Flipping the mattress: infinite polyurethane recycling by synthetic biology. Australia is covered in billions of tonnes of plastic and yet <10% is recycled today. Polyurethane (PU) is ubiquitous in our everyday lives, from lacquer coatings to elastane clothing to durable foam padding in car seats, cushions and mattresses. Currently, there are few avenues for PU recycling and much ends up in landfill e.g., a single mattress produces 15-20kg of PU foam waste. Luckily, biodegradation of PU can occu ....Flipping the mattress: infinite polyurethane recycling by synthetic biology. Australia is covered in billions of tonnes of plastic and yet <10% is recycled today. Polyurethane (PU) is ubiquitous in our everyday lives, from lacquer coatings to elastane clothing to durable foam padding in car seats, cushions and mattresses. Currently, there are few avenues for PU recycling and much ends up in landfill e.g., a single mattress produces 15-20kg of PU foam waste. Luckily, biodegradation of PU can occur naturally via various microbial means and from insects, like Galleria mellonella larvae. The overall aim of this research project is to understand plastic biodegradation and translate nature’s solutions into flexible and efficient synthetic enzyme technologies that can sustainably recycle commonly used PU foams. Read moreRead less
A novel physical-digital approach for the assessing a large critical asset. This project aims to deliver an artificial intelligence-enabled decision-making tool to maintain and manage the floating covers of vast lagoons that treat raw sewage. The cover harvests the biogas released from the anaerobic digestion of sewage for electric power generation that exceeds the plant’s requirement. The approach involves an innovative thermographic technique and exploits transfer learning to adapt neural netw ....A novel physical-digital approach for the assessing a large critical asset. This project aims to deliver an artificial intelligence-enabled decision-making tool to maintain and manage the floating covers of vast lagoons that treat raw sewage. The cover harvests the biogas released from the anaerobic digestion of sewage for electric power generation that exceeds the plant’s requirement. The approach involves an innovative thermographic technique and exploits transfer learning to adapt neural networks trained on lab-scale and synthetic data to field implementation. The outcome is a machine learning framework to optimise biogas harvesting and renewable energy generation, and to avoid structural failure, that is capable of continuous improvement to take into account improved data and/or modelling capabilities.Read moreRead less
Industrial Transformation Research Hubs - Grant ID: IH200100005
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$5,000,000.00
Summary
ARC Research Hub for Australian Steel Innovation. The Hub’s overarching goal is to support the transition of Australia’s steel manufacturing industry to a more sustainable, competitive and resilient position based on the creation of new, higher value-added products and more advanced manufacturing processes. It anticipates delivering original, innovative research designed to enable a necessary technological shift in the supply chain through integrating advanced enabling technologies in large and ....ARC Research Hub for Australian Steel Innovation. The Hub’s overarching goal is to support the transition of Australia’s steel manufacturing industry to a more sustainable, competitive and resilient position based on the creation of new, higher value-added products and more advanced manufacturing processes. It anticipates delivering original, innovative research designed to enable a necessary technological shift in the supply chain through integrating advanced enabling technologies in large and small businesses, developing step-change performance in anti-corrosion treatments and coating lines, generating more functional and durable products, and increasing resource intensities. It expects to train a more skillful and diverse workforce that will be critical in achieving this transformation.Read moreRead less
Development of Novel Concrete Noise Walls Incorporating Recycled Materials. This project will develop high-performance, lightweight, concrete noise walls and acoustic barriers that use recycled tyre and glass products to improve sound absorption, and address environmental problems associated with the mining of river sands, and stockpiling of waste tyre and glass products. Innovation in noise wall technology consists in developing low-carbon concrete mixes (using less cement) with a maximum amoun ....Development of Novel Concrete Noise Walls Incorporating Recycled Materials. This project will develop high-performance, lightweight, concrete noise walls and acoustic barriers that use recycled tyre and glass products to improve sound absorption, and address environmental problems associated with the mining of river sands, and stockpiling of waste tyre and glass products. Innovation in noise wall technology consists in developing low-carbon concrete mixes (using less cement) with a maximum amount of recycled product, together with reducing wall thickness, while maintaining the necessary engineering properties such as acoustics, strength, and durability. In addition to higher acoustic insulation, the novel low-carbon, lightweight, panels will improve material handling and affordability of noise barriers.Read moreRead less
Industrial Transformation Training Centres - Grant ID: IC190100033
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$3,852,568.00
Summary
ARC Training Centre for Transformation of Australia's Biosolids Resource. This Centre aims to bring together Australia’s leading biosolids researchers and key industry and government stakeholders to advance the management, transformation and reuse of biosolids in agriculture. The focus is: 1) capability and knowledge building, 2) research development, extension and training, 3) sustainable strategic partnerships. The expected outcomes of the Centre are to develop a group of new, highly-trained i ....ARC Training Centre for Transformation of Australia's Biosolids Resource. This Centre aims to bring together Australia’s leading biosolids researchers and key industry and government stakeholders to advance the management, transformation and reuse of biosolids in agriculture. The focus is: 1) capability and knowledge building, 2) research development, extension and training, 3) sustainable strategic partnerships. The expected outcomes of the Centre are to develop a group of new, highly-trained industry-ready researchers as well as advanced solutions in three major themes: improved technologies, enhanced products and sustainability. This will provide significant benefits in the economic value of new applications and market opportunities as well as deliver cost-savings – all in an environmentally friendly manner.Read moreRead less
