UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2026 · 2026-01

Co-designing Housing for First Nations Prosperity. This project aims to develop an alternative and sustainable model for the design, economics, policy settings, and delivery of housing for First Nations communities. Our method employs participative co-design and strategic design in collaboration with First Nations communities in Shepparton, Victoria. This seeks to overcome a critical research gap in this field, and address shortcomings in housing provision, which has failed to make meaningful progress against the Closing the Gap targets. The primary outcomes of this research will be a design catalogue and investment model, enabling our Partner Organisations to produce homes which are affordable, valuable, culturally appropriate, providing an essential benefit to First Nations communities. Field of research: 3301 - Architecture The housing affordability crisis is one of the most complex challenges that Australia faces today. This challenge is amplified for First Nations people, who face additional barriers, accrued over centuries of colonisation. This research will develop a new approach for the design and delivery of housing for First Nations communities that places First Nations leadership, knowledge and lore at the forefront. This approach seeks to address shortcomings in the current housing models, which have failed to make meaningful progress against the Closing the Gap targets. Our method of employing participative co-design and strategic design in collaboration with First Nations communities and Partner Organisations, seeks to bring a systemic approach to this challenge and overcome a critical research gap. The model will be also applicable more broadly in meeting non-Indigenous housing challenges nationally with great benefit to Australians. The primary outcomes of this research will be a design catalogue and investment model, able to produce homes which are affordable, valuable, culturally appropriate, socially connected, sustainably designed and climate resilient. These outcomes will be implemented by Partner Organisations in their development activities, to create homes, and to attract investment. These outcomes will be shared through public forums, exhibitions, and design catalogues to enable other groups and organisations to learn from and adopt this research in their own practice.

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

Unraveling metastasis-specific immune niches to transform cancer... Category: Medical Research

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2026 · 2026-01

Rapid geothermal harvesting via innovative low-cost screw pile systems. This project aims to develop innovative energy pile technologies to harvest geothermal energy. Featuring unique helices, screw piles create distinct pile-soil interactions compared to traditional concrete piles. Through experiments, simulations, and field trials, the project aims to enhance understanding of soil thermal property evolution during installation and the mechanical response of the pile-soil interface under cyclic thermo-mechanical loading. Outcomes include low‐cost, efficient construction of energy screw piles and strong industry collaboration for commercialisation, which will benefit Australia by delivering sustainable energy and reducing carbon emissions when coupled to ground source heat pumps for space heating and cooling. Field of research: 4005 - Civil Engineering Australia is heavily reliant for its energy on fossil fuels, which accounted for 91% of energy consumption in 2023. Achieving Australia’s "net zero by 2050" requires rapid adoption of renewable energy solutions. This project will develop pioneering energy pile systems that harvest geothermal energy directly from building foundations, offering a cost-effective, fast-to-construct, efficient, low-maintenance, and durable solution. By tapping into a continuously available geothermal resource, regardless of geological conditions, these systems will enhance energy security, reduce costs and contribute to a more sustainable energy market. The project also delivers clean, direct thermal energy for space heating and cooling via ground-source heat pumps and novel in-ground thermal storage, replacing dependence on gas and high-emissions electricity. This project delivers substantial economic, environmental, and societal benefits to Australia. It will significantly cut carbon emissions and support Australia’s net zero targets. Strong industry collaboration will drive the development and commercialisation of these innovative energy piles, creating new jobs in technology development, production, installation, and operation. The sharing of expertise and regulatory support will further accelerate the adoption of these technologies across Australia. Project findings will be shared through demonstrations to industry stakeholders with partners and to the general public via media.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2026 · 2026-01

