Swinburne success in 2020 ARC Industrial Transformation Research Program

Swinburne has secured up to $3.64 million to support our involvement in the 2020 Australian Research Council (ARC) Industrial Transformation Research Program.

The program involves significant collaboration with industry over the next five years to focus on key priority areas and challenges facing the industry.

“This success demonstrates Swinburne's commitment to high impact and collaborative research through our strategic partnerships with industry and the university sector,” Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Enterprise) Professor Bronwyn Fox says.

ARC Training Centre for Collaborative Robotics in Advanced Manufacturing

Swinburne will be supported by approximately $1.18 million in funding for our work in this centre, which will develop robotics applications to combine the strengths of humans and robots in shared work environments.

This centre involves Swinburne investigators: Professor Xiaoqi Chen, Associate Professor Nico Adams, Dr Sean Gallagher, and Dr Mats Isaksson and is led by Queensland University of Technology. It aims to build the human and technical capability Australia needs to underpin our global competitiveness in advanced manufacturing.

The centre will unite manufacturing businesses and universities to develop collaborative robotics applications that combine the strengths of humans and robots in shared work environments. It will train researchers, engineers, technologists and manufacturing leaders with the expertise industry needs to boost safety, quality assurance, production efficiency, and workforce readiness.

ARC Training Centre for Information Resilience

Swinburne will draw from $1.49 million funding for our work in this centre, which involves Swinburne Associate Professor Amir Aryani and is led by The University of Queensland.

The centre aims to build workforce capacity in Australian organisations to create, protect and sustain agile data pipelines, capable of detecting and responding to failures and risks across the information value chain in which the data is sourced, shared, transformed, analysed and consumed.

Building on a strong foundation of responsible data science, the centre will bring together end-users, technology providers, and cutting-edge research, to lift the socio-technical barriers to data driven transformation and develop resilient data pipelines capable of delivering game-changing productivity gains that position Australian organisations at the forefront of technology leadership and value creation from data assets.

ARC Research Hub for Australian Steel Innovation

Swinburne is also a key partner in the Research Hub for Australian Steel Innovation, for which we will be supported by $965,000 funding for Hub activities.

The Steel Hub aims to support the transition of Australia’s steel manufacturing industry to a more sustainable, competitive and resilient position based on the creation of new, higher value-added products and more advanced manufacturing processes.

It anticipates delivering innovative research designed to enable a technological shift in the supply chain through integrating advanced enabling technologies in large and small businesses, developing step-change performance in anti-corrosion treatments and coating lines, generating more functional and durable products, and increasing resource intensities.

Professor Geoff Brooks, Professor Akbar Rhamadani, Professor Dimitrios Georgakopoulos are involved with this hub, which is led by the University of Wollongong.

The ARC Industrial Transformation Research Program supports collaborative research activity between the higher education sector, government and industry through the delivery of large multi-year hubs and centres that tackle industry needs in key Australian government priority areas.

Announcing the funding outcomes, Minister for Education, Dan Tehan, said the government wants universities to be even more entrepreneurial and engaged with industry.