Integrated Kids Hubs - Ensuring Equity of Access for Children. The Integrated Kids Hubs - Ensuring Equity of Access for Children project aims to determine if integrated Hubs are effective in increasing access to child and family services for disadvantaged urban and regional families with children aged 3 years and under, thus improving early identification of developmental vulnerability, parental wellbeing and capacity, and addressing unmet psychosocial needs. If these issues are not identified a ....Integrated Kids Hubs - Ensuring Equity of Access for Children. The Integrated Kids Hubs - Ensuring Equity of Access for Children project aims to determine if integrated Hubs are effective in increasing access to child and family services for disadvantaged urban and regional families with children aged 3 years and under, thus improving early identification of developmental vulnerability, parental wellbeing and capacity, and addressing unmet psychosocial needs. If these issues are not identified and addressed early, these children will go on to struggle in school and life. We will use a pragmatic trial design (meaning the research is embedded in our usual practice), determine the social return on investment, and establish what is needed to scale up the Hubs across NSW and Australia.Read moreRead less
Disaster risk reduction practices that leave nobody behind. This project aims to answer critical questions about how to assist people with disabilities (PWD) in disasters, what their support needs are and how they might help themselves to better prepare for disasters. Significance includes coupling a person-centred emergency preparedness tool with cross-sectoral processes to collect and use data about the support needs of PWD in emergencies, increase cross-sector communication and collaboration ....Disaster risk reduction practices that leave nobody behind. This project aims to answer critical questions about how to assist people with disabilities (PWD) in disasters, what their support needs are and how they might help themselves to better prepare for disasters. Significance includes coupling a person-centred emergency preparedness tool with cross-sectoral processes to collect and use data about the support needs of PWD in emergencies, increase cross-sector communication and collaboration between emergency managers and community services, and improve equitable access for PWD to community-level disaster risk reduction (DRR). The expected outcome will be the co-design of effective mechanisms that state & federal decision makers can use to scale-up disability-inclusive DRR across Australia.Read moreRead less
DIsrupting Child Exploitation - the DICE project. Child sexual exploitation is an insidious social problem which impacts the most vulnerable children and young people in Australia. The DICE project (Disrupting Child Sexual Exploitation) aims to develop a multi-agency response which pivots the focus of intervention to the sexual exploitation predators who target vulnerable young people in statutory care. Previous interventions have prioritised protecting (and controlling) the young people, with l ....DIsrupting Child Exploitation - the DICE project. Child sexual exploitation is an insidious social problem which impacts the most vulnerable children and young people in Australia. The DICE project (Disrupting Child Sexual Exploitation) aims to develop a multi-agency response which pivots the focus of intervention to the sexual exploitation predators who target vulnerable young people in statutory care. Previous interventions have prioritised protecting (and controlling) the young people, with limited success. Through a trauma informed approach which supports young people, combined with disruptive police strategies targeting perpetrators, and co-ordinated multiagency working, it is anticipated that there will be measurable changes to the protection of vulnerable young people. Read moreRead less
Quantifying Ethics-related Metrics for Transport Network Systems. This project aims to identify ethics-related metrics for improving the design of transport network services, and augment the social benefits of transport systems to relevant user groups. This project is anticipated to conceive, implement and validate new methodologies to solve challenging optimisation problems aiming at promoting ethics in transport systems via the provision of incentives to transport services providers. The outco ....Quantifying Ethics-related Metrics for Transport Network Systems. This project aims to identify ethics-related metrics for improving the design of transport network services, and augment the social benefits of transport systems to relevant user groups. This project is anticipated to conceive, implement and validate new methodologies to solve challenging optimisation problems aiming at promoting ethics in transport systems via the provision of incentives to transport services providers. The outcomes of this project are expected to support the emergence of ethical transport systems and to address fundamental societal and economical challenges induced by utility-driven transport services. This project will help in positioning Australia as a global leader in the field of ethical transport network systems.Read moreRead less
Linking for Life: Enhancing pathways to well-being for all Australians. The Linking for Life Project will identify pathways to wellbeing and better social outcomes across the life-course for high-risk/vulnerable individuals and their families to streamline service provision, improve outcomes and identify cost-efficiencies across government agencies. The work will expand cross-sectoral data linkage capability, enhancing research capacity to generate evidence-based policy to improve integrated ser ....Linking for Life: Enhancing pathways to well-being for all Australians. The Linking for Life Project will identify pathways to wellbeing and better social outcomes across the life-course for high-risk/vulnerable individuals and their families to streamline service provision, improve outcomes and identify cost-efficiencies across government agencies. The work will expand cross-sectoral data linkage capability, enhancing research capacity to generate evidence-based policy to improve integrated service delivery across government. The project will also trial innovative data linkage models including the creation of data repositories to improve efficiency for data provision and access, which will have application nationally and enable more timely access to whole-population linked cross-sector data.Read moreRead less