Secure and Robust Stream Analytics at Scale. The project aims to address data privacy risks and intellectual property protection challenges in stream data analysis by developing a scalable and secure learning-based analytics system. It will detect unauthorised data usage and protect sensitive information throughout the entire process. The project will generate new knowledge in secure and robust stream analytics by combining interdisciplinary techniques for data misuse detection, machine unlearning, and privacy-preserving machine learning. Expected outcomes include measures that prevent breaches and protect the proprietary model. This research is anticipated to deliver significant benefits, including increased operational security and enhanced public trust in energy infrastructure. Field of research: 4604 - Cybersecurity and Privacy Australia’s energy sector collects continuous information from smart meters and sensors to monitor our power grid and use AI modelling to ensure smooth operations. Yet, the systems analysing these vast amounts of sensitive data are not sufficiently secure from data breaches, compromising both consumer privacy and the security of critical energy infrastructure. This project aims to enhance the security of energy systems by developing a scalable, secure, and robust graph neural network–based stream analytics framework. It will incorporate advanced methods for detecting unauthorised data usage during training, and for protecting sensitive input data and model parameters during real-time inference. This research will benefit Australians by reducing the risk of costly data breaches and safeguarding consumer privacy. As well as benefitting Australia’s security and economy, these improvements are expected to increase the reliability of energy supplies, reduce operational disruptions, and bolster economic confidence in digital energy technologies. To maximise the translation and adoption of our outcomes, the project will produce detailed implementation toolkits and practical guidelines. Additionally, collaborative demonstration projects and targeted training workshops will be conducted with industry partners to ensure that these innovative solutions are effectively integrated into the national energy sector.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2026 · 2026-01

Universal multi-scale population modelling with applications to biology. This project aims to develop a universal mathematical framework for multiscale modelling in biology by deriving innovative models that bridge changes across scales. It expects to generate new knowledge in areas such as epidemiology and cell biology by advancing techniques that address multiscale challenges. Expected outcomes include novel methods that enhance the efficiency and accuracy of simulations for biological populations, supporting improved predictions in disease transmission near elimination and cellular chemical reactions. This research should provide significant benefits in biology and offer applications beyond the discipline. Field of research: 4901 - Applied Mathematics Populations that change in size are very common in biology. For example, when a disease spreads through a population, the number of infected individuals starts small (when the number of uninfected individuals is large) but grows as the disease takes hold (and the uninfected population shrinks). When interacting populations are large, deterministic mathematical models are appropriate; however, when those populations are small, stochastic models (which reflect random factors) are needed. This project will develop the mathematical tools necessary for modelling interacting populations at different scales when faced with specific scientific questions. In doing so, it will generate knowledge and techniques applicable to a wide range of biological and ecological problems, providing significant economic and environmental benefits to Australia. A greater understanding of cell biology will reduce unnecessary experimentation, along with time and financial costs. Understanding the susceptibility of populations to disease will assist in healthcare decision-making. The mathematical and software tools developed through the project will be made freely available via repositories such as GitHub, ensuring they can be utilised in other applications.

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

Unraveling metastasis-specific immune niches to transform cancer... Category: Medical Research

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2026 · 2026-01

Bridging biological boundaries: modelling to explore the role of interfaces. This project aims to use multiscale mathematical modelling alongside statistical optimisation to leverage experimental data on multicellular interfaces (external or internal boundaries) to investigate how multicellular systems develop. This project expects to generate significant new knowledge in the areas of mathematical modelling and multicellular biology. By developing coupled simulation and statistical tools the project will answer open biological questions. Expected project outcomes include an increased understanding of the development of multicellular systems with applications in: wound healing; biofilm development and tumour plasticity, thereby laying the foundation for future benefits in manufacturing, food production and health. Field of research: 4901 - Applied Mathematics For many decades, scientists have been studying the growth and function of multicellular systems, including tissues in humans and microbial communities like biofilms. Instead of solely relying on experiments, mathematical modelling and statistical optimisation offer a unique approach to understanding these systems. This project aims to develop a cutting-edge computational framework, comprising multicellular mathematical models and statistical tools, that will provide significant new insights into how biological interfaces (such as external and internal boundaries) influence the development of multicellular systems. These models will be utilised by researchers worldwide to understand the development and function of multicellular systems, enabling the discovery and testing of biological mechanisms and the development of novel technologies. This will bring substantial social and economic benefits to Australia, enhancing health outcomes for its citizens, reducing the long-term costs associated with healthcare, and in improving manufacturing and food production techniques. Additionally, there are substantial commercial advantages for Australian industries, particularly the health and pharmaceutical sectors, that can leverage these models to reduce the cost of testing technologies and treatments addressing health issues. Where possible, all the data generated and code developed will be freely available under an open-source license from repositories such as FigShare and GitHub.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2026 · 2026-01

