Published following consultation with the research sector and in response to a Letter of Expectations from the Minister of Education, The Honourable Jason Clare MP, the calendar is being welcomed by Macquarie University staff.

“This is the ARC acknowledging that we need to know outcomes of a scheme before we can affectively submit applications for the next,” says Dr Erin Semon, the Director of Research Grants and Awards in Research Services. “It provides greater transparency for our researchers and allows our Grant Development Team to proactively plan for the cycle of awards and ensure researchers have the information they need sooner.”

Uncertainty around the timing of grant outcomes can be a considerable source of anxiety for researchers who rely on external funding to continue their research work.

“Sometimes a second round of funding had been announced while staff were still waiting to hear on their first application,” notes Erin. “Researchers didn’t know if they needed to apply again, or whether they needed to do additional work on their application to ensure a favourable outcome. The calendar will provide greater certainty for all staff involved in the process.”

Recent DECRA awardee Dr Zixin Huang – a Sydney Quantum Academy Postdoctoral Fellow in the School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences – says the change will have a positive impact.

“As an ECR, so much is uncertain,” she says. “Knowing when grant outcomes will be announced will help with planning.”

With grant outcomes impacting a number of contingencies down the line ­– including hiring, travel, teaching and academic schedules – the ARC’s new calendar will make life easier for more than just the researchers themselves, notes Professor Louise D’Arcens, Deputy Dean of Research and Innovation in the Faculty of Arts.

“The ARC calendar is also about making effective planning and support possible within faculties and departments. And in terms of the sector at large, it’s about the Minister and the ARC building a good faith relationship that acknowledges what is happening at the universities,” Louise says.

The Grants and Awards Team provide support with fellowship and grant opportunities.

Professor Castles received $3,147,256 to conduct the first comprehensive report into secondary school reading acquisition. She will investigate the cognitive processes in adolescent reading, as well as identifying interactions between reading progress and socio-emotional functioning and motivation, with the aim of finding new ways to improve secondary school teaching methods and interventions for students struggling with literacy.

Professor Castles says with as many as 40 per cent of 15-year-olds failing to meet international minimum literacy standards, research is urgently needed.

“Reading and writing skills are critical in adolescence for learning and preparation for adult life, and it is of major national concern that Australian literacy rates have been steadily falling over the past two decades,” says Professor Castles.

“I am thrilled to have been awarded an ARC Laureate Fellowship to look at ways to begin addressing the urgent issue of literacy among secondary school students, especially disadvantaged students and those from non-English speaking backgrounds, ultimately helping them meet their potential.”

Macquarie University Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) Professor Sakkie Pretorius congratulated Professor Castles on securing the Fellowship.

“A Laureate Fellowship is the ARC’s highest accolade and an outstanding achievement, which is reflective of Professor Castles’ leadership in the field of reading research,” says Professor Pretorius.

“Declining literacy rates among our young people is a national challenge that needs to be addressed, and this work promises to offer new solutions based on pioneering and rigorous research. Macquarie University has a large concentration of cutting-edge reading researchers and is uniquely positioned to support this work.”

Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) Professor Sakkie Pretorius says the breadth and depth of high-quality projects awarded funding across these schemes strongly reflects Macquarie’s longstanding commitment to research excellence and innovation.

“Discovery funding supports our researchers to drive and deliver our strategic vision to generate new understandings, build deeper knowledge and deliver world-leading research. LIEF and Linkage funding provides opportunities to further strengthen Macquarie’s collaborative relationships with industry partners to help respond to, and solve, some of the world’s great challenges.”

Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research), Professor Sakkie Pretorius, said “Each of these awards reflect our University’s strong and thriving commitment to research that has real-world impact and applications. Through consilience, our pioneering researchers, individually, collaboratively, or partnered with industry and the wider community, can unlock new knowledge and explore previously out-of-reach possibilities,” he says.

“I congratulate all our recipients across the University on their success in securing these grants, it is an absolute testament to your diligence and dedication to your disciplines and I look forward to seeing the positive and world-changing impact of the research these awards enable.”

