Researchers at The Australian National University (ANU) have secured more than $29 million in funding through the Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Projects scheme, supporting 41 projects across disciplines spanning biotechnology and quantum physics to environmental conservation and social policy. 

ANU Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Innovation) Professor Lachlan Blackhall said he was pleased to congratulate the funding winners.  

“The funding will accelerate innovation on some of the world’s most pressing challenges – from combating infectious diseases and biodiversity loss to addressing complex social issues and pioneering future technologies,” he says. 

“Our researchers continue to push boundaries of knowledge in ways that transform industries, policy and society.” 

ARC Chief Executive Officer Professor Ute Roessner said the projects highlight the breadth and ambition of Australia’s research community.   

'By funding projects across many different disciplinary areas, the ARC is empowering researchers in the science and technology fields, social sciences and humanities, to pursue bold ideas, foster collaboration, and generate knowledge that strengthens Australia’s prosperity, resilience and wellbeing,’ Professor Roessner said. 

ANU projects to receive Discovery Project funding:   

• Professor Robert Breunig - Better childcare policy: parental labour supply and provider responses, $656,000.
• Professor Kylie Catchpole - Mechanistic analysis of perovskite degradation for stable photovoltaics, $601,101.
• Professor Nicholas Chilton - Discovery and optimisation of rare-earth quantum materials, $600,605.
• Professor Geoffrey Clark - Urbanism and the Tongan Maritime State, $428,938.
• Professor Ian Cockburn - Interplay or Isolation: Germinal Centre Reactions to Multiple Antigens, $950,126.
• Professor Matthew Colless - Mapping dark matter and testing gravity with galaxy surveys, $656,552.
• Associate Professor Amy Dawel - The psychology of perceiving artificial people, $654,050.
• Associate Professor Giel van Dooren - How do intracellular parasites adapt to changes in nutrient availability? $1,137,340.
• Associate Professor Tamas Fischer - On-target mRNA technology using self-splicing introns, $951,515.
• Professor Stephen Gould - Differentiable optimisation for constrained three-dimensional shape design, $653,985.
• Professor Simon Haberle - Deeptime history of climate & humans in the most diverse ecosystem on earth, $787,069.
• Dr Simon Haine - A quantum control toolbox for two-dimensional quantum turbulence, $593,352.
• Professor Darren Halpin - Organising present generations to advocate for future generations, $553,093.
• Associate Professor Megan Head - Does metamorphosis facilitate or constrain adaptation to new environments? $944,801.
• Professor Thomas Huber - Non-canonical amino acids for protein analysis in vitro and in cells, $937,809.
• Professor Colin Jackson - Protosilks: New silk proteins for biotechnology by computational design, $676,738.
• Professor Colin Jackson - A platform for protein design and evolution in mammalian cells, $739,852.
• Professor Jing Jiang - Language-driven, human-centric solutions for complex problems, $630,000.
• Professor J. Scott Keogh - Disentangling the drivers of Australian animal diversity, $725,741.
• Professor J. Scott Keogh - Linking ecology and evolution to protect Australian frogs, $940,569.
• Associate Professor Andrew Kingston - 3D elemental mapping by prompt-gamma ghost imaging, $882,610.
• Professor Mark Krumholz - How do cosmic rays shape the ecology of galaxies? $583,598.
• Professor Robert Lanfear - Precision Phylogenomics: accurately inferring the tree of life, $923,801.
• Professor Lara Malins - Sex, synthesis and structure: Investigating diatom reproduction pheromones, $660,429.
• Dr Anton Moiseienko - Financial sanctions: Identifying sanctioned persons and their assets, $529,137.
• Professor Melissa Ness - Discovering stellar origins with a groundbreaking map of the galaxy, $601,582.
• Associate Professor Christoph Nitsche - Bismuth-powered peptides and proteins: A new frontier in drug discovery, $726,305.
• Associate Professor Natalie Nitsche - Online social connections, mental well-being, and declining fertility, $560,468.
• Professor Rod Peakall - Adaptation, evolution and conservation of Australia's diverse orchids, $903,097.
• Associate Professor Melanie Rug - Deciphering lipid droplet dynamics and function in malaria parasites, $961,819.
• Associate Professor Esmé Shirlow - World Court? Globalising & judicialising the International Court of Justice, $646,886.
• Professor Laurajane Smith - Australians and the past revisited, $852,772.
• Professor Rosalind Smith - Handwritten: scribal culture and the early modern woman writer, 1500-1700, $352,449.
• Professor Katie Steele - Ethics, sustainability and future generations, $333,294.
• Associate Professor James Sullivan - Positron and positronium collision dynamics, $624,295.
• Professor David Tscharke - Fighting Tasmanian devil facial tumours with a virus, $694,818.
• Professor Danielle Way - Improving the representation of C4 photosynthesis in vegetation models, $812,129.
• Associate Professor Duncan Wright - Malo to Mabo: A community-led archaeological history of the Meriam people, $767,398.
• Professor Nan Yang - Goal-oriented semantic wireless communications for 6G era, $741,259.
• Associate Professor Yanrong Yang - Responsible statistical learning: Uncertainty, fairness and transparency, $636,574.
• Professor Jimin Yu - Causes of deglacial atmospheric CO2 changes: A novel bottom-up approach, $473,750. 

More details of each project are available at the ARC website.