3. 24
3 Introduction and overview
Features
4 Art out of the shadows
7 Decisions, decisions: how your brain
controls your behaviour
8 Experts to tackle aquatic pollution
10 What drives genetic differences?
12 SPECIAL REPORT: Our Centres of
Excellence target priority areas of research
14 Study shows mismatch between women’s
education levels and workplace participation
17 The gift of sight
18 New Melbourne Brain Centre targets
neurodegenerative diseases
20 Learning to live with fire
23 Indigenous identity in Melbourne
24 Child’s play
25 The University at a glance
26 RESEARCH NEWS
32 Update on Institutes
CONTENTS
1
4. researchinstitutes.melbourne.edu
World-class expertise and knowledge -
all in the one place.
Our Research Institutes are taking new directions,
applying new ways of thinking, and bringing together
the best minds from over 50 disciplines. From energy
and sustainability, to biotechnology and neuroscience,
we’re all working together to make a positive
contribution to the world and provide cutting-edge
opportunities for the next generation of researchers.
The answers to some
of the world’s most
challenging problems
lie in cross-disciplinary
research.
A Global Research Powerhouse
RESEARCH REVIEW 2010
2
5. Discovery is a great human effort.
A great discovery often starts with one idea, which is transformed
by vigour, persistence and collaboration. This edition of Research
Review celebrates discovery through partnerships.
The University’s links with leading institutions are testament to
its forward thinking, community-minded strategy and vision.
These links provide the University with resources, financial
support and industry-based expertise.
The partnerships featured in this edition of Research Review
show how working together can lead to extraordinary outcomes.
Highlights include:
++ the ARC Centre of Excellence for Free Radical Chemistry and
Biotechnology is working with the University’s Centre for
Cultural Materials Conservation to find out how to prevent
microorganisms damaging historical items.
++ the newly formed Victorian Centre for Aquatic Pollution
Identification and Management (CAPIM), led by the
University of Melbourne, which is developing novel techniques
to manage previously undetected pollutants. The Centre’s
researchers work closely with experts from Melbourne
Water, the Victorian Department of Primary Industries, the
Environment Protection Authority (EPA) and RMIT.
The University maintained its excellent research performance
during 2009 with success in winning competitive grants
augmented by significant external funding towards major
initiatives that position our programs and researchers for future
achievement. Of particular note is the award of $42 million for
the Bionic Eye project led by the University. Pages 16–17 provides
a snapshot of the key players involved in this project from the
Centre for Eye Research Australia and the Melbourne Materials
Institute to the Bionic Ear Institute, the University’s Department
of Electrical and Electronic Engineering and many others.
The Special Report on pages 12–13 provides an overview of our
ARC Centres of Excellence. The University of Melbourne is a
lead participant in four such Centres and a key collaborator and
partner in a further 12.
A key platform of the University’s research strategy is the
development of strong collaborative partnerships. The
University’s partnership with IBM has seen the establishment
of a ‘collaboratory’ which has the potential to fast-track research
into major health conditions. The partnership will dramatically
increase the research and supercomputing capabilities of the
University of Melbourne-led $100M Victorian Life Sciences
Computational Initiative (VLSCI), established in 2008 to
strengthen the research capabilities and outcomes of Victorian
life sciences research.
A new research partnership between Bell Labs, the research
arm of Alcatel-Lucent, has led to the establishment of
a new research facility, the Centre for Energy-Efficient
Telecommunications (CEET). The $10M centre’s research will
focus on the continuing development of telecommunications
networks, while reducing the energy consumption and carbon
footprint of these technologies.
Research Review is a stimulating and inspiring publication.
There are wonderful opportunities to interact with us or
to become part of the ‘Melbourne Experience’. I hope you
will be as excited as we are about these
opportunities.
Professor Peter Rathjen
Deputy Vice-Chancellor
(Research)
Welcome to the
2010 Edition of
Research Review
3
6. Art out of the shadows
By Katherine Smith
RESEARCH REVIEW 2010
4
7. New research at the University of Melbourne using free
radicals to prevent micro-organism damage of historical items
is helping to bring art out of the shadows and into view.
The research is being carried out by Caroline Kyi, a doctoral
researcher in the ARC Centre of Excellence for Free Radical
Chemistry and Biotechnology and the University’s Centre for
Cultural Materials Conservation.
Ms Kyi is exploring how the free radical nitric oxide can be
used to prevent the growth of harmful aggregations of micro-
organisms called biofilms on culturally significant artworks
and monuments. Biofilm growth on organic art surfaces and
substrates, such as paint and varnish, paper, stone and wood, is
difficult to remove without damaging the art and often causes
the surface to fade, crack or stain.
“In nature, nitric oxide is used within biofilm colonies to
communicate information about the surrounding environment.
In situations where sustenance for the micro-organisms is
scarce, more nitric oxide is released to signal that the organisms
in the biofilm should disperse rather than remain aggregated.
In my research I am taking advantage of this natural process
by developing methodology to artificially encourage biofilm
dispersal and, therefore, prevent biofilm growth,” she explains.
“In addition to causing staining on paintings for instance, or
unwanted changes in pigmentation like fading or darkening,
biofilms can also create nice habitats for higher organisms
such as mould or fungi to develop, which if left unchecked can
actually colonise or grow into the substrate of the work, and
cause huge problems.”
“Micro-organism growth is one reason why many of the
world’s great artworks are kept in hi-tech, controlled museum
locations, but I’m particularly interested in outdoor immovable
culture, and controlling biodeterioration of objects in diverse
environments,” Ms Kyi says.
A specialist in wall paintings and monuments, Ms Kyi cites a
mural in a 13th century church in Cypress on which she worked
as an example of biological decay. These pieces appeared faded,
and had yellowed and trapped dirt as a result of exposure to
hundreds of years of nearby candle burning and long-term
variations in humidity and temperature, conditions which
enhance biodeterioration.
In art conservancy, removal of detritus, or materials that
aren’t original to the artwork, is often a compromise between
ensuring that the object can be appreciated visually, and
avoiding over-treating or damaging the materials throughout
the remediation process.
“That’s where science and art meet in conservation. Scientific
research investigating the composition of the original materials
and their quality can reveal much about the conservation
technique that should be employed. In the case of my research
and bioremediation, the more we understand about how the
organism develops and what damage it could potentially do to
the art the more likely we are to develop technology to prevent
or reverse the damage.”
“Society can’t value a work if they can’t see it,” Ms Kyi says, “so
part of my work as a scientist and conservator is to investigate
how to reinstate its value using improved methodology and
minimal intervention, and allow the art to emerge from the
shadows of time.”
For more information, see: www.freeradical.org.au
“Society can’t value a
work if they can’t see it.”
5
9. The Scarecrow from the children’s
classic The Wizard of Oz was famous for
his catchcry “If I only had a brain!” The
question is: What would he do with it?
How would it affect his behaviour? And
would his emotions get the better of him
in the supermarket?
Cognitive scientist Dr Philip Harris and
economist Dr Carsten Murawski from
the Faculty of Business and Economics
are part of a unique cross-disciplinary
team looking at just that: which brain
processes underlie fundamental human
decision making and what is the relation
between emotions, impulsivity and more
deliberate processes.
“Understanding these interactions has
significant policy-making implications
in a broad range of Australian economic,
social and environmental contexts,”
says Dr Harris, “from the promotion of
savings for superannuation, to abstinence
from addiction-related behaviour and the
maintenance of healthy lifestyles.”
The $50,000 project, being completed
through the Melbourne Interdisciplinary
Seed Funding Scheme, also features
three academics from the Faculty
of Medicine, Dentistry and Health
Sciences: Professor Gary Egan, from the
University’s Centre for Neuroscience,
perceptual consciousness expert
Dr Olivia Carter and addiction specialist
Dr Robert Hester.
The current view in decision-making
research, according to Dr Murawski, is
that multiple sub-processes are at work in
the brain when we are making decisions.
“At least one of these heavily involves the
limbic system, the part of the brain that
processes affect or emotions,” he says.
“We know that affect plays an integral
part in decision making – people with
lesions in the areas that process affect
typically are much poorer decision
makers – but we don’t quite understand
what exactly that role is, a key challenge
in decision-making research right now.
“Our research is investigating the neural
processes through which emotions
influence certain fundamental aspects of
economic decision making, preferences
for time, and risk preferences,” says
Dr Murawski.
At first glance, neuroscience and emotions
would seem to be far removed from the
fields of business and economics, but
Dr Murawski believes that the three have
more in common than you may think.
“Economists have struggled to come up
with models that accurately describe
human behaviour,” he says. “The
behaviour of humans seems to deviate
systematically from the predictions of
classical economic models based on
rationality.
