooked as an important area of study. This project will be the first to comprehensively investigate women's experiences representing local governments to develop key strategies for local governments to support female representatives and for state and federal governments to strengthen their pipelines.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2020 · 2020-01

The effect of non-homogeneous roughness on full-scale drag predictions. Partnering with AkzoNobel, one of the world’s leading suppliers of anti-fouling marine coatings, this project will deliver new tools for predicting the drag penalty on ships fouled by the settlement of marine organisms on the hull. All available predictions assume a homogeneous distribution of roughness. Yet we know biofouling is always patchy, hence prediction methods need an upgrade. Making a compelling business case to ship operators is contingent on such predictions, where the cost of anti-fouling solutions is weighed against that of continued operation with a rough hull. The novel tools developed here will therefore lead to increased ship efficiency by empowering ship operators to optimise hull cleaning and repainting schedules. Field of research: 0915 - Interdisciplinary Engineering Australia is unusually reliant on long-haul transportation with shipping contributing substantially to Australia’s energy usage. Most fuel consumed by a ship is expended to overcome drag, which increases greatly when ship hulls are roughened due to biofouling. Globally, this performance penalty is estimated to cost $10 bn p.a. Additionally, government commits over $50m p.a. to address biosecurity risks. Invasive species harbored by international ships is a known serious risk that is not easily mitigated without significant cost to ship operators. The voluntary decision to clean a ship is based on economic impact and these decisions are hampered by a lack of information on hull surface condition and the resulting drag penalty. Partnering with AkzoNobel, a supplier of marine anti-fouling coatings, this project will exploit state-of-the-art experiments, fundamental insights and industry data, to develop tools to accurately predict the drag penalty for patchy (heterogeneous) hull roughness. This will allow ship operators to reduce fuel costs and assist regulatory bodies in improving international regulation.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2020 · 2020-01

The new digital governance of welfare to work. This project aims to analyse the implementation of a 'digital first' employment services system, its effects on frontline services and governance, and its potential for policy learning. It expects to generate new knowledge on how digitalisation changes interactions between jobseekers, providers, employers and the government, by working with our industry partners in a collaborative innovation lab. Expected outcomes of this project include a theoretically informed, and practically tested, model of how digitalisation can promote service design and policy innovation that benefits jobseekers and employers. This should provide significant benefits for welfare system design, service outcomes, and policy learning nationally and internationally. Field of research: 1605 - Policy and Administration This project will make a significant contribution to maximising social and economic participation. Australia’s publicly-funded employment services system is highly regarded internationally for its efficiency, but the system has struggled to provide effective support to disadvantaged jobseekers with complex needs. Levels of employer engagement with job services are also very low. This research will identify the many ways in which digitalisation is likely to affect the targeting of support to jobseekers, as well as employers, in Australia. It will draw on insights from international experience to advance our understanding of how policy learning can be incorporated into Australia's future system, providing potential benefits for governments, welfare service providers, employers, and disadvantaged jobseekers. It will also produce much needed information on how more Australians might be better assisted into greater social and economic participation through these services. The project's findings on how governance and service design can best support jobseekers, will also suggest how policy might be improved.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2020 · 2020-01

Advanced plant breeding and food manufacturing for healthier bread. This project aims to generate bread containing high amounts of biologically available iron through targeted manipulation of plant-derived phytonutrients at several points along the wheat-to-bread supply chain. The project expects to generate new knowledge for developing healthier bread and address consumer demands for value-added food products. Anticipated outcomes are novel plant breeding and food manufacturing techniques that enhance the nutritional composition of wheat grain and bread making products, resulting in higher-value agricultural commodities and breads. The project should benefit bread retailers and crop growers involved in Australia’s $4.7 billion bread market and reduce the environmental impacts of bread production. Field of research: 0607 - Plant Biology Approximately 11 million Australian grocery buyers purchase bread each week and spend on average $90 million between them. Supermarkets currently account for two-thirds of the bread market while one-third is split between specialty bread shops, milk bars and other stores. Intense competition in the industry requires continuous innovation by bread-making businesses to meet evolving consumer preferences for quality and to anticipate emerging trends. Bread is currently experiencing a surge in popularity thanks to new bread options conferring nutrition and wellness benefits such as low glycemic index, high protein and low fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides and polyols (Low FODMAP). This research focuses on increasing the fraction of bread iron that can be stored or utilized for physiological function in the human body (i.e. bioavailable iron). Iron deficiency is the most common nutritional deficiency in Australia and affects over one million people, primarily young women and children. Strong interest in iron bioavailable bread is expected in national and international bread markets.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2020 · 2020-01

