The University of Queensland has topped the nation in Australian Research Council (ARC) E-Research Support grants.
UQ researchers were awarded the highest number of grants of any university in Australia with eight successful projects worth almost $640,000, including one project which hopes to use artificial intelligence to help better detect breast cancer from magnetic resonance (MR) images.
Professor Stuart Crozier, from UQ’s School of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering, is leading a project to develop software for the production of 3D colour-coded breast images, derived from MR images, in which suspicious regions are highlighted and then can be further investigated.
The large quantity of data acquired using MR imaging is difficult for clinicians to review and the cost of missed or incorrect detection is high, so it is hoped the software will make detection easier.
E-Research Support is a pilot initiative under the ARC Special Research Initiatives program and aims to overcome barriers to the adoption of E-Research by encouraging open exchange of information, sharing of resources and better use of existing ICT infrastructure.
UQ’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) Professor David Siddle said the University’s excellent showing in the grants announcement showed how UQ was “ahead of the game” in E-Research.
“I would like to congratulate our researchers,” Professor Siddle said.
“The breadth and scope of the projects highlights the leading work UQ researchers are doing in innovative environments and innovative ways.”
Details of other successful UQ E-Research grants are:
Dr Nicole Bordes, from the School of Physical Sciences, leads a project developing and implementing an Australian archaeological digital collection platform based on existing High Performance Computing techniques and infrastructure. This collection will facilitate the dissemination and interchange of archaeological data across disciplines and institutions and across the public and private sectors; enhance archaeological research; and contribute to discourses about Australian cultural heritage and identity.
Professor John Drennan, from UQ’s Centre for Microscopy & Microanalysis, leads a project aiming to provide the Nanostructural Analysis Network Organization with a set of common, interoperable tools and services to enable more efficient, cost-effective storage, management, analysis and sharing of generated microscopic images, video and analytical data. NANO is an Australian Major National Research Facility that provides access to a grid of advanced microscopic instruments for the nanostructural analysis of both physical materials and biological systems.
Dr Michael Drinkwater, from the School of Physical Sciences, leads a project developing software to improve the identification of radio galaxies, which are among the largest galaxies in the universe with their copious radio emission powered by massive black holes. Australian radio telescopes are very effective at tracing these massive galaxies back in time so we can measure how black holes formed and developed, but the next generation of studies will look so far back in time that the identification will become ambiguous.
Professor Maria Orlowska, from the School of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering, leads a project aiming to establish an ICT infrastructure to facilitate a whole-of-environment approach to environmental research. The project hopes to create a federated distributed data infrastructure for research, that encourages data creators to make their data available to other scientists, and encourages users to make use of data available from many sources.
Professor Bernard Pailthorpe, from the School of Physical Sciences, leads a project aiming to further develop a software platform for collaborative and network-based, shared scientific visualisation tools. Case studies will be on ecological and geosciences data, relevant to agriculture and coastal studies, marine sciences and coral reefs
Dr Andrew Smith, from UQ’s Key Centre for Human Factors and Applied Cognitive Psychology, leads a project aimed at improving the archiving of research data in the social sciences to enhance analytic methods.
Associate Professor Cathy Turner, from the School of Nursing, leads a project looking to develop and pilot an e-cohort research methodology suitable for long-term studies with overseas partners. Historically, studies of this nature are expensive as they are conducted in traditional paper-based mode and the studies are therefore confined to one country. Developing and employing e-research techniques will significantly reduce the costs and result in high quality research.
Media inquiries: Andrew Dunne at UQ Communications (07 3365 2802).
