Wollongong ranks with Australia's best

Oct 11, 2006

Minister announces 2007 successful Australian Research Council (ARC) recipients

Hot on the heels of the University of Wollongong's listing in The Times Higher Education Supplement Top 200 World University Rankings, comes the announcement today of a range of successful Australian Research Council (ARC) outcomes that cements UOW's position as one of Australia's leading research intensive universities.

Total ARC funding awarded sees the UOW placed ninth overall nationally, in the hotly-contested 2007 ARC grants, as announced by Education, Science and Training Minister, the Hon Julie Bishop MP.

Under the Discovery Projects Scheme (which represents the largest allocations of grants), UOW researchers were awarded the ninth highest level of national funding overall with 19 grants totalling $8.2 million.

Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) Professor Margaret Sheil said the Institute for Superconducting and Electronic Materials (ISEM) stood out with three Discovery projects, as well as a large Linkage Infrastructure and Equipment grant.

The Discovery grants include a prestigious Australian Professorial Fellowship to Prof Shi Dou, a Queen Elizabeth II Fellowship to Dr Guoxiu Wang, and an Australian Postdoctoral Fellowship to Dr C Jiang. ISEM is one of the University's key research strengths and a flagship research institute that will move to new headquarters on the University's new Innovation Campus in 2008.

Professor Sheil said that a highlight of the outcomes was the award of six Australian Postdoctoral Fellowships (APDs) to young researchers at the University, across a range of areas including science, engineering, informatics, arts and creative arts. These include:

· Ms Kira Westaway from the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, whose fellowship will enable her to extend her research on dating methodologies in Indonesia. This work will look at how certain flora and fauna respond to environmental challenges, build on already established collaborations with Indonesian researchers and pioneer new dating methodologies to further enhance Australia's place at the forefront of geochronology

· Dr Natalie Thamwattana, (Informatics) who will examine modelling applications of nanomaterials (materials at a minute scale) in biology and medicine

UOW researchers also received funding for two Linkage Infrastructure grants and four Linkage Project grants (which involve industry partners who provide matching funds), and excelled in the ARC's Linkage International Schemes, achieving success rates well above the national averages. This included an International Fellowship for Dr Chris Turney who will be travelling to New Zealand to investigate climate reconstruction for the past two millennia.

A full list of the successful UOW researchers and the titles of the funded projects can be found at: ARC Grants

**Attention Media

For general further information contact Professor Margaret Sheil on (02) 4221 3915 or 0414 681 783 (m).

To contact Ms Kira Westaway: 0424 285 977 (m) or 4221 4688 (w) or 4227 3153 (h)

To contact Dr Natalie Thamwattana: 0412 000 857 (m) or (02) 4221 4630 (w)

To contact the Queen Elizabeth 11 Fellowship recipient, Dr Guoxiu Wang, phone (02) 4221 5726 after 11.30am on Thursday 12 October

For more information, contact:

media@uow.edu.au
University of Wollongong
Ph: (02) 4221 5942; fax (02) 4221 3128