For example, many of us behave more
impulsively than the rational models
predict. And many of us seem to
overweigh small probabilities and
underweigh large probabilities of decision
outcomes when faced with risk.”
“Economic models of decision
making, for example how we trade
off consumption now against saving
(consumption later), or how much risk we
take, actually have rather low explanatory
power of actual behaviour, and we hope
that studying the neural basis of those
decisions will provide us with valuable
insights to improve our models.”
“Economic modelling has already helped
to better understand certain basic human
behaviour like eye and hand movement,”
says Dr Murawski. “Now the challenge
is to achieve a similar understanding
of more complex behaviour, including
economic decision making. The idea is
to use economic modelling techniques to
model brain activation, and insights from
neuroscience to build better models of
economic behaviour.”
Decisions, decisions:
how your brain controls
your behaviour
By David Scott
7
10. Researchers at the Victorian Centre
for Aquatic Pollution Identification and
Management (CAPIM) are developing
novel techniques to identify and manage
previously undetected pollutants
and overcome limitations in current
monitoring techniques.
In the past, scientists faced significant
challenges when attempting to monitor
aquatic pollutant levels, including
an inability to distinguish where the
pollutant is coming from and an inability
to measure pollutants at a variety of
concentrations. CAPIM will use highly
sophisticated monitoring approaches
broadly based around macroinvertebrates
and biomarkers to tackle Victoria’s
aquatic pollution problem head-on.
CAPIM CEO Dr Vincent Pettigrove
(pictured right) believes that drought,
climate change, the increasing human
population and demands on our water
resources mean that we face great
challenges to maintain healthy aquatic
ecosystems.
“Pollution is a major threat to these
systems, but currently it is difficult to
know what effect pollution has on aquatic
ecosystem health, what specific pollutants
are causing stress and what can be done
to reduce pollution impacts. CAPIM
brings together world-class researchers
to use available technologies and develop
new ways to isolate pollution impacts,”
says Dr Pettigrove.
“We didn’t have the right tools to be able
to identify certain toxins, but the new
monitoring approaches developed at
CAPIM allow us to measure chemicals
that have never been measured before.
“CAPIM brings together a wide range of
expertise to tackle our aquatic pollution
problem – zoologists, entomologists,
geneticists, chemists and ecotoxicologists
are all members of the team,” says
Professor Ary Hoffmann, the Research
Director of CAPIM (see Profile on
page 10).
“The Centre provides an opportunity for
partners to develop new research tools
for monitoring pollution and identifying
remediation strategies in waterways,
using the latest chemical detection
methods and new biological approaches
that take advantage of rapid advances
in DNA and protein technologies. The
research team will work to provide a deep
understanding of pollution problems in
freshwater and estuarine systems.”
The Centre will be led by the University
of Melbourne (with the main research
centre housed in the Bio21 Molecular
Science and Biotechnology Institute),
working with experts from Melbourne
Water, the Department of Primary
Industries (Vic), Environment Protection
Authority (Vic), and RMIT.
In addition to environmental benefits
associated with healthier waterways,
Victoria is likely to benefit economically
as well. Victoria’s inland waterways
and estuaries provide an estimated
$368 million of benefits a year as a
source of recreational activities such
as fishing, water sports and camping,
with river-dependent tourism and
fishing expenditure worth an additional
$533 million a year.
The Centre will receive $2.94 million of
Victorian Science Agenda Investment
Funding over three years from 2010 with
additional funding being contributed by
partners Melbourne Water, DPI Victoria
and EPA Victoria.
The first scientific results on the health of
some of our waterways are expected to be
release in the upcoming months.
Experts to tackle
aquatic pollution
By Sally Sherwen
RESEARCH REVIEW 2010
8
11. “The first scientific results
on the health of some of our
waterways are expected to be
released in coming months.”
9
13. Professor Ary Hoffmann (pictured left), ARC Laureate Fellow, Director of
Melbourne’s Centre for Environmental Stress and Adaptation Research
(CESAR), Fellow Australian Academy of Science, Research Director
Victorian Centre for Aquatic Pollution Identification and Management.
Professor Hoffmann has always
been interested in natural variation
among organisms, how it creates the
diversity of life and how it is harnessed
in our food production. It is his driving
passion.
He traces this passion to growing up on
a farm and seeing first hand different
varieties of vegetables and crops and
insects.
“I was always interested in variability
and evolution – how organisms fit their
environment,” Professor Hoffmann told
Research Review.
“What I am excited about at the moment
is trying to understand what makes one
organism become very restricted and very
threatened and stuck in one environment
while a very closely related species that
genetically may not differ that much
may be able to tolerate a wide range of
environments.
“What I’m trying to do is to try and
understand what makes those differences
at a genetic and physiological level.”
Professor Hoffmann’s research addresses
the way organisms (particularly insects)
deal with environmental stresses. He has
published widely on the genes involved in
adapting to warming and cooling climates,
the way stressful environments influence
evolution, and the use of insects as a
way of monitoring stressful conditions
including those due to pollutants.
Professor Hoffmann’s team is currently
testing what drives genetic differences
and how insects adapt to stressful
conditions.
“We think it has a lot to do with the fact
that when an organism finds itself in one
environment for a long period of time, its
genes start to decay.
“We suspect that biodiversity may
actually be driven by a DNA decay
process.”
If this turned out to be the case it
might be possible to predict whether
an organism is particularly susceptible
to not being able to survive certain
environments. It will also help identify
organisms useful for monitoring
environmental deterioration.
Using different species of Australian
vinegar flies as models, scientists at the
University of Melbourne have already
found that the common species is able to
evolve and adapt to climate change but
their cousins – who only inhabit tropical
rainforest – are not able to. They are now
also testing this idea in alpine grasses
and aquatic insects.
“The danger that species in threatened
environments, like tropical rainforests
and alpine meadows, may not survive
climate change now appears more acute
than previously thought,” Professor
Hoffmann said.
For Professor Hoffmann, the work he
is engaged in makes him appreciate the
detrimental effects that human activities
are having on the environment. One
lesson that wider engagement has taught
him is that scientific approaches can be
used to develop creative solutions to many
problems facing humanity but you still
need political solutions to implement
them.
“By using new genetically-based
techniques we will undoubtedly become
better at suppressing pest populations,
but implementing these techniques will
be challenging because of the inherent
fear of these technologies” Professor
Hoffmann said.
“One of the things I feel quite strongly
about is maintaining genetic and species
biodiversity for future generations. Most
of us live in sterile urban environments
where we are disconnected from the
diversity of life that provides water, food,
and other essentials for our survival.
“We have shown that biodiversity helps
to keep the pests in our environment
in check, and that genetic diversity is
needed for all sorts of organisms to evolve
and persist under climate change and
other stresses. Yet it is difficult to get
managers and decision makers to think
about the value of this diversity.
Professor Hoffmann says that the human
species has already done an awful lot
of damage to the environment, not just
through destroying natural habitats but
also by introducing invasive species,
disrupting natural ecological and
evolutionary processes, and releasing
pollutants.
“If you consider the State of Victoria, then
most its natural environments are under
some form of stress at the moment.
“And yet we don’t quite appreciate that
we need these environments for our life
support systems. We simply don’t place
enough value on them.”
Professor Hoffmann’s research has led to
new methods of using genes and insects
to monitor for environmental pollutants,
new ways of controlling pests, and new
ways to promote the conservation of
species and communities threatened by
climate change.
“…the human species has
already done an awful lot of
damage to the environment…”
11
14. The ARC’s Centres of Excellence program
maintains and develops Australia’s
international standing in the Commonwealth
Government’s designated Priority Areas of
Research:
++ Nano-Materials and Bio-Materials (NBM)
++ Genome/Phenome Research (GPR)
++ Complex/Intelligent Systems (CSI)
++ Photon Science and Technology (PST).
The University of Melbourne is the lead
participant in four of these Centres: the ARC
Centre of Excellence for Particle Physics at the
Tera-Scale; the ARC Centre of Excellence for
Free Radical Chemistry and Biotechnology,
the ARC Centre of Excellence in Coherent
X-ray Science, and the ARC Centre of
Excellence for Mathematics and Statistics
of Complex Systems. Melbourne is also a
key collaborator and partner in a further 12
centres: ARC Centre of Excellence in Design
in Light Metals; ARC Centre of Excellence in
Ore Deposits; ARC Centre of Excellence for
Integrative Legume Research (University of
Queensland); ARC Centre of Excellence for
Quantum Computer Technology (UNSW);
ARC Centre of Excellence for Kangaroo
Genomics (Australian National University);
the ARC Centre of Excellence in Biotechnology
and Development (University of Newcastle);
ARC Centre of Excellence in Plant Cell Wall
Biology (University of Adelaide); ARC Centre
of Excellence for Quantum Computation and
Communication Technology (University of
New South Wales); ARC Centre of Excellence
for Climate System Science (University of New
South Wales); ARC Centre of Excellence for
All-sky Astrophysics (University of Sydney);
ARC Centre of Excellence for Environmental
Decisions (University of Queensland); and the
ARC Centre of Excellence for the History of
Emotions (University of Western Australia).
