MONASH UNIVERSITY

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2017 · 2017-01

Emergent phenomena in quantum chromodynamics. This project aims to understand the transition from quarks and gluons (partons) to hadrons in quantum chromodynamics (QCD). It will develop and combine a treatment of quantum corrections to high-energy processes with a revised picture of how colour strings break up into hadrons. This Project will shed new light on fundamental questions of the strong nuclear force. It will improve the precision and efficiency of the leading open-source particle-physics code, and bring them to bear on particle collisions at the Large Hadron Collider, increasing its potential for accurate measurements and new discoveries. It will lead to a better understanding of the complex emergent dynamics in QCD and an open-source code with broad applications, including significantly more reliable calculations of numerous high-energy processes. Field of research: 0202 - Atomic, Molecular, Nuclear, Particle and Plasma Physics

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2017 · 2017-01

Preventing intimate partner homicide. The project aims to develop a framework for an integrated whole systems preventive approach to intimate partner homicide – the most common type of violence against women worldwide and the leading cause of death amongst Australian women aged between 15 and 44. The project will review a decade of intimate partner homicides in Australia to identify points of intervention that might have prevented killings. This knowledge is intended to inform and help develop a more risk-sensitive preventive approach to intimate partner homicides in Australia and overseas, enhancing women’s security and preventing their deaths. Field of research: 1602 - Criminology

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2017 · 2017-01

Behavioural variation and the success of invasive animals. This project aims to test how behavioural variation affects invasion success. Invasive species can cause economic and ecological damage. Focused preventive measures are difficult unless we know what makes invasions succeed. The role of behaviour is not yet clear – especially inter-individual behavioural variation within species. Using a known invasive reptile model, this project will determine which relevant behaviours are heritable, and therefore subject to evolutionary selection during introduction, establishment, and spread into new locations. Understanding why some invasive species repeatedly succeed while others fail could improve efforts to limit or prevent the harmful effects of invasion. Field of research: 0602 - Ecology

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2017 · 2017-01

Non-polyamide-based polymer membranes for efficient water processing. This project aims to develop an innovative, two-dimensional nanosheet scaffold polymerisation technique for the fabrication of advanced membranes. Membrane technology plays a key role in wastewater treatment and water desalination and purification. However, current membranes are not stable in an oxidation environment such as chlorine, which leads to significant membrane replacement costs. Through the development of new membrane fabrication technology the project aims to produce non-polyamide-based polymer membranes with outstanding oxidation tolerance and separation properties. This will potentially simplify membrane processes, and improve water processing efficiency in wastewater treatment for power generation, and clean drinking water production. Field of research: 0912 - Materials Engineering

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2017 · 2017-01

Solute segregation in crystal defects in advanced magnesium alloys. This project aims to investigate solute segregation in crystal defects, and explore its effect on technologically significant lightweight magnesium alloys. Magnesium alloys could improve energy efficiency and system performance in automotive, aerospace, aircraft, mobile electronics, rechargeable batteries and biomedical applications. The intended outcome is a knowledge platform for the physical metallurgy design of magnesium alloys for green environment applications and advancing Australia’s established research capability. Field of research: 0912 - Materials Engineering

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2017 · 2017-01

Structurally-bridged crystalline molecular sieve-polymer membranes. This project aims to produce a membrane platform technology for efficient and cost-effective separation in natural gas processing and petrochemicals, using crystalline sieve materials. It will address the mismatch of mechanical properties between crystalline molecular sieve materials (zeolites and metal organic frameworks) and polymers, and coating flaws which limit their use as gas separation membranes. It will create nano-reinforcement in the coating and polymer substrate, with nano-bridges between them. The resulting membranes will be mechanically tough and separate better than existing membranes. Advanced membranes are expected to benefit fuel industries by reducing separation cost and energy consumption. Field of research: 0912 - Materials Engineering

