Section Navigation
General Information
Breadcrumb Navigation
Tomorrow's Nobel Laureates
Fellowships from the Australian Research Council foster innovation and provide a bright future for our country's leading scientists.
By Kathy Graham
The ARC is nurturing scientific talent within Australia.
The Australian Research Council (ARC) is committed to attracting and retaining excellent researchers through its competitive grants program. Its recommendations and initiatives create an environment that encourages innovation and drives groundbreaking research within the country, thus reversing the "brain drain" of Australian scientists heading to overseas research facilities.
The ARC is an independent body that advises the Government on investment for national research. Through the Federal Government's innovation action plan for the future - Backing Australia's Ability - up to 25 Federation Fellowships, worth $A230,000 a year for five years, are offered by the ARC.
Federation Fellowship recipient Professor Mark Von Itzstein, from the Institute for Glycomics at Griffith University, was one of the leading scientists involved in the development of the anti-influenza drug Relenza. His fellowship has allowed him to continue his work in the area of carbohydrate science.
Von Itzstein says the funding has enabled him to intensify his search for new glycotherapeutic drugs to treat certain types of cancer.
"The potential of carbohydrates has only recently been realised," he says. "Just as bacteria and viruses use carbohydrates in their life cycle, many cancers use carbohydrates in the events that spread the disease throughout the body. If we can better understand how this happens, we can start to target those processes."
According to ARC chief executive officer Professor
Vicki Sara, grants and funding are vital for
continued innovation within Australia.
"Competitive funding provides support for the
highest
quality research," she says. "This leads
to the discovery of new ideas and the advancement of
knowledge, training and skills for the development of
our next generation of researchers -
tomorrow's innovators and potential Nobel
laureates."
Professor Marcela Bilek from the University of Sydney's School of Physics was one of four women who received a Federation Fellowship in 2003. She says that the fellowships encourage younger women who might be contemplating a career in science.
"A perception still exists that careers in science aren't feasible for women," she says. "I think that our visibility to younger women has a significant impact."
Basic research contributes to innovation in a fundamental and long-term way. There is a direct link between research and economic growth, jobs and the social and cultural benefits that research brings to our society. Bilek says: "Funding research that makes an impact in these areas is vital. This also applies to those projects that are a platform for Australia's sustained competitiveness in the global knowledge economy."
Von Itzstein agrees: "The people who are driving new technologies need to be free to do so in order to expedite the outcomes for the nation."
Diverse research
The ARC funds a wide range of research topics through its Federation Fellowships. Some examples include:
- Quantum and atom optics.
- Cellular plasticity in the brain - discovering the mechanisms controlling the production of brain cells during brain development, function, ageing and disease.
- The manipulation of nanoscale assembly to create new therapeutic and electronic products.
- New methods helping the detection, monitoring and attribution of changes in the greenhouse effect.
- How organisms coordinate energy supply and demand.
- Precision pulsar timing and its applications.
- Atomic-scale devices in silicon - the ultimate limit of microelectronics.
- Salinity tolerance and long-distance transport in cereals.
- The physics of self-organisation, from space plasmas to brain dynamics.
- Sustainable reform of the Murray-Darling system - property rights, uncertainty and institutions.
