Academics from UNSW Sydney from the Faculties of Science, Medicine and Health, Arts, Design and Architecture, Law and Justice, Engineering and UNSW Business School as well that from UNSW Canberra have secured funding in the latest Discovery Project (DP) cycle of Australian research. Council (ARC).

The ARC Discovery program aims to expand the knowledge base and research capacity in Australia and to support research that will bring economic, business, environmental, social and / or cultural benefits to the nation.

A total of 65 UNSW projects received more than $ 27 million, with UNSW Science and Engineering again taking the lion’s share. Science has secured 31 grants with funds totaling over $ 14 million, while Engineering has 16 projects totaling over $ 6 million.

UNSW Vice Chancellor of Research Professor Sven Rogge congratulated the university’s academics on their successful research funding.

“PDs are very competitive grants and they conduct much of Australia’s cutting-edge research on the most pressing societal challenges in Australia and beyond. It’s great to see the good results of UNSW researchers again this year.

Professor Nicholas Fisk, Assistant Vice Chancellor, Research and Enterprise, was pleased, but also concerned about the process.

“It’s wonderful to see the success of UNSW academics in this vital mainstream grant program. At the same time, it is worrying that at the national level, six DPs, including one from UNSW, have been vetoed by the Minister for not being in the national interest. This is despite their selection through the CRA’s rigorous independent peer review process. Unfortunately, this is not the first time that grants have been withheld at the discretion of the ministry, compromising the integrity and transparency of our national grant system.

Among the laureates, Professor Marc Wilkins of UNSW Science who received $ 627,570 for “The effect of methylation and phosphorylation on ribosome function”. This project aims to discover how cells regulate the function and selectivity of ribosomes, by modifying their ribosomal proteins. This affects protein synthesis, a process that is essential for the growth of all living things.

Associate Professor Christine Chaffer of the Garvan Institute for Medical Research and UNSW Medicine & Health received $ 611,000 for “Mapping Networks Governing Cellular State Plasticity: How, Where, and When?” Altered cellular states are central to nearly all developmental and disease processes in multicellular organisms. Building on their foundational discovery that stem cells and non-stem cells easily interconvert, the team will now integrate innovative cell systems and the development of our novel multilayer systems biology strategy to develop the first global understanding of the cell biology that underlies the cellular state. changes.

Professor Mattheos (Mat) Santamouris of UNSW Arts, Design & Architecture received $ 570,000 for “Fluorescent Daytime Radiation Cooling for Urban Heat Mitigation”. This project aims to develop a fluorescent daytime radiative cooling technology suitable for mitigating urban overheating in the built environment and reducing future demands for cooling energy in buildings.

Professor Jill Hunter of UNSW Law & Justice received $ 540,000 for “Judges’ Work, Place and Mental Health – A National Vision”. This project aims to respond to the human, legal and financial costs of psychological damage linked to the work of judicial officers, involved in early retirement, sick leave and suicides. This prejudice threatens the proper conduct of the courtroom, procedural fairness and impartial judgment.

Professor Xuemin Lin of UNSW Engineering was awarded $ 510,000 for “Towards High-Order Structure Research on Large-Scale Graphics”. Finding high-order structure on large-scale charts has many applications including cybersecurity, crime detection, social media, marketing recommendations, and public health. This project aims to lay the scientific foundations and develop new computational techniques to efficiently conduct the search for structures.

Professor Qihe Tang of UNSW Business School was awarded $ 378,292 for “Quantitative Analysis of Systemic Risk in Insurance”. The interest of this project lies in the reduction of the gap between studies of systemic risk in banking and insurance. The expected results include the construction of insurance / reinsurance networks to formalize systemic risk, analysis of the role of network integration and the development of pricing frameworks to drive a systemic risk premium.

Professor Matthew Garratt of the UNSW Canberra School of Engineering & IT was awarded $ 411,224 for “Effective Strategies for Visually Guided Flight: From Insects to Drones”. Flying in real environments, densely cluttered with obstacles, is a major challenge limiting the proliferation of aerial robotics technology, yet flying insects such as bees accomplish this task with ease. This project will seek to discover the main vision-based flight control strategies implemented by insects to combat clutter. These will be used to develop sensory and information processing frameworks to be implemented in miniature robotic systems that will allow them to navigate autonomously in complex environments even when GPS positioning is denied.