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

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2026 · 2026-01

The evolution of biological rates in a warming ocean. Marine phytoplankton fix 50% of the world's carbon, while their predators (copepods) sequester 30% of that carbon: together these species drive marine carbon cycles and food-webs. Predictive models of global warming assume that key physiological and demographic rates in these groups are fixed; but in reality, these are likely to evolve. This project will use an experimental evolution approach to explore how temperature dependencies in biological rates evolve under warming, and the consequences of this evolution for the population and community dynamics of Australian phytoplankton and copepods. The intended outcomes of this project will be a new framework for estimating how blue carbon dynamics will change in Australian marine ecosystems. Field of research: 3104 - Evolutionary Biology Australia’s marine environment is experiencing change more rapidly than most places on Earth, and our native marine fauna must adapt to these new conditions. Together, marine phytoplankton (microscopic plants) and their predators (copepods) are responsible for sequestering much of the world’s carbon; they underpin marine food-webs, ultimately supporting the world’s fisheries and maintaining healthy marine ecosystems. Despite their ecological importance, we know surprisingly little about how these species will adapt to global changes. This project will explore how several species of Australian phytoplankton and copepods respond to future thermal scenarios, and how evolution in these species will impact the functioning of marine populations, communities and food-webs. By focusing on native species, this project will provide direct benefits for the Australian marine environment and commercial marine economy. This project will provide information essential for futureproofing Australia’s $3.6 billion fisheries industry, and will deliver a novel framework that will allow a more robust and accurate accounting of Australia’s marine carbon sequestration potential under future climates. We will communicate our findings directly to stakeholders via our existing links with marine industry partners and government agencies to inform policy regarding sustainable fisheries and net carbon targets.

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

Redefining the role of clinical and biomarkers for infection outcomes in... Category: Medical Research

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2026 · 2026-01

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

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

Biomarkers of multiple sclerosis disease progression and treatment... Category: Medical Research

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2026 · 2026-01

Understanding Hunger: A New Perspective on Brain-Body Communication. This project investigates how the hypothalamus communicates with the body by secreting proteins during hunger and fullness. Using a world-first transgenic mouse model developed in the CI’s lab, we aim to identify novel proteins secreted by the hypothalamus, map their target tissues (liver, fat, and muscle), and determine their role in metabolic regulation. The outcomes will provide unprecedented insights into how the brain governs metabolism and energy balance, benefiting Australia by contributing to new knowledge, training future scientists in innovative technologies, and positioning Australian science at the forefront of this field. Field of research: 3109 - Zoology Hunger is a critical driver of survival, prompting the search for sustenance to fuel our bodies. Despite this fundamental biological role, how brain cells signal to the tissue of the body to coordinate hunger remains unidentified. This project aims to identify novel proteins secreted by the hypothalamus, map their target tissues (liver, fat, and muscle), and determine their role in metabolic regulation. This project will benefit Australians by generating fundamental new knowledge regarding how the brain regulates and adapts metabolism to sustain life. Dysfunction in this process leads to obesity and diabetes, which has implications for both humans and animals. The findings will support biotechnological innovations, aligning with national science and research priorities. Further benefits will be offered by the development of novel tools and technologies for understanding how hormones work in the brain, which will offer a strategic advantage to Australian neuroscience. These innovations will be shared globally, fostering technological advancement. The project will expand Australia’s skill base in cutting-edge science through the training of scientists and students to provide a strong grounding for careers in research, industry, and education. Beyond academia, our findings will be presented at public events and promoted through the media.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2026 · 2026-01