ARC Centre of Excellence for
Free Radical Chemistry and
Biotechnology
The ARC Centre of Excellence for Free Radical
Chemistry and Biotechnology was established
in 2005 through the award of an Australian
Research Council grant worth $12 million
over five years. At the beginning of 2009, the
Centre was awarded a further $9.8 million
to continue its groundbreaking free radical
research.
The Centre is a collaborative venture between
the University of Melbourne, the Australian
National University, the University of Sydney,
the Heart Research Institute, Monash
University and the Queensland University of
Technology.
The Centre is home to over 140 researchers,
drawing together a unique grouping of
fundamental chemists, medicinal chemists,
biochemists, biologists and materials
scientists dedicated to the understanding and
application of free radical chemistry.
Organisations that are affiliated with the
Centre include: Bluescope Steel, PPG
Industries Australia Pty Ltd, the Centre
for Cultural Materials Conservation, the
Environmental Biotechnology Co-operative
Research Centre, Osaka Prefecture University
(Japan) and the Rudjer Boskovic Institute
(Croatia).
The aim of the Centre is to expand the
frontiers of free radical chemistry and
biotechnology, and develop advanced
materials and technologies for building and
transforming industry.
The Centre’s research program is broad,
encompassing fundamental and applied free
radical chemistry research relevant to health,
the environment, and materials technology.
For example, the Centre has made significant
advancements in areas such as:
++ disease prevention and pharmaceutical
development
++ custom-designed plastics and surface
coatings
++ new technology for the preservation of
paints, plastics and culturally significant
artwork
++ the characterisation of free radicals in the
atmosphere and their effect on health
++ ‘virtual laboratory’ free radical chemistry
using supercomputers.
Web: www.freeradical.org.au
ARC Centre of Excellence for
Mathematics and Statistics of
Complex Systems (MASCOS)
Complex systems play a key role in a vast
range of activities vital to the functioning and
wellbeing of society and humanity, in both the
natural and constructed world.
The ARC Centre of Excellence for
Mathematics and Statistics of Complex
Systems(MASCOS) stimulates and hones
research activity in order to understand and
manage these complex systems.
Such research focuses on three flagship
applications that reflect key societal concerns
underpinned by complex systems: accurate
assessment of financial risk; security of large
engineering grids; and control of emerging
pests, diseases and pathogens. Tackling
these and other key applications such as
climate modelling draws upon a variety of
mathematical and statistical techniques
which form the backbone of research into the
solution of the flagship applications.
MASCOS is engaged in an extensive and
vigorous outreach program encompassing
SPECIAL REPORT
Our Centres of Excellence target
priority areas of research
Compiled by Silvia Dropulich
RESEARCH REVIEW 2010
12
15. schools, commerce, industry, and the broader
research community. It is intended to raise
the profile and reinforce the importance of the
mathematical sciences across the spectrum
of Australia’s scientific and technological
development.
MASCOS operates from five nodes: The
University of Melbourne, The Australian
National University, The University of New
South Wales, La Trobe University, and The
University of Queensland.
Web: www.complex.org.au
ARC Centre of Excellence for
Coherent X-ray Science (CXS)
The ARC Centre of Excellence for Coherent
X-ray Science (CXS) brings together leading
Australian researchers in the fields of: X-ray
physics; the design and use of synchrotron
radiation sources; and the preparation,
manipulation and characterisation of
biological samples.
CXS partners include the University of
Melbourne, La Trobe University, Monash
University, Swinburne University, Griffith
University and the CSIRO.
CXS aims to open a new frontier in
biotechnology – the non-crystallographic
structural determination of membrane
proteins. These proteins mediate the activity of
pharmaceuticals in human medical therapies.
Their structures, however, are still mostly
unknown because they do not form crystals
suitable for analysis using the conventional
crystallographic techniques that have driven
almost all the progress in structural biology. A
breakthrough in this area would revolutionise
rational drug design through the insight
gained into the function of membrane
proteins. This would have far-reaching
consequences for the pharmaceutical industry.
CXS’s research is driven by its access to
existing third-generation synchrotron light
sources and to the Australian Synchrotron.
The Centre is also exploring the application
to imaging problems of short wavelength
high-harmonic generation sources and
free-electron X-ray lasers that are under
development worldwide.
When combined with non-crystallographic
diffractive imaging techniques, the brightness
and intensity of these sources provides the
opportunity to take snapshots of biomolecules.
CXS is exploring the fundamental issues in
the use of these light sources, including the
nature of the interaction between intense
coherent X-rays and electronic matter.
The efficiency of diffraction processes in
these highly coupled light–matter systems,
the detection of the scattered light, the
preparation and handling of suitable biological
samples, the management of radiation
damage throughout the interaction, and the
design of algorithms to extract structural
information from diffraction data is also
under exploration.
It is an ambitious interdisciplinary program
of research.
Web: www.coecxs.org
ARC Centre of Excellence for
Particle Physics at the Tera-Scale
The ARC Centre of Excellence for Particle
Physics at the Tera-Scale* will bring together
international experimental and theoretical
particle physicists to focus a worldwide effort
in the era of discovery that the Large Hadron
Collider (LHC) will bring.
Led by the University of Melbourne, the
Centre has recently received $25.2 million over
seven years and involves nine collaborating
and partner organisations: University of
Adelaide; University of Sydney; Monash
University; University of Pennsylvania;
Cambridge University; I’Universite de Geneve;
Albert Ludwigs Universitaet Freiburg; INFN
Sezione di Milano; and Duke University.
“The giant particle collider now underway at
the international laboratory, CERN, in Geneva,
is the largest ever scientific experiment
designed to reproduce the conditions of the
Universe a fraction of a second after the
Big Bang,” says Centre Director Professor
Geoffrey Taylor, from Physics at the University
of Melbourne.
“By doing so, rare particles that no longer exist
in our Universe can be recreated and studied
in order to understand the very origins of
the fundamental particles that make up the
matter around us.”
The Centre’s focus on high energy physics,
advanced computing and accelerator science
will, for the first time in Australia, bring
together theoretical and experimental
physicists as a single, national team whose
combined strengths will create a powerful
capability in fundamental science.
Opportunities for research students at the
international leading edge of physics will
open up. A major outreach program will
be developed to bring this exciting field to
the public. Links to advanced computing,
astrophysics and cosmology, and advanced
accelerator physics will be developed.
* ‘Tera-Scale’ refers to the energy frontier that
the LHC will explore. The energy of 1 Trillion
electron Volts is referred to as 1 Tera-electron
Volt or simply 1TeV.
Artwork Chris Dyson
13
16. Study shows mismatch
between women’s
education levels and
workplace participation
By Catriona May
RESEARCH REVIEW 2010
14
17. Australia’s longest-running longitudinal panel
cohort study of the lives of young people, Life Patterns,
is shedding light on two generations’ hopes, goals,
successes and struggles.
The study follows a Generation X group, who left
school in 1991 and are now 37 and a Generation Y
group, who left school in 2005 and are now 22. It
provides a unique insight into the impact of massive
changes in education participation and workforce
policy in the 90s on Generation X, as well as the
ability to compare the experiences and characteristics
of the two generations.
Its latest findings show there is much to be learnt
from Generation X’s experiences.
During the 1990s, unprecedented numbers of
young women participated in higher education,
with disciplines such as law and medicine enrolling
more women than men for the first time. However,
amongst the Gen X Life Patterns participants, only 38
per cent of women who gained a tertiary qualification
are participating full time in today’s workforce. This
compares with 90 per cent of tertiary qualified men.
Professor Johanna Wyn, Director of the Melbourne
Graduate School of Education’s Youth Research
Centre, leads the study. She believes Australia’s lack
of family-friendly workplaces is to blame for the low
participation rates of highly qualified women in the
workforce.
“Back in the early 90s, when this cohort were in
their mid-20s, women who had gained tertiary
qualifications were the most likely of any group to put
the highest priority on gaining a career position.
“If we fast-forward to 2010, the majority of these
women are no longer participating in the workforce.
