VU congratulates its ARC grant recipients

VU researchers have received close to $1 million in prestigious Australian Research Council (ARC) grants for 2017.
Friday 4 November 2016

Victoria University researchers have received close to $1 million in prestigious Australian Research Council (ARC) grants for 2017.

Professor Gary Foley of VU’s Moondani Balluk Indigenous research unit will be Chief Investigator in a $475,000 project to create a first-of-its-kind online archive of records about Aboriginal self-determination, the land rights’ movement and Aboriginal community survival programs.

The two-year project will provide access to currently unavailable materials that record the perspectives and voices of Aboriginal participants in contemporary political history, including primary-source material collected and donated by individuals and community organisations.

The project aims to address data gaps in Australia’s historical record and improve public understanding and awareness. It will also inform educational curricula and public policy responses for the political, legal, health and social position of Australia’s Indigenous communities. 

Professor Foley’s team includes VU’s Dr Anthony Birch and Dr Edwina Howell, in addition to other renowned Indigenous researchers such as Professor Larissa Behrendt of University of Technology Sydney.

Several other universities in Australia and New Zealand, as well as the National Museum of Australia and Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House, are project partners.    

Professor Foley's project received an ARC Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities (LIEF) grant.

Professor Mikel Duke of VU’s Institute of Sustainability and Innovation will be Chief Investigator in a $239,000 ARC Discovery Grant project to provide ways to recover valuable products from current waste water. The project team includes VU’s Dr Xing Yang. The research will be conducted in partnership with Singapore’s Nanyang Technical University.

Victoria University is also a non-lead organisation on two other ARC-funded projects.

They involve VU’s Dr Maurice Guerrieri and Dr Rui Zhou working with lead organisation Swinburne University on projects related to 3-D printing, and algorithms to capture Big Data respectively.