Engineering research is a research strength at UQ that tackles global challenges in
Energy, Water, Health, Materials, Infrastructure, Food Supply and Mining Resources.
With >750 researchers, FoR09 spans 3 major organisational units: Faculty of
Engineering, Architecture & IT, Australian Institute for Bioengineering &
Nanotechnology (AIBN) and Sustainable Minerals Institute (SMI). SMI is a world
leader in knowledge-based solutions to sustainability challenges of the global
minerals industry, & has longterm global connections and investment in research
infrastructure. It receives over $15M/yr in research funding. Centres include; Julius
Kruttschnitt Mineral Research Centre, WH Bryan Mining Geology Research Centre ,
Centre for Mined Land Rehabilitation & Minerals Industry Safety & Health Centre.
Prominent research centres are: 3 ARC COEs (Functional Nanomaterials, Design in
Light Metals, Ore Deposits); Julius Kruttschnitt Mineral Research Centre (JKMRC);
Queensland Geothermal Energy Centre of Excellence; Advanced Materials
Processing and Manufacturing (AMPAM) centre; National Centre for Groundwater
Research & Training; Centre for Hypersonics; Advanced Water Management Centre
(AWMC). FoR09 at UQ hosts 3 CRCs (Mining, CAST, Resource Extraction) & is a
partner in 6 others.
UQ’s commitment to outstanding research in 09 includes 3 new buildings [$300M] SMI, AIBN, Advanced Engineering Building (AEB) - with state of the art research
capabilities parallels 09 success in ARCLIEF ($7.5M, 18 grants, 2006-8) and NCRIS
(3 grants, $>15M).
UQ FoR09 hosts 2 Federation Fellows (Lu, Middelberg), 3 ARC Professorial Fellows
(Keller, Crozier, Bhatia), 2 ARC QEII Fellows (LWang, Zhu), 2 Qld Premiers
Fellows (Srinivasan, Middelberg), 4 ARC Future Fellows (Kendall, Dexter, Zou,
Abbosh), & 8 Fellows of ATSE, 1 of Science and 1 of Social Science; both the VC
and the DVC(Research) are engineers. 4 papers were published in Science & Nature
(2003-8).
Aerospace Engineering (0901)
Space engineering is a high profile activity within UQ with research outputs primarily
appearing in 0913.
Biomedical Engineering (0903)
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Key research themes: Enhanced health care, advanced diagnostics
therapeutics & biomaterials;
High-quality outputs: (>65% A*/A); high, sustained ARC (>$3.5M) &
industry (>$3.5M) funding; outstanding commercialisation (>$6M spinoffs
and licences);
Interdisciplinary nodes in Electrical Engineering, Chemical Engineering,
AIBN, Queensland Brain Institute, Pharmacy, Physiotherapy, Chemistry,
Biological Sciences: >30% level A researchers;
International impact: 70% of all MRI scanners include UQ technology
(Crozier); spin-off company Magnetica supplies novel MRI superconducting
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magnets worldwide; Biolistics DNA vaccine delivery technology; &
International Needle-free Vaccination alliance (INVax);
Strong collaborations with Qld Health, CSIRO, Q-Health, and 3 Hospitals (3
Smart State grants >$10M on medical diagnostics).
Chemical Engineering (0904)
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Key research themes: Energy, Water, Nanomaterials, Bioengineering,
Metallurgy and Process Engineering;
High quality outputs: 2nd largest research outputs, 2nd highest research income
and highest citations in 09. 1 Nature Materials papers, >70% of papers are in
A*/A journals;
Highly multidisciplinary area (>80% of outputs co-coded with 0907, 0912,
0914, 0303, 0306, 1002 and 1007);
Large number of academic and research staff [45 in the School, 82 FTE UQ
wide and >100 PhD students];
Sustained ARC support [incl. 1 ARC CoE], strong fundamental funding [>
$11M in Australian competitive funding] and 48 national fellowships;
Strong applied research links [4 CRCs, > $5M in industry/CRC funding] and
commercial outcomes [2 spin offs: Plantic and Lightanate].
Civil Engineering (0905)
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Key research themes: Water Resource Engineering, Transport, Structural
Engineering, and Geomechanics;
High quality outputs: Excellent industry connections highlighted by high
conference publications (>40% outputs), 3 industry-supported research centres
and 3 industry chairs;
School of Civil Engineering has grown to 33 FTE academic/research staff and
68 PhD students (100% increase in 18 months);
Research collaborations with >90 universities/organisations; 3 International
Honorary Professorships; memberships on 12 journal editorial boards, 4
national code committees, and 9 national/international advisory panels;
~$1M additional industry research funding (not ERA-eligible) has been
secured since 2007; a major outcome is the national timber-replacement
sleeper program.
Electrical and Electronic Engineering (0906)
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Key research themes: Electricity, Signal Processing, Microwave Technology
and Optoelectronics, Computer Architecture and Embedded Systems;
High quality outputs: (> 40% in A*/A);
Even research staffing profile [15-25% in each level A-E];
Strong collaboration with local utilities (Powerlink, Energex, Ergon,
TransGrid, Energy Australia), government (AEMO, CSIRO, DSTO, RAAF),
multinationals (ABB, Areva), research organisations (EPRI, USA) and
universities (Princeton, NWU, UMel);
Industry funding enabled capacity building (3 academics and a chair in power
transmission, Australian Power Institute-sponsored);
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Applied and industry-oriented research (>$1M in other public/industry
funding), supported by strong fundamental research (>$2.4M);
2 fellows of learned academies (Darveniza, Sanderson) and 4 national
fellowships.