Indeed, full-time employment for women, 13 years
after leaving secondary school, is inversely related to
level of educational qualifications.
“We have a mismatch between educational and
workplace policies. While our young women are
encouraged to excel academically, when its time to
start a family, there is very little support available
from employers, and more traditional attitudes to
gender roles seem to prevail. So unfortunately, we
find our workforce losing huge numbers of talented
individuals.”
Most recently, Professor Wyn has been working
with Professor Lesley Andres from the University of
British Columbia, who leads a similar Canadian study.
Comparisons between the two studies’ findings,
which are contained in a new book, The Making of a
Generation: The Children of the 1970s in Adulthood,
reveal even more about the impact of Australia’s
labour market policies in the 1990s on individuals’
personal lives.
The young Australians (all of whom are Victorians)
who were seeking employment in the newly
deregulated workforce of the mid-90s found they were
working long hours with little job security. Although
the young Canadians were also subject to labour
reforms, working conditions in British Columbia
were less severe than in Victoria. As a consequence,
the research shows the Canadians were able to
establish long-term partnerships, marry and have
children earlier and in greater proportions than their
Australian counterparts. The Canadians were also less
likely to report mental (and physical) health problems
than the young Australians.
It’s not all bad news however. The study’s Generation
X participants have developed strategies to deal with
the challenges they’ve faced. Many have shifted
their focus to one of balance, where work plays a less
important role in their lives than family and leisure
pursuits. Many have also chosen to downsize, in order
to be able to spend less time at work and more time
with their family. And there is a general belief that
if a job is detrimental to one’s health, the benefits
of leaving it outweigh the risks. Education is seen
as a life-long pursuit and an essential resource for
establishing a good life in uncertain times.
Last year, Life Patterns received an Australian
Research Council Discovery Grant of $1,118,858
to continue its work with both cohorts from 2010
to 2014, when cohort 1 will be aged around 41 and
participants in cohort 2 will be aged around 27.
The study’s initial comparisons between the two
cohorts show that Gen X and Gen Y report similar
life aims, share the same expectations of having more
than one career in life, and both understand that full-
time, permanent employment is difficult to attain.
The study’s focus over the next five years will be on
expanding these findings.
For more information on Life Patterns,
see: www.education.unimelb.edu.au/yrc
15
18. TRANSMITTER COILCAMERA
98 ELECTRODE
ARRAY
SCLERA CHOROID
VISION PROCESSOR
ELECTRONICS UNIT
CHOROID
SCLERA
WHAT WILL I SEE? WHAT WILL I LOOK LIKE? WHAT IS IMPLANTED?
Melbourne
Materials Institute
Department of Electrical
and Electronic Engineering
NICTA
CERAUNSW
BEI
RESEARCH REVIEW 2010
16
19. The ability to see a loved one’s face is
something most of us take for granted.
But for Retinitis Pigmentosa patient
Leighton Boyd, seeing the smiles of
his family and friends is a dream. As a
key member of Bionic Vision Australia
(BVA), the University is playing its part in
trying to make Leighton’s dream a reality.
The BVA partnership involves world-
leading Australian research institutions
collaborating to develop an advanced
retinal prosthesis, or bionic eye, to
restore the sense of vision to people with
degenerative or inherited retinal disease.
Emma O’Neill reports on the key players
in this groundbreaking project.
CERA
The Centre for Eye Research Australia
(CERA) is developing the surgical
techniques that will ensure a safe and
effective device for human trials, and
feeding back clinical input into the device
design. It is also working to develop
pre-implanting protocols to determine
current levels of function and retinal
health and for patient selection. CERA
and the Department of Ophthalmology
at the University of Melbourne will
also work with the Royal Victorian Eye
and Ear Hospital to prepare for the first
clinical trials set for 2013.
UNSW
In 1997 Associate Professor Gregg
Suaning and Professor Nigel Lovell
from the University of New South Wales
set out to develop a visual prosthesis
for the treatment of disorders causing
blindness. During the past ten years
investigators at the University have
carried out numerous research projects,
notably the successful development of
a sophisticated neurostimulator (now
in its second generation) known to be
capable of eliciting responses within the
visual cortex that are consistent with light
perception.
Melbourne Materials Institute
The Melbourne Materials Institute at
the University of Melbourne is working
on producing a biocompatible diamond
electrode array that will form one part of
the bionic eye prosthesis. Diamonds are
very stable and likely to be well tolerated
by the human body, and the team are
currently working on optimising the
shape, spacing, size and composition
of the electrodes for robust mechanical
properties and effective neural
stimulation. When this is resolved, the
electrodes will be bonded to the wireless
control chip that is being developed by
researchers in NICTA and Electrical
Engineering.
Bionic Ear Institute
The research team at the Bionic Ear
Institute (BEI), led by Professor Rob
Shepherd and Associate Professor
Chris Williams, have been working on
pre-clinical safety trials which include
developing the wide-view electrode
array in collaboration with UNSW, and a
high-density array in collaboration with
NICTA and the University of Melbourne.
BEI is conducting surgical safety trials
with CERA in addition to chronic
passive materials and active stimulation
trials. BEI has also been carrying out
electrophysiological studies conducted to
determine efficacy of the bionic eye.
NICTA
NICTA (National ICT Australia),
Australia’s Information and
Communications Technology (ICT)
Centre of Excellence, is working on the
vision processing aspect of the bionic
eye. This is one of the key components
of the bionic eye as it enables efficient
encoding of high resolution images into
a set of stimulation signals on a retinal
implant. The wireless communication of
information, required to make the bionic
eye a success, is another research focus
of NICTA, and the team are currently
working on a radio transmitter that is
able to conduct data put on glasses and
send it wirelessly to coils which are
implanted in the eye.
University of Melbourne’s
Department of Electrical and
Electronic Engineering
Researchers from the University of
Melbourne’s Department of Electrical
and Electronic Engineering, in
collaboration with (NICTA), are
developing the neurostimulator device
so that it has ten times the resolution of
the existing prototypes. It is anticipated
that the device will provide enough vision
to read large print, further aid mobility
and recognise faces. It is anticipated that
the first chip will be fabricated in August
of this year, with the chip being ready
by October. Work is also underway to
develop an electrical stimulation strategy
suitable for the high-acuity electrode.
This will optimise the type of visual
experience that the patient will receive by
providing an interface with the surviving
nerves in the retina.
The gift of sight
17
20. In what will be the biggest
brain research centre in the Southern
Hemisphere, the new Melbourne Brain
Centre will help treat and prevent
common brain disorders that affect
millions suffering from conditions such
as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s
disease, and others.
The Melbourne Brain Centre is a
collaboration between the University of
Melbourne, the Mental Health Research
Institute, the Florey Neuroscience
Institutes, Austin Health and Melbourne
Health.
The Centre will comprise two new state-
of-the-art research facilities located at the
University of Melbourne in Parkville and
the Austin Hospital in Heidelberg.
The new facilities will accommodate
over 700 staff and include laboratories,
research offices, magnetic resonance
imaging suites and a brain bank.
Together with the Centre for Translational
Neuroscience at the Royal Melbourne
Hospital, the Centre will provide latest
bench research to leading clinical bedside
care.
Neurodegenerative research conducted
by world-leading researchers within the
collaboration is revealing promising targets
for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases.
The Alzheimer’s research group led by
the Mental Health Research Institute and
University of Melbourne, along with its
international collaborators, are in the top
five per cent of research in the field in the
world.
Laureate Professor Colin Masters is
Executive Director, Mental Health
Research Institute (MHRI) and Laureate
Professor at the University of Melbourne.
He and his team of 65 researchers are
working to develop an effective treatment
for Alzheimer’s disease. At the same time
they are searching for a biomarker that
will allow the diagnosis of the disease
long before symptoms appear.
Professor Masters says in the next five
years they expect these goals to be a
reality.
“We already know that substantial
damage has been done to the brain before
people display symptoms of Alzheimer’s
disease.
“So it is important that we find a means
to diagnose the illness early enough
for any drug that is developed to be
effective,” he said.
A central problem in Alzheimer’s
disease research is to understand how
the nerve cells deteriorate as the disease
progresses. The accumulation of the Aß
amyloid protein is the principal marker
of the disease, but the exact form of this
molecule which causes damage to the
nerve cell synapses is yet to be identified.
It is anticipated this research will result
in a greater understanding of how the Aß
protein behaves in Alzheimer’s disease.
This information can then be utilised
to design disease-specific drug-based
therapies.
Current research is advancing
understanding of the mechanism of a
novel class of compound which includes
PBT2, a drug undergoing clinical trials
for Alzheimer’s disease.
