University of Melbourne researchers awarded over $26 million in ARC Discovery grants

University of Melbourne researchers awarded over $26 million in ARC Discovery grants. Image credit: Michael Kai Photography
University of Melbourne researchers awarded over $26 million in ARC Discovery grants. Image credit: Michael Kai Photography

University of Melbourne researchers have been awarded 48 Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Projects 2024 Round One grants worth over $26 million.

Researchers from across the faculties of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, Science, Engineering and IT, Arts, Business and Economics and Law received a total of $26,387,043 in funding.

The ARC's Discovery Program aims to support research, and research training, across all disciplines (excluding clinical and other medical research), that addresses a significant problem or gap in knowledge and represents value for money.

University of Melbourne recipients of the 2024 Discovery Project round one are:

  • Dr Phillip Bedggood; Associate Professor Andrew Metha - Ultrafast tracking of physiological processes in the human eye, treatment of disorders occurring at the cellular level
  • Associate Professor David Simpson; Associate Professor Jenny Gunnersen; Dr Geza Berecki; Dr Nikolai Dontschuk; Dr Daniel McCloskey - Diamond Voltage Microscopy: A new tool for neuroscience
  • Associate Professor Bishakhdatta Gayen; Dr Catherine Vreugdenhil; Associate Professor Jimmy Philip - The basal melting of Antarctic ice shelves
  • Associate Professor Kelly Smith; Professor Gary Hime - Characterising a new regulator of the Hedgehog pathway
  • Professor Gordon Lynch; Dr Justin Hardee; Dr Avnika Ruparelia - Interrogating the extremes of skeletal muscle plasticity in vertebrates
  • Professor Tim Stinear; Dr Ian Monk; Associate Professor Joan Geoghegan - Dissecting bacterial signal transduction
  • Professor Stephen Swearer - Improving the effectiveness of marine habitat restoration
  • Dr Daniel Utzschneider; Dr Patricia Illing; Professor Sammy Bedoui - Deciphering the immune complexity that orchestrates T cell activation
  • Associate Professor Kelly Smith; Dr Anne Karine Lagendijk; Dr Victoria Garside - The impact of Hyaluronic Acid on growth factor signalling and angiogenesis
  • Associate Professor Jennifer Waycott; Dr Melissa Rogerson; Dr Lucy Sparrow; Professor Martin Gibbs - Co-designing Innovations in Digital Storytelling with Older Adults
  • Dr Philippa Karoly; Professor Mark Cook - Understanding multiday cycles underpinning human physiology
  • Professor William Heath; Dr Lynette Beattie; Dr Lauren Holz - Defining pathways that control T cell lifespan for long-term immunity
  • Associate Professor Georgina Such; Professor Elizabeth Gillies; Dr Victoria McLeod - Unravelling Efficient Nucleic Acid Delivery Using Multilayer Nanoparticles
  • Professor Russell Thompson; Professor Michael Kirley; Dr Lele Zhang; Dr Soheil Sabri - A modelling framework for designing more sustainable urban freight systems
  • Professor James McCluskey; Dr Zhenjun Chen; Dr Michael Souter - The molecular basis of T cell receptor cross-reactivity between MHC and MR1
  • Dr Freya Shearer; Professor James McCaw; Professor Nicholas Golding; Dr David Price; Dr Gerard Ryan - Optimising disease surveillance to support decision-making
  • Associate Professor Kathryn Stok; Associate Professor Brooke Farrugia; Associate Professor Daniela Loessner; Professor Dr Ralph Mueller; Professor Brian Bay; Associate Professor Shireen Lamande - Replicating the cartilage micromechanical environment
  • Professor Frank Caruso; Professor Greg Qiao - Engineering Functional Antimicrobial Polypeptide Surfaces
  • Professor Andrew Perfors; Professor Simon Dennis - Bridging the meaning gap: A computational approach to semantic variation
  • Dr Leigh Walker; Professor Andrew Lawrence - Midbrain hunger signalling modifies decision making under conflict