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2017 · 2017-01

Nanoparticles to combat cellular dysfunction. This project aims to design, synthesise and characterise nanoparticles that can mediate the adverse effects of reactive oxygen species. The project expects to develop nanoparticles with tailored chemical functionality to modulate the concentration of reactive oxygen species and develop a platform technology for addressing conditions where reactive species are overproduced. The project will research how nanoparticles’ physicochemical properties affect their activity, and how they affect cellular function, tissue morphology and particle transport in a biological milieu. The project is expected to benefit the advanced manufacturing, veterinary and medical sectors and could lead to new chemotherapeutics. Field of research: 1007 - Nanotechnology

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2017 · 2017-01

Improving respiratory drug delivery through targeted nozzle design. The project aims to develop designs for inhaler components which significantly reduce the existing variability in the sprays they produce, as well as an enhanced capacity to predict inhaler performance through development of new empirical models. This project will combine recently developed synchrotron x-ray measurement techniques with traditional visible light diagnostics to develop a greater understanding of the link between the geometry of pressurised, metered-dose inhaler components and the drug particles these devices produce. The long term benefit from this research will be improved delivery efficiency and shorter product development times, leading to reduced dose-rate costs. This understanding will enable the development of the next generation of treatment devices with enhanced efficiency in delivery of the drugs used to treat these diseases and reduced costs per dose. Field of research: 0915 - Interdisciplinary Engineering

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2017 · 2017-01

Urban cultural policy and the changing dynamics of cultural production. This project aims to identify new directions for urban cultural policy by conducting international comparative research around the emerging nexus between the cultural industries and manufacturing. Policies that govern Australia’s cultural economy focus predominately on cultural consumption. This approach does not account for the changing dynamics of the cultural economy, particularly the emergent relationships with a complex urban manufacturing sector. As a result, many innovation, employment and urban development opportunities around cultural production are unrealised. The results of the project are expected to yield insights into urban industry dynamics and change how Australians conceptualise urban cultural policy. Field of research: 1604 - Human Geography

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2017 · 2017-01

Using fossil micrometeorites to examine the ancient Earth environment. This project aims to use fossil micrometeorites to provide fundamental new data on changes in the chemistry of the ancient Earth's upper atmosphere before, during and after the Great Oxidation Event, the most significant atmospheric change in Earth’s history. This would provide insights into variations in the extent of interaction between the upper and lower atmosphere across the Great Oxidation Event. The project will also use these micrometeorites to investigate how the flux, composition and sources of extra-terrestrial material arriving on Earth changed over time. Field of research: 0402 - Geochemistry

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2017 · 2017-01

A structural investigation into T cell signalling machines. The project aims to understand how receptor recognition events cause intracellular signalling.Membrane-bound receptors, their cognate ligands and the ensuing intracellular activation signal determine cellular fate. The project will explore events central to cellular immunity by examining the T cell signalling machinery. This project will use labelling, crystallographic and cryo-electron microscopy studies, to determine the molecular architecture of the T cell receptor (TCR) CD3 complex, a molecular machine central to T cell signalling. This project should reveal how antigen recognition leads to T cell signal transduction which will create jobs, bring substantial health benefits and improve quality of life for Australians. Field of research: 0601 - Biochemistry and Cell Biology

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2017 · 2017-01

Kruppel-like factors and the methylome. This project aims to test the hypothesis that the KLF/SP family of transcription factors work in part via dynamic interactions with methylated cytosine nucleotides in DNA. This is fundamental to their function as pioneer factors in reprograming and their ability to co-ordinate differentiation and organogenesis. Conversely, dynamic changes in methylation status engage or disengage new regulatory elements in the genome via recruitment of KLF/SP family proteins as specific effectors. This project will address a new paradigm in genetics that is likely to underpin development. Field of research: 0604 - Genetics

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2017 · 2017-01

ARC Centre of Excellence in Future Low Energy Electronics Technologies. This Centre aims to develop the scientific foundation and intellectual property for new electronics technologies. Decreasing energy use is a major societal challenge, and this Centre aims to meet that challenge by realising fundamentally new types of electronic conduction without resistance in solid-state systems at room temperature. Novel resistance-free electronic phenomena at room temperature are expected to form the basis of integrated electronics technology with ultra-low energy consumption. This Centre’s development of innovative electronics could put Australia at the forefront of the international electronics industry. Field of research: 0204 - Condensed Matter Physics

