Swinburne builds on high Australian Research Council funding success rate

The Australian Research Council (ARC) has awarded more than $909,000 for two Swinburne-led research projects in the latest funding round of the Linkage Projects scheme. Following this announcement, industry partners have contributed an additional $485,000. 

One of the projects is aimed at protecting coastlines from storms using wave energy, and the other will investigate and respond to online child sexual exploitation.

This recent announcement gives Swinburne the highest national success rate for ARC Linkage Projects submitted in 2018.  

The funding grants were announced by the Minister for Education, Dan Tehan, this week. In total, more than $28.7 million was awarded to world-leading, innovative research projects that encourage collaboration between university and industry.

Protecting coastlines using wave energy

Professor of Fluid Dynamics, Richard Manasseh, will receive $427,000 to lead a three-year project to produce strategies for protecting coasts from storms using farms of wave energy machines, which also generate electricity.

The project, titled ‘Controlling coastlines while generating power’, focuses on the increasing lengths of coast that need protection as a result of climate change.

Conventional barriers have a permanent impact on the environment and come at a high cost to taxpayers. This project will look at using wave energy machines to absorb or reflect damaging waves in severe conditions. Sales of electricity would help to pay back the costs involved, and the outcomes would include reducing coastal erosion.

Associate Professor Justin Leontini from Swinburne’s Faculty of Science, Engineering and Technology is also part of the research team.

Understanding online child sexual exploitation

Professor of Forensic Behavioural Science, James Ogloff, will receive $482,366 for a four-year project that will enhance understanding of online child sexual exploitation.

Professor Ogloff and his team aim to increase knowledge to inform current law enforcement and sentencing practices. They will also develop risk assessment and intervention protocols for clinical use with online offenders. The project outcomes will increase evidence-based practice and assist in preventing the sexual exploitation of children online and in the community.

Swinburne statistician, Professor Denise Meyer, will work with Professor Ogloff alongside partner organisations including Victoria Police, Corrections Victoria and the Australian Institute of Criminology.

Swinburne’s ARC research funding success

Swinburne was awarded $950,000 in ARC funding in February 2019 for two research projects focussed on detecting and preventing data leaks and optimising innovation in global organisations.

In January 2019, $1.1 million was awarded for two other Swinburne projects. Swinburne’s Cybersecurity Lab was awarded $360,000 to develop technology to stop smart home devices being hacked, and more than $780,000 went to a Swinburne project that uses data-driven traffic analytics to help mitigate traffic incidents and their impact on commuters.

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