Twenty-eight engineering research projects at Monash University have received grants via the latest round of Australian Research Council (ARC) funding.
An unprecedented 20 discovery projects, as well as for four linkage Infrastructure, equipment and facilities projects, three discovery early career research awards and one linkage project are to be funded by the grants.
“The ARC has a highly competitive peer-reviewed application process,” said Chris Hutchinson, Monash’s associate dean of research in the Faculty of Engineering.
“These fantastic outcomes are a testament to the high calibre and commitment of our researchers and their teams.”
The grants will boost innovative research in chemical, civil, electrical and computer systems, materials, mechanical and aerospace engineering – advancing everything from biodegradable stents and ultra-lightweight corrosion-resistant metal products to landfill liners and smart windows for green construction to micro-air vehicles and soil moisture satellite missions.
Among the funded projects are the following:
- Exploration of semiconducting polymer chains and charge transport in thin-film devices to improve high-performance polymer transistors, laying the groundwork for new technologies based on lightweight flexible electronic devices (Assoc Prof Christopher McNeill, Assoc Prof David Huang, Prof Martin Heeney and Prof Michael Sommer).
- Developing new membranes as separators in lithium-sulphur batteries to produce lighter, longer-lasting and cheaper batteries than the existing lithium-ion ones, with the potential to boost the adoption of electric cars (Assoc Prof Matthew Hill, Prof Mainak Majumder, Dr Mahdokht Shaibani and Prof Stephen Kaskel).
- Interdisciplinary study of sperm motion at surfaces, providing insight into flagellar motility in eukaryotes and the biophysics of mammalian reproduction (Dr Reza Nosrati, Dr Prabhakar Ranganathan and Prof David Sinton).