Western Sydney University researcher Dr Kate Umbers from the School of Science and the Hawkesbury Institute for Environment has secured more than $400,000 for her project 'Snails to the Rescue: Conservation of Australia's island invertebrates' as part of the ARC Linkage Program.
The Program promotes national and international long term strategic research partnerships between researchers and business, industry, community organisations and other publicly funded research agencies.
Dr Umbers project – securing $447,176 – will deliver an exemplar industry network model for conservation on Australia's islands which are hotspots both of biodiversity and of extinctions. Research will focus on Norfolk Island's 60 species of land snails with the intention of uniting conservation actions across research, governments, and industry.
The project will be administered in collaboration with the Australian Museum; Taronga Conservation Society; Parks Australia; Senversa Pty Ltd; the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts, and Norfolk Island Regional Council.
Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research, Enterprise & International) Professor Deborah Sweeney congratulated Dr Umbers on her funding success.
"This funding success reflects Western's position as a partner of choice for industry, government, and communities as well as Western's dedication to breaking down barriers between disciplines, industry, and government to deliver innovation and tackle intractable challenges. I look forward to seeing the exciting outcomes of this project," said Professor Sweeney.
Two Western Sydney researchers were also named on successfully funded ARC Linkage Program projects administered by other universities:
- Professor Justin Welbergen from the Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment was named on the project 'The Macroderma initiative: conserving ghost bats and informing development' which will be administered Charles Darwin University
- Professor Zhong Tao from the School of Engineering, Design and Built Environment was named for the project 'Novel Hydrophobic Concrete for Durable and Resilient Mining Infrastructure' to be administered by the University of Technology.
For a full list of funded ARC Linkage Projects 2023 Round 1, including a snapshot of funding by state and territory, please view the ARC announcement kit here.
