Federal Government awards $11.4m funding for UOW

The University of Wollongong has today been awarded $11.4 million funding through the Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Grant and Linkage Grant schemes.

The Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, Senator Kim Carr, announced the grants in Canberra. It sees UOW ranked ninth nationally out of 39 Australian universities for overall dollars awarded and seventh nationally (relative to size). Of the 26 successful UOW Discovery Projects (DP) and seven Linkage Projects (LP) to be funded from 2010, outstanding results were achieved across most UOW faculties.

The Faculty of Engineering achieved significant results with Professor Buddhima Indraratna awarded one Linkage and two Discovery projects totalling more than $850,000.

One of the University’s key engineering research strengths, the Institute for Superconducting and Electronic Materials (ISEM), received funding of $2.2 million for two Linkage and five Discovery projects, including the following fellowships:

• Dr Zaiping Guo awarded a Queen Elizabeth II Fellowship (QEII) to investigate integrated all-solid-state minitiarised lithium ion batteries for small devices such as implantable medical devices.

• Dr Germanas Peleckis awarded an Australian Postdoctoral Fellowship (APD) for his research in materials science and superconductivity with Professor XiaolinWang using new high temperature superconductors

• Mr Zigi Sun (APD) who is researching photo-electrochemical cells which may be able to assist in friendly solutions to energy problems.

• Mr Xun Xu (APD -- Industry) who is researching a fault current limiter to address the occurrences of electrical blackouts around the world.

Other researchers awarded fellowships are:

• Dr Zenobia Jacobs (QEII) from Science, who is investigating patterns of change in the behaviour of Neanderthals and early modern humans to identify when we became ‘human’

• Dr Robin Warner (APD) from the Faculty of Law, for research into harnessing the oceans to combat climate change.

Professor Mike Morwood (Science) was also awarded more than $1 million for a five-year Discovery Project to trace the ancestors of the Hobbit (Homo floresiensis). [His project was highlighted by Minister Kim Carr in today’s announcement].

The Faculty of Commerce also achieved significant results with three ARC grants including Professor Simon Ville awarded both a Discovery Project and a Linkage Project with early career researcher Dr Peter Siminski (Lead Investigator) to look at the long-term effects of Vietnam War era conscription.

Professor Trevor Spedding (Commerce) was awarded a Linkage Project investigating innovations in supply chain integration.

A list of successful UOW researchers and funded projects is available at here

Media please note: For overall comment about the ARC grants please contact the Vice-Chancellor Professor Gerard Sutton on ph: 4221 3909.

Some of the researchers who are currently available for contact are:

Professor Xiaolin Wang or Dr Germanas Peleckis (ISEM) ph: 4221 5766 or 4221 5728

Dr Zenobia Jacobs (Science) ph: 4221 3633

Dr Robin Warner (Law, ANCORS) ph: 4221 5067

Professor Simon Ville (Commerce) ph: 4221 3098

Dr Zaiping Guo (ISEM) ph: 4221 5225

Professor Buddhima Indraratna (Engineering) ph: 4221 3046

Last reviewed: 26 October, 2009