Bulletin

Issue: November/December 2006

News

La Trobe gains $16m for new research

La Trobe University has received $16 million in the latest round of Australian Research Council and National Health and Medical Research Council grants Vice-Chancellor, Professor Brian Stoddart said the University’s results in both of the highly competitive grants schemes were a considerable achievement and an improvement on last year.

Professor Weigold

With a success rate well above national average, La Trobe won 12 grants worth more than $8 million from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) for studies into a range of diseases including cancer, malaria and Alzheimer’s, as well as drug design, maternal health and improved public health services.

Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research) Professor Erich Weigold said La Trobe’s success rate for NHMRC project approval was 31 per cent - ten percent higher than the national average - the highest of any university in the country.

“This is a great credit to our biomedical and health scientists by any standard, and especially so considering the University does not have a medical faculty.”

“If you compare the result in terms of average dollars per grant, La Trobe is up there with the top Victorian medical universities.”

The University also received $8m from the Australian Research Council (ARC) for new research - almost $6.6 million for 18 major research projects and an additional $1.5 million for special research infrastructure and equipment. Professor Weigold said this was extremely encouraging. “Our performance in Discovery and Linkage Grants ranks us second among the Innovative Research Universities of Australia.”

La Trobe was awarded 13 Discovery Grants for projects totalling more than $3.5million. These involve fundamental research important for national innovation.

It also gained almost $1million for four Linkage Grants - with an additional $2.1 million contribution from industry partnerships. In the Linkage Grants, designed to secure commercial and community benefits, La Trobe University had a success rate of 57 per cent - compared with the national average of 42.9 per cent.

“We were also one of only 12 universities to receive a special Development grant for Indigenous researchers - and one of 11 to be awarded an International Linkage Grant,” Professor Weigold said.

Adolescent mental health and malaria La Trobe research teams will tackle a wide range of issues with new funding from the Australian Research Council.

These include studies in adolescent mental health and supportive classroom environments, investigating organisational supports as mediators to reduce aggressive classroom management in partnership with VicHealth and a number of local secondary schools.

The environmental impact on neuroendocrine and neurobiological mechanisms for treatment strategies for maintaining good health will be examined under a large five year project with Jim’s Group and the Bionic Ear Institute.

Researchers will help protect the environment by studying mountain pygmy possums and an important Indigenous icon, the Bogong Moth, and carry out world-leading studies into waste water treatment. Another project, highlighted by the government in its announcement of the grants, will assess the ABC’s role in how Australia is perceived in Asia at this critical time.

Others will assist in malarial vaccine development, DNAanticancer drug interaction and biomarker discovery as part of national biotechnology and medical research priorities, research which has also been supported by the NHMRC.

La Trobe staff have also received three out of eight grants awarded for linguistics research across the whole Discovery Projects area. And in archaeology, a substantial grant - which includes one of two postdoctoral fellowships awarded to the University - will be used to study the origins of Asian domestic buffalo and its role in the development of agricultural technology.

Announcing the grants, the Minister for Education, Science and Training, Ms Julie Bishop, said they were awarded to projects that, in the medium- to longterm, are likely to produce results that will have a significant impact on the daily lives of all Australians.

“The growing demand and increased competition for ARC funding is a healthy sign of a strong commitment from Australian researchers to contribute to our innovation capacity. It means that those projects that are funded, along with the associated researchers, are truly outstanding.”