RMIT University

GrantConnect (Australian Government grants) · FY 2025 · 2025-03

Addressing a major historical challenge for titanium alloy development Category: Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (HASS) Research

GrantConnect (Australian Government grants) · FY 2025 · 2025-03

Addressing a major historical challenge for titanium alloy development Category: Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (HASS) Research

GrantConnect (Australian Government grants) · FY 2025 · 2025-02

Investigating journalist influencers and their young adult audiences Category: Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (HASS) Research

GrantConnect (Australian Government grants) · FY 2025 · 2025-02

Investigating journalist influencers and their young adult audiences Category: Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (HASS) Research

GrantConnect (Australian Government grants) · FY 2025 · 2025-02

A Sustainable Process for Critical Metals Production from Laterite Ores Category: Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (HASS) Research

GrantConnect (Australian Government grants) · FY 2025 · 2025-02

A Sustainable Process for Critical Metals Production from Laterite Ores Category: Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (HASS) Research

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

Valuing the Handmade for Circular Fashion and Textile Economies Category: Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (HASS) Research

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

Valuing the Handmade for Circular Fashion and Textile Economies Category: Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (HASS) Research

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

Understanding Transient Cellular Response to Electrical Stimulation Category: Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (HASS) Research

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

Understanding Transient Cellular Response to Electrical Stimulation Category: Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (HASS) Research

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

New devices to treat arrhythmias with radiation Category: Medical Research

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

NanoHeal: Bridging Bench to Bedside for Advanced Nanomaterials in Wound... Category: Medical Research

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2025 · 2025-01

Modelling soil-cement interaction to design new-generation offshore wells. This project aims to investigate soil-cement interactions under complex marine conditions and cement chemical environments. This insight will inform the design of new-generation offshore energy extraction wells. This project expects to generate new knowledge in soil and cement science, modelling, and offshore geotechnical engineering using interdisciplinary methods, multiscale experiments and simulations. Expected outcomes are a new set of technologies to enhance offshore well stability and a transformative roadmap to design geotechnical engineering applications for future generations. This should provide significant benefits to Australia by preventing oil and gas leaks and contributing to sustainable development in offshore resources. Field of research: 4005 - Civil Engineering In Australia, three-quarters of the oil and gas resources come from offshore areas. However, offshore energy extraction well failures have led to significant oil and gas leaks, causing economic losses that could exceed $10B AUD per incident. These failures are mainly caused by the challenging marine conditions like low temperature, high salt content in seawater, and instability of marine soft soils. Currently, there is a lack of reliable methods to cement these offshore wells against the harsh marine conditions. This project aims to develop new, more effective cementing materials, design tools and operational standards for constructing offshore energy extraction wells. The knowledge and techniques developed from this project are expected to prevent oil and gas leaks, leading to massive economic savings for Australia. This is particularly significant as oil and gas mining will grow further following the Federal Government’s recent assignment of a 46,000 km2 ocean area for oil and gas exploration. This project is expected to make great contributions to national energy security and environmental protection, positioning Australia as a leader in the design of next-generation geotechnical materials and techniques for harsh environments. The findings will be communicated to the Australian resource industry and government bodies through professional organisations, industry conferences, and exhibitions, and will be shared with the public via media outlets.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2025 · 2025-01

Fast Distributed Optimisation and Learning with Applications in Smart Grids. This project aims to develop a breakthrough framework for fast, communication-efficient distributed optimization and learning targeted for efficient decision-making in smart grids. It expects to create novel theories and methodologies for conducting efficient distributed learning in a resource-constrained power grid by using interdisciplinary approaches. The expected outcomes include the advanced theory of large-scale optimization for addressing the increasingly complex decision-making tasks for the future grids of Australia. This should provide the benefit of a distributed learning-based framework for real-time optimal energy management to enhance efficiency, resilience and reliability of smart grid operations against a changing climate. Field of research: 4606 - Distributed Computing and Systems Software Australia is facing increasing challenges because of climate change and the use of different energy sources. Energy that is dependable, low-cost, and good for the environment is urgently required. New technologies, like better ways to manage energy with numerous renewable resources and various participants, are important for a secure and efficient energy system. This research will develop smart technologies that help better manage energy through data processing, which can save money for people, businesses, and companies that provide energy in a more efficient way. Effective energy decision-making involves using cleaner energy sources can reduce greenhouse gas emissions and allow the power grid to recover quickly from disasters. By using advanced data processing techniques, it enables better demand forecasting and thus encourages the adoption of cleaner and cheaper energy sources during high-demand periods. It also helps make energy affordable for communities and keeps the energy market working well. In addition, these new technologies can also make Australia attractive for investments in clean energy. This can help businesses be more competitive by using energy more efficiently. The research will lead to working with other countries to create new and advanced solutions for managing energy. It will also benefit industry and society broadly through sharing the results with the public on webpages, online or hybrid events like seminars and workshops with people around the world.