  • Professor Jan de Gier; Dr Alexandr Garbali; Associate Professor Michael Wheeler; Professor Paul Zinn-Justin - Shuffle algebras and vertex models
  • Associate Professor Vanessa Cropley; Associate Professor Bei Bei; Professor Andrew Zalesky; Professor Shanthakumar Wilson Rajaratnam; Dr Julia Stone; Dr Ye Ella Tian; Professor Nicholas Allen - The impact of circadian and sleep factors on neurodevelopment
  • Dr Nicola Bidwell; Professor Steven Bird - First Nations AI: Country, Climate, Communication
  • Professor Nicholas Hutchins; Professor Jason Monty; Professor Bharath Ganapathisubramani - An adaptive surface for improved modelling of rough wall bounded turbulence
  • Dr Mingming Gong; Professor Howard Bondell; Professor Rajkumar Buyya; Associate Professor Kun Zhang - Causal Knowledge-Empowered Adaptive Federated Learning
  • Dr Kate Williams; Professor Jennifer Lewis - National research impact policies: Uncovering the ‘value’ in evaluation
  • Dr Hangwei Hu; Professor Jizheng He - Predatory protists: natural weapons for soil-borne pathogen control
  • Professor Katherine Kedzierska - Understanding T cell trafficking and function during antigenic interference
  • Professor Sandra Kentish; Dr George Chen - A unifying model for ion exchange membranes – towards a low carbon future
  • Professor Tomohiro Ando; Professor Renee Fry-McKibbin; Associate Professor Matthew Greenwood-Nimmo; Professor Yongcheol Shin - Macroeconomic and Financial Modelling in an Era of Extremes
  • Associate Professor Stephan Rachel - Braiding Dynamics of Majorana Modes
  • Professor Benjamin Hogan; Professor Natasha Harvey - Hippo signalling control of transcription in lymphatic vascular development
  • Professor Philip Smith; Associate Professor Daniel Little - A statistical decision theory of cognitive capacity
  • Professor Joachim Gudmundsson; Dr André van Renssen; Dr Seeun William Umboh; Professor Mark de Berg -  Algorithms for Future-Proof Networks.
  • Associate Professor Diana Stojanovski; Professor Hayley Newton - Manipulation of mitochondrial function by Legionella pneumophila
  • Dr Adam Osth; Professor Robert Nosofsky; Dr Krista Ehinger - Using cognitive models to understand memorability of real world images
  • Professor Kenneth Crozier; Dr James Bullock; Professor Paul Mulvaney - Mid-infrared quantum dots for room temperature photodetectors and emitters
  • Professor Ying Tan; Dr Jonathan Eden; Professor Denny Oetomo; Professor Etienne Burdet - Human-Robot Co-Evolution: Achieving the full potential of future workplaces
  • Professor Elaine Wong; Professor Christina Lim; Dr Chathurika Ranaweera; Dr Imali Dias; Professor Dr Lena Wosinska - Resilient Remote Environment Emulation for Human-to-Machine Communication
  • Associate Professor Alexandra Corbett; Associate Professor Kate Lawlor - How do unconventional T cells die?
  • Professor Andrew Martin; Dr Alexander Wood - If a spin could torque: quantum force sensing with levitated nanodiamonds
  • Dr Jianzhong Qi; Dr Jey Han Lau; Professor Wei Wang - Empowering Next-Generation Spatial Digital Twins with Linked Spatial Data
  • Associate Professor Daniel Little; Associate Professor Ami Eidels - Human Scheduling of Perceptual Tasks
  • Professor Moira O'Bryan; Dr Jessica Dunleavy; Dr Carsten Janke - Decoding microtubule remodelling in sperm production
  • Professor Paul Gregorevic; Dr Craig Goodman; Dr Belinda Phipson; Professor Karen Reue; Professor Jeffrey Zajac; Associate Professor Rachel Davey - How age & sex impact the transcriptional control of mammalian muscle growth
  • Professor Spencer Williams - Unlocking the secret chemistry of organosulfur biodegradation
  • Associate Professor Mohsen Talei; Associate Professor Yi Yang; Professor Michael Brear; Dr Benedicte Cuenot - Towards highly-efficient hydrogen gas turbines
  • Professor Andrew Roberts; Dr Celine van Golde; Professor Kimberley Wade - Body Worn Camera Evidence and Assessment of Witness Credibility

See the full list of recipients here.