Today, the Australian Research Council announced details of the winners of Discovery research grants for tertiary institutions throughout Australia.
Below are those projects which will contribute to the national research priority of Safeguarding Australia - which is one of the National Research Priorities.
Safeguarding Australia received the least amount of funding of the four National Research Priorities. It got 13% ( 130 projects) out of a total grant pool of 1,028 projects in the NRP areas. The total value of grants announced today was $370 million. It is important to note that the funding figures may underestimate the actual project budgets, as they do not include the projects' industry contributions.
Index
Regional security
1 Managing the Border: Migration, Security, and State Policy Responses to Global Governance in Southeast Asia
This project, which aims to inform public discussion and policy development on two important areas, population and migration and security and governance, in Southeast Asia, will contribute to the process of safeguarding Australia through improved understanding of our neighbours' state policies. The scholarly outcomes will also support teaching in refugee and migration studies. An enhanced understanding of, and cooperation on population regulation and the movement of people across and within borders in the region is central to the maintenance of effective bilateral and multilateral relations between Australia and its neighbours.
Funding 2006: $49,864
Funding 2007: $45,244
Funding 2008: $44,614
Funding 2009: $44,614
Funding 2010: $39,864
DP0666015 Prof A Kaur
Administering Institution: The University of New England
2 The Regionalisation of Peace Operations: Legitimacy, Effectiveness and Stable Peace
Through its deployments in East Timor, the Solomon Islands, PNG and elsewhere, Australia has led the world in thinking about innovative ways of conducting peace operations. It is well understood that peace operations in failed states can help to prevent terrorism by removing the conditions in which they prosper. To date, however, there has been no rigorous conceptually informed historical and contemporary research on precisely which types of actors are most effective. This project will add significantly to global understandings of peace operations and make an important contribution to Australian policy decisions about how best to maximise effectiveness.
Funding 2006: $90,000
Funding 2007: $45,000
Funding 2008: $60,000
DP0664320 Dr AJ Bellamy; Dr PD Williams
Administering Institution: The University of Queensland
3 Maritime Legal Practice and Policy in Southeast Asia and the South Pacific: Synergies and Challenges for Australian Trade and Security
Analysis of maritime legal practice in Southeast Asia and the South Pacific will bolster Australia's national maritime policy making and regional capacity to address key maritime concerns, leading to enhanced sustainable management of the ocean environment and its resources, economic security, maritime enforcement and security for trade and shipping. This will deliver profound political, economic and security benefits to the countries concerned. The research will help to safeguard Australia's vital maritime interests as well as those of our maritime neighbours and therefore impact directly on Australia's economic security and prosperity, the protection and preservation of the marine environment and thus the well being of its society.
Funding 2006: $120,000
Funding 2007: $147,000
Funding 2008: $141,000
Funding 2009: $132,000
Funding 2010: $120,970
DP0666273 Dr CH Schofield; Prof SB Kaye; Prof BM Tsamenyi
Administering Institution: University of Wollongong
4 Peace Building and Responsive Governance in Asia and the Pacific
Administering Institution: The Australian National University
War causes not only human suffering; it threatens the health and education of generations of children, sets back regional economies and encourages warlords to become transnational criminals who traffic in drugs, people, money laundering, guns and terror across Australia's region. Fresh insights will be obtained from the successes and failures of attempts to build peace in failing states that Australia sees as a threat to our security. These national and regional diagnoses will enhance the quality of Australia's contribution to security and stability in our part of the globe and enhance national capacity to contribute to global peace strategies.
Funding 2006: $135,000
Funding 2007: $135,000
Funding 2008: $135,000
DP0664028 Prof J Braithwaite; Prof HC Charlesworth
5 Democratization, Institutional Reform and Ethnic Politics in the Asia Pacific
The democratisation of the Asia Pacific has significant implications for Australia. Consolidated democracies are better able to manage internal conflicts, and less likely to pose a threat to their neighbours via arms trafficking, refugee flows, and transnational terrorism. However, the initial transitional period of democratisation can be highly fraught, and many of the new democracies of the Asia Pacific are fragile, beset by internal cleavages and conflicts. If ways can be found to manage ethnic and other cleavages within a democratic framework, the prospects for peaceful and stable governance in the region will be significantly enhanced. This has the potential to transform the security of the region and Australia's relations with it.
Funding 2006: $34,000
Funding 2007: $30,000
Funding 2008: $35,000
DP0663375 Dr B Reilly
Administering Institution: The Australian National University
Tools to counter the threat
6 Defence and Security Risk Assessment using Agent Based Distillations
Today's society continues to be occupied with the idea of risk. The recent events of September 11th, the Bali bombing,SARS, the bush fires in Canberra, and the Tsunami are examples of human made and natural disasters. These events had dramatic consequences on the social, economic, and political environment and numerous industries. This project offers an innovative methodological paradigm for assessing risk through the transfer of technologies drawn from defence simulations to the safety and security areas. The success of this project will mark a paradigm shift in the area of risk assessment and management.
