UQ tops nation for research infrastructure grants
University of Queensland researchers have won the highest number and value of the Australian Research Council's Research Infrastructure Equipment and Facilities (RIEF) grants for 2000.
The University attracted seven grants worth $2.77 million for next year with the University of Sydney attracting six worth $2.21 million, the University of New South Wales (five, $1.86 million), the University of Technology, Sydney, (five, $1.26 million), the Australian National University (four, $1.16 million), and the University of Western Australia (four, $1.37 million).
Overall, 70 projects were funded worth $21.7 million. The University received nearly 13 percent of total funds nationally and 55 percent of those funds awarded to Queensland projects.
The RIEF scheme aims to encourage institutions to form large-scale collaborative arrangements with other universities and the private and public sector and fund research infrastructure and facilities.
Successful applicants at the University of Queensland were:
o Professor Bruce Abernethy (UQ Human Movement Studies Department), Professor Gerard Fogarty (University of Southern Queensland) and Professor Adrian Ashman (Fred and Eleanor Schonell Special Education Research Centre at UQ) for a mobile laboratory studying cognitive, physiological, biomechanical and neuro-muscular aspects of human movement ($150,000).
o Professor David Doddrell and Dr Graeme Hanson (both from UQ Centre for Magnetic Resonance), Professor Jim Pope, Professor Graham George and Dr John Bartley (all of Queensland University of Technology) for magnetic resonance tools ($600,000). The funds will assist researchers to purchase two pieces of equipment. One worth $900,000 will be housed at the University of Queensland and extend the Centre's work in enzyme structure and function. This is one of only two pieces of equipment in Australia at present. The other to be located at QUT will extend instrumentation there to allow for further modern magnetic resonance imaging work.
o Dr Tracy Frank, Dr Paulo Vasconcelos and Associate Professor Christopher Fielding (all of the UQ Earth Sciences Department), Dr Ken Woolfe (James Cook University) and Dr Malcolm Cox (QUT) for the acquisition of instrumentation for stable isotope analysis equipment and research in Earth history ($225,000).
o Professor Peter Mora (UQ Earth Sciences Department), Associate Professor Arcady Dyskin (University of Western Australia) and Dr Hans-Bernd Muhlhaus (CSIRO Division of Exploration and Mining) for an Australian Solid Earth Simulator ($750,000).
o Associate Professor Richard Morgan, Dr Allan Paull, Dr David Mee, Dr Peter Jacobs, Dr Michael Macrossan and Emeritus Professor Ray Stalker (all from the UQ Mechanical Engineering Department), Associate Professor Helena Rubinsztein-Dunlop, Dr Tim McIntyre (both of UQ Physics Department), Associate Professor Sudhir Gai (Australian Defence Force Academy), Dr Frank Houwing (Australian National University), Professor Kazuyoshi Takayama (Tohoku University), Dr Klaus Hannemann (DLR), Dr Malcolm Jenkins (WBN Pty Ltd) and Dr David Buttsworth (University of Southern Queensland) for advanced hypersonic facilities for international collaborative research projects ($210,000). The funds will be spent adding further state-of-the-art instrumentation and improving existing facilities at the University's laboratory for high-speed testing, super-orbital interplanetary work and earth-to-orbit launching - one of the most advanced laboratories of its kind in the world.
o Dr Matt Trau (UQ Chemistry Department) and Professor Ron Quinn (Griffith University) for instrumentation for a high-performance screening facility ($600,000).
o Dr Guy Wallis and Dr James Tresilian (both of UQ Human Movement Studies Department), Associate Professor Joanne Wood (QUT) and Dr Trevor Hine (Griffith University) for a project exploring human perception and action using computer-generated virtual environments ($230,000).
Further information: Ms Nicky Milsom, Office of UQ Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) 07 3365 4445.
