More than $1.18 million awarded for University of Melbourne collaborative research
Three University of Melbourne research projects have been awarded a combined total of more than $1.18m as part of the Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage Projects scheme 2023 Round 1.
The Linkage Projects scheme promotes national and international research partnerships between higher education institutions and other parts of the research innovation system.
The ARC supports these projects to encourage the transfer of skills, knowledge and ideas between researchers and partner organisations, and the intergenerational knowledge and skills transmission among researchers that is crucial to building Australia’s research capability.
The awarded grants for University of Melbourne ARC Linkage Projects include:
$393,243 to improve the success of hybrid living shorelines with the Department Of Primary Industries; Mid Coast Council; Port Macquarie Hastings Council; and the Trustee For The Nature Conservancy Australia Trust: This project aims to improve the success of hybrid living shorelines that combine the restoration of mangroves and oysters with engineered structures to enhance restoration outcomes and coastal hazard resilience. It expects to generate new knowledge on the effectiveness of innovative coastal-manager-led solutions that have not yet been robustly evaluated.
Research team: Dr Rebecca Morris; Professor Stephen Swearer; Professor Ryan Lowe; Associate Professor Marco Ghisalberti; Professor Melanie Bishop; Dr Rackel San Nicolas; Dr Brendan Lanham; Miss Emily Messer; Mrs Charlotte Jenkins; Dr Victoria Cole; Dr Fiona Valesini.
$496,000 to develop methods for collecting, culturing and cryopreserving cells from wildlife in line with museum industry practice with Museums Victora and the Australian Museum: The project expects to generate new knowledge about the collection of live cells from animals under field conditions and their long-term maintenance in museum collections. Expected outcomes of the project include enhanced capacity of museums to build live cell collections and to support and collaborate with cellular biologists.
Research team: Professor Andrew Pask; Dr Stephen Frankenberg; Dr Joanna Sumner; Dr Kevin Rowe; Associate Professor Jane Melville; Dr Karen Rowe; Professor Kristofer Helgen; Dr David Alquezar
$299,687 to develop new chemical manufacturing processes for pharmaceutical products with Sun Pharma: In collaboration with Sun Pharma, this project will tackle the challenge of replacing expensive and toxic chemicals in industrial reactions, to lower cost of manufacturing and improve its sustainability profile.
Research team: Associate Professor Anastasios Polyzos; Dr Fiona Fry; Dr Aliya Tierney.
A complete list of ARC Linkage Projects 2023 Round 1 is available on the ARC website.