Parliament House
Canberra, ACT
[check against delivery]
The Australian Government is serious about supporting quality research that delivers great outcomes for all Australians.
Today we recognise researchers whose work will be supported by the Australian Research Council’s National Competitive Grants Program.
The program:
• supports researchers at different stages of their careers
• builds Australia’s research capability
• expands and strengthens research networks and collaborations
• and develops centres of research excellence.
The successful grant recipients will receive funding under four National Competitive Grants Program schemes:
• Discovery Indigenous Researchers Development
• Discovery Projects
• Linkage Projects
• and Linkage International.
A total of 1,103 research projects will receive over $363 million in funding over five years from 2009.
These are all high-calibre projects – the cream of the 4,000-plus proposals the ARC received – and they will contribute enormously to our knowledge, our understanding, and our innovation capacity.
Linkage
The Linkage Projects and Linkage International schemes bring leading researchers from around the world together to collaborate on specific research problems.
Among many other things, projects selected for funding under these schemes will:
• shed new light on the governance of high-density cities
• further the development of cutting-edge radar imaging technology in Australia
• keep Australia at the forefront of photonics and nanotechnology
• and suggest ways to improve community aged care.
Discovery
The Discovery Projects scheme provides funding for individual researchers and research teams.
Projects selected for funding under the scheme will give us valuable insights into:
• how the mathematics curriculum can be improved to meet the needs of disadvantaged students
• the migration patterns of young people in rural Australia
• the global growth opportunities available to Australian investment funds
• and how changes in the way food and drink are produced and consumed will affect Australians.
Indigenous
If we want to boost our research effort and our innovation performance, we need to harness creativity wherever we find it.
That includes the creativity of Indigenous Australians.
Research by the late Maria Lane reported in the press this week shows that Indigenous students are graduating from Australian universities at a record rate. (Australian, 13 October 2008)
This is a valuable addition to our talent pool, and it is important that we get more of these young graduates going on to research careers.
The Discovery Indigenous Researchers Development scheme helps Indigenous Australian researchers and postgraduate students develop the research expertise and experience they need to compete with other applicants for mainstream funding.
Projects supported by the scheme will:
• improve learning opportunities for disadvantaged Indigenous and rural students
• help close the educational achievement gap between Aboriginal students and their peers
• investigate the acquisition and management of Indigenous cultural materials by national museums
• and improve our understanding of the leadership journeys taken by Indigenous teachers.
Thanks
You’ll be very relieved to hear that Professor Shiel has said I don’t have to acknowledge our thousand or so successful applicants individually – I know I was.
But I do want to offer my very sincere congratulations to everyone who has received funding.
I take enormous personal pleasure in knowing that the government is supporting research that will make Australia a better place – fairer, richer, stronger, healthier, safer and smarter.
To get a better idea of what I mean, please have a look around the expo featuring some of the successful research projects.
And have another look at the displays from Questacon, which does such a terrific job of raising community awareness of science and technology.
It’s great to have them here, and it’s also great to have our special guests from Burgmann Anglican School and Gundaroo Primary
School.
They are the researchers of tomorrow.
Featured researchers
It’s time now to hand over to a pair of today’s researchers, who will take us through how they’ll be using their Australian Research
Council grants.
First, Professor Rob Capon will tell us about his work on drugs that fight parasitic worms.
Professor Capon is a Group Leader and founding Director of the Centre for Molecular Biodiversity at the University of Queensland’s Institute for Molecular Bioscience.
Second, Dr Mari Velonaki will talk to us about humans, robots and contemporary art.
Dr Velonaki is a researcher and artist based at the University of Sydney who specialises in interactive media.
You can also see her work on display at the expo.
Please join me in welcoming Professor Capon to the stage.