Parkinson’s disease is the second most
common neurodegenerative disorder,
affecting one per cent of the population
over age 65.
Research led by Professor Mal Horne at
the Florey Neurosciences Institutes in
conjunction with MHRI and University
of Melbourne, is investigating the
specific protein a-synuclein that is closely
implicated with the cause of Parkinson’s
disease.
Studies have revealed there is a direct
correlation between a high or abnormal
level of this protein is typically expressed
in the blood of patients who have the
disease.
“As a result of our collaborative effort, we
have developed a method for measuring
a-synuclein levels in blood. This is an
ELISA method and uses a new antibody
developed expressly for this purpose,”
Professor Horne says.
“We hope this will develop in the next
few years into a clinical biomarker for the
prediction of the onset of the disease, but
there is still a lot we don’t know.
“It is through collaborative research with
our world-leading partnerships that we
will be able to answer a number of these
questions.”
New Melbourne Brain Cent
targets neurodegenerative d
By Rebecca Scott
RESEARCH REVIEW 2010
18
21. tre
diseases
“Parkinson’s disease is the second
most common neurodegenerative
disorder, affecting one per cent
of the population over age 65.”
19
23. Bushfire is an integral part of the
Australian landscape, but to live with fire
we need to understand more about it. Dr
Kevin Tolhurst from the School of Land
and Environment spent last summer
trialling Phoenix RapidFire, a predictive
bushfire mapping program designed to
help reduce the impact of bushfires.
“Information is power,” says Dr Tolhurst.
And his belief is evident from the
30 years he has spent studying and
communicating bushfire behaviour and
management.
Dr Tolhurst first experienced bushfire
as a firefighting crew member, a
communications officer and fire
controller at the Forests Commission
Victoria, before becoming a senior
lecturer in fire ecology in the Department
of Forest and Ecosystem Science at the
University of Melbourne.
“Fire management is a massively complex
task, compounded by time pressures,”
says Dr Tolhurst.
“Our aim for Phoenix RapidFire was
to design a program to help determine
where best to send resources to minimise
a fire’s effects, and to quantify how
decisions made by fire agencies can
change the progression of fires. We also
wanted to provide a better basis for public
warning systems, enabling people to be
as self-reliant as possible.”
Intended for use by fire agencies, land
managers, town and land planners
and policy makers, the program was
developed by Dr Tolhurst and Mr Derek
Chong from the Department of Forest
and Ecosystem Science, as part of a
Bushfire CRC project with additional
funding from the Department of
Sustainability and Environment.
Dr Tolhurst sees fire as a whole landscape
issue, so Phoenix RapidFire has been
designed to show the progression of
fire across an entire state, and not just
a local area. In this way the limited
fire suppression resources can be
most effectively allocated to reduce the
impact of fire. The program also enables
managers to better predict when and
where fires may join up and produce fire
storms, as occurred on Black Saturday.
The team implemented the program
during the Victorian bushfire season
over the 2009/10 summer, where it
was run in the State Control Centre.
Every fire reported was modelled for six
hours ahead to provide a basis for public
warnings and for setting firefighting
priorities. On days of Extreme fire
weather, a cluster of 10 computers was
used to simulate thousands of fires
across the State to identify areas of high
potential house loss.
The program generates a coloured
map of the state in a grid with a visual
representation of the bushfire moving
across the landscape. The fire’s potential
is predicted using a wide variety of
inputs including fire history of the area,
topography (height and slope of the
ground), fuel types (such as vegetation),
road proximity and fire breaks.
The impact of the fire is then predicted
based on the fire characteristics and the
values and assets in the landscape, such
as houses. For example under different
situations, the probability of house loss
may be 10, 100 or 1000, which is shown
graphically.
“Although other fire behaviour models
exist, Phoenix RapidFire is unique in the
world because of its ability to respond
to dynamic or changing factors in the
environment such as the weather, fuel
and suppression resources.”
Dr Tolhurst is now analysing the
simulations run during last summer but
has had a good initial response from State
Duty Officers and the State Controller,
who say the program was helpful for
decision making. The program was
run before a fire event using forecast
conditions and then again after it using
the actual inputs and timings from the
day. The results to date have been very
encouraging.
21
24. Photo by Louis Porter
“Places are complex entities
not necessarily defined
by a physical structure...”
RESEARCH REVIEW 2010
22
25. Creating or making a sense of place
is the central aspect of design for most
architects, but it’s not always an easy
task, according to a research team from
the University’s Faculty of Architecture,
Building and Planning.
“Places are complex entities, not
necessarily defined by a physical
structure or geographic location. Because
of this, the ways of making a ‘place’ are
many and diverse,” says Dr Janet McGaw,
a senior lecturer in architecture design
and practice.
The concept and design of places,
particularly for Melbourne’s Indigenous
community, is the focus of an Australian
Research Council-funded project
involving the University and partner
organisations Melbourne City Council,
Reconciliation Victoria and the Victorian
Traditional Owners Land Justice Group
(VTOLJG).
Dr McGaw and University of Melbourne
colleagues Dr Anoma Pieris and
Emeritus Professor Graham Brawn, as
well as Dr Emily Potter from Deakin
University, are beginning the three-year
$243,000 study examining Indigenous
culture and identity in Melbourne, and
how this contributes to making a place of
belonging and cultural exchange for and
with Indigenous Australians in the city.
The inspiration came from an idea to
challenge a group of Masters students.
“I was teaching a Master of Architecture
design studio in 2008 and was looking
for a complex urban project for my
students to tackle. Through a series of
coincidental connections I discovered
that Gary Murray (VTOLJG) had been
promoting the idea of a major civic
precinct for Aboriginal contemporary
culture.
“He agreed to brief my students about
his dream and to educate them about
Aboriginal history and culture in
Victoria, and the idea grew from there.”
Dr McGaw observes that while non-
Indigenous Australian histories of place-
making have proved largely damaging
to Indigenous places and their cultural,
socioeconomic and political significance,
a range of innovative projects and
practices have sought to locate the
intersection of these place-making
histories, and to find a collaborative
common ground designed to ‘make place’
in non-destructive, ethically guided, and
politically effective ways.
As part of a campaign to further the
ideas of Indigenous place-making in
central Melbourne Dr McGaw and Dr
Pieris organised a symposium at the end
of June to hear from Indigenous and
non-Indigenous experts from around the
world about their experiences of making
place, as well as continuing discussions
around Melbourne as the host of a
Victorian Indigenous Cultural Education
and Knowledge Centre.
“The aim of such a precinct would be to
centralise Aboriginal cultural activities
in a more visible and inclusive way than
currently exists. For example Bunjilaka
at the Museum of Melbourne holds a
very significant collection, but is on the
outskirts of the city,” says Dr McGaw.
“The VTOLJG’s hope is to bring together
contemporary culture, knowledge
and education into the civic heart of
Melbourne and on the edge of the Yarra.
“How such a centre may work,
particularly given issues such as the
diversity within the Victorian Aboriginal
community and the proposed location
on Wurundjeri land, and what stories
the centre may tell, are key to these
discussions.”
Indigenous identity
in Melbourne
By David Scott
23
26. A multidisciplinary research team
is producing the first comprehensive
national analysis of the continuity and
variation of Australian children’s playlore
from the 1950s to the present.
“The project makes a major contribution
to international play and cultural heritage
studies, and to Australian histories of
childhood,” said the project’s leading
chief investigator, Professor Kate Darian-
Smith, from the Australian Centre,
School of Historical Studies, at the
University of Melbourne.
“We have conducted fieldwork
documentation at primary schools
across Australia, looking at children’s
play activities at lunch and recess. Our
analysis compares and contrasts previous
playlore research in Australia, so we can
construct longitudinal cultural ‘maps’
of children’s play within their wider
demographic, social and environmental
contexts,” she said.
Do children still play the way they used
to? “Yes and no”, says Professor
Darian-Smith (pictured below).
“We’ve found continuity
over time in traditional
play such as clapping and
skipping rhymes, forms of
running games like
‘Chasey’ and in the
children’s capacity
for imaginative
play,” she says.
“But there have been changes over time
as children’s playlore adapts to new
technologies, and as the attitudes of
education authorities and schools towards
play, and the physical space of the
playground, have altered.”
The research project is funded by the
Australian Research Council over four
years (2006–10). A research team of
scholars of international repute, in
partnership with the National Library
of Australia and Museum Victoria, has
developed an innovative approach to
the examination of a diverse range of
materials, which includes aural, visual,
object-based, textual and archival
resources about Australian playlore
now and in the past. It will draw on
important studies of children’s play
carried out in schools in the 1950s,
70s, 80s and 90s. Information on play
traditions has also been gathered from
teachers and the wider community.