Congratulations to our 2022 Discovery Project grant recipients

Faculty of Arts

Faculty of Science and Engineering

Faculty of Medicine, Health and Human Sciences

Macquarie Business School

Congratulations to our ARC 2022 Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities (LIEF) funding recipients:

Congratulations to our ARC 2021 Linkage Projects round 1 funding recipient:

The Australian Research Council (ARC) will support a research project led by Dr Mikolaj Schmidt from the Department of Physics and Astronomy under the 2022 Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) scheme, following the conclusion of the ARC’s appeals process.

Dr Schmidt will use $439,000 in funding to help build a platform for quantum acoustic technology that will help the way drugs are developed, new materials for high-tech industries and better secure data.

“My project will focus on re-designing a drum – shrinking it million-fold, and cooling it down to near-absolute zero – until it generates a crisp, high-frequency sound, and turns into a quantum acoustic instrument. Such devices should become the key components in future quantum computing platforms, enabling smooth interfacing of optical and electronic technologies,” said Dr Schmidt.

Through his research, Dr Schmidt aims to give quantum systems ‘a voice’, whilst strengthening the leading position of Australian researchers in the race towards quantum technologies by offering practical solutions to a critical bottleneck in designing large-scale quantum technologies.

“I’m especially thrilled to continue this work at Macquarie University, which supported the exploratory phase of the project through the MQ Research Fellowship,” said the new DECRA Fellow.

Dr Schmidt joins nine other Macquarie University researchers have had projects funded in the Australian Research Council’s Discovery Early Career Research Award (DECRA) round back in August.

But something about Australia has obviously struck a cord, with the ARC Future Fellow going on four years at Macquarie University and becoming an Australian citizen only a few weeks ago.

1. Something you’d like staff to know about
I have been working in the fields of neurosurgery, clinical and computational neurosciences for the last 20 years. The establishment of the Computational NeuroSurgery (CNS) Lab here at Macquarie is the realisation of a vision that I have had for a long time, and the beginning of a new long and thrilling journey.

2. Something you feel proud of
Receiving a ARC Future Fellowship, which is seldom awarded to surgeons, or medical doctors in general. In the machine vision project, I feel proud to have created a new translational stream of research and a new team of enthusiastic researchers.
Read about Professor Di Ieva’s ARC-funded work in The Lighthouse >>

3. What you need to do your best work
Lack of routine, personal satisfaction and being surrounded by accomplished, curious and enthusiastic people.

4. The coolest bit of equipment you use in your work
The fluorescence filter in the surgical microscope. When a tumour shines up, it’s screaming “I am here, take me out!”. If the tumour glows pink, I perform what I like to call a ‘pinkectomy’.

5. Something people usually ask you when they find out what you do for living
“Do you always find a brain in there?”

6. Something you’ve read recently that has had an impact on you
“Machines will not replace physicians, but physicians using Artificial Intelligence will soon replace those not using it”. I wrote this sentence in The Lancet, but it has been quoted so many times over the last few months, it’s starting to impact me professionally.

7. Your definition of success
A perfect compromise between personal and professional life.

8. A personal quality you value in others
Curiosity and initiative – they are becoming black pearls nowadays.

9. What you like about where you live
I moved from Whale Beach, where we used to see whales and dolphins from our terrace, to St Ives, where every day some wallabies come to visit us in our garden. The most Aussie experiences ever!

10. I’m happiest when…
My patients go home well after surgery, as I did my best to improve their quality of life.

Projects were funded across all four Macquarie faculties, with funding totalling $3,761,114.  Macquarie edged out a number of Go8 universities to place 7^th in Australia for number of projects funded.

Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) Professor Sakkie Pretorius says our DECRA success is an encouraging reminder that the future of Macquarie research is bright.

“We have significantly improved our DECRA success rate in the last few funding rounds, with our Early Career Researchers continuing to demonstrate research excellence across a pleasingly diverse range of disciplines,” he says. “I commend our successful recipients on these innovative projects and look forward to seeing the impact of their findings.”