Managing at the Margins: Women Making it Work in Precarious Times. This project aims to investigate the economic, social and emotional impacts of precarious work on women. Focusing on the challenges that arise from juggling precarious work with care responsibilities and/or demands from the social support system, the project identifies the strategies women have to manage these demands, and the impacts these demands have on everyday lives across different life stages. By combining otherwise separate bodies of literature with innovative quantitative and qualitative data, the project seeks to generate new knowledge about the impacts of precarious work on women and families. This knowledge is expected to inform policies and services to improve women’s lives and promote economic inclusion and social cohesion. Field of research: 1608 - Sociology This project contributes new knowledge that can help alleviate and prevent negative impacts of the rise of new forms of work in Australia. Through an explicit focus on women the project addresses issues that are critical to not only labour market policies, but also family and social policies. While increasing women’s labour market participation is a national priority and carries great opportunities for women, the rise of precarious forms of work presents specific challenges especially to those with care responsibilities. Identifying which strategies and resources these women draw on in their day-to-day lives to ‘make it work’ when juggling precarious work, care responsibilities and/or demands from the social support system can inform policies to better underpin such strategies. At the same time, shedding light on the economic, social and emotional impacts of this juggling will provide new knowledge enabling service providers and NGOs who support women in precarious positions to better tailor their activities. The partnership with key organisations ensures that project findings will reach diverse audiences.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2020 · 2020-01

Effectiveness of Antimicrobial Stewardship in Australian Veterinary Clinics. Antimicrobial resistance threatens Australians' health, Australia's animal health and its reputation for providing safe and reliable food. Overuse of antimicrobials is a driver of antimicrobial resistance. This project aims to address the overuse of antimicrobials in animals by implementing antimicrobial stewardship in veterinary practices and developing methods of antimicrobial use surveillance. It is the first comprehensive study to address and assess inappropriate use of antimicrobials in veterinary medicine- and is expected to improve quality use of antimicrobials by veterinarians and prolong the efficacy of antimicrobials in veterinary medicine. This presents a critical step in reducing community exposure to antimicrobial resistance. Field of research: 0707 - Veterinary Sciences Antimicrobial resistance is predicted to kill 10,000,000 people globally each year and cost the global economy $140 trillion annually by 2050- representing a pronounced economic and social threat to the Australian community. According to Animal Medicines Australia, 62% of Australian households have a pet and research has shown that antimicrobial resistance in companion animals, housed in the family environment, poses a risk to in-contact persons. Inappropriate antimicrobial use accelerates the development of antimicrobial resistance. This project will improve antimicrobial use by veterinarians and thereby improve prevention and management of antimicrobial resistance in animals and people. This will reduce the risk of the emergence of resistance in companion animals and therefore exposure of animal owners to resistance. In addition, the results of the project can guide nationwide implementation of veterinary antimicrobial stewardship programs, as is required by the Australian Government's National Action Plan (2015) to tackle antimicrobial resistant infections.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2020 · 2020-01