Funding 2006: $108,000
Funding 2007: $98,000
Funding 2008: $100,000
DP0667123 Dr MG Barlow; Dr HA Abbass
Administering Institution: The University of New South Wales
7 Statistical models for social networks, network based social processes and complex social systems
Our methodological advances (flexible, theoretically defensible and empirically testable quantitative models for a wide range of interactive social processes) will add significantly to national capacity in modelling complex social systems. Existing collaborations will result in practical scientific outcomes relating to: the impact of social contact and needle sharing networks on HIV transmission; the social epidemiology of mental health; health policy and local government networks; governance arrangements in environmental management; intra organizational networks; labour market dynamics; and acculturation processes for international students. A major emphasis will be the training of a new group of quantitative social science graduates.
Funding 2006: $140,000
Funding 2007: $150,000
Funding 2008: $150,000
Funding 2009: $140,000
Funding 2010: $130,000
DP0665261 Prof PE Pattison; Dr GL Robins; Prof TA Snijders
Administering Institution: The University of Melbourne
8 Fast, practical and effective algorithms for clustering with advice
To maintain a safe and healthy society, government and industry need high quality immunization and national security databases. Since we cannot afford to have duplicate, incomplete and conflicting records that refer to the same person, we unify them by identifying clusters of related records.
In the emerging field of functional genomics, diagnosis of certain diseases is enhanced by determining which genes act together. Different experimental runs might result in different clusterings of genes: we need one consensus clustering that summarizes the experimental outcomes.
Cleaning databases and combining clusterings by hand would require vast amounts of time. This project will result in faster and more accurate computational procedures.
Funding 2006: $60,857
Funding 2007: $45,000
Funding 2008: $47,000
DP0663979 Dr AI Wirth
Administering Institution: The University of Melbourne
9 Dynamic Cooperative Performance Optimizations
This project seeks to improve the reliability, security, and performance of modern software systems. Security is a problem of such scale that outbreaks of computer viruses etc. headline in major financial newspapers. We approach the problem by addressing the key performance problems that hold back the programming languagues widely used for secure and reliable systems. By improving the reliability, security and performance of computer systems, this project will help alleviate the millions of hours and dollars lost to inadvertent errors and malicious software attacks. The project will give Australia an international presence in a research area of great academic and commercial importance.
Funding 2006: $133,000
Funding 2007: $121,000
Funding 2008: $121,000
Funding 2009: $100,000
Funding 2010: $100,000
DP0666059 Dr SM Blackburn; Prof KS McKinley
Administering Institution: The Australian National University
Understanding the new environment
10 Assimilation and Empire
There are growing calls internationally for the integration of immigrant communities as a long term means of combating terrorism. Through an understanding of the history of assimilation, this project provokes considerable scepticism concerning the current resurgence of assimilationist sentiment. The politics of culturally diverse societies are profound but they are not going to be solved by simplistic diagnosis. The politics of assimilation is not the solution to contemporary terrorism but part of the problem. Thus at the heart of this project lie concerns which directly address the National Research Priority, Safeguarding Australia.
Funding 2006: $85,000
Funding 2007: $85,000
Funding 2008: $90,000
DP0664374 Dr S Belmessous
Administering Institution: The University of Sydney
11 The Theological and Ideological Bases of al Qa'ida's Political Tactics
This research moves beyond the conventional view of Islam and generates new understandings of the many complexities of political Islam, and the role of violence and terrorism; explores the theological and ideological foundations of al Qa'ida's political tactics; the long term objectives beyond al Qa'ida's terrorist activity. It conceptualizes Islamic activism within time and space and, by implication, facilitates the formulation of relevant policy responses. As a result, this project contributes to security and counter terrorism works and falls squarely within the National Research Priority, Safeguarding Australia (Terrorism and Transnational Crime).
Funding 2006: $81,180
Funding 2007: $75,160
Funding 2008: $75,160
DP0666100 Dr S Khatab
Administering Institution: Monash University
12 Risk and Heterogeneity: AIDS and SARS Policymaking in China
This research will provide significant new knowledge on AIDS and SARS policymaking and implementation in China, which will help Australian policymakers and international agencies engage China on the very important issue of controlling the global spread of communicable diseases. Successfully engaging China is critical for the enhancement of global health security, because of China's enormous and increasingly internationally mobile population.