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

New devices to treat arrhythmias with radiation Category: Medical Research

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2025 · 2025-01

AI-assisted design of halide perovskite optoelectronics and photocatalysts. This project aims to address energy and environmental issues by developing efficient, non-toxic and stable halide perovskites by combining machine learning, theoretical calculations and material synthesis. This innovative approach will be more economical, better meet the ever-growing demands of the optoelectronic market than traditional methods with the help of AI models, and lead to new knowledge in materials science. Expected outcomes include industry-ready materials for optoelectronics and AI models for fast material screening. This will provide benefits in the development of next-generation optoelectronics for clean energy and environmental remediation and improve our understanding of structure-property relations in perovskite. Field of research: 4018 - Nanotechnology The growing demand for energy and its associated environmental concerns, such as air pollution and climate change, are major problems. Halide perovskites show great promise in energy and environmental applications, including solar cells, energy-efficient lighting devices and photocatalysts for converting CO2 into value-added products and degrading pollutants. But many of them are inefficient, costly, unstable or toxic, with conventional development of these materials being time consuming and costly. This project aims to design efficient, non-toxic and stable halide perovskites to address energy and environment issues. A combination of AI techniques, computation and experimentation will be applied to design new-generation halide perovskites with commercial potential. Outcomes of this project (e.g., publications, patents, AI models made freely accessible online and associated media releases) will advance materials science and complement energy transfer technologies (e.g., photocatalysis, photoluminescence, photovoltaic). Industry collaborations, with workshops on AI and material design to foster expertise in material manufacturing, will accelerate commercial functional device development (e.g., photocatalytic clean fuel production reactors, light-emitting diodes, solar cells). This is expected to improve Australia’s competitiveness in advanced manufacturing, reduce fossil fuel reliance, lower Australia’s carbon-footprint, and benefit energy and environment sectors.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2025 · 2025-01

Investigating journalist influencers and their young adult audiences. This project investigates how journalist influencers – professional journalists adopting personal modes of content delivery characteristic of online influencers – are reshaping news to reach and build trust with young adult audiences. It studies journalist influencers in three countries producing news content on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. It generates urgently needed empirical knowledge about the character and impact of such novel journalists by systematically investigating their content, practices, and audiences. Outcomes include a comprehensive evaluation of journalist influencers as a youth engagement strategy. Benefits include new knowledge about market gaps and evidence-based contributions to debates on news quality in Australia. Field of research: 4701 - Communication and Media Studies Journalists are increasingly adopting the strategies of online influencers to produce and deliver news on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube to young audiences who are avoiding traditional news brands. This innovative project will investigate how journalists are adopting this novel model of news delivery, what kind of content they produce, who their audiences are, how they engage with them and with what success. The project will generate evidence for the news industry on the gaps in the youth market that journalist influencers can address, as well as investigate the long-term viability of journalist influencer practices and evaluate the journalistic standards of their content. This will benefit the Australian news industry economically by identifying how journalists can reach young people on video-centric platforms who may be avoiding news brands. It will also bring social benefit to the Australian public by identifying ways that the news industry can build trust with young audiences on digital platforms where misinformation spreads easily. Research outcomes will be promoted to the Australian public and to industry and policymakers through regular media commentary, an accessible public-facing industry report, and a multi-stakeholder symposium held at the end of the project

