Griffith University has received more than $2.6 million in funding for six Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Researcher Awards (DECRA) announced by the Federal Minister for Education and Youth Alan Tudge this week.
Vice Chancellor and President Professor Carolyn Evans said the awards demonstrated the impact of Griffith’s research in providing research solutions which expanded human knowledge and understanding.
“Those awarded DECRAs represent the future of Australian research. Their diverse projects will produce high-impact research for the betterment of Australia and the world,’’ Professor Evans said.
Dr Michael Sievers (Australian Rivers Institute, Sciences) awarded $423,582; for the project Redefining success in marine ecosystem restoration. Using automated monitoring via artificial intelligence, this project aims to improve evaluations of marine ecosystem restoration and how animal data can improve future restoration projects.
Dr Jillian Huntley (Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Research, AEL) awarded $468,027 for the project Colour change: Artistic/ritual responses to climate flux in Australasia. Characterising ancient ochre records across Sunda, Wallacea and Sahul, this project aims to understand peoples’ use of art and ritual in the most climatically dynamic region on Earth.
Dr Navid Kashaninejad (QLD Micro- and Nanotechnology Centre, Sciences) awarded $433,000 for the project Engineering micropatterned surfaces for cell mechanics and mechanobiology. This project aims to engineer a highly versatile micropatterned surface that can be used to culture and study cells.
Dr Kaya Barry (Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Research, AEL) awarded $444,548 for the project Momentarily immobile: the futures of backpacking and seasonal farm workers. This project will examine the experiences of backpackers and seasonal migrants who live in communal hostel accommodation while doing farm work in regional Queensland.
Dr Munkhbayar Batmunkh (Centre for Catalysis and Clean Energy) awarded $415,000 for the project titled Engineering semitransparent perovskite solar cells for smart solar windows. This project aims to develop highly efficient and stable semitransparent perovskite solar cells for innovative smart solar windows.
Dr David Saxby (MHIQ Disability and Rehabilitation, Health) awarded $468,582 for the project titled Fusing wearables and advanced computational models for real world analysis. This project expects to, for the first time globally, integrate wearable sensors with neuromusculoskeletal computational models and artificial intelligence, and validate this technology.