Funding 2006: $53,000
Funding 2007: $65,000
Funding 2008: $60,000
DP0663837 A/Prof LH Liew; A/Prof PA Creed; Prof CM Chu
Administering Institution: Griffith University
13 The origins and trajectory of secularism in modern Indonesian politics
This reseach will provide both historical perspective and contemporary analysis of the vexed problem of secularism in Indonesian politics. It will provide a more nuanced understanding of the complexities of the secularist bent in Indonesian political history and thinking, and will assist commentators, scholars and policy makers better to appreciate Indonesia's continuing struggle to create, construct and maintain a secularist polity.
Funding 2006: $47,000
Funding 2007: $44,000
Funding 2008: $36,000
DP0662927 Prof RE Elson
Administering Institution: The University of Queensland
14 Christianity, conflict, and culture: an anthropological investigation of the political role of churches in Solomon Islands
This project contributes to a better understanding of one of Australia's closest neighbours, Solomon Islands. This nation, the site of political turmoil in recent years, is now the focus of an Australian led Regional Assistance Mission. Many scholars and policy makers have commented on the importance of Christian organizations during the crisis in Solomon Islands and the need to incorporate them in current attempts to restore stability and prosperity. However, most discussions are not informed by an understanding indigenous Christian belief and practice, a lacuna that this project aims to fill by providing an ethnographic investigation of how church linked groups engage with secular national and international organizations.
Funding 2006: $85,000
Funding 2007: $66,000
Funding 2008: $70,000
Funding 2009: $60,000
DP0666652 Dr D McDougall
Administering Institution: The University of Western Australia
15 Ambivalent Adolescents in Indonesia
Administering Institution: The University of Western Australia
Indonesia's stability and prosperity are matters of great significance for Australia. Adolescents have spearheaded political and social transformations in Indonesia, but face continuing economic and social difficulties. Our project will provide Australia with knowledge about Indonesian youth culture, Islam among youth and adolescent reproductive health, enhancing understanding of social change in Indonesia and thereby contributing to Australian security in the region. Australia has been a world leader in expertise on Indonesia, but this expertise is dwindling. Our project puts together junior and established scholars, contributing to the sustainability of Australia's pre eminent research position in Indonesian studies.
Funding 2006: $135,000
Funding 2007: $170,000
Funding 2008: $80,000
Funding 2009: $25,000
DP0663600 Dr LM Parker; Dr LR Bennett; Dr P Nilan; Dr KM Robinson
616 Islam, Modernity and the Enlightenment: A New Perspective
Australia's encounters with Islam have never been as politically, militarily and emotionally demanding as the events of the last few years have revealed. In the current climate of tension and conflict a deeper understanding of Islam its socio religious and intellectual history, its systems of thought, and its attitude towards modernity and the modern world is vital to enhance Australia's capacity to interpret and engage with its regional and global environment. This project contributes to enhancing Australia's ability to engage and interact in constructive and enabling ways with the Muslim communities locally, regionally and internationally.
Funding 2006: $70,000
Funding 2007: $30,000
Funding 2008: $46,000
DP0662822 Dr S Akkach
Administering Institution: The University of Adelaide
17 Globalization and New Wars: The War in Chechnya
Identifying the causes of conflict has practical applications for Australian security policy formulation, since an area of instability exists within our region. A finding that causes of war arise either from complex domestic political struggles, or processes of globalization, has implications for which strategic posture Australia should adopt in responding to crises. The project falls within Research Priority 4: 'Safeguarding Australia'. By addressing the need to better understand causes of war, it assists Australian policymakers to better understand and manage potential threats. Greater knowledge of war likewise assists defence policy planners to maintain an operational advantage for Australia's defence forces.
Funding 2006: $47,000
Funding 2007: $26,489
Funding 2008: $35,000
DP0662868 Dr M Sussex; A/Prof P Shearman; Prof M Cox; Prof R Sakwa; Prof RE Kanet
Administering Institution: University of Tasmania
18 The War Rug: the history, iconography and theory of the war art tradition of the Baluch of Afghanistan 1979 2004
The 'war rugs' of Afghanistan, a new topic of art historical, sociopolitical, and cross cultural communications, reflects an Indigenous perspective of twenty five years of conflict in the region. This project will: *Produce new knowledge on a regional topic of considerable sociopolitical relevance *Enable Australia to take a leading role in the articulation of new fields of knowledge and academic discourse, enhancing both our international reputation and knowledge of the region *Provide an exemplary model for the role of museums in the conceptualisation of artistic categories cross culturally *Develop new applications of online database technologies *Develop new modes of integrating new digital technologies in an exhibition setting.
