Linkage Projects funding allocated

The Australian government has allocated $62.3 million over the next five years to more than 200 new collaborative research projects.

The projects, funded under the Australian Research Council's (ARC) Linkage Projects scheme, also attracted commitments of more than $95 million from more than 400 partner organisations, including businesses, community organisations, industry bodies and other public sector agencies.

"Linkage projects provide a framework for greater collaboration between researchers and the business community and industry," said Minister for Education, Science and Training, Julie Bishop.

"This provides researchers with greater support and also means their research directly supports the nation by making our economy and industries more efficient, innovative and world competitive."

The funding in this round will support research to investigate:

• RNA interference, which may lead to improved treatments for cancers (The University of Queensland).
• infrared detectors for use in advanced systems for defence surveillance and sensing, mineral exploration, biomedical instrumentation, precision agriculture, environmental monitoring and homeland security (The University of Western Australia).
• the incidence and consequence of cyber bullying in school communities and develop strategies for teachers, schools and parents (Queensland University of Technology).
• methods of detecting and preventing impending failure of the bearings in aeroplane engines (The University of New South Wales).
• technologies and best practice models for recruiting and retaining high-quality staff to improve child protection services in rural and remote communities with high Indigenous populations (Curtin University of Technology).