Nature's mechanisms for leaching and remobilising metals. This project aims to understand the chemical and physical processes that govern reactive transport and metal scavenging in rocky environments. Much of Australia's mineral wealth is the result of the interaction of warm fluids with rocks deep in the Earth over geological timescales. The formation of ore deposits is governed by the physical chemistry of mineral dissolution and crystallisation, and by fluid flow through porous rocks and frac ....Nature's mechanisms for leaching and remobilising metals. This project aims to understand the chemical and physical processes that govern reactive transport and metal scavenging in rocky environments. Much of Australia's mineral wealth is the result of the interaction of warm fluids with rocks deep in the Earth over geological timescales. The formation of ore deposits is governed by the physical chemistry of mineral dissolution and crystallisation, and by fluid flow through porous rocks and fractures. This project integrates innovation in geology, chemistry, and mineral engineering, and will deliver mineral-scale reaction models that will increase efficiency of in-situ mining and leaching technologies. Knowledge generated can be applied to improve mineral exploration, mining, and processing, contributing to unlocking billions of dollars’ worth of resources tied up in low grade, mineralogically complex ores.Read moreRead less
Unravelling soil carbon response to warming in fire-affected ecosystems. This project aims to reveal the continental pattern of soil carbon (C) response to warming in fire-affected ecosystems across Australia and to unravel the biogeochemical mechanisms underlying fire’s role in shaping the temperature sensitivity of soil respiration. Fire has modified over 40% of the Earth’s land surface and wildfire frequency is predicted to increase under global warming. This project expects to generate new k ....Unravelling soil carbon response to warming in fire-affected ecosystems. This project aims to reveal the continental pattern of soil carbon (C) response to warming in fire-affected ecosystems across Australia and to unravel the biogeochemical mechanisms underlying fire’s role in shaping the temperature sensitivity of soil respiration. Fire has modified over 40% of the Earth’s land surface and wildfire frequency is predicted to increase under global warming. This project expects to generate new knowledge on how fire influences soil-to-atmosphere C fluxes in a warmer climate using a multi-disciplinary approach. Expected outcomes include an enhanced capacity to predict the terrestrial ecosystem-to-atmosphere C fluxes and their feedbacks to climate under increasing frequency of fire using Earth-system models. Read moreRead less
Formation and stabilisation of coastal blue carbon. Blue carbon is organic carbon stored within coastal vegetated ecosystems. This project will examine the composition, formation and dynamics of blue carbon in a range of coastal ecosystems. Combining advanced analytical chemistry with environmental microbiology, we will discover how blue carbon is stabilised and destabilised, a critical factor in nature-based climate change mitigation strategies. Further, we will gain a quantitative understandin ....Formation and stabilisation of coastal blue carbon. Blue carbon is organic carbon stored within coastal vegetated ecosystems. This project will examine the composition, formation and dynamics of blue carbon in a range of coastal ecosystems. Combining advanced analytical chemistry with environmental microbiology, we will discover how blue carbon is stabilised and destabilised, a critical factor in nature-based climate change mitigation strategies. Further, we will gain a quantitative understanding of blue carbon contributions to carbon cycling, providing enhanced modeling and prediction of climate-cycle feedbacks in response to biotic and environmental change. This research will significantly benefit Australia’s effective management of coastal vegetated ecosystems for maximum carbon offsets.Read moreRead less
Omniscient face recognition for uncooperative subjects. The outcomes of this project will enable effective video surveillance technology to be developed for use by law enforcement and national security agencies. It will lead to reliable identification of humans at a distance by automatically detecting and recognising faces, for use in counter-terrorism surveillance and commercial robot-human interfaces.
Quantum-Inspired Machine Learning. This project aims to develop new machine learning techniques based around the close correspondence between
neural networks used in deep learning, and tensor networks used in quantum physics. Tensor networks are a form of information compression that is useful in machine learning to construct a compact representation of a large data set in a way that is more amenable to understanding the internal structure than a deep neural network. Expected outcomes of this pr ....Quantum-Inspired Machine Learning. This project aims to develop new machine learning techniques based around the close correspondence between
neural networks used in deep learning, and tensor networks used in quantum physics. Tensor networks are a form of information compression that is useful in machine learning to construct a compact representation of a large data set in a way that is more amenable to understanding the internal structure than a deep neural network. Expected outcomes of this project include more resilient algorithms for machine learning, and new ways to represent quantum states that will impact fundamental physics. The resulting benefits include enhanced capacity for cross-discipline collaboration, and improved methods for future industrial applications.
Read moreRead less
Intelligent Image Retrieval from Distorted and Partial Queries for Rapid Mobile Identification of Pests Threatening Food and the Environment. Pests and diseases are major threats to the Australian food industry and environmental biosecurity. A rapid and mobile pest information retrieval system is critical to prevent a pest becoming established and devastating the region. However, automated insect image retrieval remains an unsolved challenge in the research community. This project addresses the ....Intelligent Image Retrieval from Distorted and Partial Queries for Rapid Mobile Identification of Pests Threatening Food and the Environment. Pests and diseases are major threats to the Australian food industry and environmental biosecurity. A rapid and mobile pest information retrieval system is critical to prevent a pest becoming established and devastating the region. However, automated insect image retrieval remains an unsolved challenge in the research community. This project addresses the fundamental problem of distorted and partial image query in cluttered background in order to achieve pest identification at a much earlier on-site stage. The success of this research will not only make a technical breakthrough towards retrieving objects with movable body parts, but also revolutionise the current pest detection and monitoring process.Read moreRead less
A novel approach for controlling insect vectors of human disease. Insects are responsible for transmitting a wide variety of debilitating human diseases such as malaria, dengue and yellow fever. Unfortunately, there are very few options available for controlling these insect pests. This project will develop a novel, eco-friendly approach for control of mosquitoes and other important disease vectors.