Funding 2006: $130,000
Funding 2007: $38,000
Funding 2008: $60,000
DP0663388 Prof T Bonyhady; A/Prof N Lendon
Administering Institution: The Australian National University
19 Global Warming, Iraq, and the Washington Consensus: Three Case Studies on the Role of Specialist Advice in Policy Making
This project will provide a deeper understanding of critical global policy debates and Australia's role in such debates. Its analytical framework will suggest ways in which Australian engagement in this discourse can become more effective by focusing on the role of specialist advice in policymaking and the question of how the political process influences its interpretation and use by policy makers. The successful completion of this project ultimately will contribute to the development of more consistent and better quality policy outcomes.
Funding 2006: $80,000
Funding 2007: $80,000
Funding 2008: $80,000
DP0665326 Dr MA Heazle
Administering Institution: Griffith University
20 The Politics of Alliance Affinity
There is bipartisan consensus in Australia that the alliance with the US is the 'cornerstone' of Australia's security. However, many of the United States' alliances are increasingly being placed under strain by demographic and attitudinal changes, changing US force postures, and a shift in US policy on coalition military activities. Managing the alliance relationship with Washington will be a serious challenge for Australia's security policy makers. Australia also has significant security relationships with New Zealand and the UK. Understanding the domestic politics of their security policies will provide a much firmer basis for managing these aspects of Australia's international security.
Funding 2006: $60,000
Funding 2007: $102,000
Funding 2008: $72,600
DP0666516 Prof MS Wesley; Prof WT Tow; Dr BM O'Connor
Administering Institution: Griffith University
21 Warriors, Patriots, Traitors and Opportunists: Chinese Women and War
This project furthers our knowledge of the workings of the political, military and security scene in one of our most strategically important neighbours, the PRC. The better we understand the PRC and how it responds in times of military disruption the more likely we are to be able to further Australian interests within this large market and ensure continued national security. The project also enhances Australia's strong reputation as leaders in scholarship in Chinese Studies by producing research publications of high impact that present new perspectives on old projects. This project will keep Australia at the forefront of research in Chinese Studies.
Funding 2006: $159,000
Funding 2007: $141,000
Funding 2008: $110,000
DP0662890 Dr LP Edwards
Administering Institution: The Australian National University
Societial understanding
22 Securing Freedom. Political Speech in Australia
This project will strengthen Australians' ability to secure their own freedom through enhancing and maintaining a stronger civic culture. Political speech is vital to the health of Australian democracy. By considering political speech in practice, this project will show the wide extent of political freedoms and thus democratic practice in Australia today. It will also outline some areas where the freedom may be at risk. In an era where political freedoms can be perceived to be at risk due to the need to ensure national security, this project will harmonise and reconcile national security needs with the democratic values of Australian society.
Funding 2006: $25,000
Funding 2007: $20,000
Funding 2008: $30,000
DP0663077 Dr KP Gelber
Administering Institution: The University of New South Wales
23 The Governance of Defiance
Defiance is a threat to social order. For this reason sanctioning institutions are in place to punish the defiant through legal, financial and sometimes physical means. The institutional rationale is that, at worst defiance will be silenced and at best, compliance will take its place. Increasingly, adverse and unexpected consequences of dealing with defiance in this way have been exposed. To be accountable for their actions, therefore, authorities have begun to develop more responsive and deliberative systems. But they also need to know how to read defiance. When is defiance an inappropriate response to a more than reasonable request? And when is defiance a reflection of institutional failure? This project can inform such decision making.
Funding 2006: $100,000
Funding 2007: $100,000
Funding 2008: $90,000
DP0666337 Dr VA Braithwaite; Dr KL Murphy
Administering Institution The Australian National University
24 Building Democracy and Justice after Conflict
Weak governance is a cause of terrorism. Australia is increasingly involved in nation building projects, both in its region and internationally. This project will build Australia's expertise in the ways that international law can promote democracy and justice after conflict. It will develop guidelines for states and organisations involved in peace and nation building. The project will thus contribute to safeguarding Australia by increasing Australia's capacity to engage with, and interpret itself to, its neighbours and the broader international community, as well as by tackling the threat of terrorism.
Funding 2006: $148,000
Funding 2007: $127,000
Funding 2008: $124,000
Funding 2009: $127,000
Funding 2010: $93,634
DP0667107 Prof HC Charlesworth
Administering Institution: The Australian National University
25 Norms, Reasons & Values
Social norms often come adrift from the reasons and values that they are supposed to serve. Strengthening Australia'a social and economic fabric (a National Research Priority) requires understanding how norms work and revising them in changing circumstances. This project explores such ideas in relation to crucial issues democracy, terrorism (another NRP), historical injustice and sexuality and interjects practical suggestions into the public debate over how norms ought be revised. It also furthers Australia's world standing in political science and philosophy and, by enlisting international scholars to help explore these issues, focuses the intellectual firepower of the world on problems of national importance to Australia.
