Research strengths
La Trobe's research strategy encourages innovation, specialisation and collaboration.
Our Strategic Plan, Future Ready, identifies five interdisciplinary areas of research strength and an additional 20 areas of disciplinary research strength will also be defined. The five Research Focus Areas are:
- Securing food, water and the environment
- Sport, exercise and rehabilitation
- Understanding disease
- Building healthy communities
- Population movement and human security.
More details on these Research Focus Areas (RFAs) and Disciplinary Research Programs (DRPs) will be provided shortly.
Our existing areas of research strength are listed below.
These areas have been identified on the basis of outstanding performance of La Trobe staff against a number of criteria such as: academic publications, success in the receipt of competitive grant funding, national and international research collaborations, prizes, conference participation, public commentary and intellectual leadership.
In the 2012 Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) assessment of research strengths across the sector, La Trobe University was rated at or above world standard in 38 specific disciplines.
Agribioscience and the Environment
In the areas of Agribioscience and the Environment La Trobe is well above world standard in Veterinary Sciences. We are above world standard in Zoology, Plant Biology, Soil Sciences and Physiology. The University is at world standard in Ecology, Genetics, Crop and Pasture Production.
Affiliated centres include AgriBio, the Centre for AgriBioscience, Plant Biosecurity CRC, Bushfire Cooperative Research Centre, Centre for Sustainable Regional Communities, Murray Darling Freshwater Research Centre and the Centre for Water Policy and Management.
Health and Society
In the areas of Health and Society, La Trobe is well above world standard in Human Movement and Sports Science, Nursing and Other Medical and Health Sciences, and at world standard in Social Work.
Faculty research centres and programs include the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society, Mother and Child Health Research, Australian Institute for Primary Care and Ageing, Physical activity and Rehabilitation, Living with Disability and Musculoskeletal and Gait Research. Affiliated centres include the National Stroke Research Institute and the Cooperative Research Centre for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health.
Human Behaviour and Thought
This research strength includes research in mathematics, neuroscience, mind, logic and language, environmental ethics and policy and European philosophy. The University is above world standard in Philosophy and at world standard in Neurosciences,Artifical Intelligence and Image Processing and Information Systems.
Affiliated organisational areas include the ARC Centre of Excellence for Mathematics and Statistics of Complex Systems, Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute, ARC Centre of Excellence in Bioinformatics and the Olga Tennison Autism Research Centre.
Human Communication
La Trobe is above world standard in Linguistics and is at world standard Performing Arts and Creative Writing, Cultural Studies, Literary Studies, Journalism and Professional Writing and Specialist Studies in Education.
Affiliated organisational areas include the Centre for Research on Language Diversity (formerly RCLT), Research Centre for Contemporary Greek Studies, Centre for Creative Arts and the Trendall Research Centre for Ancient Mediterranean Studies.
Human Society and Organisation
This research strength includes research on the way society is organised and functions from a variety of areas including politics, sociology, business, the economy and law. Tourism research is rated at world standard as are the disciplines of Accounting, Auditing and Accountability, Law, Political Science Applied Economics, Banking, Finance and Investment, Business Management, Transportation and Freight Services, and Sociology.
Affiliated organisational areas include the Institute for Human Security, Centre for Dialogue, Centre for Sport and Social Impact and the Research Centre for Computers, Communication and Social Innovation.
Molecular Science
This research strength includes a variety of research that involves the study of molecules, their functions and ways to image them and encompasses parts of traditional disciplines of microbiology, biochemistry and physics.
The University is well above world standard in Microbiology, Biochemistry and Cell Biology and Analytical Chemistry, and above world standard in Condensed Matter Physics.
This strength encompasses La Trobe Institute for Molecular Science (LIMS), the Centre of Excellence in Coherent X-Ray Science and the CRC for Biomarker Translation.
Studies of the Past
This research strength includes a wide variety of research broadly in the disciplines of history and archaeology. In both Archaeology and Historical Studies the University is ranked as well above world standard.
