The University of Sydney has been awarded just over $37 million in total Australian Research Council (ARC) grant funding for 84 projects this year, up from $28 million for 71 projects in 2017.
“Congratulations to all researchers receiving funding this round – it is immensely pleasing to see such ambitious and meaningful projects be supported,” said Professor Laurent Rivory, Acting Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research).
“We know without doubt that our research advances national priorities and knowledge across a wide range of areas, and these results are all the more pleasing given the increasingly tight funding environment for research.”
Professor David Schlosberg, Luke Craven and Dr Alana Mann will be addressing food insecurity by assisting vulnerable populations to participate in the development of new food businesses. Social and economic benefits of their projects will include increased access to food, greater participation in new food enterprises, and an improved quality of life for vulnerable people experiencing food insecurity in Australia.
Three Linkage, Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities (LIEF) grants worth more than $1.5 million in total were awarded, including the completion of a revolutionary new instrument, Hector-1, to be installed on the Anglo-Australian Telescope to survey nearby galaxies in 3D.
Professor Julie Cairney and her team has also secured support to create a unique and comprehensive cryo-microscopy laboratory which is available to all Australian researchers in an open-access user environment, providing research infrastructure for a variety of projects.
Projects receiving support include an analysis into the impact of workspace design on workers’ satisfaction, productivity and health, as well as a project developing consumer-centred approaches to reducing the harmful effects of confusion in financial decisions.
In space research, Professor Scott Croom, Professor Sara Ellison, Dr Bernd Husemann and Assistant Professor Jorge Moreno will be aiming to resolve the role of super-massive black holes in the life-cycles of galaxies. Associate Professor Tara Murphy, Dr Martin Bell and Associate Professor David Kaplan have secured support to use three Australian radio telescopes to search for and monitor radio waves from future gravitational wave events.
Improved electricity infrastructure would provide significant economic, social and environmental benefits to Australia. One project – a legal and governance framework to enhance the resilience of Australia’s electricity infrastructure in a changing climate – has been funded for Professor Rosemay Lyster, Dr Gregor Verbic, Professor Daniel Farber and Professor Robert Verchick.