Funding 2006: $170,000
Funding 2007: $180,000
Funding 2008: $170,000
DP0663060 Prof RE Goodin; Prof HG Brennan
Administering Institution: The Australian National University
26 Researching the Social Role of Religions in Australia
Most Australians claim allegiance to various religions in the Census. The number of religious denominations has greatly increased in recent years, most notably through immigration, with significant numbers from all world religions. Political and social policies are frequently influenced by religious principles and a detailed analysis of this variety is of crucial national importance. Religions from neighbouring societies are significantly represented in Australia. Understanding them is of central importance in international political and commercial activity. Current research is essential, based on the most recent Census and other recent socio economic information.
Funding 2006: $78,000
Funding 2007: $39,000
Funding 2008: $39,000
DP0663997 Dr J Jupp
Administering Institution The Australian National University
Enhancing information security
27 Protect information sharing within distributed collaborative environment
Industries require secure information accessing and communication. This project continues development of new delegation frameworks and information assurance requirements in Internet based collaborative environments. The frameworks will be systematically upon policy based models to set up a reliable, secure information sharing and communication medium. We also aim to develop techniques for setting up secure group communication and providing accesses to group members for many database systems. The approach leads to a great understanding of advocating selective information sharing in role based systems. The project develops fundamental enabling methodologies for the information and communication industry.
Funding 2006: $47,254
Funding 2007: $25,000
Funding 2008: $25,000
DP0663414 Dr H Wang
Administering Institution: University of Southern Queensland
28 Secure Multi Party Computation
The outcomes of this project will enhance information protection which is crucial fore rapidly growing e commerce service and strengthen national safeguard capability of our digital systems and infrastructure. It will contribute to maintain Australia's leading position in the telecommunication and information industries. It will contribute to the quality of our culture by protecting individual's privacy and providing security for sensitive data.
Funding 2006: $165,000
Funding 2007: $114,000
Funding 2008: $111,000
DP0665035 Dr H Wang; Prof JR Seberry; A/Prof C Xing; Prof Y Desmedt
Administering Institution: Macquarie University
29 Low energy all optical logic gates with improved cascadability and fan out for future optical communications and signal processing systems
All optical logic processing is the key to overcoming electronic bottlenecks in high speed communication networks as single channel speeds exceed electronic capabilities. This research will build off and extend Australia's world leading specialty fibre and fibre device capabilities and place Australia at the forefront in the international all optical digital information processing race. High quality research publications will enhance Australia's strong research reputation in photonics and advanced materials and promote international collaboration. New optical processing capabilities will benefit other application areas such as sensing and security.
Funding 2006: $120,000
Funding 2007: $120,000
Funding 2008: $105,000
DP0666484 Prof SC Fleming
Administering Institution: The University of Sydney
30 Novel coherence free photonic microwave signal processors
With the increasing bandwidth requirements of information signals, there is an unprecedented challenge to provide high speed and high resolution systems for signal processing. The new photonic signal processors in this project will herald in a new epoch in the ability to optimally condition wideband signals, with important applications for science, business and security services. These processors will have particular impact in transcending exisiting electronic processor limitations and in enhancing fibre fed distributed antenna systems, with benefits to Australia in the fields of radioastronomy and radar systems in defence.
Funding 2006: $160,000
Funding 2007: $160,000
Funding 2008: $155,000
DP0667131 Prof RA Minasian
Administering Institution: The University of Sydney
31 Distributed Data Processing for Wireless Sensor Networks
This project falls within the national research priorities of Frontier Technologies for building and transforming Australian Industries, and will provide Australian companies with state of the art technology in wireless sensor networks (WSN). Australia's priorities are mainly in sustainable environment, health maintenance, and home land security. Any application in these priority areas that uses our system will have less maintenance costs and a significantly longer lifetime. This project will generate numerous articles in first class journals and conferences and will contribute to the strength of Australian Research in sensor technologies and ICT.
Funding 2006: $100,000
Funding 2007: $25,000
Funding 2008: $25,000
DP0664782 Dr S Selvadurai; Dr U Roehm; Dr BF Scholz; Dr A Viglas
Administering Institution: The University of Sydney
32 Building a Talking Head via Dynamic & 3D Static, and Age & Ethnically Varied Databases: Perceptibility and Acceptability
This project will provide cutting edge realistic, perceptible talking head animation. Based on rich 3D face motion and static face databases, it will allow the study of the facial structure of specific groups of people, and the creation of a lasting cultural heritage of faces. Information in these databases will be useful for research in high quality 3D face reconstruction, with applications as wide as multimodal Biometric Identification, finding lost children, and security systems. The novel methods in this project will also advance auditory visual speech and emotion research with particular commercial applications in telecommunications, human machine interfaces, foreign language teaching, humanoid development, animation, and film.
