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ARC promotes collaborative research for Australia's future
The Australian Research Council (ARC) funds thousands of highly innovative projects involving inspired national and international research collaborations likely to benefit Australia's economic, social and cultural future.
For example, in 2003 the ARC committed $105.6 million to 586 joint research projects. Partner organisations contributed an additional $158 million. This research is just beginning, but the results of many other ARC-funded collaborations already have an impact on our lives daily.
Better beer
As one of Australia's national beverages, consumers of beer expect high-quality varieties of their favourite drink, while breweries are keen to deliver - efficiently - on that expectation.
Carlton and United Breweries and Professor Ian Dawes from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) investigated brewing wort to find out why it contained residual substances that rendered the affected extract unusable. The results are helping Carlton and United to more successfully manage fermentations and thereby improve their product.
Carlton and United reported that the company now believed that collaborative research was critical to organisations striving to compete in the global marketplace.
"These projects provide access to technical excellence of the inch wide mile deep variety and that, to our way of thinking, is where the future lies," a spokesperson said.
Heart transplant alternative
University of Technology Sydney (UTS) and UNSW researchers have developed a rotary blood pump which may provide a long-term alternative to heart transplantation. Known as the VentrAssist™, the pump is designed to take over the pumping function of a failing heart.
Traditional pumps have a lifespan of about two years and their use may result in patient problems such as infection, blood damage and clotting. The VentrAssist™ has no seals, shafts or bearings which, in traditional pumps, sometimes cause serious side effects for patients and it should last for five years. It is also significantly cheaper to produce than other pumps.
Micrometrical Industries and UTS have developed a prototype of the rotary pump which is being trialled.
Sustainable land management
Professor Mark Adams and the Ecosystems Research Group from the University of Western Australia, in collaboration with the CSIRO and Hamersley Iron, have investigated the effects of landscape disturbance, grazing and burning on vegetation in the Pilbara Rangelands.
The results have provided industry with an informed basis on which to assess the effects of land management on ecological processes and develop sustainable practices.
Energy-efficient trains
The University of South Australia's Professor Phil Howlett, in collaboration with railway industry consultant TMG International, has developed software to calculate energy-efficient driving strategies for long-haul train journeys.
Most of Australia's long-haul rail network is single-line track with occasional crossing loops. Train movements are planned to allow opposing trains to cross at these loops, but in the past a lot of time has been wasted as trains waited for other trains to clear track sections. The new software is able to explore various options to minimise the waiting time and thereby develop more efficient timetables.
Praising the collaborative experience, a TMG spokesperson said, "It has made an important contribution to both TMG's research understanding as well as its rail business software."
