What has been funded

Research Projects Program
Promotion of Science Program

Research Projects Program

This Program incorporates the Emerging Research, Strategic Research and Supporting Research Special Purpose Areas. Apart from the initial grant which were made in fulfilment of CSIRO’s wishes expressed in the conditions of the first gift, the grants are awarded through open rounds, assessed competitively.

Initial Round

In keeping with the conditions of the initial Gift from CSIRO to the Science & Industry Endowment Fund (SIEF) of October 2009, the Trustee made the following inaugural grant:

Grant Recipient	Project Title	Project Description	SIEF funds (life time years)
CSIRO	CSIRO Ngara - Rural Wireless Broadband ProgramICT (Ngara)	CSIRO Rural Wireless Broadband Network. Addressing the national challenge of providing high speed internet access in rural Australia targeting the 10% of Australians not served by the National Broadband Network (NBN) fibre to the premises (FTTP) solution.	$10,000,000 (2 years)

Round One (closed June 2010)

Grant Recipient	Project Title	Project Description	SIEF funds (life time years)
CSIRO, Edith Cowan University, Mental Health Research Institution, National Aging Research Institute	The Australian Imaging, Biomarket and Lifestyle study of Ageing (AIBL2)	Australian Imaging Biomarkers and Lifestyle Flagship Study of Ageing (AIBL 2): Research into the early detection and preventative measures for Alzheimer’s Disease.	$5,150,000 (3 years)
CSIRO	New Methodologies in Plant Breeding for Creating and Perpetuating Major Yield Increases (Plant Breeding)	New methodologies in plant breeding for creating and perpetuating major yield increases. Gain understanding of the epigenetic basis of heterosis to enhance crop production (hybrid vigour) and identify the molecular basis for initiation of apoptosis (asexual seed formation).	$4,500,000 (3 years)
CSIRO, University of Melbourne	Appropriate health diagnostic tools for developing countries using mobile phones and inexpensive sensors (Health Diagnostics)	A proof of concept project to produce a low cost and robust device for medical practitioners in developing world. Using the emerging field of metablomics, analyse the complex fingerprint of molecular metabolites from the body to understand and detect disease.	$2,284,000 (2 years)
Australian Institute of Marine Sciences, CSIRO, Great barrier Reef Foundation	eReefs - Transforming the Science and Management of the Great Barrier Reef (eReefs)	‘e-Reefs’: Transforming the science and management of the Great Barrier Reef: Research to create an operational information modelling and forecast system to support the management of the Great Barrier Reef.	$4,000,000 (5 years)
Bioplatforms Australia, CSIRO, Curtin University, Director of National parks, The University of Western Australia, State of WA through Dept. of Environment Conservation	Two Jump Start Projects for the Global Ecosystem Assessment Initiative (GEAI)	The Global Ecosystem Assessment Initiative: Development of an ecogenomics toolbox focused on two ‘jumpstart’ projects for invertebrate species and soil microbial diversity.	$1,500,000 (3 years)

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Round Two (closed August 2010)

Grant Recipient	Project Title	Project Description	SIEF funds (life time years)
ANSTO, CSIRO, The University of Adelaide, The University of Melbourne, Monash University, University of NSW, The University of Sydney	Energy Waste Roadblock	Solving the Energy Waste Roadblock: Addressing one of the foremost challenges for reducing greenhouse gas emissions on a national and international scale, namely, the development of new materials and processes for the capture and utilisation of carbon dioxide.	$6,000,000 (5 years)
CSIRO, CSL, Walter & Eliza Hall Institute	Understanding normal and aberrant stem cell biology to improve human health (Stem Cell Biology)	Conduct extensive cellular, molecular and functional analyses of blood stem cells, their progeny and their bone marrow environment. This information will be used for the generation of research tools, identification of new drug targets, which will in turn be utilized to develop new medicines to mobilise blood stem cells improving the outcomes of bone marrow transplantation, as well as to generate mature blood cells for transfusion.	$6,000,000 (5 years)
CSIRO, Cochlear, (University of Washington), O’Brien Institute (University of Melbourne),	RAFT for Biomedical Applications (RAFT)	RAFT for Biomedical Applications: Developing technology platforms based on the versatility of the RAFT process to help deliver the next generation of polymer based materials for the Australian biomedical industry.	$4,000,000 (4 years)

