Examples of Linkage Projects commencing in 2015
New South Wales
New South Wales (NSW) universities will receive more than $24 million through the Australian
Research Council Linkage Projects scheme for 71 new research projects commencing in
2015.
Some examples of the NSW projects are provided below.
To view the summaries of all successful projects, visit the ARC website.
University of Wollongong
Lead Chief Investigator: Professor Weihua Li (LP150100040)
Summary: This project aims to improve forklift design to reduce the vibration experienced by
forklift drivers. Research consistently links forklift driving with a high incidence of back pain
and musculoskeletal injuries through exposure to hand, arm and whole-body vibrations that
are caused by the rigid passive suspension in traditional forklifts, which cannot properly
absorb vibration stemming from deviations in driving surfaces, changes in mass, or common
loading, lifting and unloading actions. The project aims to draw on the research team’s
expertise in magnetorheological technology to develop and evaluate a new tuneable
integrated semi-active wheel and chassis and seat suspension system that can vary damping
and stiffness to control mass uncertainty and vibration.
Partner Organisations: China EP Equipment Co. Ltd; M&S Engineering Pty Limited/M & S
Engineering Australia Pty Ltd
ARC funding: $270 000 over three years
University of Technology, Sydney
Lead Chief Investigator: Professor Dikai Liu (LP150100935)
Summary: This project aims to build a theoretical and experimental foundation for developing
robots for underwater structure maintenance in near surface and tidal environments where
water current and wave action can be strong. A novel intelligent robotic system with multiple
arms is planned to be developed. The project will address research challenges associated
with perception, mapping, planning and control, and develop methodologies that enable the
realisation of such robotic systems. The intended outcomes will contribute to marine robotics
research and its industrial applications, and will improve productivity and occupational health
and safety by replacing the humans needed to work in such hazardous environments.
Partner Organisation: Roads and Maritime Services/RMS
ARC funding: $435 000 over three years
The University of New South Wales
Lead Chief Investigator: Professor Richard Kingsford (LP150100093)
Summary: This project aims to assess the status of the iconic platypus, identified as
‘near-threatened’ in 2014. The project’s multidisciplinary approach plans to compare regulated
and unregulated rivers to investigate metapopulation structure (via physical and genetic
tagging), current condition and future adaptability of the species, as well as other threats and
habitat quality. The project also links vulnerability of platypus populations to conservation
actions that reduce extinction risk, through rigorous decision analyses. It is anticipated that the
project will deliver implementable conservation actions at relevant scales.
Partner Organisations: Zoological Parks Board of NSW/Taronga Conservation Society
Australia; Office of Environment and Heritage/National Parks & Wildlife Service; Department
of Environment and Heritage Protection/Department of Environment and Resource
Management; Forest Practices Authority; Department of the Environment/Department of the
Environment & Heritage; Arthur Rylah Institute; Cesar Pty. Ltd.; Department of the
Environment and Water Resources
ARC funding: $444 141 over three years
The University of Sydney
Lead Chief Investigator: Professor Alexander McBratney (LP150100566)
Summary: This project seeks to cost-efficiently identify the contaminated areas of a soil site
which will require remediation. There are many thousands of sites contaminated with metals
and/or organics across urban and rural Australia and some tens of millions across the world.
These sites pose a serious potential threat to human health. Detection (and remediation) of
such sites is expensive. The project aims to deliver a cheaper method of detection through a
novel combination of infra-red and X-ray spectroscopies combined with data-fused soil
inference and optimised directed sampling and mapping. This is intended to reduce the
economic barrier to detection and remediation, considerably hastening the removal of this
health risk. Resulting novel technology could be transferred and commercialised
internationally.
Partner Organisation: Environmental Earth Sciences International Pty Ltd.
ARC funding: $226 094 over three years
Southern Cross University
Lead Chief Investigator: Professor Bradley Eyre (LP150100519)
Summary: The aim of this project is to understand and quantify the factors controlling the
emission of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide from estuaries. Coastal systems play a
disproportionately large role in the global emissions of greenhouse gases, but this is poorly
quantified. The project plans to use a combination of continuous concentration and stable
isotope measurements, process measurements and advanced numerical modelling across a
range of undisturbed to disturbed systems. It is intended that this project will provide
information for conceptualising, calibrating and verifying models, including green-house gas
production. Good models, and the data that support them, such as that provided by this study,
are critical for the efficient allocation of management resources in Australian coastal systems,
including by our partners. The findings from this project will have direct implications to the
management, rehabilitation and protection of waterways (including biodiversity) in Australia.
Partner Organisation: Healthy Waterways Ltd
ARC funding: $600 000 over three years
The University of Newcastle
Lead Chief Investigator: Professor Richard Middleton (LP150100757)
Summary: The aim of this project is to develop and analyse new feedback control methods to
address emerging challenges in future wireless communication networks such as 5G. This
new generation of mobile communications promises exceptional bandwidth, high reliability and
low link delay. To achieve these leaps in performance, a paradigm shift to massive multipleinput-multiple-output (MIMO) antenna systems, very high frequency systems and small cells is
required. Critical feedback loops in areas such as narrow 3D beam steering for mobile users,
control of multiflow systems must be developed to enable 5G communications to be
successfully deployed. This new generation of communications is also expected to open up
new control application domains, such as the use of vehicle-to-vehicle networks.
Partner Organisation: Ericsson AB
ARC funding: $350 000 over three years
Australian Catholic University
Lead Chief Investigator: Professor Peter Rendell (LP150100140)
Summary: This project seeks to establish whether it is possible to enhance the prospective
memory function of healthy older adults. Prospective memory refers to memory for future
intentions and is used in many daily activities that are critical for the maintenance of
independence in late adulthood, such as remembering to take medication and turn off
appliances. The project intends to conduct the first controlled study to use prospective
memory activities to directly train prospective memory using both major cognitive training
approaches: process training (restorative) and strategy training (compensatory). The results
should have implications for clarifying how prospective memory function can be optimised in
late adulthood, which will be important for healthy ageing.
Partner Organisation: Catholic Homes Victoria
ARC funding: $242 000 over three years
University of Western Sydney
Lead Chief Investigator: Professor Roger Dean (LP150100487)
Summary: The project aims to develop a personalised music recommender system using
perceived tone quality, affect and liking. Recommender systems using prior verbal annotations
and ratings are common (Amazon) but inappropriate for less popular music by unfamiliar
artists, which lacks social use data. The project intends to build on work into perception of
musical affect and its relation to loudness and tone quality; and the automation of the
organisation of digital libraries both by labels and acoustic content. Developing this, the project
seeks to create a model that gives recommendations which accounts for an individual's
preferences based on acoustic content, affect and liking. The system will be designed to
update rapidly and to encourage exploration of familiar and unfamiliar music.
Partner Organisation: The University Of Waikato, NZ; Australian Music Centre Ltd;
Australasian Performing Right Association Ltd/APRA
ARC funding: $243 727 over three years