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
Linking soil acidification with carbon dynamics in Australian agroecosystems. The ability to mitigate climate change by sequestering soil carbon may be limited in acidic soils, which are prevalent in Australia. The project will investigate the link between carbon cycling, soil acidification and liming, and provide important knowledge to identify agricultural practices which have the capacity to build soil carbon.
The key to making root nodules - new tricks for old hormones. This project aims to use and develop new chemical and microscopy-based tools to test whether the cell-type specific plant hormone changes induced by rhizobia in legumes can be triggered in non-legumes. Most crop plants rely on fossil fuel-derived nitrogen fertilisers, while legumes benefit from biologically-fixed nitrogen through a symbiosis with rhizobia bacteria that initiate nodules. It is not understood why non-legumes cannot form ....The key to making root nodules - new tricks for old hormones. This project aims to use and develop new chemical and microscopy-based tools to test whether the cell-type specific plant hormone changes induced by rhizobia in legumes can be triggered in non-legumes. Most crop plants rely on fossil fuel-derived nitrogen fertilisers, while legumes benefit from biologically-fixed nitrogen through a symbiosis with rhizobia bacteria that initiate nodules. It is not understood why non-legumes cannot form this symbiosis. This project aims to apply detailed knowledge of nodulation in model legumes to a phylogenetically diverse range of nodulating and non-nodulating plant species. This is expected to give new insight into the evolution of nodulation and advance the long held goal of extending nodulation to non-legumes.Read moreRead less
Using data mining methods to remove uncertainties in sensor data streams. This project will develop key techniques for removing uncertainties in sensor data streams and thus improve the monitoring quality of sensor networks. The expected outcomes will benefit Australia by enabling improved, lower-cost monitoring of natural resources and management of stock raising.
Development of Advanced Detection Systems for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry. This project aims to expand significantly the range of isotopes available for accelerator mass spectrometry at the Australian National University to include the ability to detect manganese-53, nickel-59 and uranium-236 to ultra-sensitive concentrations. To achieve this, my extensive experience in fundamental nuclear physics will be exploited to develop a gas-filled magnet for the detection of mangnese-53 and nickel-59, ....Development of Advanced Detection Systems for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry. This project aims to expand significantly the range of isotopes available for accelerator mass spectrometry at the Australian National University to include the ability to detect manganese-53, nickel-59 and uranium-236 to ultra-sensitive concentrations. To achieve this, my extensive experience in fundamental nuclear physics will be exploited to develop a gas-filled magnet for the detection of mangnese-53 and nickel-59, and a time-of-flight detector to detect uranium-236. This project has applications in the topical areas of climate change and nuclear safeguards, as well as applications in the earth sciences and the management of nuclear waste.Read moreRead less
Reactive flow through porous media by micro-imaging. Australia is embarking on the development of major gas fields offshore Western Australia. These developments are very costly and techniques to manage the risk in development are well sought after. This project assists in risk management of tertiary recovery methods and CO2 storage. Further, it can contribute significantly to the accurate forward modelling of storage of hazardous materials and pollution remediation strategies. The project could ....Reactive flow through porous media by micro-imaging. Australia is embarking on the development of major gas fields offshore Western Australia. These developments are very costly and techniques to manage the risk in development are well sought after. This project assists in risk management of tertiary recovery methods and CO2 storage. Further, it can contribute significantly to the accurate forward modelling of storage of hazardous materials and pollution remediation strategies. The project could shape important decisions in the future and impact on environmental risk assessment.Read moreRead less
Finding and exploiting interesting paths in multidimensional information spaces. This project will invent a new approach for searching within a large complex information space, finding interesting paths between points within the space, visualising the results, and supporting rich, human-centric user interaction with queries and results. This project will embody these techniques in a novel, internet-scale framework to support rapid development of large path search and visualisation applications. ....Finding and exploiting interesting paths in multidimensional information spaces. This project will invent a new approach for searching within a large complex information space, finding interesting paths between points within the space, visualising the results, and supporting rich, human-centric user interaction with queries and results. This project will embody these techniques in a novel, internet-scale framework to support rapid development of large path search and visualisation applications. Evaluation will be via development of several exemplar applications. The techniques and framework will be applicable to a broad range of economically important problems in areas as diverse as health, travel, scientific publication search, product marketing and software engineering.Read moreRead less
Advancing Genocide Forecasting: New Definition, Methods, and Forecasts. The project intends to develop a new method of forecasting to improve the international community’s and Australia's ability to anticipate and prevent genocide. The project is designed to build on work in the Atrocity Forecasting Project since 2009, and to bring together political science and computer science. To address well-known problems the project plans to reconceptualise genocide as extreme targeted mass killing, increa ....Advancing Genocide Forecasting: New Definition, Methods, and Forecasts. The project intends to develop a new method of forecasting to improve the international community’s and Australia's ability to anticipate and prevent genocide. The project is designed to build on work in the Atrocity Forecasting Project since 2009, and to bring together political science and computer science. To address well-known problems the project plans to reconceptualise genocide as extreme targeted mass killing, increasing definitional clarity and data reliability. Combining a better concept with cutting-edge computer science forecasting approaches, the project aims to produce new annual forecasts, pushing accuracy further. Expected project outcomes will provide new understanding and a better tool for genocide prevention.Read moreRead less
Dynamic tomography: high-resolution, four-dimensional imaging of processes. This project will develop imaging technology that allows us to collect detailed, three dimensional movies of complex, microscopic processes in a laboratory. This technology will have applications in soil science, biology, oil extraction, and carbon sequestration.
Prognosis based network-type feature extraction for complex biological data. This project aims to develop statistical tools that integrate high-throughput molecular data with biological knowledge to make discoveries in complex diseases. This project uses machine learning methods, statistical models and proteomic platforms to identify relationships among clinico-pathologic and molecular measurements. It will produce tools and insights that are intended to accelerate the process of biologically an ....Prognosis based network-type feature extraction for complex biological data. This project aims to develop statistical tools that integrate high-throughput molecular data with biological knowledge to make discoveries in complex diseases. This project uses machine learning methods, statistical models and proteomic platforms to identify relationships among clinico-pathologic and molecular measurements. It will produce tools and insights that are intended to accelerate the process of biologically and clinically significant discoveries in biomedical research. This project will help Australian researchers in statistics and users of statistics (from fields as diverse as biology, ecology, medicine, finance, agriculture and the social sciences) to make better predictions that are easier to understand.Read moreRead less