$3.6M Boost for Seven ARC Linkage Projects

The projects are:

Professor Linda Graham from QUT's School of Education will lead the ARC Linkage Project, Improving the accessibility of assessment and pedagogy at scale, funded with a grant of $623,896, partnering with Macquarie University, The University of New England, the Queensland Secondary Principals' Association, 11 state primary and secondary schools in Queensland and Western Australia.

Professor Graham said the project aimed to overcome barriers to equitable access to classroom teaching and assessment for students with disability by improving accessibility for all students.

"This project will produce empirical evidence of effectiveness across the full range of school subjects, year levels and assessment types, and enhance educators' design knowledge and capacity," Professor Graham said.

"The project will help schools introduce these new teaching and assessment methods in a way that fits smoothly into everyday school life, without increasing teachers' workload."

The QUT research team comprises Professor Graham, Dr Haley Tancredi, and Professor Lee Perry.

Distinguished Professor Susan Danby, director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child, will lead the $587,640 project, Digital Futures: Computational Thinking Tools for Foundational Learning, with partner investigator The Creche and Kindergarten Association.

Professor Danby said this interdisciplinary project with Associate Professor Toby Pavey and Dr Sarah Matthews would support early childhood educators in teaching computational thinking (CT) fundamentals through movement, social play and hands-on exploration," Professor Danby said.

"The partnership with C&K and Dr Sandra Cheeseman embeds the expertise of early childhood educators and young learners.

"This project addresses a national priority by supporting the development of CT in children aged 3-5, a foundational skill now embedded in the Australian Curriculum.

"By integrating early childhood education, movement science and technology design, the project will produce CT technology tools, classroom activities and online educational learning resources to help educators introduce CT concepts including sequencing, pattern recognition and problem-solving, in physically active, social and developmentally appropriate learning ways."

Professor Ana Deletic from QUT's School of Civil and Environmental Engineering has been awarded $351,088 for the project, Harnessing Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) for Urban Flood Protection, partnering with Logan City Council, Melbourne Water Corporation, Water Technology Pty Ltd, and Melbourne City Council

Professor Deletic said the project's aim was to address the growing threat of flash flooding in Australian cities by developing an innovative flood modelling tool and sustainable mitigation solutions.

"It is estimated that flooding costs Australian communities around $3 billion a year in infrastructure repairs and endangers up to 275 lives each year," Professor Deletic said.

"Using advanced machine learning, we will create next-gen, fast, reliable urban flood models and deliver a Water Sensitive Urban Design planning tool focused on mitigating urban flooding, while enabling the integrated management of stormwater pollution and the urban heat island."

The QUT research team comprises Professor Deletic, Dr Maziar Gholami Korzani, Dr Baiquian Shi, all from QUT's School of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Professor Stephen Blanksby will lead the project, Sifting through the air by mass spectrometry, which has received a $359,271 grant, with partner investigator Syft Technologies.

Professor Blanksby said the project was focused on real-time detection of trace volatiles in air which is critical for the rapid assessment of air-quality to: protect human safety; detect changes in Earth's atmosphere and its effects on climate, as well as identifying volatile emissions from biochemical processes.

"Australia's national priorities across health, biotechnology and the environment all require the ability to rapidly detect and identify chemical compounds present at vanishingly low concentrations in air or other gases," Professor Blanksby said.

"Our research partner Syft Technologies developed unique instrumentation for robust and real-time measurements of volatile chemicals and will partner with QUT to advance its sensitivity and selectivity to enhance understanding of Australia's marine environments and drive innovation in precision fermentation."

The project's QUT research team comprises Professor Blanksby and Associate Professor Branka Miljevic and Dr James Behrendorff.

Associate Professor Laurianne Sitbon, from QUT's School of Computer Science will lead the project, Assistive Robotics for Inclusive Employment, which was awarded $794,570, with partners Endeavour Foundation and MacArthur Disability Services.

Professor Sitbon said the project aimed to promote the participation of Australians with intellectual disability, in the technology revolution with innovations to foster inclusion and lead to a more diverse workforce.

"Employers often face challenges to provide a supportive work environment for people with intellectual disability. At the same time, supporting the development of work-ready skills requires attentiveness and repetitive instructions over time from a diminishing care workforce. Currently we have no clear solutions to these issues," Professor Sitbon said.

"As AI and assistive robotics show great promise for fostering the capabilities of people with intellectual disability, our interdisciplinary research team will work with the disability sector to co-design ways for these technologies to help people reach sustainable employment and help employers create suitable work tasks for them."

The QUT research team on this project are Associate Professor Sitbon, Adjunct Professor Margot Brereton, and Dr Jessica Korte, from the School of Computer Science Professor Sofia Mavropoulou from QUT's School of Education; and Professor Markus Rittenbruch from QUT's School of Design.

Professor Yunfei Xi, from the School of Mechanical, Medical and Process Engineering, will lead the $317,130 project, Revolutionising Brickmaking, From Traditional Practice to AI Smart Design, with partner investigator Brickworks Building Products Pty Ltd.

Professor Xi said that although brickmaking was one of Australia's most established and energy-intensive sectors, producing more than 600 million bricks a year, the industry still relied on trial-and-error methods resulting in varying product quality, production inefficiency and a 3-5% defect rate.

"By developing AI-enabled tools to optimise raw clay formulations and firing conditions, he project will improve brick performance, reduce waste, and enable a step-change in production capacity to helping manufacturers meet Australia's growing housing and infrastructure demand while lowering embodied carbon," Professor Xi said.

"The project's inverse design tool and mineral database will be tested across ten factories in partnership with Brickworks, and the results will be shared through industry con

The QUT research team comprises chief investigators Professor Xi and Distinguished Professor Yuantong Gu.

Dr Nadine Ostern from QUT's School of Management and the Centre for Future Enterprise, has been awarded $635,189 to lead the project, Digitalising with Care to Strengthening Social Connection and Wellbeing, in partnership with Anglicare Southern Queensland.

Dr Ostern said loneliness was a growing public health and social issue, intensified by the digitalisation of essential services which erode opportunities for meaningful human connection, particularly in aged care and other frontline service settings.

"This project will co-design scalable, psychologically grounded tools to help contact centre staff identify and support clients experiencing loneliness by combining AI-enabled detection with human-centred interventions, ensuring that new technologies enhance, rather than diminish, social connection," Dr Ostern said.

"Rather than replacing existing interventions, our findings will offer a complementary approach to strengthen the social fabric of service interactions."

The QUT researchers on this project are Dr Ostern and Associate Professor Wasana Bandara from QUT's School of Information Systems.