Dr Benjamin Ashton in the Department of Biological Sciences will use funding of $436,032 for a project looking at the relationship between the social environment and cognition. Mr Ashton will combine meta-analytical and experimental approaches to gain a new understanding of the factors which govern cognitive evolution – one of the longest-running debates in evolutionary biology.

Dr Eliane Deschrijver will join the Department of Psychology, with $452,285 of funding to deliver a unifying theory of human sociality that can account for why the human brain may want to avoid conflict between own and others’ ways of thinking. She will use behavioural experiments, innovative functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) design and philosophical approaches to generate knowledge on the social neuroscience of political and religious group behaviour. This knowledge may be used to develop tools to counteract religious and political radicalisation in societies and online spaces.

Associate Professor Daniel Ghezelbash in the School of Law receives $444,851 to identify fairer and more efficient processes for processing asylum claims. Comparing and evaluating ‘fast-track’ asylum processing methods in Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom and Switzerland, Associate Professor Ghezelbash will produce evidence-based law reform and policy recommendations to improve Australia’s asylum processes.

Dr Marnie Graham in the School of Social Sciences is awarded $453,505 for a project looking at Indigenous tourism and how it can positively impact attitudes and behaviours relating to sustainability. Recognising that Indigenous custodians are increasingly recognised as leaders in sustainable land management, Dr Graham will work with NSW-based Indigenous tour operators to identify their impact as change agents and deliver policy-relevant materials to nurture impactful sustainability learning activities in the sector.

Dr Solene Hameau in the Department of Cognitive Science will use $417,505 in funding to investigate why, as we age, we have trouble retrieving words when we speak but not when we read aloud.  The project will advance understanding of how ageing affects the cognitive systems involved in speaking and reading, and investigate whether reading aloud can support word retrieval.

Dr Raheel Hashmi receives $420,582 for a project in the School of Engineering that aims to develop affordable and compact reconfigurable antenna systems for use in satellite-terminals. The antenna systems will act as the ‘enabling’ chip in providing internet connectivity to millions of people who are currently unconnected or poorly connected, helping to close the digital divide and enabling remote jobs in the Australian economy.

Dr Douglas McConnell will join the Department of Philosophy for a $343,772 project that attempts to solve the philosophical problem of whether moral character motivates action. Dr McConnell will apply new knowledges around the concepts of moral identity and narrative self-constitution to professional settings, recommending ways that professional moral identities might be developed to improve public trust in professions.

Dr Haoran Ren in the Department of Physics and Astronomy receives $434,000 to design and interface multi-functional metasurfaces – nano-structured ultrathin surface devices – with optical fibres by using 3D laser printing technology. These novel metafibres will offer superior imaging capabilities, with potential for use in clinical tools such as fibre-optic endoscopes to aid rapid, accurate disease diagnosis.

Dr Claire Wright in the Department of Management is awarded $358,582 to undertake the first comprehensive history of women in corporate leadership in Australia across the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. By developing a deeper knowledge about women’s participation in corporate leadership in Australia, their pathways to leadership positions, and their long-term impact on corporation strategy and decision-making,  more effective strategies can be designed to improve the success of women in leadership.

The scheme supports mid-career researchers to undertake high quality research in areas of national and international benefit. Macquarie had the highest percentage of successful applications among Australian universities with more than one application in the round, with a success rate of 30% compared to the national success rate of 14.8%.

In congratulating Macquarie’s six recipients, Professor Sakkie Pretorius, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) says it is particularly pleasing to see projects funded across all five of the University’s future-shaping research priorities.

“Healthy people, resilient societies, prosperous economies, a secure planet and innovative technologies – this is what Macquarie is striving for in producing high-quality research with world-changing impact,” he says. “I commend our new Fellows for their bold thinking, which will add significant value in addressing local, national and global challenges.”

Dr Jane Johnson  in the Research Centre for Agency, Values and Ethics and Department of Philosophy receives $726,320 for a project examining current approaches to the use of animals in research. The work will deliver an ethical framework that minimises harms to humans and animals and improves the quality of results obtained from experiments.