Funding 2006: $125,000
Funding 2007: $75,000
Funding 2008: $75,000
DP0666981 Dr T Kuratate
Administering Institution: University of Western Sydney
33 High Efficiency Terahertz Emitters
Between microwaves and visible light lies the terahertz gap the least explored region of the electromagnetic spectrum. Yet the THz region is precisely where many materials exhibit characteristic signatures that allow them to be detected and identified. For example, anthrax, explosives, water, DNA, plastics, and carcinomas all have distinctive THz signatures. THz methods are revolutionizing medicine, agriculture, industry, and national security. Wider application is hampered by the lack of powerful sources of THz radiation. We aim to develop more efficient emitters of THz radiation. The national economy, security, and well being will benefit.
Funding 2006: $123,000
Funding 2007: $110,000
Funding 2008: $112,000
DP0665292 A/Prof RA Lewis
Administering Institution: University of Wollongong
34 Approximate authentication systems for digital information
Assurance about the origin and integrity of digital content is crucial not only in high security applications but also in everyday life scenarios such as providing proof that an X ray image presented as part of an insurance claim is authentic, or a news clip is not tampered with. The outcomes of this project will significantly enhance trustworthiness of multimedia information systems which are increasingly used in areas such as surveillance (traffic control), health, digital content production and distribution, tourism and journalism. It will also result in the development of secure biometric authentication systems which are critical in securing cyber space.
Funding 2006: $105,000
Funding 2007: $100,000
Funding 2008: $100,000
DP0666163 Prof R Safavi Naini; Mr VD To; Dr P Nickolas
Administering Institution: University of Wollongong
35 Theory and Applications of Hypergeometric Series
Techniques based on hypergeometric series lie at the heart of an exciting and rapidly developing class of mathematical methods, with applications to many areas of science and engineering, such as computer science, statistics, physics, chemistry and biology. In the past decades Australia has been at the forefront of important developments in the field, and this proposal serves to further strengthen the country's leading reputation. Many of the modern methods in the theory require expertise in mathematics as well as a high level of programming skills. This combination provides a unique training ground for higher degree students aiming at careers in financial mathematics, weather/climate forecasting and internet security.
Funding 2006: $88,000
Funding 2007: $78,000
Funding 2008: $80,000
DP0663525 Dr SO Warnaar; Prof PJ Forrester; Prof AJ Guttmann
Administering Institution: The University of Melbourne
36 Cryptographic Protocols from Pairings: Proofs and Designs
Modern society has become critically dependent on information and communications infrastructures. At the same time, the development of e commerce is being slowed by lack of confidence in its security. By providing increased assurance and enhanced cryptographic security protocols this research will improve the dependability of the nation's information and communications infrastructure, as well as encourage the growth of e commerce. Through the expertise and experience gained with this project, Australia's excellence in information security research will be reinforced. The training of PhD and Honours students will provide a much needed source of highly trained information security professionals.
Funding 2006: $88,000
Funding 2007: $63,000
Funding 2008: $65,000
DP0666065 A/Prof CA Boyd; Dr JM Gonzalez Nieto; Prof K Paterson
Administering Institution: Queensland University of Technology
37 The Use of Information and Cryptographic Technology to Restrict Competition
This project will deliver the following benefits:
Improve the understanding of how security technologies can be misapplied to restrict competition;
Development of an early warning mechanism to assist regulators in determining when anti competitive behaviour is occurring thorough the use of security technologies;
provide assistance to the Australian Government, and thus the Australian economy, by developing an international framework that can be promoted to Australia's major trading partners to achieve a harmonisation of complimentary competitive regulation.
The provision of criteria for consideration by Australian industry in developing new products that may incorporate security technologies
Funding 2006: $84,846
Funding 2007: $84,846
DP0666521 Prof WJ Caelli; Prof SG Corones; Dr AJ McCullagh
Administering Institution: Queensland University of Technology
38 Algebraic Properties of Cryptographic Components and their Cryptanalysis
The outcomes will enhance information and communication security, which is absolutely crucial for the rapidly growing e commerce and e government services in Australia. International collaboration will be strengthened by reciprocal exchange of researchers and postgraduate students leading to more attractive and productive research environment. Our project will help to maintain a high profile of Australian researchers, to increase the capacity for consultancy and contract work, and provide a cutting edge information technology for the Australian telecommunications industry, business and government.