Incentivising On Country Aboriginal Employment: Anangu Futures. . This project aims to investigate the changing face of cultural tourism in central Australia and examine pathways towards sustainable aboriginal employment in and around Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park. The project is significant because it brings together Aboriginal community members, industry and government stakeholders to identify micro-business opportunities, youth training initiatives, better relations across cultural divides, and the economic value of Aboriginal knowledge. Outcomes include a model for sustainable Aboriginal employment in remote and very remote contexts, and the development of culturally relevant and sustainable governing guidelines for regional investment. Benefits include more sustainable jobs for Aboriginal people. Field of research: 1699 - Other Studies In Human Society This project is in Australia’s commercial, environmental, social and cultural national interest through providing a mutually beneficial best practice model. This project proposes a model for sustainable Aboriginal employment in remote and very remote contexts. Unemployment rates for Aboriginal people living in these contexts remains unacceptably high and seemingly entrenched. Addressing Aboriginal unemployment in remote areas remains a wicked problem that continues to vex Australian governments, NGOs and Aboriginal community organisations who seek to increase Aboriginal employment rates through sustainable employment in the real economy. Until the issue of remote Aboriginal unemployment is successfully addressed, the social, economic and well-being issues that negatively impact remote Aboriginal communities including poverty, suicide, family violence and child neglect will not be ameliorated. This project develops models of sustainable employment for Aboriginal people in remote areas in empowering ways removing the need for Australian government income support and welfare interventions.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2020 · 2020-01

ARC Research Hub for Innovative Nitrogen Fertilisers and Inhibitors. This Hub aims to transform agriculture by delivering a new class of nitrogen (N) fertilisers and inhibitors designed to stem the 50-80% losses to the environment in current products. It is intended to generate new knowledge and valuable intellectual property in controlled released and coated N fertiliser products using a novel co-design process involving representatives of the whole value chain from product design through to validation and adoption. The project estimates possible 20% gains in efficiency of N use, delivering large costs savings, improved productivity, increased profitability and decreased environmental impacts, helping the Australian food and agribusiness sector to reach its 2030 target of $100B value added. Field of research: 0305 - Organic Chemistry Food and agribusiness is critical to Australia’s economy, with annual gross value added of $67.2B, $41.2B in exports and employing 552,500 Australians. Primary producers are facing rising costs and declining prices. Increased efficiency and productivity are essential to international competitiveness and profitability. The current generation of nitrogen (N) fertilisers lose 50-80% of N to the environment causing economic loss and negative environmental impacts. This Hub seeks to transform the efficiency of N use in intensive agricultural production delivering possible 20% gains based on leading controlled release and coating technology. The benefits to the Australian economy and community are substantial: -Enabling primary producers to be more efficient leading to growth in the sector and jobs -Increasing farm profitability with positive flow on effects throughout the economy, particularly in rural and regional communities -Reducing the impact of N on ecosystems, biodiversity and reducing greenhouse gas emissions -Creating a competitive advantage for Australia’s fertiliser industry through superior products.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2020 · 2020-01

Real groups and the Langlands program. This program aims to address deep longstanding questions about real groups, algebraic objects which describe the basic symmetries occurring in nature. The study of these basic symmetries is central in all areas of mathematics and they come up in many applications. The expected outcomes include solving a central 50 year old problem of unitarity as well as making major progress in the Langlands program, a grand unification scheme of mathematics. The benefits include raising Australia's international research profile, building a large network of international collaboration with top institutions in the world, and increasing capacity in number theory and algebraic geometry, which are playing an ever more important role in technology. Field of research: 0101 - Pure Mathematics "This Laureate project will make a fundamental contribution to a grand unification scheme of mathematics known as the Langlands program, creating a blueprint for future research in advanced mathematics. National capacity in deep mathematics will play a growing role in modern technologies. These include secure communications and lie algebras that underpin modern quantum field theory used to understand electronic transport and semiconductor technology. Hence this project is well aligned with the national interest. The Langlands program has attracted brilliant minds in mathematics, including top Australian researchers working overseas. The Laureate program will raise our international reputation, establishing Australia as a major centre for this field of research. It will attract and retain future leaders who might otherwise be lost to the US or Europe. It will ensure Australia's future position in the region as the undisputed leader in mathematics, and a desirable destination for international students in technology disciplines."