Associate Professor Kate Rossmanith in the Department of Media, Communications, Creative Arts, Language and Literature receives $927,774 to investigate the concept of ‘closure’ and how it works as an emotion in the justice system. The project explores the experiences of bereaved families and frontline police confronting unsolved homicide. It aims to improve communication between families and police and lead to the development of more effective support strategies.

Associate Professor Kristian Ruming in the School of Social Sciences receives $987,916 to critically analyse the role of universities in shaping Australian cities. The project will offer greater understanding of how universities influence issues such as housing, transport infrastructure, the development of strategic centres and urban renewal, and how universities can support government urban and economic objectives.

Associate Professor Sandie Suchet-Pearson in the School of Social Sciences receives $978,680 for an Indigenous-led project that will deepen understandings about sovereignty – in particular, the positive, regenerative relationships between Indigenous people and places. It will ensure these practices continue, are revitalised and appropriately shared and benefit the broader Australian community by deepening and affirming responsibilities to society and place.

Dr Sally Potter, new to the Department of Biological Sciences, receives $824,020 to examine the ways Australian fauna has formed and adapted through genome reorganisation – understanding how species have adapted to harsh arid environments and ultimately showing how genome architecture underpins biodiversity.

Dr Yuling Wang in the Department of Molecular Sciences receives $913,000 to address the need for new technologies that enable the analysis of key molecules involved in cell-to-cell interactions that occur in response to changes in their microenvironment, with enormous potential impacts on health, agriculture and environmental science, including more reliable and cost-effective infection monitoring.

Bioactives are chemicals, chemical molecules and microbes found in certain plants and foods that have a biological effect on the body. Some may promote good health or aid in the prevention of cancer or disease, such as the plant sterols commonly added to dairy spreads to reduce cholesterol.

It is estaimated that 70 per cent of Australians consume foods, supplements or personal care products containing (or claiming to contain) bioactives and the global market is growing by more than eight per cent annually.

Supported by the $4,997,903 ARC grant over five years, Macquarie’s new ARC Training Centre for Facilitated Advancement of Australia’s Bioactives (FAAB) will bring together Deakin University, the University of SA and Western Sydney University with research universities in the UK, Germany and Brazil, and 14 respected Australian industry partners, to develop products of high molecular complexity that can relieve chronic and acute health problems.

Importantly, the Centre will also apply advanced methods to characterise the molecular identity of bioactives, providing scientific evidence for their positive impact on health, enabling consumers to make more informed choices when purchasing products with health benefit claims, and supporting the development of regulatory frameworks. 

Professor Alison Rodger (pictured)– who was recently made a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science – will be Director of the training centre, supported by Partnerships Director Professor Anwar Sunna and Research Director Dr Alfonso Garcia-Bennett.

Macquarie’s Chief Investigators in the Centre are Dr Morten Andersen, Dr Amy Cain, Professor Mark Connor, Professor Gilles Guillemin, Professor Paul Haynes, Dr Heinrich Kroukamp, Distinguished Professor Nicolle Packer, Distinguished Professor Ian Paulsen, Dr Fleur Ponton, Dr Sasha Tetu and Dr Yuling Wang.

Professor Rodger says she is delighted that Macquarie will be part of such a transformational change for the bioactives sector, and to be working with industry partners who are so passionate about improving the health and wellbeing of Australians.

“I am really excited to be working with such a great team to solve genuinely important problems,” she says. “I’m particularly pleased that we will be able to stimulate the creation of new high skilled jobs, including scientists trained by FAAB to translate molecular analytical science into the required knowhow for manufacturing new bioactives products.”

Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research), Professor Sakkie Pretorius, says it’s particularly pleasing to see four humanities projects funded.

“Through each of our future-shaping research priorities, but particularly Resilient societies, we strive to better understand ourselves and the cultures around us, so we can help build ethical, just and inclusive communities,” he says. “I congratulate all the successful recipients in the Faculty of Arts and the Faculty of Science and Engineering and look forward to seeing the positive impact of these projects.”