Regeneration and plasticity of lymphatic vasculature. Lymphatic vasculature forms complex networks essential for the function of vertebrate tissues and organs. The cellular and molecular mechanisms that control embryonic development of lymphatics are well characterised. By contrast, lymphatic regeneration has gone largely unstudied because mammals cannot regenerate entire lymphatic networks. We have discovered that zebrafish lymphatics regenerate from near complete loss to form extensive vessel networks. This project will define mechanisms of lymphatic regeneration for the first time. It will generate fundamental knowledge and open up a new field of investigation. By expanding regenerative biology, this project will have major outcomes and implications in tissue engineering, repair and aging. Field of research: 3105 - Genetics In vertebrate animals, a network of lymphatic vessels (thin walled, bloodless vasculature) underpins healthy tissue growth and function. Lymphatic vessels control tissue fluid balance and immune responses. In mammals, lymphatic vascular networks do not regenerate following large scale loss. We have discovered that some vertebrate species can regenerate their lymphatic vasculature, but there are fundamental gaps in our understanding of how this regeneration process is controlled and why it does not occur in mammals. This project will generate fundamental knowledge in a new area of biology that will inform future efforts to promote vascular regeneration. Unlocking new knowledge in the control of lymphatic vascular regeneration has potential to lead to innovations in organ and tissue repair and regenerative biology. In the future, this work may generate innovative approaches in biotechnology and pharmaceuticals. Longer-term outcomes may help people keep working and participating in social activities as they age through new tissue repair and future regenerative biology applications. The project will build cutting-edge research capacity in Australia through training scientists in world-class molecular and cellular biology of vasculature and tissue regeneration. We will promote our findings through publication in journals with suitable open access policies, presentations at leading international conferences, press releases and through social media.

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

Evaluating the Acceptability and Appropriateness of a Person-Centred... Category: Medical Research

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

Clot radiomics and haemodynamic profiling in acute ischaemic stroke:... Category: Medical Research

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2026 · 2026-01

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

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

Optimising Perioperative Antimicrobial Prophylaxis in Liver Transplant... Category: Medical Research

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

Automated assessment of 'everyday nature' in urban streetscapes Category: Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (HASS) Research

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

Optimising Perioperative Antimicrobial Prophylaxis in Liver Transplant... Category: Medical Research

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

Transcriptomics at exquisite resolution Category: Medical Research

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

Beyond the Birth: Cardiorenal protection After Preeclampsia Category: Medical Research

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2026 · 2026-01

The brain has a bin; how is it emptied? Is it not clear how metabolic waste is cleared from the brain. We propose that it occurs most actively during wakefulness rather than sleep, challenging the current model. The study aims to address knowledge gaps in the current glymphatic clearance model using innovative techniques to understand brain metabolism homeostasis and optimal function. The project will determine rates of waste efflux in the brains of mice in wakefulness and sleep, determine the role of arteries and veins in the clearance system, and explore the cellular mechanisms by which metabolites are cleared through water channels. The findings could also offer insights into maintaining cognitive health and new avenues for mitigating age-related neurodegenerative diseases. Field of research: 3209 - Neurosciences This work seeks to discover and understand the fundamental problem of moving nutrients and waste into and out of the brain from the fluid that bathes the outside of the brain. Metabolites are required for the optimal functioning of the nerve cells that make up the brain, and the waste metabolites must be cleared out. The accumulation of metabolic waste in the brain is a common feature of aging and degenerative diseases that are still largely untreatable. However, before we can fully assess why there is a failure of metabolite clearance and thus successfully address ways to solve the problem in the future, we need to understand the normal processes of brain metabolic clearance. The work will yield new knowledge in neuroscience, using cutting-edge biomedical techniques. Both the technical and biological advancements have broad applicability from those wishing to understand the normal or optimal brain function to those seeking new targets for therapies or lifestyle changes that can address the need for lifelong healthy brains, to those studying other biological systems such as vascularization of other tissues.

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

A New Framework for Automated Compliance Checking for Building Approvals Category: Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (HASS) Research

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

Kinetics-Guided Theranostics for Prostate Cancer: Utilising Dynamic... Category: Medical Research