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2020 · 2020-01

Manufacturing diamond membranes for quantum industries. Diamond materials are ideal for quantum technologies and are leading the charge in the new wave of real-world quantum industries. The aim of this project is to develop a reliable source of quantum-active diamond membranes to enable the development of new industries. This would be significant for technologies including quantum telecommunication, medical imaging and nano-scale quantum sensing. Of particular interest, expected outcomes include the development of materials for advanced medical imaging technologies. Successful development in any of these industries has the potential to greatly benefit society through improved healthcare, the development of new high-tech industries and advanced secure computing. Field of research: 0204 - Condensed Matter Physics The research aims to enable the growth of nascent quantum industries in Australia through linkage to existing international companies. This would be achieved by providing the right quantum-enabled diamond materials for each application, enabling a growing list of quantum-based technology proposals. Successful developments would provide economic opportunities through the development of new high-tech (quantum) industries, such as quantum communication, quantum computation (through quantum repeater networks) and quantum sensing. There is also significant opportunity for increases in social well-being through new medical imaging technologies, for example through quantum enhancement of contrast agents in MRI imaging. Finally the research would help train the next generation of materials scientists and quantum engineers for future advanced manufacturing industries in Australia.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2020 · 2020-01

ARC Training Centre in Optimisation Technologies, Integrated Methodologies, and Applications (OPTIMA). OPTIMA addresses industry’s urgent need for decision-making tools for global competitiveness: reducing lead times, and financial and environmental costs, while improving efficiency, quality, and agility. Despite strong expertise in academia, industry is yet to fully benefit from optimisation technology due to its high barrier to entry. Connecting industry partners with world-leading interdisciplinary researchers and talented students, OPTIMA will advance an industry-ready optimisation toolkit, while training a new generation of industry practitioners and over 120 young researchers, vanguarding a highly skilled workforce of change agents for transformation of the advanced manufacturing, energy resources, and critical infrastructure sectors. Field of research: 0102 - Applied Mathematics To strengthen its global competitiveness, Australian industry urgently needs to improve how complex decisions are made in relation to intersecting drivers of cost, quality, efficiency and sustainability: reports from the sector call for solutions to optimize these decision processes. The OPTIMA ARC Training Centre will partner with Australian companies to develop an industry-ready optimisation toolkit that will tackle complex decision making and enhance market position. Our industry partners in advanced manufacturing, energy resources, and infrastructure sectors seek to do more with less, balancing environmental concerns and commercial goals: e.g. efficient energy generation, managing water supply, efficient and sustainable manufacturing. This initiative will have applications to other sectors – defence, space, transport. Crucially, it will train a highly-skilled future workforce and address a critical skills shortage that currently represents an estimated $315 billion missed opportunity for the Australian economy.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2020 · 2020-01

Solvability and universality in stochastic processes. Exactly solvable stochastic processes are an important area of mathematical research, with cross-disciplinary links to quantum physics, quantum algebras and probability theory. These processes can be used to model a variety of real-world phenomena such as crystal growth and polymers in random media. This project aims to significantly expand our knowledge of exactly solvable stochastic processes by extending them to new algebraic frameworks. Among the outcomes of the project, we expect to identify new probabilistic structures which go beyond the famous Gaussian universality class. These theoretical developments allow better prediction of randomly growing interfaces, which encompass a range of phenomena from tumour growth to forest fires. Field of research: 0105 - Mathematical Physics Predicting the behaviour of large systems of randomly interacting particles and growing interfaces are notoriously difficult problems in mathematical physics. While challenging, these problems are both ubiquitous in the world and fundamental to it. For example, traffic flow can be well approximated by one-dimensional systems of drifting particles, and a host of physical phenomena, from tumour growth to forest fires, can be modelled by stochastic interfaces. This project aims to deliver powerful new techniques for performing computations in random systems of these types, and to predict new types of physical phenomena that are still awaiting discovery in nature. The fundamental research in this proposal is at the forefront of international progress in mathematics. It will significantly strengthen Australian involvement in the very topical field of Integrable Probability, and provide a valuable training opportunity for higher-degree postgraduate students. A significant outcome of this project will be reinforced collaborative relationships with leading US and Japan institutions.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2020 · 2020-01

