WA wins $28.6m in research funding

Researchers at Western Australian universities have secured 8 per cent of grants in the latest round of national research funding, which has allocated a total of $357 million.

A total of $28.6 million has been awarded in federal government grants to WA, with the University of Western Australia receiving $17.8 million, Curtin University $9.8 million, Murdoch University $509,000, and The University of Notre Dame Australia $439,000.

Edith Cowan University was not awarded any research funding.

In the latest round of funding, as previously, WA has secured less than its per capita share, which would be a little over 10 per cent.

In all, 69 projects in WA received funding, compared with one in the Northern Territory (worth $397,000), and 282 in New South Wales (collectively worth $106.6m).

Standout grants in WA included $1 million to researchers at Curtin to build a second phase of the astronomy project, the Murchison widefield array, and $372,000 to Murdoch University’sWei Xu for his work developing environmentally safer insect pest control strategies.

The $357 million delivered as ARC major grants were directed towards almost 900 research projects across Australia.

Projects fell under four categories – early career researchers, discovery projects, indigenous discovery projects, and providing tools such as infrastructure, equipment and facilities.

Less than a third of projects requesting funding gained approval, with figures varying on which of the four categories the research fell under.

The greatest number of successful projects were described as focused on lifting productivity and economic growth, followed by researching living in a changing environment.