Skip to content | Change text size
 

Monash attracts $67.6 million in research funding

4 November 2009

dictionary and magnifying glass
 

Monash has attracted $67.6 million in government funding in the latest round of grants from the Australian Research Council (ARC) and National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC).

Improving on 2008, Monash received $33.8 million from the ARC, including more than $29 million for 94 Discovery Projects grants, a 42 per cent increase in the number of grants funded and a 44 per cent increase in the value of funding awarded.

Monash also received $4.8 million for 17 Linkage Projects grants, with a further $8 million in cash and in-kind support pledged from partner organisations. This was the sector's highest success under the scheme with more than 73 per cent of applications funded (compared to an average of about 45 per cent.)

Successful Discovery Projects include:

  • $449,000 to investigate the ethical implications of marketing pharmaceuticals;
  • $330,000 to develop nanoballs, nanometre sized molecules to store hydrogen and methane and trap greenhouse gases;
  • $170,000 to focus on the occurrence, epidemiology and function behind youth and violence;
  • $147,000 to explore the place of prisoners of war in post-war Australia, and
  • $710,000 for an ethnographic study of elite independent schools across 10 countries and examination of how leaders are formed through education.

Approved Linkage Projects include:

  • More than $1.2 million to investigate how to manage the mobility of older drivers (with Department of Justice, Eastern Health, VicRoads, Traffic Accident Commission, Road Safety Trust and the University of Ottawa);
  • $600,000 to assist development of novel anti-HIV drugs (with Avexa Ltd);
  • $324,000 to identify ways to enhance the performance and wellbeing of volunteer and paid members of emergency service organisations (with Victorian State Emergency Service);
  • $132,000 to develop a framework to manage ageing offenders in Australia (with the Department of Justice, Victorian Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders);
  • $322,000 to connect younger second language learners with other bilingual people (with the Association of Independent Schools of Victoria, Council on the Ageing, Victorian Department of Education and Childhood Development, and Victoria Multicultural Commission); and
  • $448,000 to develop better batteries for use in devices such as hearing aids.

Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) Professor Edwina Cornish said the University's success reflected the increasing standing of Monash researchers.

"The strong support from the ARC confirms that our researchers are leaders in their fields who can work effectively with industry to develop solutions to the many challenges society is facing,” Professor Cornish said.

A further $33.8 million was provided from the NHMRC to fund 64 research projects, as well as Career Development Awards, Practitioner Fellowships and Research Fellowships.

Some of the projects funded include:

  • $1,255,875 to investigate Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus and cognitive decline;
  • $499, 250 to improve the treatment of chronic kidney disease;
  • $625,625 to optimise synchrotron microbeam radiation therapy for cancer treatment;
  • $496,150 to investigate deep brain stimulation of older patients with Parkinsons disease;
  • $504,750 to research ventilation and airway remodelling in asthma; and
  • $504, 250 to develop medical technologies to cure ectopic pregnancies.

Dr Michelle Dunstone, Dr Jinhua Li, Dr Velandai Srikanth and Dr Terence Haines were awarded funding in the Career Development Awards Scheme for Early/Mid Career Researchers.

Associate Professor Karin Leder, Dr Lesley Day and Professor John McNeil attracted a total of $1.4 million in Partnership Grants.

Professor Rachelle Buchbinder and Professor Paul Fitzgerald received Practitioner Fellowships to commence in 2010 and Associate Professor Rosemary Horne, Associate Professor Matthew Watt, Associate Professor Christopher Sobey, Dr Richard Ferrero and Dr Edouard Stanley were awarded NHMRC Research Fellowships.

Monash also attracted $976,155 as part of the NHMRC Equipment Grants scheme.

"Monash research continues to go from strength to strength and this current NHMRC announcement of increased research funding, number of projects and people being supported confirms it," Professor Cornish said.