Parameter estimation for genetic time-series data: Theory and methods. This project aims to develop a novel computational framework for solving parameter estimation problems in evolutionary modelling by leveraging genetic time-series data measured by Next-Generation Sequencing technologies. It will foster international collaboration, cutting across disciplines. By introducing new techniques from signal processing and tools from random matrix theory commonly employed for mobile wireless communications, it seeks to design scalable inference methods for resolving mutational fitness effects from genetic time-series measurements of complex evolving populations. This would enable new understanding of complex adaptive systems, such as pathogen evolution, host-immune dynamics, and acquisition of drug resistance. Field of research: 0906 - Electrical and Electronic Engineering The parameter estimation framework to be developed in this project could, in future work, enable a better understanding of the evolution of cancers, infectious diseases and other pathogens, in humans, livestock, and other species. This knowledge may be harnessed to inform novel intervention strategies; for example, to design rational methods for vaccine development. This could potentially reap large economic benefits by contributing to the billion-dollar vaccine industry. The results could also lead to significant social impact locally. For example, they may potentially be applied to genetic time-series data being collected from Hepatitis-C infected individuals in the NSW prison system, as part of a program being conducted at UNSW. Such a study could inform better prevention/treatment options.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2020 · 2020-01

Hearing the future: supporting Indigenous linguistic diversity. This project aims to find new ways to support the extraordinary diversity of Indigenous languages spoken in Australia. In Arnhem Land the ability to understand but not speak a language is widespread and plays a crucial role supporting linguistic diversity. This ability, receptive multilingualism, will be examined using an innovative interdisciplinary methodology, generating new understandings about the relationship between multilingualism and linguistic diversity that are crucial to tackling the global decline in Indigenous languages. The findings will help communities, educators and policymakers develop new strategies to support Australia’s Indigenous languages which are vital to Indigenous health and wellbeing. Field of research: 2004 - Linguistics This project contributes to Australia’s national interest in the areas of health and wellbeing, training and employment and cultural heritage. It will support the use of Indigenous languages that is correlated with higher levels of wellbeing among Indigenous Australians, especially young people because connection to language and culture support a strong Indigenous identity. The research partnerships built with three remote Indigenous communities within this project include mentoring, training and employment to provide an emerging generation of Indigenous researchers access to the skills they need to make sure that their languages are spoken by the next generation. The strategies for language maintenance identified in the project will be useful to communities around Australia who are working to maintain their heritage languages. The project findings will help to ensure that Indigenous languages continue to be heard in the future, preserving the cultural heritage of all Australians.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2020 · 2020-01

Safeguarding Australia against vector-borne disease bio-incursions. Traditional diagnostic tests limited by their accuracy and ability to detect more than a few pathogens at one time, presents a major hurdle to protecting Australia's companion animals from a plethora of exotic and emerging vector-borne diseases (VBD). Many of these diseases also pose a major risk to public health. This project aims to develop, validate and verify a highly accurate, cost-effective, portable metabarcoding diagnostic test capable of detecting known, emerging and novel parasitic, bacterial and viral VBD pathogens simultaneously, from clinical samples. The assay will represent a potential paradigm shift in the way VBD are tested, for the purpose of safeguarding Australia against VBD bio-incursions. Field of research: 0707 - Veterinary Sciences Safeguarding Australia from incursions and establishment of exotic vector-borne diseases (VBD) that impact on the health of companion animals, the public and potentially of native wildlife, necessitates a stronger, more technologically advanced bio-security system to mitigate their adverse economic, cultural, and social impacts on our nation. Emerging diagnostic technologies for exotic disease surveillance with the potential to improve feasibility, efficiency and cost-effectiveness of bio-security activities, were identified by national stakeholders as an area of priority for responding to current and future bio-security threats. This proposal directly responds to this call-to-action, by developing a novel portable, metagenomic-based diagnostic that enables exotic and emerging VBD pathogens of companion animals, some of which are transmissible to humans, to be 'screened and discovered' simultaneously, in a rapid and cost-effective manner. Validation of this novel diagnostic test will represent a paradigm shift in testing for these VBDs at all levels of our nation’s bio-security implementation program.