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2016 · 2016-01

Understanding the role of self-regulation in moderating distracted driving. The goal of this project is to combine naturalistic driving and simulation methods to explore the role that driver-initiated adaptive behaviour (self-regulation) can play in mitigating the effects of distraction on driving performance and safety. Driver distraction is a growing threat to road safety worldwide, contributing to approximately one-quarter of all crashes. Distraction is a complex, multifaceted phenomenon and, despite its impact on safety, our understanding of it is far from complete. The project aims to develop and assess a set of new countermeasures designed to enhance drivers’ self-regulatory behaviour when distracted. The outcomes of the project may reduce the impact of distraction on road trauma in Australia. Field of research: 1701 - Psychology

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2016 · 2016-01

Airborne passive radiometer for high resolution soil moisture monitoring. The project proposes to create a novel technology to measure soil moisture. Accurate knowledge of soil moisture profiles at high resolution is important for sustainable land and water management including efficient irrigation scheduling and cropping practices. A passive multi-band soil moisture-measuring radiometer at L-, Ku- and Ka-bands is proposed. The radiometer comprises a three-band shared aperture antenna array, a receiving electronics, a digital controller and a data logger. The array antenna comprises dual polarised stacked patch elements. Beamforming networks form agile beams to scan the ground. Sensitive radiometer receivers apply brightness temperature downscaling for high resolution. The high-resolution passive radiometer would revolutionise airborne soil moisture monitoring by removing the mechanically steerable bulky and heavy scanheads. Field of research: 1005 - Communications Technologies

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2016 · 2016-01

Long-term mechanical-flow performance of an enhanced geothermal reservoir. The project aims to improve methods to generate power from geothermal energy. Extraction of heat from deep earth is promising but so far inefficient. Heat is transferred when water is pumped underground, but recovery of heat is low and much water is lost. This project aims to investigate carbon dioxide (CO2) as an alternative to water. There are excellent prospects of relatively efficient recovery, and any loss of CO2 in deep-earth geothermal reservoirs is beneficial because it represents permanent sequestration of carbon. The project plans to investigate the evolution of fluid-flow systems, recovery rate, long-term injectability, and mechanical-flow behaviour. Findings are expected to provide practical information on the geomechanical viability of this green power option. Field of research: 0914 - Resources Engineering and Extractive Metallurgy

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2016 · 2016-01

Building bio-inspired smart nanochannels for virus detection. This project aims to harness high-precision silicon nanofabrication methods to create the next generation of bio-inspired viral biosensors. The new technology would enable prompt, cost-efficient, and accurate detection of virus contamination of our water and food supplies. The project plans to fabricate arrays of parallel double-layered nanochannels in silicon via templated etching, with surface functionalisation to display receptors. These nanochannels are designed to act as size-selective filters for electrochemical and electrochemiluminescence sensing. The project plans to explore innovative signal amplification and multiplexing capabilities for ultrasensitive detection of norovirus and bacteriophages. Field of research: 0303 - Macromolecular and Materials Chemistry

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2016 · 2016-01

Complex nano-systems for highly selective imaging and targeting of cells. The aim of the project is to design multi-functional nanoparticles that can be tracked by multiple bio-imaging techniques, such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and positron emission tomography imaging. The nanoparticles are designed to be targetable to specific cell populations and capable of delivering drugs. The project plans to concentrate the MRI-active gadolinium into nanoparticles to generate enhanced images, and to combine this with other imaging modalities to facilitate tracking and sensitivity. Expected outcomes would enable a new approach to extremely accurate and sensitive imaging of tumours to enable the imaging of much smaller tumours than currently possible. This would allow early therapeutic intervention. The nanoparticles are also designed to deliver a therapeutic payload to specific locations, avoiding systemic delivery of toxic anticancer drugs. Field of research: 0303 - Macromolecular and Materials Chemistry

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2016 · 2016-01

Addiction in the Australian legal system: A sociological analysis. This project is designed to analyse and compare legal approaches to addiction to alcohol and other drugs (AOD), identifying the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches. Harms associated with AOD cost Australia over $25 billion per year. The law plays a central role in managing these harms. Yet legal responses to AOD and the key concept of ‘addiction’ are often inconsistent. These variations have unintended and often adverse economic, social and health implications. The expected project outcomes will inform new, more productive approaches to AOD-related harms in Australian law, contributing to improved economic, social and health outcomes. Field of research: 1608 - Sociology