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2025 · 2025-01

Prefab rehab: offsite construction for liveable and affordable apartments. This project aims to investigate the implications of a shift to offsite construction for urban apartment housing delivery and consumption using a critical social science approach. This project expects to generate new knowledge in the field of urban geography, housing and built environment research by qualitatively documenting perceptions and attitudes towards housing built offsite. Expected outcomes of this project include a novel theoretical understanding of offsite construction as well as housing policy and construction industry pathways towards greater housing affordability and quality. This should provide significant benefits, such as improving apartments and responding to National Cabinet’s ambition to deliver better housing outcomes. Field of research: 3304 - Urban and Regional Planning Australia needs more quality housing urgently, but the construction industry cannot meet the demand. The project considers the overlooked social, political and institutional barriers to the adoption of prefabricated housing construction in Australia. This project will analyse the relationships between residents’ needs and expectations, housing policy, and construction industry practice, to understand the effects that a shift to prefabricated housing construction would have in Australia. The research will enable more apartments to be constructed in factories, which will increase employment opportunities and reduce carbon emissions in the building industry, and increase the quality, affordability and availability of housing. The project will produce criteria to assess the design and liveability of dwellings made offsite. This will support public servants, architects, town planners and the construction industry by minimising the business risks of producing housing in factories. Focus groups with State and Federal government stakeholders, housing regulators and building industry representatives will inform policy recommendations that facilitate the adoption of these construction methods. To increase the general public’s understanding and awareness of new models of housing, real-life stories will be published in mainstream media demonstrating the benefits of factory-built housing.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2025 · 2025-01

Understanding how refugees use digital technologies during resettlement . This project aims to investigate how refugees use digital technologies to navigate resettlement in Australia. Taking the case of Sri Lankan refugees, and integrating robust digital and ethnographic methods, this project will generate new knowledge on how refugees use smartphones and digital applications to address their material and social needs in order to successfully resettle. Expected outcomes include an empirical evidence-base about refugees’ everyday digital practices, and advanced research capacity in digital migration and refugee studies. Benefits include guidance for service providers on how digital technologies can be integrated into programs to improve the resettlement outcomes of refugees in Australia. Field of research: 4406 - Human Geography This project aims to investigate how refugees use digital technologies to navigate resettlement in Australia. Doing so is important to address social needs as well as the material needs of housing, employment, and English language acquisition. International evidence demonstrates that digital technologies have transformative effects for refugees, but the current focus on teaching basic digital literacy skills in Australia limits understandings of how refugees with proficient skills use smartphones and digital applications to successfully resettle. The project will integrate digital and ethnographic methods to address a critical gap in knowledge by focussing on the everyday digital practices of refugees. This in turn will generate new knowledge on exactly how digital technologies are used on a daily basis and for what purposes. The research will provide a platform for refugees to share resettlement experiences and will benefit settlement services and migrant resource centres delivering resettlement programs. This project will position Australia as a global leader in providing resettlement programs that equip refugees with the contemporary skills and knowledge they need to flourish. Outcomes will be shared through key insights reports, a public forum event, and input to government consultations, such as the Departments of Home Affairs and Social Services.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2025 · 2025-01

Radiatively cooled high-performance solar cell. This project aims to develop a novel type of flexible solar cell (FSC), which integrates microstructures for radiative cooling and nanostructures for light trapping. The project expects to develop the first self-cooling FSC and generate new knowledge in renewable energy and advanced manufacturing. The expected outcome is increased conversion efficiency through enhanced absorption of solar energy and lower energy consumption through more efficient cooling during operation. Self-cooling of the FSC can minimise heat-introduced degradation and extend its lifetime. This project should provide a revolutionary solution to the bottleneck of the thermal instability of FSCs and increase their cost effectiveness, promoting commercialisation. Field of research: 4016 - Materials Engineering Australia has invested heavily in renewable energy development, and the Australian renewable energy industry accounted for 32.5% of Australia’s total electricity generation in 2021. Due to their high efficiency and broad application schemes, flexible solar cells (FSCs) using perovskite materials have great potential in the Australian renewable energy industry. However, the bottleneck issue with FSCs is their poor stability caused by the high working temperature under strong sunlight, compromising their efficiency. This project will develop a self-cooling FSC, improving its efficiency and longevity. The technology developed in this project will solve this problem and improve the efficiency and lifetime of FSCs, promoting their use in real-life applications. The FSC designs developed in this project can potentially be manufactured at a large scale in Australia for use in new solar electricity power plants and household applications. We will work with our industry partner to commercialise the FSCs and demonstrate the applications in various scenarios in Australia. This will provide commercial benefits to the Australian solar energy manufacturing industry, helping to expand the industry. This can provide economic and environmental benefits by making solar energy cheaper for Australians and contribute to Australia's efforts to become carbon neutral.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2025 · 2025-01