Funding 2006: $123,000
Funding 2007: $113,000
Funding 2008: $115,000
Staff: Prof JP Pieprzyk; Dr C Charnes; Dr S McCallum
Administering Institution: Macquarie University
39 Security Applications of Combinatorial Puzzles
This project provides a basis for improving the implementation and maintenance of key management systems. The application of discrete mathematics to information security will help safeguard Australia, will provide opportunities for Australians to take a leading role in an important area and will develop a research network, bridging both theoretical and practical aspects of mathematics and computer science. The project will enhance Australia's international reputation by establishing collaborations with well respected international mathematicians and computer scientists. The proposal contains topics suitable for the training of new graduates, allowing them to make high quality original research contributions in a novel and important area.
Funding 2006: $92,000
Funding 2007: $79,000
Funding 2008: $81,000
DP0664030 Prof AP Street; Dr C Ramsay; A/Prof DM Donovan
Administering Institution: The University of Queensland
40 Band gap engineering of novel (In,Ga)SbN epitaxial semiconductors for high performance long wavelength optoelectronic devices
This proposal is at the forefront of a number of important fields, and therefore the outcomes are expected to be of great interest to a broad spectrum of industry sectors, including national defence, health care, environment and manufacturing. This novel material system could create new high technologies for various infrared devices. The outcomes of this project will position Australian researchers among the pioneering groups in this area and will be beneficial to several major technology related fields: global warming and associated environmental monitoring, security systems, thermal imaging systems for night vision, and healthcare with the emphasis on disease diagnosis and treatment.
Funding 2006: $120,000
Funding 2007: $110,000
Funding 2008: $100,000
DP0663161 Dr Q Gao
Administering Institution: The Australian National University
41 Solid state optical quantum information technology
There is a significant effort in Australia and around the world to develop quantum information technologies. This project, by demonstrating a suite of critical building blocks for quantum information processing, will support Australia's strong position in this emerging technology.
A major motivation for the effort directed at quantum information technologies is the impact they will have on the security of data transmission, both in breaking existing encryptions and implementing new encryption systems. The successful completion of this project will provide the essential components for a secure long distance quantum communication network.
Funding 2006: $220,000
Funding 2007: $160,000
Funding 2008: $160,000
DP0666262 Dr MJ Sellars; Dr JJ Longdell
Administering Institution The Australian National University
42 Photonic Crystal Enhanced Wavelength Selective, Multi Colour Quantum Dot Infrared Photodetectors
Photonic crystal enhanced quantum dot infrared photodetectors are a new generation of detectors developed from integrating nanotechnology with material science and optics. This would not only enhance the detector performance but the structure will now detect a narrow band around the desired wavelength with multi colour detectivity. The technology developed in this project is anticipated to attract interest from the industries and government agencies. It will be pervasive for use at home, in the manufacturing and mining industry, environmental and pollution monitoring, defence and national security. Applications include spectral imaging, remote sensing, environmental/pollution monitoring, toxic gas and bio hazardous material detection.
Funding 2006: $148,000
Funding 2007: $120,000
Funding 2008: $120,000
DP0665247 Dr HH Tan
Administering Institution: The Australian National University
Building Defence Capabilities
43 Towards an Information Theory of Radar
Radar is a key sensing technology for the defence of Australia. It is also used in several civilian applications. Recent advances in engineering and science have led to significantly increased inherent capabilities for radar hardware. Nonetheless, radars in service and planned are unable to counter many current threats. To a large extent these new capabilities have yet to be fully exploited, and in large part this is because of the lack of an information theory for radar that corresponds to the highly successful theory of this kind for telecommunications. Our work, though pitched at fundamental ideas in the theory of radar, will lead to the production of improved radar capability that will permit improved threat detection and tracking.
Funding 2006: $83,000
Funding 2007: $73,000
Funding 2008: $75,000
DP0664589 Prof W Moran; Dr SD Howard; Prof AR Calderbank
Administering Institution The University of Melbourne
44 Enhancing scramjet performance by boundary layer combustion
Australia has developed a strong international reputation over the past 20 years for excellence in research into hypersonic flight technologies. This helps to reinforce the fact that this is a country in which advanced technologies can be conceived and developed. Australian companies and agencies are already collaborating with and are being supported by international organizations to develop further hypersonic flight technologies. Achieving another significant advance in this area by demonstrating significant reductions in frictional drag on hypersonic vehicles will keep us at the forefront of this field and lead to continued international support and collaboration.
