Curtin research secures $1.4m ARC funding

Curtin University will get new equipment to support space and health research after receiving $1.4 million in government funding through the Australian Research Council (ARC).

The grant forms part of the $30.7 million dedicated to fund 47 new research projects under ARC’s Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities 2020 scheme.

Three projects led by Curtin University were successful in the latest round of the scheme.

The Curtin Health Innovation Research Institute will receive a $620,000 grant to establish the state’s only high-speed confocal microscopy facility, which Curtin said would provide the team of researchers with access to contemporary, state-of-the-art equipment.

A further $610,000 will go to the Curtin School of Earth and Planetary Sciences and the John de Laeter Centre to provide a mass spectrometer for the research of dust and rock samples collected from space.

A third grant, of $250,000, will go to the Curtin Institute of Radio Astronomy and the International Centre of Radio Astronomy Research to build a particle detector array for the Murchison Widefield Array radio telescope, used to study the origin of cosmic rays.

Education Minister Dan Tehan said the funding would enable the university to conduct world-leading research.

“The research done by our universities can lead to the development of new products and innovations that drive job growth, business opportunities and productivity gains,” he said.

Industry, Science and Technology Minister Karen Andrews said the investment would also help achieve the government’s goal of growing a dynamic space industry in Australia.

“This announcement adds to the $600 million the coalition has already committed to our space sector, including $150 million to grow opportunities for Australian businesses to join the supply chain for NASA’s Moon to Mars mission,” she said.