Environmental Engineering (0907)
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Key research themes: Water Treatment and Sustainable Energy from Organics
(links to Chemical Engineering, AWMC); Biogas, Bioplastics and Biofuels
(AWMC), and Sustainable Water Resources (Civil Eng);
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High quality outputs: Highest number of journal outputs per FTE and 2nd
highest research income per FTE in 09;
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Strong funding from National Centre for Groundwater Research and Training,
Environmental Biotechnology CRC and a Chair in Water Recycling (> $3M in
industry/government funding). Links to 3 new centres in water and energy
contributes to the rising profile;
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RJL FoR code assignments place UQ 09 research on sustainable energy
technologies, coastal engineering, sustainable materials for construction and
biodegradable plastics in FoRs 1002, 0904 and 0905, etc.
Food Science (0908)
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Key research themes: Frontier Technologies in Food and Materials Sciences,
Processing-property Relationships and Nutrition;
High quality outputs: >55% papers in A*/A journals, and ~30 A*/A papers
appear in other FoRs via J Dairy Sci, J Dairy Res, Macromolecules,
Proteomics;
Australian Competitive Grants (>$230K/FTE) include $1M from Dairy
Innovation Australia Ltd (DIAL) (Bhandari, Deeth) the largest dairy science
and processing program in the Australian university sector;
Editorial board memberships (of A journals) include JFoodEng.(Bhandari;
Editor), Biomacromolecules and JPoly.Sci.PartA, Poly.Chem.(Gilbert),
Carb.Poly.(Gidley);
Extensive research links with 0904, 1111, 1001, 0303, 0703 and 1115;
Collaborators include DEEDI, CSIRO Food Futures Flagship;
Hosts Centre for Nutrition and Food Sciences (Gidley, Director; Gilbert FAA,
AAS David Craig Medal, RACI Leighton & Applied Chemistry Medals), and
the new Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation (QAAFI).
Materials Engineering (0912)
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Key research themes: nanomaterials, nanofabrication, light metals,
biomaterials, polymers, composites technology and net-shape materials
processing;
High quality outputs: Most research outputs in the 09 group, 68% of papers in
A*/A journals and 3 papers in Science and Nature;
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Hosts ARC COE (Functional Nanomaterials) and CRC (CAST), and involved
in ARC COE (Design in Light Metals), 2 CRCs (Polymers and Advanced
Composites Structures), and Defence Materials Technology Centre (DMTC);
Infrastructure includes Centre for Microscopy and Microanalysis (CMM), $19
million Australian National Fabrication Facility (ANFF) and AMPAM Centre
in the $130M AEB;
3 ATSE Fellows (Lu, Schaffer, Dunlop); 10 ARC Fellows; 1 Federation
Fellow (Lu);
Strong commercialisation of research outputs: 8 patents recorded (UQ and
CRCs) and 2 spin-off companies (Hydrexia, TenasiTech).
Mechanical Engineering (0913)
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Key research themes: hypersonics, geothermal energy, mining machinery and
automation. Non-destructive evaluation, machining physics, reliability
modelling, rail dynamics and thermofluid dynamics are also in 0913;
High quality outputs (> 60% in A*/A journals), sustained ARC DP support,
and strong CRC and industry collaboration;
Centre for Hypersonics has international reputation for scramjets and
hypersonics, a large student presence (45 RHD graduates since 2000), and
publishes across 0913, 0901, 0201 and 0306. The DSTO Applied Hypersonics
Branch was built around personnel from the Centre;
Queensland Geothermal Energy COE [$15M] is the largest Australian
investment in geothermal energy research;
The Smart Machines group [with CRC Mining and OEMs P&H and
Caterpillar] develops systems for automation/control of large mining
machines;
AAS and ATSE Fellow Stalker, AO; ATSE VP and Fellow Simmons.
Resource Engineering and Extractive Metallurgy (0914)
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Key research themes: Mining, mineral processing science/technology,
metallurgy, and sustainability;
High quality outputs: Emphasis on conference publications and technical
reports (~50/yr); >70% of fundamental work in A*/A journals;
Major contributors: SMI (including the JKMRC), Mechanical and Mining
Engineering, Chemical Engineering;
A research strength of UQ (>$40M industry/CRC funding, $1.1M
commercialisation);
Research infrastructure includes state of the art Mineral Characterisation
Research Facility and Pyrometallurgy Labs;
5 leading international research professors in minerals and geometallurgy
research recruited in 2005;
8 industry funded Chairs;
Collaborations with 0904, 0801, 0403, 0306 and 0806;
Hosts 2 CRCs hosted (Mining and COREX), ARC COE (Ore Deposits),
ARCLP Project “AMSRI” and industry projects in Africa, North and South
America and Europe;
1 ATSE Fellow (Hood); 15 national fellowships.
0902, 0909, 0910, 0911, 0915 are not a focus at UQ.