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Round Three (closed March 2011)

Grant Recipient	Project Title	Project Description	SIEF funds (life time years)
CSIRO, Garvan Institute, University of SA Women's and Children's Health Research Institute	Early Nutrition, the Epigenome and the Prevention of Disease (Early Nutrition)	To identify epigenetic signatures associated with development of obesity and to characterise at a genome-wide level, the effects of early nutritional environment on the epigenome, with the aim of developing biomarkers to guide intervention and in the longer term to identify new approaches for prevention and treatment of obesity.	$4,999,125 (4 years)
CSIRO, University of Melbourne, Monash University	Genomic Basis of Adaptation to Climate Change (Adaptation to Climate Change)	To identify the genomic characteristics of species with various capacities to adapt to climate change, test these signatures across multiple groups and environments, and build this knowledge into predictive models of biodiversity responses to climate change.	$3,500,000 (4 years)
CSIRO, University of Sydney	Advanced Catalytic Processes for Renewable Chemicals Manufacture (Renewable Chemicals)	Develop low energy/sustainable materials platform technologies that utilise renewable resources to produce bulk chemicals, intermediates, fine and specialty chemicals. These technologies have the potential to greatly invigorate the Australian agriculture, forestry and manufacturing industry sectors, linking them via innovative biorefinery technologies. (Formally known as PROFIT-21C:Processes and Feedstocks in the 21st Century)	$5,000,000 (5 years)

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Round Four (closed)

Review of the stage 2 full proposals is complete for the fourth round of Research Projects. Successful Projects will be placed on this website shortly.

John Stocker Postdoctoral Fellowships

Year	Lead Supervisor and Organisation	Collaborating Organisation	Project Title	Fellow
2013	Calum Drummond CSIRO	Australian Synchrotron	Combinatorial science for the creation of advanced self-assembling materials libraries	tbc
2013	Simon Driver University of Western Australia	AAO	Unveiling obscured star-formation in the Universe’s most typical environment	tbc
2013	Mark Westoby Macquarie University	CSIRO, University of Western Sydney	Building better climate change vegetation models: How do leaves allocate nitrogen among photosynthesis and stress proteins in future climate scenarios?	tbc
2013	Steven Barnes CSIRO	Curtin University of Technology, University of Kiel	Metals, hydrocarbons and multicellular life: unconventional hydrocarbon-related precious metal ores formed during the early Cambrian evolutionary explosion	tbc
2013	Prof John Mattick Garvan Institute of Medical Research	University of Sydney	The editome of the ageing brain: towards the understanding of age-related neurodegenerative	tbc
2013	David Clifford CSIRO	Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique	Quantifying and reducing uncertainty in biophysical models for agricultural GHG mitigation	tbc
2012	Ewa Goldys Macquarie University	CSIRO	Pioneering the combinatorial method for designed plasmonic materials applied to clean energy	Dr Tristan Temple
2012	Andrew Hopkins Australian Astronomical Observatory	University of Sydney, University of Western Australia, CSIRO, CAASTRO	Galaxies: Fuel and fireworks	Dr Iraklis Konstantopoulos
2012	Boris Baer University of Western Australia	CSIRO	Epigenetic regulation of gene expression by DNA methylation in insect models	Dr Mathew Welch
2012	Peter Mumby University of Queensland	AIMS	Functioning of coral reef networks under climate change	Dr Karlo Hock
2012	Timothy Bedding University of Sydney	AAO	Astroseismology- a key to reveal stars and their planets	Dr Charles Kuehn
2012	Peter Kingshott Swinburne University of Technology	CSIRO	Next generation biomedical materials based on highly ordered colloid crystals	Dr Peng-Yuan Wang
2011	Frank Caruso University of Melbourne	CSIRO Materials Science and Engineering	A paradigm shift in desalination membrane technology	Dr Hannah Lomas
2011	Stefan Williams University of Sydney	CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research University of Tasmania	Image-based automated macrobenthic species identification, counting and sizing	Dr Navid Nourani
2011	Ravi Anand CSIRO Earth Science and Resource Engineering	University of Western Australia	Biological origin of Fe pisoliths - success in mineral exploration and clues to life on Mars	Dr Robert Thorne
2011	Michael Fenech CSIRO CFNS	Australian National University	The interactive impact of psychological stress and malnutrition on genome stability and telomere integrity	Dr Caroline Bull
2011	Olivier Salvado CSIRO ICT Centre	Queensland Institute of Medical Research	Genetic influences on brain functional and structural connectivity	Dr Kaikai Shen
2011	Lister Staveley-Smith University of Western Australia	CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science	The interaction of the Magellanic clouds with the Milky Way	Dr BiQing For