The project is based at the University
of Melbourne, where Professor Darian-
Smith is joined by the noted children’s
folklorist Dr June Factor and project
officer Dr Nikki Henningham. The
research team also includes Professor
William Logan and Dr Gwenda Davey at
Deakin University and Professor Graham
Seal at Curtin University of Technology.
Both the National Library of Australia
and Museum Victoria have extensive
historical collections of children’s playlore
that are of world significance, and have
been industry active partners in the
project.
“Australia has been an international
leader in playlore research,” explains
Professor Darian-Smith.
“Earlier studies have enabled a unique
historical analysis of children’s play,
looking at such issues as cultural
diversity within the school playground,”
she says.
“There is global interest in many issues
related to children’s play: the impact of
technology on children’s physical activity,
increased childhood obesity, and broader
social attitudes towards children and risk-
taking play.
“Our multidisciplinary research is of
international significance in addressing
such concerns.”
Project outcomes have already included
numerous scholarly articles, conference
papers and public forums, and the
development of the Australian playlore
collections at the National Library of
Australia and Museum Victoria. The
research materials have been entered into
a large database, and are currently being
analysed by the team, who aim to produce
further publications, including a book.
The research will also provide evidence
to assist the Australian Government
and UNESCO in identifying significant
intangible cultural heritage in Australia.
For further information see:
www.australian.unimelb.edu.au/CTC
Child’s play
By Silvia Dropulich
Schoolgirls play a game of Kuncklebones at
a Melbourne school, 1955. Source Museum
Victoria. Photographer Dorothy Howard.
RESEARCH REVIEW 2010
24
27. Vision
To be one of the finest universities in the world.
History
The University of Melbourne has been a centre of learning since 1855.
The main Parkville campus on the edge of Melbourne’s CBD is a focus
of the City’s ‘Knowledge Precinct’ and the prestigious medical research
‘Parkville Strip’.
Melbourne is a leading research university, widely renowned for its
teaching, research achievements and social and economic contributions.
The University’s performance in international rankings puts it at the
forefront of higher education in the Asia-Pacific and beyond.
Times Higher Education QS,
World University Rankings (2009)
++ No. 36 in the world
++ The only Australian university to rank in the top 30 in all five core
subject areas, with three subject areas ranked in the top 20
++ Ranked No. 17 for Arts Humanities; No. 29 for Engineering and IT;
No. 13 for Life Sciences Biomedicine; No. 23 for Natural Sciences; and
No. 20 for Social Sciences
++ No. 6 in the world and the leading Australian university as ranked by
employers
Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 2009,
Academic Ranking of World Universities
++ No. 6 in the Asia-Pacific region
++ No. 75 worldwide
Locations
Main campus: Parkville. Other campuses: The VCA and Music campus
at Southbank, Bio21 Institute, Hawthorn, Burnley, Dookie, Werribee,
Creswick, Shepparton.
Research and Research Training
++ The University has consistently ranked first or second on all major
national research indicators of income, publications, research higher
degree (RHD) load and RHD completions since 1996.
++ In 2009, the University again received the highest allocation of Federal
Government funds awarded on the basis of research performance
through the Research Block Grant (RBG). The University gained
$147.7 million from the RBG comprising: Institutional Grants
Scheme funding ($36.4 million); Research Training Scheme funding
($68.2 million); Research Infrastructure Block Grants Scheme
funding ($29.1 million); Australian Postgraduate Awards funding
($13.5 million); and Commercialisation Training Scheme funding
($0.6 million).
The University at a glance
Facts and Figures
Category 2008 2009
Median ENTER Student 93.9 94.1
Student Enrolments (EFTSL)
Total Load (EFTSL) 35,474 35,909
Research Higher Degree 3,167 3,186
Postgraduate Coursework 6,742 7,404
Undergraduate 25,565 25,320
% Female Enrolment 55.3% 54.3%
International Load (EFTSL) 9,895 10,133
% International 27.9% 28.2%
Award Completions
Research Higher Degree (excl Higher Doct) 720 770
PG Coursework 4,512 4,699
Undergraduate 8,038 7,939
Total 13,270 13,408
Staff (FTE) (March, including casuals excluding TAFE)
Academic (All) 3,326 3,347
Professionals (All) 3,964 3,978
Total 7,289 7,325
Student:Staff Ratio (August)
TR Faculty Staff 17.9 17.8
All Academic Faculty Staff 10.8 10.9
Research Expenditure ($ million) $708.8 764.5 (est)
Research Performance Indicators
Research Income ($ million) 382.5(1) 363.7 (prel)*
Research Publications 4,317(1) 4,565 (est)
Research Load (EFTSL) 3,168(1) 3,186
Research Completions (eligible)** 720(1) 770 (est)
Numbers in brackets are Melbourne’s National Rank, based on the proportion of the national total for each category.
* Includes all income deemed eligible under the HERDC Regulations.
** Eligible completions means those included in RTS Formula; excludes Higher Doctorates by Publication.
Two-year Statistics (Financial)
Category 2008 2009
Financial Data ($ million)
Consolidated Income 1,530.6 1,588.2
Consolidated Expenditure* 1,776.3 1,545.1
Net Result before Income Tax -245.7 43.1
Net Result after Income Tax -245.7 43.1
Sources of Income (%)
Australian Government Recurrent Financial Assistance** 22.4 22.8
Other Australian Government Financial Assistance*** 24.0 19.4
HECS-HELP (Government and Student Payments) 7.6 7.8
State Government Financial Assistance 3.3 2.7
Fees and Charges and Other Income 32.8 31.7
Investment Income 5.5 9.5
Grants, Donations and Bequests 4.4 6.1
Total 100.0 100.0
* Includes impairment of Available-for-Sale Financial Assets.
** Australian Government Recurrent Financial Assistance includes Commonwealth Grants Scheme,
Institutional Grants Scheme, Research Training Scheme and Research Infrastructure Block Grants.
*** Includes FEE-HELP.
NOTES:
1. Following a review of the University’s accounting of its investment portfolio, in 2008, the University reported
that it had adopted a different interpretation to the accounting standard in relation to gains and losses upon
de-recognition of Available-for-Sale Financial Assets. This resulted in the overstatement of the Available-for-Sale
Revaluation reserve and understatement of Investment Income. The 2007 comparatives were restated to reflect the
new accounting treatment.
2. The University has a policy of deferring as a liability Government grants which have outstanding performance or
return conditions in accordance with AASB 118 Revenue. Prior to 2008, only Government grants from the Australian
Research Council (ARC), National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and a small number of large
grants were deferred. A review was undertaken in 2008 of all Research Grants which has resulted in an increase
to the Income in Advance liability. The 2007 comparatives were restated to reflect the deferral of all reciprocal
research grants.
25
28. RESEARCH NEWS
Who are we
sharing the
planet with?
Research centre to
build green networks
and technologies
The University of Melbourne, Alcatel-Lucent’s research
arm, Bell Labs, and the State Government today launched a
$10 million Centre for Energy-Efficient Telecommunications
(CEET). The Centre, to be based at the University, will focus on
increasing the energy efficiency of networks and technologies.
Professor Rod Tucker from the University of Melbourne’s
Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering says that to
team up with Bell Labs, world-renowned for its ability to generate
breakthrough innovations, is an exciting step for the University.
The Centre will conduct research on a broad range of
telecommunications network infrastructure elements, and
will focus on how these elements can be made
more energy-efficient. CEET will draw
on Bell Labs’ decades of achieving
breakthrough innovations and its
extensive experience in managing
collaborative research projects as well
as on the University’s own world-class
research in telecommunications network
infrastructure.
Both the University of Melbourne and Bell
Labs are members of the GreenTouch™
initiative, a global, industry-wide consortium
formed to improve energy efficiency by
driving a radical redesign of communications
networks. Accordingly, the research activities
undertaken by the Centre will be used to further the
GreenTouch initiative and its objectives.
New calculations reveal that the number
of species on Earth is likely to be in the order of
several million rather than tens of millions. The
findings, from a University of Melbourne-led
study, are based on a new method of estimating
tropical insect species – the largest and one of the
most difficult groups on the planet to study – and
have significant implications for conservation
efforts.
Dr Andrew Hamilton from the University of
Melbourne’s School of Land and Environment
and a team of international researchers have
applied probability modelling techniques (models
often used in financial risk estimates) to data
from numerous previous studies. They found
that there is a 90 per cent chance that there is
somewhere between 2 and 7 million tropical
arthropod species, with a best estimate of 3.7
million.
