Deakin University researchers have been awarded more than $4.7 million dollars in Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Projects.
Discovery Projects, a flagship scheme for fundamental research and the largest scheme under the ARC ³Ô¹ÏÍøÕ¾ Competitive Grants Program, provides funding between $30,000 and $500,000 each year for up to five consecutive years.
The funding can be used to support research assistants and technicians, access to research and infrastructure facilities, technical workshop services, essential field research, equipment and consumables and the publication and dissemination of findings.
Deakin’s successful projects focus on youth mobility, adult skeletal muscle health, bird evolution, community response to climate change, lithium battery advancement, deep neural network copyright protection and adolescent brain development.
Deakin’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research and Innovation, Deakin Distinguished Professor Matthew Clarke, said the Discovery Projects scheme contributes significantly to the growth of Australia’s research and innovation capacity.
‘The funding for these projects will allow Deakin academics to continue their world-class research into a diverse range of important fields, further expanding our research capacity and fostering national and international research collaboration.’ Professor Clarke said.
The successful Deakin-led Discovery Projects include:
Youth Futures After Mobility: a longitudinal study of mobile transitions ($822,191)
Led by Deakin Distinguished Professor Anita Harris from the Alfred Deakin Institute (ADI), the project aims to investigate what helps and hinders the social and economic integration of young people after living abroad.
Through surveys and interviews conducted over 10 years, it will track the integration of 800 mobile youth as they age, face decisions about remaining or returning and seek to settle. The unique longitudinal mobile youth dataset will be used to generate important new theories linking mobility, integration and ageing. This will assist governments and businesses to design programs and policies to help Australian society benefit from youth mobility, including resettling young expats and retaining talented migrant youth.
The research team includes Professor Loretta Baldassar.
Understanding the role of sex in ageing muscle ($730,000)
Females live longer and are more susceptible to the functional and metabolic consequences of muscle ageing, yet knowledge and data is overwhelmingly related to male cohorts. Led by Associate Professor Severine Lamon, Deputy Associate Dean for Research in the Faculty of Health and member of the Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition (IPAN), the project aims to explore cause-and-effect relationships between molecular regulators and age- and sex-specific traits in skeletal muscle loss.
The results will establish the role of sex hormones and sex chromosomes on the origins, progression and consequences of age-related muscle loss, identifying transition points when risks to wellbeing and windows of opportunity are greatest. The project will produce essential knowledge allowing appropriate mitigation of the sex-specific consequences of muscle loss in males and females to promote healthy ageing.
The research team includes Associate Professor David Scott (IPAN), Dr Mark Ziemann (Honorary Fellow School of Life and Environmental Sciences), Professor Vincent Harley, Professor Nir Eynon and Dr Steven O’Bryan.
Evolving escape: anti-predator adaptations in threatened bird species ($683,000)
Led by Professor Matthew Symonds from the School of Life and Environmental Sciences within the Faculty of Science Engineering and Built Environment (SEBE), the project will examine how escape responses to predators evolve through natural selection, a critical question in the conservation and management of threatened species. It will examine whether protection measures select for increased tolerance to threats, thereby making populations more vulnerable to predation.
Using field studies of two threatened Australian birds, they will generate behavioural, genetic and demographic data to identify how management regimes influence escape responses, whether these responses are heritable, and how these responses affect survival. The project will enable conservation groups to make evidence-based choices about management of protected threatened species.
The research team includes Associate Professor Michael Weston (Deakin School of Life and Environmental Sciences) and Associate Professor Lee Rollins.
Understanding place-based repair in climate-affected communities ($588,278)
Community-based repair work is a vital but often overlooked aspect of responding to the impacts of climate change and to mitigating the increasing costs of disasters. Through storytelling and creative methodologies, the project led by Professor Emily Potter from the School of Communication and Creative Arts (Faculty of Arts and Education) will document, map and analyse how people are responding to environmental change through diverse, locally attentive practices of repair.
Generating understandings of the nature of repair work for researchers, governments and communities, as well as practical tools, guides and resources, the project will contribute to improved strategies and actions for more inclusive and equitable community-led responses to climate change.
The research team includes Professor Donna Houston, Associate Professor Fiona Miller, Associate Professor Brigid Magner, Dr Clifton Evers and Professor Eva Lovbrand.
Artificial Intelligence designed 3D-printed solid-state Li metal batteries ($558,403)
Led by Deakin Distinguished Professor Ying (Ian) Chen, Director of the ARC Research Hub for New Safe and Reliable Energy at the Institute for Frontier Materials (IFM), the project will address challenges in solid-state Li metal batteries (SSLMBs), lithium dendrite growth and poor interfacial contact through use of cutting-edge 3D printing and Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques.
The project will leverage AI’s predictive capabilities on extensive databases, identifying optimal materials and structures for SSLMBs and using 3D printing techniques to fabricate precise designs. Expected outcomes include novel solid-state electrolyte formulations, smart battery structures and high-performance SSLMBS. The project will benefit Australia’s energy storage innovation and economic growth, bolstering Australia’s global leadership in advanced energy technologies.
The research team includes Dr Baozhi Yu (IFM) and Dr Xuequan Lu.
Copyright protection of deep neural network models based on watermarking ($510,636)
Led by Professor Yong Xiang from the School of Information Technology in the Faculty of Science Engineering and Built Environment (SEBE), the project aims to develop robust watermarking techniques for copyright protection of deep neural network (DNN) models.
This project will employ novel approaches, methods and techniques to solve existing copyright protection shortfalls. Expected benefits include significant advance in DNN watermarking research, greater commercial opportunities, expansion of deep learning for real-world applications and economic gain through greater protection of intellectual investment.
The research team includes Dr Leo Zhang.
Models of adolescent brain development to predict socioemotional function ($457,623)
Adolescence is a dynamic developmental window for brain development and current models of adolescent development fail to predict why, when and to whom, changes lead to socioemotional difficulties and poorer outcomes. Led by Associate Professor Tim Silk from Deakin’s SEED Lifespan, the project aims to understand what drives brain development leading to variability in socioemotional functioning in adolescence.
Having established the largest internationally collaborative dataset, this project will reveal the role of pubertal maturation and hormones in adolescent brain development, with significant beneficial consequences for age-based benchmarking decisions in policy and society.
The research team includes Dr Nandita Vijayakumar (SEED Lifespan), Professor Sarah Whittle, Dr Michelle Byrne, Dr Marjolein Barendse, Dr Ethan McCormick, Dr Elizabeth Shirtcliff and Professor Jennifer Pfeifer.
Embedding net zero carbon emissions in Northern Australia ($406,298)
Led by Associate Professor Timothy Neale from the Alfred Deakin Institute (ADI), the project aims to explore how people in Northern Australia view the local, national and global value of large net zero carbon emissions projects. This project plans to generate new knowledge on how local social factors shape the embedding of the net zero paradigm in place through industrial infrastructures, including insights into how climate change policy agendas are normatively evaluated at a local scale.
This project looks to provide significant benefits by highlighting potential challenges and opportunities to government, industry and others and allowing for improved success and planning capacity, as well as reducing negative effects in future net zero implementation.
The research team includes Dr Christopher Mayes (ADI), Dr Kari Dahlgren, Professor Matthew Kearnes, Professor Teresa Lea and Associate Professor Gisa Weszkalnys.
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