Researchers from Macquarie University have secured over $9.6 million in Australian Research Council funding for 23 Discovery Projects across a broad range of research areas.
Macquarie University Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research, Professor Sakkie Pretorius, congratulated the University's researchers for securing the grants.
"We are thrilled for our researchers who were awarded funding under the Discovery Projects scheme, and to see the range of high-quality research projects that will be supported," says Professor Pretorius.
"This funding will enable Macquarie's continued commitment to conducting research with world-changing impact."
Discovery Project grants were awarded to Macquarie researchers for the following projects:
Professor Chris Dixon from the Department of Modern History, Politics and International Relations for a project aiming to provide the first detailed analysis of African Americans in the Korean War
Professor Bronwen Neil from the Department of Ancient History to study how leaders have addressed upheaval and crises in Roman history between 250-1000 CE.
Dr Jane Johnson from the Department of Philosophy to lead a project looking at how medical device company representatives' obligation to maximise sales conflicts with their clinician support role.
Distinguished Professor Anne Castles from the Department of Cognitive Science to address the major unsolved problem of how children build their knowledge about printed words through their reading.
Professor Genevieve McArthur from the Department of Cognitive Science to understand why children with reading impairments are at increased risk for emotional problems.
Dr Titia Benders from the Department of Linguistics to uncover the connected perception and production processes that underpin language challenges for children with hearing loss.
Dr Arne Ittner from the Department of Biomedical Sciences for a project to understand the molecular principles that facilitate encoding, maintenance and retrieval of memories in the brain.
Professor Martin Kennedy from the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences to produce environmental records during ocean warming events in the geologic past to reveal processes associated with warm oceans similar to those anticipated in the coming century.
Associate Professor Nathan Daczko from the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences to uncover new knowledge about volcanic arcs, which are crucial to understanding geochemical cycles, tectonic-climate coupling, ore genesis and natural hazards.
Dr Thomas Williams from the Department of Molecular Sciences to better understand genome complexity by engineering minimal yeast genomes that have fewer genes, and are therefore easier to characterise and engineer.
Professor Simon Griffith from the Department of Biological Sciences to characterise how contamination from the extraction of precious metals can spread through the environment and how it effects a highly urbanised bird - the house sparrow.
Associate Professor Adam Sikora from the Department of Mathematics and Statistics to study linear and nonlinear harmonic analysis, with the aim to improve tools for mathematical modelling in all areas of technology and science.
Professor Stephen Hanly from the School of Engineering to characterise and optimise information gathering, dissemination, and communication capacities of airborne base stations to enable low latency communications in rural and remote areas, enabling secure wide-spread communications coverage and delivering economic benefits to remote Australia.
Distinguished Professor Michael Gillings from the Department of Biological Sciences to examine the origins of gene cassettes that play a role in spreading antibiotic resistance among pathogens.
Dr Yuling Wang from the Department of Molecular Sciences to develop a platform technology for multiplexed glycan mapping of the surface of a single cell to address challenges of functional glycomics by utilising a conceptually new approach.
Professor Deborah Richards from the Department of Computing to investigate ways to train reflective ethical decision making in cybersecurity management through the design of interactive social simulations.
Dr Ming Li from the School of Engineering to advance molecular understanding of antibiotic resistance in bacterial populations at the single-cell level, using an innovative approach integrating microfluidics, microscopy and genomics.
Professor Michael Sheng from the Department of Computing to develop innovative techniques to efficiently and effectively distil truthful information from misinformation in the inherently unreliable and large-scale web environment.
Professor Ken Cheng from the Department of Biological Sciences to investigate how desert ants use their surroundings and magnetic cues to navigate.
Distinguished Professor Ian Paulsen from the Department of Molecular Sciences to will undertake systematic functional characterisation of marine cyanobacteria systems and determine their physiological and ecological importance in the marine food web.
Distinguished Professor Deborah Schofield from the Centre for Economic Impacts of Genomic Medicine to address one of the biggest gaps in health and productivity research by designing a novel composite national metric that will rank lost productivity due to chronic illness.
Distinguished Professor David Throsby from the Department of Economics to determine how the economic and cultural value of artistic and cultural enterprises is created, transmitted and received, with application to the live theatre.
Professor Tom Smith from the Department of Applied Finance to develop and test a new methodology to determine the potential consequences of effective action on climate change for the asset values of fossil fuel firms.