With the addition of approximately 50,000
vertebrates (birds, mammals, amphibians and
reptiles), 400,000 plants and possibly 1.3 million
other organisms (mostly microorganisms, but
excluding the bacteria about which we know
very little), this leaves us with a best estimate of
around 5.5 million species with whom we share
planet Earth. Furthermore, the study found that
there is less than a 0.001 per cent chance that
the often-quoted value of at least 30 million total
species is true.
RESEARCH REVIEW 2010
26
29. NHMRC awards the
University of Melbourne
more than $35 Million to
improve human health
Thousands of children
part of ambitious early
childhood study
The University of Melbourne has been
awarded more than $35 million to improve the lives of
people suffering Alzheimer’s disease, epilepsy, knee
osteoarthritis and bacterial infections.
The funding is part of $150 million allocated by the
Federal Government in prestigious NHMRC Program
Grants to boost the nation’s health and medical
research efforts.
University of Melbourne researchers Professor Sam
Berkovic, a world leader in the field of neurobiology
and epilepsy research, received $16.4 million and
Professor Colin Masters, renowned for his advances
in treatments for Alzheimer’s disease, received
$14 million.
They are two out of several University of Melbourne
medical researchers who have been awarded grants as
either chief or principal investigators.
More than 2,500 three-year-olds attending over 250 education and
care services in Victoria and Queensland are now part of Australia’s
largest-ever early childhood education study. The study is partly funded
by a $2.2m Linkage Grant from the Australian Research Council (ARC),
the largest ARC grant ever awarded to an education study.
The E4Kids study, led by the University of Melbourne’s Graduate
School of Education in partnership with the Queensland University
of Technology, the Queensland and Victorian Governments, Royal
Children’s Hospital (Melbourne), the University of Toronto and the
Institute of Education, London, aims to help improve early childhood
education and care in Australia.
Fifty researchers started working with children attending a wide range of
childcare settings at the end of March. The five-year international study
will explore how Australian early childhood education and care programs
contribute to children’s learning and development. The results will inform
the $3.3 billion invested annually in early childhood education and care.
27
30. The complex lives
of bubbles revealed
The mystery surrounding what happens when bubbles collide has
finally been busted. In research led by the University of Melbourne,
and recently published online in the Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a team of chemical engineers, chemists
and mathematicians have united to measure the force between bubbles
during a collision.
Associate Professor Raymond Dagastine from the Particulate Fluids
Processing Centre (PFPC) in the Department of Chemical and
Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Melbourne says knowledge
of how bubbles move and collide will impact numerous industries.
“By understanding how bubbles bounce off each other and mould
together, we will be able to improve things like the stability of ice-cream
and the stability of bubbles in champagne,” he says.
The force between bubbles during collision was previously too small
to measure, however thanks to advances in technology such as nano-
fabrication facilities and the Atomic Force Microscope, the team were able
to study bubbles colliding at various speeds. The project also included
researchers from IMRE, IHPC and ICES in Singapore.
Sustainable
businesses
Australian businesses will
need to engage in sustainability
reporting in the future to remain
competitive, according to a new
report.
The report, entitled People.Productivity. Planet – Business Sustainability
Report, is the biggest Australian survey on business leader and employee
attitudes to sustainability reporting, and was conducted by the Nossal
Institute for Global Health at the University of Melbourne, Beaton and
WellmarkPerspexa.
Sustainable business practice covers five major areas of operations –
environment, community and social, workplace practices, marketplace
and business conduct, and ethical governance. More than 10,000 leaders
and employees in a range of Australian businesses and industries
participated in the survey.
Dr George Beaton, Executive Chairman of Beaton Research and
Consulting and Executive Director of WellmarkPerspexa, said the results
demonstrated the huge latent potential for sustainability reporting in
Australia – the will is there, but a substantial proportion of organisations
are yet to find the way.
Associate Professor Grant Blashki of the Nossal Institute for Global
Health at the University of Melbourne, Professor Danny Samson of the
Department of Management and Marketing in the University’s Faculty
of Business and Economics and Ms Maia Gould of Beaton coauthored
the report.
RESEARCH REVIEW 2010
28
31. Melting sea ice has been shown to be
a major cause of warming in the Arctic,
according to a University of Melbourne
study. Findings published recently in Nature
reveal the rapid melting of sea ice has
dramatically increased the levels of warming
in the region in the last two decades.
Lead author Dr James Screen of the School of
Earth Sciences at the University of Melbourne
says the increased Arctic warming was due to
a positive feedback between sea ice melting
and atmospheric warming.
“The sea ice acts like a shiny lid on the
Arctic Ocean. When it is heated, it reflects
most of the incoming sunlight back into
space. When the sea ice melts, more heat is
absorbed by the water. The warmer water
then heats the atmosphere above it.”
“What we found is this feedback system has
warmed the atmosphere at a faster rate than
it would otherwise,” he says.
University
researchers
publish
landmark
book
Two University academics
have published a new book that
assesses economic reforms in
China over the past 30 years.
Associate Professor Ying Zhu and
Professor Michael Webber from
the University of Melbourne, in
collaboration with John Benson
(University of South Australia),
are the authors of Everyday Impact
of Economic Reform in China:
Management Change, Enterprise
Performance and Daily Life.
The book is the product of work
completed as part of an ARC
Discovery Grant awarded to the
team for the 2003– 05 period and
showcases the authors’ many years
of collaboration on the study of
economic reform, management,
and the rural and urban workforce
in China.
Melting sea ice major
cause of warming
in Arctic, new study
reveals
29
32. Professor Richard
Sinnott appointed new
eResearch Director
Leading computer scientist Professor Richard O. Sinnott
has been appointed as the eResearch Director for the University of
Melbourne. Professor Sinnott will work in the University’s Research
portfolio and also hold an adjunct appointment in the Department of
Computer Science and Software Engineering. He will take over the
Directorship from Professor Leon Sterling, who held the position from
July 2007 to December 2009.
eResearch is a critical enabler for strengthening multidisciplinary
research and collaboration between researchers nationally and around
the globe. The University of Melbourne plays a major role in a number
of national and global eResearch projects. For example, the University’s
School of Physics is one of only two Australian university departments
to be involved in the Geneva-based Large Hadron Collider and the Atlas
Experiment delving into high energy particle physics and the beginnings
of the universe.
Victorian Life Sciences to
benefit from University
of Melbourne and
IBM Partnership
Victorian life sciences researchers
will benefit from a partnership between the
University of Melbourne and IBM announced
earlier this year by the Premier of Victoria, the
Hon. John Brumby.
The partnership will dramatically increase the
research and supercomputing capabilities of
the University of Melbourne-led Victorian Life
Sciences Computation Initiative (VLSCI).
The Victorian Government and the University
established the $100 million VLSCI in 2008
to strengthen the research capabilities and
outcomes of Victorian life sciences research.
Under the partnership, IBM will establish an
IBM Collaboratory with leading life sciences and
computational specialists at the University of
Melbourne.
It is the first time IBM has established a
collaboratory in life sciences anywhere in
the world and it is the first IBM research
collaboratory in the southern hemisphere.
RESEARCH REVIEW 2010
30
33. Butterflies are emerging in spring
over 10 days earlier than they did 65
years ago, a shift that has been linked
to regional human-induced climate
change in a University of Melbourne-
led study. The work reveals for the first
time a causal link between increasing
greenhouse gases, regional warming and
the change in timing of a natural event.
The study found that over a 65-year
period, the mean emergence date for
adults of the Common Brown butterfly
(Heteronympha merope) has shifted 1.6
days earlier per decade in Melbourne.
The findings are unique because the
early emergence is causally linked
with a simultaneous increase in air
temperatures around Melbourne of
approximately 0.14°C per decade, and this
warming is shown to be human-induced
(anthropogenic).
Lead author of the study, Dr Michael
Kearney from the Department of
Zoology, University of Melbourne, says
the findings could help our ability to
forecast future impacts of climate change
on biodiversity.
The butterfly emergence work was
conducted by Dr Kearney and PhD
student Natalie Briscoe. Professor David
Karoly from the School of Earth Sciences,
University of Melbourne contributed
the climate modelling work. Co-authors
include Dr Warren Porter (University of
Wisconsin) and Drs Melanie Norgate and
Paul Sunnucks from Monash University.
The study was funded by an Australian
Research Council grant to Monash,
Melbourne and Wisconsin Universities.
