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The Defence and Security Institute plays a key role in the Australian capabilities essential to our nation’s defence, security, and prosperity.
We are committed to ensuring that the University of Adelaide builds and maintains the research skills, infrastructure, commercialisation and knowledge transfer abilities required to continue contributing to the defence of our nation.
Upcoming events
04 Mar
CADR-RAS Webinar: Robust coordinated autonomy through Dec-MCTS with communicated behavioural intent
We are developing coordination algorithms for enabling coordinated manoeuvres that are tightly coupled, robust, interpretable, and applicable to defence-relevant missions such as scouting and target tracking. This project aims to address several fundamental challenges revealed through our high-TRL defence projects via three inter-related threads: (1) We have developed a new representation for encoding “behavioural intent” for communicating between robots, formulated as Behaviour Tree messages within the Dec-MCTS coordination algorithm. (2) We are developing neural network models for reinforcement learning of uncertain reward functions with stability certifications from agents collecting sparse data samples. (3) Lastly, we are generalising coordinated information gathering approaches for scenarios where the environment can dynamically influence perception performance, such as where there is variable lighting, smoke, or irregular clutter and occlusions.
Latest news from the Institute
Defence Researchers come together ahead of upcoming merger.
Defence Researchers from University of Adelaide and the University of South Australia recently came together to celebrate the successes of 2024.
Read more about Defence Researchers come together ahead of upcoming merger.
Professor Olaf Maennel appointed Joint Chair in Cybersecurity
We’re excited to announce Professor Olaf Maennel has been appointed to the position of Defence Science and Technology Group - University of Adelaide Joint Chair in Cybersecurity. This position is co-funded by DSTG and the University of Adelaide.
Read more about Professor Olaf Maennel appointed Joint Chair in Cybersecurity
Developing the first drug for multi-organ radiation protection
Radiation plays a crucial role in a number of fields; it’s vital for shrinking cells in current cancer treatments, propelling nuclear-powered military submarines and electricity grids, and more. However, radiation carries risks. Overexposure can lead to radiation poisoning, triggering severe symptoms and conditions such as causing cancers, cognitive impairments, and fatal multi-organ (lung, intestines, heart) failure. In Australia, workers including uranium miners, our military personnel, emergency service professionals, and astronauts are all vulnerable to radiation poisoning. To mitigate its adverse effects, University of Adelaide researchers have made great strides towards a world first: a multi-organ anti-radiation drug.
Read more about Developing the first drug for multi-organ radiation protectionFrom the Newsroom
18
Nov
Thales Australia and University of Adelaide partner to explore laser technology.
29
Nov
Undergraduate places support nuclear-powered future
The University of Adelaide has today, Wednesday 29 November, received Federal Government commitment to fund the training of hundreds more domestic undergraduate students to join the defence workforce of the future.
24
Oct
South Australian researchers join forces with global defence consortium
The University of Adelaide and the University of South Australia have joined five leading universities in the United Kingdom and United States to support the AUKUS alliance.
3
Oct
Sovereign radar expertise is focus for new centre
A new Centre at the University of Adelaide for research into high-frequency (HF) radar technology will play a critical role in the nation’s safety and prosperity.
14
Feb
Trailblazer defence program formalised
The Defence Trailblazer for Concept to Sovereign Capability program has taken another step in being formalised with the conditions of grant being finalised and the announcement of the board members.
28
Oct
Defence specialist leads Trailblazer
A leading defence industry specialist with more than 30 years’ experience in the sector has been appointed as Executive Director of the Defence Trailblazer for Concept to Sovereign Capability.