Researchers funded to pursue new discoveries

The awarded projects span a broad array of industries, including artificial intelligence, sustainable energy production, mining, wireless communications, and conservation.

Discovery Projects grants are awarded to individuals and research teams whose work contributes to the growth of Australia’s research and innovation capacity.

“These 17 projects recognised in the ARC’s Discovery Projects program demonstrate the breadth of research being undertaken at the University of Adelaide, and shows that our institution is integral to Australia’s status as a place of research excellence,” said the University’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research), Professor Anton Middelberg.

“Through these projects, our world-class researchers will continue to solve some of society’s most pressing challenges, and shape the future of our nation and its knowledge base.”

The full list of University of Adelaide projects funded are:

Dr Ehsan Abbasnejad’s team was awarded $544,551 for a project that aims to enhance the capabilities of artificial intelligence through the development of deep reinforcement learning, allowing for capabilities such as counterfactual reasoning, outcome anticipation, improved generalisation and the ability to consider cause-effects.

Professor Derek Abbott’s team was awarded $561,000 for a project which will investigate the ability of novel tuneable terahertz metamaterials to help address the increased demand for greater communications bandwidth.

Associate Professor Stephen Bell’s team was awarded $781,608 for a project that will identify and design new enzyme biocatalysts which can be used in the development of new routes to access bespoke molecules of value in fine chemical synthesis and drug development.

Associate Professor Luke Bennetts’s team was awarded $384,217 for a project which will seek to quantify sea ice retreat due to ocean waves for the first time, with potentially major implications for coupled wave–sea ice modelling in climate studies

Associate Professor Damien Fordham’s team was awarded $523,813 for a project which aims to improve knowledge of extinction processes and impacts to pinpoint the combinations of ecological characteristics and threats that most affect risk of extinction from environmental change. It is hoped this will enrich conservation research and inform evidence-based solutions to better protect and recover some of Australia’s most threatened species.

Professor Andrei Kotooussov’s team was awarded $527,934 for a project that will develop a new methodology for the assessment of fatigue life of structures subjected to realistic loading conditions.

Dr Jianfeng Mao’s team was awarded $380,000 for a project which aims to develop a new generation, high-energy aqueous battery, which would be a safe, energetic and sustainable option for the electric vehicle and smart-grid energy storage market.

Associate Professor Giang Nguyen and Associate Professor Murat Karakus’s team was awarded $493,390 for a project which will seek to improve the safety and economic efficiency of cave mining operations through the development of a new theory and models to predict rock fragmentation, as well as computational tools for simulations of cave mining operations.

Professor Peng Shi’s team was awarded $518,252 for a project which aims to design a novel control scheme for insect-inspired, flapping-wing, micro-aerial vehicles.

Professor Yvonne Stokes’s team was awarded $454,573 for a project which will develop mathematical tools to better isolate cancer cells in blood samples or microplastics in water samples, to develop novel devices for existing and new applications.

Professor Shaobin Wang’s team was awarded $550,821 for a project which aims to develop next-generation intelligent materials and clean technologies for solar fuels production and CO2 recycling, leading to benefits for Australia’s long-term energy security and sustainability toward a carbon-neutral society.

Associate Professor Steven Wiederman’s team was awarded $540,834 for a project which will study dragonfly optics and early sensory neurons to better understand signal detection, which could have implications for information processing, computer vision and autonomous systems.

Professor Withawat Withayachumnankul’s team was awarded $557,810 for a project which aims to realise integrated terahertz components that will be building blocks towards high-speed 6G infrastructure, among other applications.

Associate Professor James Zanotti’s team was awarded $431,814 for a project which will perform supercomputer simulations to confront one of the outstanding puzzles of nuclear and particle physics – the neutron lifetime.

Dr Wei Zhang’s team was awarded $292,330 for a project which aims to develop data analytics techniques that can extract accurate information in complex structures from imperfect/incomplete data that changes over time. The project will likely improve data tools relevant to critical sectors such as cybersecurity, healthcare, and defence.

Associate Professor Yao Zheng’s team was awarded $600,925 for a project which will investigate seawater electrolysis, with expected uses in renewable energy and commodity-chemicals manufacturing.

Professor Ralf Zurbruegg’s team was awarded $299,396 for a project which will use satellite imagery technology to investigate whether carbon disclosures made by Australian resource firms are less than actual emissions.

More details about the 2024 ARC Discovery Projects – Round 1 are available, including a full list of all the researchers involved in each three-year project.