First study to link earlier butterfly
emergence with climate change
31
34. Melbourne Neuroscience
Institute
The newest institute to be added to the
University of Melbourne’s stable of cross-
disciplinary research institutes is the
Melbourne Neuroscience Institute. MNI
will focus the University’s neuroscience
research activities to optimise productivity
and impact, increase funding for research
in this area and enable more efficient use of
existing facilities and infrastructure. The
institute will be responsible for enhancing
interdisciplinarity in neuroscience through
stewardship of cross-faculty activities which
involve collaboration with researchers from
areas such as Engineering, Optometry
and Vision Sciences, Ophthalmology, Law,
Economics, and Social Sciences. It will provide
an international neuroscience research-based
focus that will attract and retain talented
researchers from around the world in addition
to the best postdoctoral researchers and
research higher degree students; develop new
research ventures to address significant gaps
in the University’s knowledge base in the
neurosciences; and enhance the University’s
connectivity with the community and with
key stakeholders in order to optimise research
outcomes and knowledge transfer and
maximise the translation of neuroscience
research to clinical outcomes. Endeavours
that MNI is already supporting include the
Centre for Neural Engineering, the soon to
be launched Centre for Music, Mind and
WellBeing and a multidisciplinary stem cell
initiative.
The Institute will work through a small core
unit that will draw together key researchers
and administrators whose activities will
be enhanced to meet a broader objective;
namely to promote interdisciplinary
research in the neurosciences across the
University of Melbourne. The core unit
will create opportunities for links between
the University’s researchers in areas such
as diseases of the brain and mind, social
context, and health costs, thus strengthening
University-wide responsiveness to
neuroscience-related matters. The Institute
will also provide a focused opportunity to
collaborate with institutional, hospital and
commercial partners, in order to maximise
research outcomes, facilitate knowledge
transfer and strengthen the standing of
the University of Melbourne as a leader in
research in the neurosciences nationally and
internationally. Professor Trevor Kilpatrick,
a world-renowned MS researcher, has been
appointed as the inaugural director for this
initiative.
The Institute for a Broadband-
Enabled Society
The activities of the Institute for a Broadband-
Enabled Society (IBES) cover a wide range
of fields and since its inception in July 2009
IBES has fostered collaborative research ideas
across a wide range of disciplines, including
education and learning; health and wellbeing;
network deployment and economics; social
infrastructure and communities; and service
and business transformation.
The Institute was established as a cross-
disciplinary research institute at the University
of Melbourne dedicated to aligning research
and industry interests to drive innovation in
broadband applications and deliver seamless
experiences for the benefit of Australian
society.
A key component of IBES is its research and
development Test-Bed in which broadband
technologies, services, and applications will
be designed, tested, and evaluated. The Test-
Bed will enable researchers and industry
partners to test new ideas on real broadband
equipment, and participate in collaborative
research focused on practical outcomes of
direct relevance to the National Broadband
Network (NBN).
The Industry Partner Program is another
key distinguishing factor between IBES and
other communications institutes and centres
in Australia. It provides a neutral ground for
discussions and debate on issues relating to
Broadband in Australia, between industry
stakeholders and researchers. IBES has over
15 industry partners including Alcatel-Lucent,
Cisco, Huawei and Hybrid TV Services
amongst others.
IEBS already has a number of collaborations
underway with its industry partners,
including a new global research consortium
called the GreenTouch™. This initiative aims
to bring together leading Information and
Communications Technology (ICT) industry
players and researchers to fundamentally
re-invent telecommunications networks
and reduce their energy consumption. This
work recognises the world leading research
underway at IBES, which is investigating
ways to reduce the energy consumption of the
internet.
Related to this is the recently announced
collaboration between Alcatel-Lucent’s
research arm, Bell Labs, the University
of Melbourne and the Victorian State
Government, who are teaming up to
establish the $10 million Centre for Energy-
Efficient Telecommunications (CEET) at the
University of Melbourne that will be devoted
to innovation in energy-efficient networks and
technologies. CEET will conduct research on
a broad range of telecommunications network
infrastructure elements and will focus on how
those elements can be made more energy-
efficient. This is an important objective in
light of the exponential growth in the usage
of those networks that is resulting in a rapid
increase in energy consumption.
Update on Institutes
RESEARCH REVIEW 2010
32
35. A Global Research Powerhouse
The Melbourne Materials
Institute
The Melbourne Materials Institute (MMI)
has been instrumental in driving successful
partnerships with innovative organisations
such as Bionic Vision Australia, where the
Institute’s work is focused on developing
an advanced retinal prosthesis, and Better
Place, which is focused on preparing our
infrastructure for the mass adoption of
electric vehicles.
Such collaborations provide the basis for new
industries, which will arise from fundamental
advances in materials and processing.
Advances and innovations in materials
science are essential if we are to solve the great
problems of our century in communications,
medicine, energy and sustainability.
“These problems are big, complicated, and
multifaceted, and research on such large
public issues cannot be tackled effectively by
researchers working within single disciplines,”
says Professor Steven Prawer, Director of
MMI. “As these problems are driven by
external needs, they require large-scale,
sophisticated interdisciplinary responses.”
The aim of the Institute is to work with
key partners to provide breakthroughs in
fundamental science that will answer these
questions.
Two emerging partnerships being driven by
the MIM are with CSIRO and DSTO. The first
came about through a shared recognition that
the materials challenges require a critical
research mass capable of bridging both
organisations. MMI is bridging this by co-
funding and co-supervising six PhD students
in the materials science and engineering
fields. The second partnership emerged
through DSTO being charged with a ten-year
plan to ‘future-proof’ Australia’s defence.
Although a series of individual research
projects exist with the university, DSTO saw
the value of a coordinated approach.
Melbourne Sustainable Society
Institute
Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute
(MSSI) is a portal and platform for
sustainability research at the University of
Melbourne. In 2010 MSSI hosted numerous
overseas academics and government leaders,
facilitated the University’s delegation to COP15
and put on influential forums such as a
roundtable with diplomats, academics and key
journalists, ‘After Copenhagen: The Future
of Climate Change Politics and Policy after
the United Nations Climate Summit’. MSSI’s
Melbourne Academy for Sustainability is in its
first year, and provides new opportunities for
sustainability leadership for research higher
degree students.
MSSI in conjunction with Murrup Barak
sponsored an Australian Youth Climate
Coalition Indigenous representative to the
COP15. National Climate Change Adaptation
Research Network (Social Economic and
Institutional Dimensions) is announcing its
first funding call. Victorian Centre for Climate
Change Adaptation Research has provided
$954,000 of Victorian Government funding
for think tanks and climate change research.
A Campus Sustainability Centre to
showcase University of Melbourne research,
teaching and operational achievements is in
development, in collaboration with Property
and Campus Services and the Office for
Environmental Programs. Some of 2010’s
notable grants to university sustainability
researchers are on: water security, networked
irrigation control, the link between chemical
weather and climate, configuring low
carbon cities in China, remote sensing of
soil moisture, green roofs and catchment
management.
Murrup Barak, Melbourne
Institute for Indigenous
Development
Knowledge is a key plank in Indigenous
development, according to Professor Ian
Anderson, director of the Murrup Barak,
Melbourne Institute for Indigenous
Development.
The Institute was established in 2009 to
coordinate activities across the University in
Indigenous learning and teaching, research
and knowledge exchange. Its purpose is to
strengthen the University’s partnerships with
Indigenous communities, and, importantly,
boost Indigenous staff and student numbers
across the University.
Approximately 200 University of Melbourne
academics cite an involvement in Indigenous
studies among their research and teaching
activities.
The University has five formal programs
which contribute to Indigenous studies
and research: the Centre for Indigenous
Education; Onemda VicHealth Koori Health
Unit within the School of Population Health;
the Wilin Centre for Indigenous Arts and
Cultural Development within the Faculty of
the VCA and Music; Australian Indigenous
Studies within the School of Culture and
Communication in the Faculty of Arts; and
the Academy of Sport, Health and Education
based in Shepparton, a partnership between
the Graduate School of Education and the
Rumbalara Football and Netball Club.
The Institute, whose name means ‘the spirit
of Barak’ in the Woiwurung language,
honours the memory of visionary leader
William Barak.
33
36. CRICOS:00116K
www.unimelb.edu.au/graduateresearch
Graduate Research Training.
Join Australia’s Best.
The University of Melbourne is seeking high calibre PhD students to contribute to projects
at the forefront of international research.
As one of Australia’s leading research universities, at the University of Melbourne you will
become part of a dynamic research community, working alongside the best and brightest
researchers and students in the country.
Our generous scholarship programs provide students with financial support and
opportunities for international fieldwork and travel.
To find out more about undertaking a graduate research degree at Melbourne,
visit www.unimelb.edu.au/graduateresearch