Congratulations to our DECRA recipients

Dr Regina Fabry  (Faculty of Arts)
$328,092 for ‘Living to tell, telling to live: Experience, narrative, and the self’

A robust sense of self is crucial for our mental wellbeing and in this project Dr Fabry will analyse the biological underpinnings of the human mind and define the core features of self-narratives, leading to a novel theory about the sense of self and enhancing our understanding of the power of self-narratives. 

Dr Ana Tanasoca (Faculty of Arts)
$374,686 for ‘The Common Heritage of Mankind: A Cosmopolitan Preservationist Ethic’

This project aims to provide the first systematic, unified moral framework for understanding the ‘common heritage of mankind’ principle of international law, which postulates that some assets are valuable for all mankind and hence should be preserved for perpetuity.  It will provide an important contribution to philosophical debates on intergenerational justice, cosmopolitanism, climate change, and humanitarian intervention and provide practical guidance to policymakers and stakeholders in reshaping global governance around this principle.

Dr Pierrick Bourrat (Faculty of Arts)
$441,200 for ‘Inheritance and the Emergence of Individuals: From Concepts to Practice’

This project aims to solve a fundamental problem in biology:  how entities at one level biological organisation (e.g. single cells) transition or evolve into entities at a higher level (e.g. multicellular organisms). The project will demonstrate that conceptual research by philosophers of biology can make an impactful contribution in biology and answer fundamental questions in this field.

Dr Monika Zalnieriute (Faculty of Arts)
$426,530 for Artificial Intelligence Decision-Making, Privacy and Discrimination Laws

Monika’s project aims to expand knowledge of the effectiveness of Australia’s discrimination and data privacy laws by drawing on empirical mixed methods and comparative US and EU experiences.  Monika was successful in securing her DECRA grant through her previous role at the University of New South Wales but recently joined the Macquarie Law School (welcome Monika!).

Dr Xuyun Zhang (Faculty of Science and Engineering)
$387,141 for ‘Scalable and Deep Anomaly Detection from Big Data with Similarity Hashing’

Anomaly detection – aiming to identify anomalous but insightful patterns in data mining –  is an important big data analytics technique, but existing detection methods suffer from either high computational cost or low detection performance. This project aims to develop a detection framework to advance detection performance and efficiency, bringing huge benefits to applications such as real-time predictive maintenance in smart manufacturing, and intrusion detection in cybersecurity.

The Minister for Education, the Hon. Dan Tehan MP, has approved outcomes of the ARC Special Research Initiative for Australian Society, History and Culture for applications submitted between 28 February and 6 May.

Professor Michelle Arrow from the Department of Modern History, Politics and International Relations has been awarded $176,638 to assist her in writing a biography of the late Australian journalist, Anne Deveson AO.

“I am delighted and extremely grateful to receive this funding from the Australian Research Council, which will help me produce a biography of the journalist, broadcaster and activist Anne Deveson, who helped to transform Australia’s perceptions of mental illness, family violence and a host of other social issues,” says Michelle.

“The funding means that I can spend months in the archives, examining Deveson’s papers and watching and listening to some of her broadcast output. I am excited to begin the project next year.”

Associate Professor Lisa Wynn from the Department of Anthropology, was awarded $167,200 to help Australia’s understandings of infectious disease symptoms in the COVID era.

“I’m humbled to receive this grant, because there were so many qualified applicants. I think it reflects the ARC’s awareness that pandemics are biological and social phenomena, and we need to understand how people imagine pathogens and their transmission,” says Lisa.

“After all, we never actually see a virus, except under an electron microscope, so we have to imagine how they move between people. It’s our cultural imaginations of unseen things that this research project will study.”

Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research), Professor Sakkie Pretorius congratulated both academics on their outstanding achievements.

“I am delighted to see the tradition of ARC excellence continuing at Macquarie. Given the fierce competition for ARC grants, this is a wonderful achievement,” says Professor Pretorius.