Funding 2006: $100,000
Funding 2007: $80,000
Funding 2008: $80,000
DP0665016 A/Prof DJ Mee; Em/Prof RJ Stalker
Administering Institution: The University of Queensland
Tsunami Protection
45 Supercomputer Simulation and Risk Evaluation of Tsunami Generation Induced by Earthquakes
New hotspot forecasts show that great earthquakes are likely to occur during the next decade in the Western Pacific north of New Zealand which potentially poses a tsunami risk to Australia. The project will enable this risk to be reliably assessed thereby providing the information needed to properly manage this risk thus addressing the national research priority: Safeguarding Australia. Building on extensive geo data and Australia's forefront position in solid earth simulation via investment in the ACcESS Major National Research Facility, the project provides an opportunity for Australia to play a key role in constructing next generation real time tsunami warning systems.
Funding 2006: $95,000
Funding 2007: $90,000
Funding 2008: $90,000
DP0666203 Prof PR Mora; Dr H Xing
Administering Institution: The University of Queensland
Infrastructure Protection
46 Advanced Planning Tools for the Prevention of System wide Blackouts of Large Power Systems
In 2003 there had been major power blackouts in US/Canada, Italy and in Scandinavia leading to billions of dollars of lost production and had raised concern about national security. Prevention of blackout should be one of the highest priorities of the electricity industry. National security for any critical infrastructure of any country is more vulnerable for a prolonged blackout. This project will provide comprehensive planning tools to prevent blackouts in the Australian National Electricity grid. Any benefit to electricity industry will finally result in further benefits to the national economy and security as a whole.
Funding 2006: $58,000
Funding 2007: $84,000
Funding 2008: $84,000
DP0665997 Prof TK Saha; Dr ZY Dong; Prof GF Ledwich; Prof KP Wong; Prof YV Makarov
Administering Institution: The University of Queensland
Biometrics
47 Unified Representations of Multimodal Biometrics for Robust Authentication and Identification
We propose two biometric systems based on two novel unified multimodal biometric representations. These systems will have a great potential impact on the national economy by reducing frauds related to identity, credit card transactions, and ATM withdrawals. Statistics show that these types of frauds are dramatically increasing in the U.S.A., the U.K., and Australia. Our systems will also have government applications and will impact on the national security in areas related to immigration, passport and driver's license controls. Forensic applications include criminal identification, crime scene investigation and corpse identification (as in the case of the victims of the Asian tsunami 2004).
Funding 2006: $132,000
Funding 2007: $113,000
Funding 2008: $111,000
DP0664228 A/Prof M Bennamoun; Prof RA Owens
Administering Institution: The University of Western Australia
Biological & medical
48 Structural analysis and functional inactivation of bacterial transcription complexes
RNA polymerase is an essential enzyme in all living cells. Its role is to convert the genetic information stored in genes into a message that can be converted into protein. As such, the bacterial RNA polymerase represents an ideal target for the development of new antibiotics which will be important in maintaining the health of the Australian community and also in protecting the community from the very real threat of bioterrorism organisms such as anthrax. This project is designed to identify molecules for development as new antibiotics that are effective against RNA polymerase.
Funding 2006: $103,000
Funding 2007: $85,000
Funding 2008: $85,000
DP0664370 Dr PJ Lewis; Dr R Griffith; Dr RJ Lewis
Administering Institution: The University of Newcastle
49 Establishing how bacterial cells position the division site
Cell division is essential for life. It is required for bacterial infections and, if uncontrolled, causes diseases such as cancer. We will establish how bacterial cells position the division site precisely to ensure faithful production of newborn cells. We will use the latest technology in bacterial cell biology to provide novel, clear cut information to maintain Australia at the leading edge of this important area of research. There is an alarming increase in antibiotic resistant bacteria and an imminent threat of bioterrorism. This research allows the opportunity for the development of new antibiotics to protect Australia protected from these dangerous bacteria.
Funding 2006: $88,000
Funding 2007: $83,000
Funding 2008: $83,000
DP0666670 Dr EJ Harry
Administering Institution: University of Technology, Sydney
50 Why do only some exotics become invasive? Combining ecological and genomic approaches to address alternative hypotheses in a recent Australian weed
This project will specifically test alternative hypotheses about how weeds become invasive. As invasive weeds affect both agricultural and native ecosystems equally, research on understanding the mechanisms of weed invasion is critical. Outcomes will benefit Australia by allowing better prioritisation of management against exotic plants already in the country by providing predictive tools to estimate likelihood of spread. For formal Pest Risk Analysis by regulators (eg Biosecurity Australia), our project will provide genomic tools by which the potential weediness of a regulated plant can be assessed through genetic screening, and forms part of an international effort to identify 'weedy genes'.
Funding 2006: $217,000
Funding 2007: $172,000
Funding 2008: $172,000
DP0664967 Dr AJ Lowe; Dr AR Clarke; Dr PM Schenk; Prof Dr LH Rieseberg; Prof RJ Abbott
Administering Institution: The University of Queensland
