The University of Queensland has topped the latest round of grants from the nation’s peak university funding council.
Including partner contributions from industry, business and government, UQ has secured $20.5 million in the second round of the Australian Research Council’s (ARC) Linkage project.
The Linkage project was set up to link universities and industry through research collaboration.
UQ bettered The University of Sydney’s total of $16 million followed by The University of Melbourne with $15 million.
In both Linkage rounds this year, UQ also has the most Australian Postgraduate Awards Industry projects (35), Australian Postdoctoral Fellowships Industry projects (4) and Collaborative research projects (41).
UQ’s Professor Ove Hoegh-Guldberg and his team from the Centre for Marine Studies has one of the biggest single grants worth $1.1 million which will go to help protect the Great Barrier Reef from climate change.
On public money alone, The University of Melbourne topped the Linkage list with $6.4 million for 23 grants followed by the University of Sydney with $6.6 million for 19 grants.
UQ secured $5.6 million and The University of NSW $4.4 million, both for 16 grants respectively.
Raising money from industry partners is a condition of the grants and UQ more than doubled its funds pool to raise $14.9 million.
A statement from federal Education Minister Brendan Nelson said the Federal Government provided more than $60.4 million for 251 Linkage projects, with the average grant size $240,665.
UQ’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) Professor David Siddle said the latest funding would allow UQ researchers to investigate plastics for wound healing, earthquake hazards for South-East Queensland and manage climate change on the Great Barrier Reef.
“It’s rewarding to see our top researchers doing so well,” Professor Siddle said.
“We work hard and smart to back our top people by providing world-class facilities and learning environments so they can break new ground.
“I am also proud of UQ’s ability to gain industry and business support to continue making new discoveries.”
UQ’s 16 Linkage grants:
— Professor Ove Hoegh-Guldberg (Centre for Marine Studies), Dr KR Anthony; Prof A Bakun; Dr BC Congdon; Dr MJ Caley; Dr SG Dove; Dr GC Feldman; Prof ML Heron; Dr R Johnstone; Dr AK Krockenberger; Dr LJ McCook; Dr AE Strong; Dr P Marshall, New tools for managing ecosystem responses to climate change on the southern Great Barrier Reef, $1.1 million, 2005-10.
— Professor Max Lu, (ARC Centre for Functional Nanomaterials), A/Prof Y He; Mr X Yao, Nanostructured magnesium-base composites for high-density hydrogen storage, $342,200, 2005-08.
— Professor Gail Williams (School of Population Health), Prof RW Simpson; Dr GB Marks; Dr B Jalaludin, Quantifying the effects of criteria air pollutants on child health — setting Australian air quality standards, $504,924, 2005-08.
— Associate Professor Bernie Degnan (School of Integrative Biology), Enhancing the pearl: understanding the molecular genetics of pearl lustre, colour and size, $298,400, 2005-08.
— Professor Andrew Whittaker (Centre for Magnetic Resonance and Centre for high Performance Polymers), A/Prof JJ Cooper-White; Dr E Wentrup-Byrne; Dr J Malda, Bioactive polymers for wound healing applications, $590,000, 2005-08.
— Professor Mike Gidley (School of Land and Food Sciences), Dr SJ Roberts-Thomson; Dr GR Monteith; Dr RG Dietzgen; Prof PN Shaw, Identification of nutritional bioactives in tropical fruit, $117,000, 2005-08.
— Associate Professor Barry Noller (National Research Centre for Environmental Toxicology), A/Prof JC Ng; Prof T Suzuki; Dr SJ Markich; Prof K Kuma, The effect of dissolved organic matter on the toxicity and bioavailability of metals in tropical freshwater ecosystems, $90,444, 2005-08
— Professor Peter Hayes (Pyrometallurgy Research Centre), Dr E Jak; Dr PA Anderson; Mr JE Fittock, Improvements in the pyrometallurgical processing of nickel oxide and laterite ores at QNI, Yabulu, North Queensland, $430,000, 2005-08.
— Associate Professor Cathy Turner (School of Nursing), Prof S Stewart; Prof EA Davies; A/Prof HJ Beattie; Dr CJ Bain; Prof DG Hegney; Prof AJ Dobson; Prof Dr RJ McClure, Factors associated with the recruitment and retention of the current and future nursing workforce — a longitudinal e-cohort study, $650,000, 2005-2010.
— Dr John Zhu (School of Engineering), Prof GM Lu, Hydrogen production by non-thermal plasma assisted catalytic pyrolysis or natural gas, $293,749, 2005-08.
— Dr Catherine Lovelock (Centre for Marine Studies), Dr GA Skilleter; Dr IC Feller; Prof S Joye, Assessing linkages across arid zone estuarine landscapes, $299,500, 2005-08.
— Dr Glendon Shaw (National Research Centre for Environmental Toxicology), Prof MR Moore; Dr WA Wickramasinghe, The effect of chlorine disinfection byproducts in wastewater effluent on the aquatic environment, $72,444, 2005-08.
— Professor Peter Mora (Earth Systems Science Computational Centre), Assessment of the seismic hazard in South-East Queensland utilizing earthquake simulations, $219,000, 2005-08.
— Dr Bill Clarke (School of Engineering), Professor Jurg Keller, An optimally integrated treatment process for food waste and wastewater to maximise sustainability in a decentralised treatment plant, $355,000, 2005-08.
— Dr Andrew Barnes (Centre for Marine Studies), Dr RP Smullen, C-type lectins and innate immunity in barramundi, $115,000, 2005-08.
— Associate Professor Bernie Degnan (School of Integrative Biology), Dr Andrew Barnes, Dr Sandie Degnan, Dr Elizabeth O’Brien (DPI), Aquaculture of the tropical abalone: identifying and selecting for factors promoting high settlement, survival and growth, $121,444, 2005-08.
Media: Professor Siddle (07 3365 9044, d.siddle@research.uq.edu.au) or Miguel Holland at UQ Communications (3365 2619)