Federated Fine-Tuning Framework for Secure and Collaborative GenAI Models. This project aims to develop a federated fine-tuning framework for Large Language Models (LLMs) and Multimodal Foundation Models (MFMs), utilizing distributed and private data. By incorporating a strong focus on security and privacy, this project seeks to generate new knowledge in the area of federated fine-tuning techniques for LLMs/MFMs. Expected outcomes of this project include the creation of a versatile framework for federated fine-tuning that prioritizes privacy and security. The project's advancements will significantly benefit sectors like healthcare, energy, and finance, by offering reliable, secure, and privacy-assured solutions through Generative AI to enhance Australia's workforce capabilities and drive economic growth. Field of research: 4604 - Cybersecurity and Privacy The project fills a vital research gap on generative AI benefits for the Australian economy. The 'Australian Generative AI Opportunity' report highlights a potential $115 billion annual economic boost from increased productivity. Yet, widespread adoption encounters hurdles like computing power constraints and concerns over security, privacy, and data and model risks. This endeavour seeks to pioneer new methods and explore various fine-tuning techniques for Large Language Models (LLMs) and Multimodal Foundation Models (MFMs). The main objective is to create a reliable, secure, and privacy-focused federated framework for fine-tuning LLM/MFMs. Expected outcomes include enhanced workforce efficiency in sectors such as healthcare (clinical decision support systems), energy (smart grid optimization), and finance (algorithmic trading/investment systems) with GenAI-based solutions adoption. The proposed framework will notably contribute to Australia's National Science and Research Priority, focusing on Enabling a Productive and Innovative Economy. This project holds significant potential for delivering economic and social benefits to Australians, positioning Australia as a leader in the realm of GenAI. The project's outcomes could lead to significant savings for taxpayers, advancing national interests. We aim to collaborate with our partner organisation to adapt the project outcomes and extend benefits to the wider public through application development.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2025 · 2025-01

Next-Generation Grease Interceptors for Minimisation of Sewer Blockages. This project aims to address the persistent issue of sewer blockages caused by fat, oil, and grease (FOG) from food service establishments. Such blockages contribute to environmental hazards and public health risks, and managing them incurs significant annual costs for water utilities. The project expects to develop an advanced grease interceptor capable of effectively removing small FOG particles under varied flow conditions. Supported by computational fluid dynamics and field trials, the outcome will be a technologically and economically sustainable solution to mitigate FOG-related sewer blockages. This advancement has the potential to greatly reduce the environmental and infrastructure impacts associated with sewer management. Field of research: 4004 - Chemical Engineering This project addresses the critical issue of sewer blockages in Australia caused by fats, oils, and grease (FOG) from food service establishments (FSEs). These blockages not only strain water utilities but also pose substantial environmental and public health risks. The research gap lies in the inefficient removal of small FOG particles under varying water flow conditions. This proposal aims to develop an advanced grease interceptor (GI) to enhance sewer management systems, thereby reducing annual maintenance costs and mitigating risks of environmental contamination. The project’s innovative approach, supported by computational fluid dynamics and field trials, promises a technologically advanced and economically viable solution that will further enhance sewer management systems. The outcome of this project will also help to develop and refine trade waste guidelines for Australian water utilities to manage FSE wastewater. The successful implementation of this project will lead to significant reductions in environmental and infrastructure damage in Australia, fostering healthier communities and more resilient urban water systems. This advancement stands to benefit the entire nation by promoting sustainability in waste management practices and safeguarding public health and safety. There is potential for a direct pathway to commercialisation of the advanced GI in collaboration with equipment manufacturers and water utilities, leading to industry uptake in their systems.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2025 · 2025-01

In-situ high-energy X-ray synchrotron platform for engineering materials. This project aims to establish an in-situ advanced materials characterisation platform based at the Australian Synchrotron. This project expects to generate ground truth knowledge in the processing of engineering materials, especially additive manufacturing and materials circularity, and materials used in extreme applications. Expected outcomes of this project include a national network of scientists and engineers using direct observation of the processing and performance of materials at nanometre and microsecond scales. This should provide significant benefits, such as the development of world class Australian manufacturing and advanced capability supporting defence, aerospace, materials circularity, energy and geo-science. Field of research: 4016 - Materials Engineering Australia has the opportunity to bring the world's most advanced analytical capabilities to advanced manufacturing and materials research, networked into advances in Europe and the United States. The project will enable direct observation of phenomena observed in highly relevant technologies and applications such as additive manufacturing, materials for the circular economy and materials performance under extreme environments. This project fits into five of the Australian government's six priority areas: defense, medical products, Mining/Resources and Agriculture and Space, all of which are being transformed by the development and processing of advanced engineering materials and benefit Australians economically, environmentally, and commercially. Areas of initial impact will be the rapidly growing additive manufacturing sector, the mining sector, aerospace and space technology, the energy sector and the materials circularity in the building industry. Further possible applications are in battery technology and geoscience. The team assembled will be the basis for a national network on the use of synchrotron radiation in the processing and performance of engineering materials, which will expand as the techniques and data flows are established. The strong industry networks of the CIs and the partners involved will enable a seamless transition of the knowledge to Australian industry.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2025 · 2025-01

