The University of Queensland topped the bill when funding under the Go8-Germany Research Co-operation Scheme was announced this week.
Six UQ projects were awarded funding, as were five at Australian National University, four at the University of Western Australia, three at the University of New South Wales, two each at the University of Sydney and the University of Melbourne, and one each at Monash University and the University of Adelaide.
“Our result this year was outstanding,” said Professor Alan Lawson, UQ Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research and International).
“Last year, 36 grants were supported; this year, there were only 24 but UQ received 25 per cent of them.”
Under the scheme, the projects will receive a total $82,960 in funding from UQ next year; funding will also come from the German side.
The successful UQ projects and their team leaders are:
- Soil behaviour during the installation of auger displacement piles; Professor David Williams (UQ) and Dr-Ing Michael Arnold (Technical University, Dresden), $20,000
- Numerical and experimental investigation of internal erosion of non-cohesive soils; Dr-Ing Alexander Scheuermann (UQ) and Professor Dr-Ing Holger Steeb (Ruhr-University of Bochum), $19,460
- Spider venoms as potential analgesics; Professor Glenn King (UQ) and Professor Walter Stühmer (Max Planck Institute for Experimental Medicine, Gottingen), $14,000
- Calibration of passive samplers for halogenated natural products in water; Professor Jochen Mueller (UQ) and Professor Walter Vetter (University of Hohenheim), $13,500
- Whole human brain mapping using combined MRI and histology; Professor David Reutens (UQ) and Assistant Professor Martin Walker (Otto von Guericke University, Magdeburg), $10,000
- Improving the understanding of chemical fate in the environment, Professor Beate Escher (UQ) and Professor Kai-Uwe-Goss (Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Leipzig), $6000.
Announcing the total $750,000 funding package this week, Group of Eight chair Professor Alan Robson said the research would generate economic, social, cultural and environmental benefits for both nations.
The scheme was established in 2007 as a joint project of the Go8 and the Deutscher Akademischer Austauch Dienst (German Academic Exchange Service).
In four years, it has provided nearly $AUD4 million to foster research collaboration between researchers from Germany and Australian Go8 universities.
The scheme focuses on early-career researchers, and on “themes of importance to both countries”, including sustainable energy production, emissions trading and migration.
Media: Fiona Cameron, UQ Communications ph +61 7 3346 7086
