UQ fifth for ARC fellowships
The University of Queensland has attracted eight new fellowships in the 1999 Australian Research Council (ARC) fellowships round, the fifth-highest number of fellowships funded nationally.
The most prestigious awards offered in the scheme are Senior Research Fellowships for researchers who have made the most outstanding contributions to research in their fields.
The University of Queensland has attracted two of only 15 of these fellowships offered nationally for 1999.
This year's round had an 13.5 percent success rate nationally.
The University of Queensland's success rate was 17.8 percent, which compared very favourably with the success rate for the other top universities including Australian National University (15.8 percent), the University of Melbourne (15.5 percent), the University of Sydney (15 percent) and the University of Adelaide (14.1 percent).
This year the most successful institutions in terms of total grant numbers were:
o Australian National University, 16 awards;
o University of Sydney, 12 awards;
o University of Melbourne, 11 awards;
o University of Adelaide, nine awards;
o University of Queensland, eight awards;
o University of New South Wales, six awards; and
o Monash University, five awards.
Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) Professor Paul Greenfield said the two Senior Research Fellowships represented an excellent result for the University. He said the Physics Department should also be congratulated for scooping four of the eight awards.
He encouraged other researchers to apply for the fellowships next year especially given the University's indefinite agreement to fund any discrepancies between the value of the fellowships and salaries received in present academic positions.
University of Queensland recipients and their awards were as follows:
Six Australian Postdoctoral Research Fellowships, with funding for three years, were awarded to:
o Mr Anthony Roberts (Centre for Microscopy and Microanalysis) for a project entitled Transport and elastic properties of random porous media and composites by 3D statistical reconstruction from 2D images and X-ray scattering data ($41,422 for 1999);
o Dr Martin Scanlon (Centre for Drug Design and Development) for a project entitled Molecular details of the interaction between K-conotoxins and the selectivity-determining pore of voltage-sensitive potassium channels ($48,510 for 1999);
o Dr Peng Zhou (Physics Department) for a project entitled Modification of radiative properties of atoms ($41,422 for 1999);
o Dr Mark Fernee (Physics Department) for a project entitled Investigation of seeded parametric four-wave mixing ($38,589 for 1999);
o Marlies Friese (Physics Department) for a project entitled Atomic interactions with higher order vortex laser beams ($38,589 for 1999);
o Dr Howard Wiseman (Physics Department) for a project entitled Non-Markovian evolution in open quantum systems ($45,239 for 1999).
Two Senior Research Fellowships, each supported for five years, were awarded to:
o Dr Stuart Crozier (Centre for Magnetic Resonance) for a project entitled Magnetic resonance engineering of new compact high field systems ($56,685 for 1999); and
o Dr Jenny Martin (Centre for Drug Design and Development) for a project entitled Applications of protein cyrstallography in drug design structures ($56,685 for 1999).
For further information, contact University Director of Research Jan Massey, (telephone 07 3365 3640).
