Feature articles

The changing workforce under COVID-19

10 September 2020

Professor Sharon Parker is a John Curtin Distinguished Professor at Curtin University, whose research focus is the design of jobs and work, and the vital role that this design has in delivering a thriving economy with a healthy, flourishing workforce. Awarded $2.9m through the ARC’s 2016 Kathleen Fitzpatrick Australian Laureate Fellowship, Professor Parker has used this research funding to establish the Centre for Transformative Work Design, conducting high quality, independent and innovative research to understand the role of work design in generating healthy and productive work.

Professor Maria Forsyth. Credit: Donna Squire/Deakin University.

Charging a new future in battery technology

23 June 2020

The rechargeable Lithium-ion (LI) battery has become a ubiquitous technology that underpins our lives, powering our mobile devices and electric cars, as well as providing efficient storage for renewably generated electricity. But there is still a great research effort underway to increase their efficiency and reliability, as the technologies of the future will have even greater thirst for the portable energy power of batteries.

Professor Maria Forsyth, a former ARC Australian Laureate Fellowship recipient at Deakin University is Director of the ARC Industrial Transformation Training Centre in Future Energy Storage Technologies, and is determined that the next breakthrough battery technology will have a manufacturing home here in Australia.

ANZSRC Review and revised Field of Research (FoR) code classification

11 June 2020

Over the past year, the Australian Research Council (ARC), Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) and Stats NZ have undertaken a joint review of the Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC) 2008.

The ARC is pleased to advise that the revised ANZSRC is on track to be published at the end of June on the ABS and Stats NZ websites.

Nominations for 2021 ARC College of Experts now open

11 June 2020

Each year, the ARC calls for nominations from suitably qualified and experienced individuals across all disciplines to join the esteemed ARC College of Experts. College member appointments are highly competitive, with members drawn from higher education, industry and public sector research organisations.

ARC College of Experts members play a key role in the ARC’s peer review processes to ensure that government funding is spent on the highest quality research that will grow knowledge and innovation for the benefit of the Australian community.

Centre for Forest Value Deputy Director Associate Professor Julianne O’Reilly-Wapstra (right) with the two of the Centre for Forest Value's PhD Candidates Michelle Balasso and Sean Krisanski.

Training the next generation of researchers for the forestry industry

4 June 2020

The ARC Industrial Transformation Training Centre for Forest Value has become a launching pad for high-calibre, industry-ready University of Tasmania research higher degree graduates and postdoctoral fellows with broad perspectives of the forest industry.

Established in 2015, with $3.6 million funding from the ARC, and additional funding from industry partners and the University of Tasmania, the Centre is celebrating the final stages of its first intake of students, as they embark on the next step in their careers and continue to contribute to the development of the forest industry both in Australia and internationally.

Caption: Andrew Johnston and Buyung Kosasih, assessing the performance of the Mark I slotted air jet laboratory equipment. Credit: Paul Jones.

Research collaboration improves consistency of thin coatings for BlueScope products

27 May 2020

Researchers at the ARC Research Hub for Australian Steel Manufacturing, based at the University of Wollongong (UOW), are engaging with BlueScope Steel and other partners from Australia’s steel industry to solve complex problems in the manufacturing process for steel.

Including Indigenous stories in the Australian Dictionary of Biography

27 May 2020

Dr Shino Konishi, a Yawuru woman and researcher at The University of Western Australia is leading a project with Dr Malcolm Allbrook and Professor Tom Griffiths—both from the Australian National University—under the Discovery Indigenous scheme to double the number of Indigenous biographies, adding 190 new entries, within the online Australian Dictionary of Biography (ADB) as well as producing a standalone published volume of Indigenous short biographies in the ADB.

Please note: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should be aware that this article contains an image and the names of deceased persons.

Associate Professor Yasmina Sultanbawa with green plum in East Arnhem Land © UQ

Fruits of the Earth

21 April 2020

Australia is home to a diverse array of ‘bush foods’ which have nourished Indigenous people for millennia but, with a few exceptions like the macadamia nut, these native Indigenous foods have not made it into our supermarket trollies.

The Australian Research Council (ARC) Industrial Transformation Training Centre for Uniquely Australian Foods, based at The University of Queensland, aims to transform Australia’s bush foods industry, by bringing a new variety of Australian-grown foods to our tables. The Training Centre is leading the way to change the way Australians—and the world—think about Australia’s cuisine and food products.

New Special Research Initiative for Australian Society, History and Culture

23 March 2020

On 27 February 2020, a new ARC grant opportunity opened—the Special Research Initiative (SRI) for Australian Society, History and Culture.

This SRI supports excellent research into all aspects of Australian society, history and culture from our ancient Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander beginnings to modern-day Australia.

The Australian bush regrowing after a fire. Credit: Dr David Blair.

The public role of research after a bushfire: Dispelling myths and backing the science

19 March 2020

In response to the unprecedented and tragic 2019-20 Australian bushfire season, many researchers have had a significant public role to play in explaining the science behind bushfires, their control and their aftermath. One of these researchers is Professor David Lindenmayer, from The Australian National University’s Fenner School of Environment and Society.

Professor David Lindenmayer is one of Australia’s leading ecologists—an expert in landscape ecology, conservation and biodiversity—who has had significant ARC funding support including an Australian Laureate Fellowship in 2012 and as a Chief Investigator at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions from 2012-2018. He is currently leading two Linkage Projects grants examining woodland biota and the effects of animals on bushfire risk, building on 37 years of empirical longitudinal research on bushfires in south-eastern Australia.