Research innovation

These days we take wi-fi for granted, but 20 years ago Macquarie University was working at the forefront of wireless technologies and, in collaboration with the CSIRO, developed the broadband wi-fi that we know today.

For the past ten-years, we have worked with Australia’s NRL (National Rugby League), to developing ethics-based education programs to counter antisocial and violent behaviour off the field. We have also undertaken extensive research, including for Google Australia, work on the cultural and social impacts of social and online media, including...

Macquarie’s culture of collaboration leads to groundbreaking technological advances in testing for waterborne parasites giardia and cryptosporidium. These advances have since been rolled out on a global scale and are keeping drinking water safe for hundreds of millions of people daily.

The Macquarie University Special Education Centre developed the world’s first special education model for children and their families, and demonstrated to the world that no child is ineducable, no matter how delayed they are. The Macquarie program has been rolled out internationally with significant, long-lasting impacts.

A team of researchers have discovered the first biomarker – a chemical identified in the blood – enabling a simple blood test to rapidly and accurately determine, with 85 to 95 per cent accuracy, which type of multiple sclerosis a patient has.

Researchers set out to build bridges between economic theory and art and culture. To survive and thrive in society, artists and art organisations must acknowledge the larger economic dimensions in which they exist. The larger economic benefits of art and culture can and should be taken into account in society.

Macquarie researchers have developed online treatments for mental health conditions that are providing cost-effective access to advice and support for people living in remote parts of Australia.

Macquarie developed the trailblazing technology that allowed the relay Olympic torches from the Sydney Olympic Games and the Athens Olympic Games to burn brightly from Greece to Asia, along the Great Wall of China and eventually to Australia.

Since it was founded in 1972, Macquarie Law School has helped to shape anti-terrorism laws, freedom of information laws, consumer laws, classifications schemes, and electoral funding expenditure and disclosures. By forensically investigating the origins of law and policy, Macquarie researchers are informing law reform to better serve the Australian community.

The House of Aboriginality developed by Professor Vivien Johnson and her students at Macquarie, played a key role in helping the wider community to understand the rights of Aboriginal artists under Australian law. The course was the first in Australia to identify and investigate copyright infringements involving Aboriginal art.

Anxiety disorders affect more than three million Australians – from young children to adults – every year. The Cool Kids program was developed to give kids the coping skills to better manage their anxiety.

A new discovery of time-dimension nanophotonics has opened the way to untapped potential in non-invasive cancer diagnosis, rapid pathogen detection and invisible coding for identification of authentic pharmaceuticals, passports and banknotes.