La Trobe University: La Trobe celebrates ARC funding success

Nine La Trobe researchers have received Discovery Project grants to undertake varying ground-breaking projects in their respective fields.

La Trobe Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Industry Engagement) Professor Susan Dodds said that the grants were a testament the high calibre of research being produced by La Trobe academics.

“It’s fantastic that nine projects led by La Trobe researchers have been recognised and supported by the ARC,” Professor Dodds said.

The Discovery Project grant recipients are:

Associate Professor Katie Wright (Humanities and Social Sciences) – $319,154 over 3 yearsReclaiming Child Rights: Activism, Public Inquiries and Social Change

Developing an historical sociology of activism against institutional child abuse from the 1990s to the present and investigate child rights discourse in Australia and internationally.

Professor Timothy Minchin (Humanities and Social Sciences) – $229,846 over 3 years Motoring On? A New History of the U.S. Car Industry since 1900

Providing a new history of the U.S. car industry between 1900 and 2020. America was the industry’s birthplace, and the car is integral to national identity and history.

Professor Wei Xiang (Computing, Engineering and Mathematical Sciences) – $450,000 over 3 yearsLow-cost Sensing Methods and Hybrid Learning Models

Revolutionising the theory and practice of sensing and monitoring by developing novel Artificial Intelligence and Internet of Things technologies.

Associate Professor Andriy Olenko (Computing, Engineering and Mathematical Sciences) – $422,680 over 3 years

Random fields: non-Gaussian stochastic models and approximation schemes

Addressing important problems in the theory and statistics of stochastic processes and develop new methodology for their applications.

Dr Tatiana Soares da Costa (Agriculture, Biomedicine, and Environment) – $446,368 over 3 years

Re-purposing shelved ‘antibiotics’ in the search for new herbicides

Identifying target-specific herbicidal compounds that inhibit amino acid biosynthesis pathways to tackle herbicide resistance.

Professor Susan Lawrence (Humanities and Social Sciences) – $430,783 over 3 years

Lost Mines: The Troubled Legacies of Former Mining Landscapes

Investigating how historical mining activities in Victoria have left a toxic legacy of heavy metals in soil and water.

Professor Helen Lee (Humanities and Social Sciences) – $500,000 over 4 years

The future of the Pacific: youth leadership and civic engagement

Investigating how youth in the Pacific develop and demonstrate the forms of leadership and civic engagement needed for positive outcomes for their countries.

Associate Professor Mathew Lewsey (Agriculture, Biomedicine, and Environment) – $415,000 over 3 years

How is the plant genome reactivated and controlled during seed germination?

Determining the mechanisms by which plant genomes are regulated during seed germination.

Professor Brian Abbey (Computing, Engineering and Mathematical Sciences) – $274,673 over 3 years

NanoMslide: plasmon-enhanced ptychographic phase microscopy

Combining recent advances in metamaterials and quantitative phase imaging to probe the near-surface refractive index properties of cells and tissues, with a view to provide new insights into the molecular basis for disease.