Next-Gen Miniaturized Implants Using All-Optical Power and Data Interfaces. This project aims to deliver an all-optical power and data interface to a miniaturised EEG recording implant. While challenges in the miniaturisation of electronic medical implants have been largely met by progress in the very-large-scale integration (VLSI) technology, wireless power and data links between the implant and the outside world have not kept pace with this size reduction. We are at a point where wireless power and data interface constitute a significant portion of the implant’s volume. The project's outcome is an implant housed entirely within a wireless, all-optical self-contained transparent ceramic capsule. This approach may enable a safe and robust power and high-speed data link to the implant at a millimeter-sized package. Field of research: 4003 - Biomedical Engineering There is a current lack of suitable wireless power/data interface technologies for miniature medical implants. This project, therefore, aims to develop a new way of powering and communicating with medical implants. We aim to increase the power of miniature implants using safe light wavelengths and intensities and deliver data at sufficiently high rates using optical pulses. A new miniature implant with the possibility of continuous brain-monitoring provides a pathway to enhance the potential for patient-specific therapies and improve patient outcomes. In particular, treatment and monitoring of neurological conditions could benefit from a minimally invasive, highly reliable, and accurate recording system such as epilepsy and traumatic brain injury. This project also allows for the future realisation of devices and advanced manufacturing capability using high-performance materials that enable ultra-thin implants for interfacing with the body. These technologies are essential for developing brain-machine interfacing devices and can attract funding to start-ups in the rapidly growing neural interfaces field, providing commercial benefits to Australia. As well as commercialisation of our findings through the project’s industry partner in the brain-machine interfacing area, we will promote our findings to the wider MedTech community in Australia with a focus on miniature implants such as retinal stimulators and insulin pumps, which may benefit from the outcomes of this project.

ARC National Competitive Grants · FY 2025 · 2025-01

Intelligent 3D Laser Nanoprinting Facility with In-situ Characterisation. This project aims to establish Australia’s first and only facility of intelligent femtosecond laser nanoprinting platform with in-situ spectroscopic dynamic characterisation capability. This facility possesses unprecedented capabilities of both nanofabrication and in situ ultrafast temporal-spatial resolved spectroscopic characterisation. This project expects to enable Australian researchers to gain novel insight into unexplored light-matter interaction. Expected outcomes include significantly accelerated research of new materials and advanced manufacturing, facilitating the research of renewable energy, biotechnology, advanced materials, and quantum science, providing significant benefits for Australian’s economy and society development. Field of research: 4016 - Materials Engineering This project seeks to establish a groundbreaking facility in Australia, integrating two forefront technologies: intelligent femtosecond laser nanoprinting and temporal-spatial resolved spectroscopic characterisation. This integration will create Australia's premier platform capable of in-situ spectroscopic analysis during nanofabrication, marking a significant leap in research capabilities. The proposed facility will possess the previously achieved capability of real-time nanofabrication-characterisation in nanoscale with timescales of femtoseconds to hours, under flexibly controllable conditions, such as ambiance of vacuum or nitrogen, cryogenic temperatures and bias of light or electric field. The facility will significantly increase the research capability and enable Australia researchers highly efficient nanofabrication and acquire an in-depth understanding of light-matter interaction. The facility will be a world-class research infrastructure in Australia, serving the discovery of new functional materials, and exploring new physics and innovative technologies. This will ensure the Australian technology industry is globally competitive in next-generation energy, information and communication, sensing, quantum technology and biomedical engineering. This presents an excellent potential for scientific breakthroughs, training, and emerging/disruptive technology development, that will significantly enhance Australia’s capability in National Priority Manufacturing areas.