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2016 · 2016-01

Development volunteering programs and the cultural history of foreign aid. This project plans to examine the cultural history of foreign aid through the study of development volunteering programs in Australia, Britain and the United States during the 1950s and 1960s. By examining programs that attracted the public's attention to foreign aid policy, it seeks to ascertain how mainstream ideas about development and the Third World developed and to trace the political impact of popular opinion on the foreign aid system. It is anticipated that this project will extend emerging scholarship on the cultural history of international affairs and expand our understanding of Australian perceptions of Asia. Field of research: 2103 - Historical Studies

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2016 · 2016-01

Representation, Remembrance and the Monument. This project is designed to respond to the repeated high-level calls for a national memorial to Aboriginal loss. The project considers the crucial role that contemporary memorials play in societies that are increasingly addressing traumatic histories, and how international memorial projects shift public memory and cultural understanding. As Australia continues to strive for reconciliation, this project embraces the potential for memorials to become powerful public spaces where the history of the Frontier wars can be addressed. Ways of representing and remembering this past will expand and strengthen civil society. Field of research: 1905 - Visual Arts and Crafts

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2016 · 2016-01

The Future of Urban Routing and Navigation. This project aims to develop new efficient techniques for mixed-initiative routing in large transportation networks. Current state-of-the-art techniques for real-world journey planning take user requirements as input and generate a few proposed journeys as output. However, the most useful decision-support systems are mixed-initiative: the Information Technology (IT) system and user work together to find the best decisions. In the context of journey planning, interaction with the user is needed to find the best combination of private, public and active transportation; understand trade-offs between cost, starting time, journey time, convenience and reliability; and react to delays and disruptions. This project aims to develop dynamic decision-support systems that will help travellers reach their destinations cheaper, faster and more conveniently. Field of research: 0801 - Artificial Intelligence and Image Processing

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2016 · 2016-01

Dynamics of fire whirls and dust devils. The project aims to develop fundamental understanding and models to inform the development of more accurate computer models of fire front propagation. Fire whirls and dust devils are strongly swirling localised vortex flows that result from an interplay of circulation and buoyancy, may extend hundreds of metres into the air. By projecting firebrands well away from the ground strike, fire whirls can initiate spot fires well beyond a fire front, advancing fronts at much higher speeds than most fire spread models predict. The project aims to improve understanding of the sets of local conditions that produce and stabilise these flows, using computational fluid dynamics matched to laboratory experiments and dimensional analysis of results. Field of research: 0915 - Interdisciplinary Engineering

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2016 · 2016-01

Next Generation Batteries: Exploiting Divalent Magnesium. This project aims to develop magnesium-based batteries with higher capacities and longer lifetimes. Modern society is increasingly demanding batteries that are safer, have higher capacities, and importantly, are cheaper than the ones available today. Magnesium-based batteries offer a tantalising prospect due to their intrinsic higher capacities and lower costs. And yet, their large-scale uptake continues to be a formidable challenge due to the poor reliability and lifetime of magnesium electrodes. This project plans to use the latest computational, electrochemical and metallurgical techniques synergistically to overcome the technical barriers in mitigating these issues. This work may lead to a targeted development of a new family of reliable, low-cost and high performance magnesium batteries. Field of research: 0912 - Materials Engineering

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2016 · 2016-01

Place, Commonality and the Human: Towards a New Philosophical Anthropology. This project proposes a new philosophical vision of what it means to be human. Combining historical and conceptual approaches, the project aims to develop a new philosophical anthropology that centres on understanding human beings in terms of both place and commonality. This account is designed to provide the basis for a rethought conception of the ethics that are bound to human life and that understands the ethical as essentially a matter of judgment rather than prescriptive rule. Given the centrality of the concept of the human to any thinking about our contemporary situation, the project would have both applied and interdisciplinary relevance. Field of research: 2203 - Philosophy