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John Stocker Postgraduate Scholarships

Year	Lead Supervisor and Organisation	Collaborating Organisation	Project Title	Student
2013	Dr Cormac Corr ANU	ANSTO, Dutch Institute for Fundamental Energy Research (DIFFER)	Ion interactions with fusion relevant materials	Matt Thompson
2013	A/Prof Nagarajan Valanoor University of NSW	University of Maryland (UMD), Oak Ridge National Laboratories (ORNL), ANSTO	Domain wall nanoelectronics through combinatorial synthesis and scanning probe approaches	Vidya Ramesh
2013	Prof Ian Campbell ANU	Monash University	Prospectivity of late Archean basaltic and gabbroic rocks associated with major gold and basemetal deposits	Ashley Laurence Uren
2013	Scientia Professor Veena Sahajwalla University of NSW	CSIRO	Recycling E-waste Metals and Polymers for Recovery of Value-Added Materials	Romina Cayumil
2012	Milos Toth University of Technology Sydney		Gas-mediated electron-beam-induced etching	Aiden Martin
2012	Arko Lucieer University of Tasmania	CSIRO	Development and application of a novel Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) for hyperspectral remote sensing of crops and natural ecosystems	Anthony Veness
2012	Stephen Hanly Macquarie University	CSIRO	Coordinated Beamforming for metro-area cellular networks with radio backhaul	tbc
2011	Stuart Wyithe University of Melbourne	CSIRO Astronomy and Space Sciences	Probing galaxy formation by searching for gravitational wave signals	Ravi Vikram
2011	Ken Ghiggino University of Melbourne	CSIRO Astronomy and Space Sciences	Functional conjugated polymers	Aaron Song
2011	Patrice Rey University of Sydney	CSIRO Earth Science and Resource Engineering	Continental rifting and the formation of plate margins: insights from numerical modeling and application to the evolution of the North West Shelf, Australia	Luke Mondy
2011	Iain Searle Australian National University	CSIRO Plant Industry	Non-coding RNAs in the epigenetic regulation of seed development	Ashley Jones

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John O'Sullivan Postgraduate Scholarship

Year

Lead Supervisor
and Organisation

Collaborating
Organisation

Project Title

Student

2012

Prof Jinhong Yuan

University of NSW

CSIRO

Evolving Cellular Communications towards Mobile over Fiber Networks.

tbc

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Honours Scholarships

Year	Lead Supervisor and Organisation	Collaborating Organisation	Project Title	Student
2012	Dr Tim Ralph Macquarie University	University of Plymouth	Identification of sediment source contributions in a large inland river using environmental radionuclides	Adam Wethered [PDF 336KB]

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Vacation Scholarships

Year	Lead Supervisor and Organisation	Collaborating Organisation	Project Title	Student
2012	Russell Varley CSIRO	Monash	Predictive Modelling of Crosslinked Polymer Networks	Tao Tan
2012	Ping Zhang CSIRO		Integration of Genetic Algorithms with Logistic Regression for Alzheimer's diagnosis and prognosis	Piers Johnson
2012	Dayalan Gunasegaram CSIRO	Monash	Characterising the 3D microscopic surface roughness of carbon anodes and gray cast iron thimbles and investigating the relationship between the two quantities	David Tay

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Undergraduate Degree Scholarships

Year	University	Student
2013	Flinders University	tbc
2013	University of Adelaide	tbc
2013	La Trobe University	tbc
2013	CQ University	tbc
2013	University of Queensland	tbc
2013	University of New England	tbc

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