Announcements Archive

 

From July 2017

Funding Updates:

Macquarie University Research Projects open 9th August 2017. The Faculty closing date for these (New Staff Grants (MQNS), Restart Grants and Research Development Grants (MQRDG)) will be the 6th September 2017. Please email your drafts to sci.research@mq.edu.au. The closing date at the Research Office will be the 20th September 2017.

Information about the RIBG and MQSIS schemes will be available toward the end of July.

Round 4 of the Cooperative Research Centres Scheme will open in July 2017. If you missed the recent CRC workshop held on the 7th June 2017 and would like pdf copies of the presentations, please contact sci.research@mq.edu.au.

Biosecurity Centre Open for business

Prof Phil Taylor’s ARC Training Centre for Fruit Fly Biosecurity Innovation is now officially open! It was opened on the 27th June 2017 by the Hon. Craig Laundy MP, Assistant Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science. Phil is to be congratulated for the enormous amount of hard work he has done in establishing the centre.

Lake Macquarie City Council Grant success

A/Prof Michelle Power has been successful with her Lake Macquarie City Council Environmental Research Grant proposal, and has been awarded $7884 for a study of waterborne pathogen carriage in grey-headed flying foxes.

PURE

The PURE Research Hub is in the process of being launched to the public. It can be found here: https://staff.mq.edu.au/research/research–hub. All academic staff are asked to upload a photo of themselves. This will be the profile you show to the world, make it look good!

Upcoming Seminars

The Changing Research Landscape
FSE Town Hall 26th July 2017
Y3A T1 13:30 – 14:30

Science/Nature Workshop
1st August 2017
E7B T2 at 13:00 – 14:00

Closing Soon

City of Sydney Innovation Grants – Round 2 closes 24th July 2017

Alliance of glycobiologists for cancer research – biological tumour glycomics laboratories (U01) from the NIH – closes 25th July 2017

National Student Bursaries from the Australian Natural Therapists Association – closes 31st July 2017

MQ Research Projects (MQNS, Restart, MQRDG) – close 20th September 2017.

 

From June 2017

Announcements

Biosecurity Centre Open for business

Prof Phil Taylor’s ARC Training Centre for Fruit Fly Biosecurity Innovation is now officially open! It was opened on the 27th June 2017 by the Hon. Craig Laundy MP, Assistant Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science. Phil is to be congratulated for the enormous amount of hard work he has done in establishing the centre.

Lake Macquarie City Council Grant success

A/Prof Michelle Power has been successful with her Lake Macquarie City Council Environmental Research Grant proposal, and has been awarded $7884 for a study of waterborne pathogen carriage in grey-headed flying foxes.

 

Future Fellowships

Congratulations to Dr Darrell Kemp for his success in the 2017 ARC Future Fellowships round. Darrell is from the Department of Biological Sciences and his project will look at how dynamic colour signals broker information exchange by connecting stimulus design with perception through space and time.

 

Major success with Defence Funding

A/Prof Rich Mildren has been successful with his application to the Department of Defence Next Generation Technologies Fund, for a project involving directed energy from diamond lasers. A lot of work went into developing this application and building a relationship with the Department of Defence.

 

CSIRO Future Science Fellowships

We have two new CSIRO Future Science Fellows. Congratulations to Thomas Williams and Briardo Llorente on their success!

 

Citizen Science Grants

Citizen Science Grants were announced on the 25th May 2017. The Faculty of Science and Engineering would like to congratulate the following researchers for the success of their project applications:

Prof Mark Taylor, Prof Vlad Strezov, Dr Heather Handley, Prof Michael Gillings: Citizen insights to the composition and risks of household dust, $490,803
Emilie Ens: Cross-cultural biodiversity assessment in remote Aboriginal Australia, $256,060
A/Prof Michelle Power, Prof Michael Gillings: Scoop a poop: citizens tackle antibiotic resistance in the wild, $402,212

 

Faculty Visiting Researcher Scheme Update

The Faculty Visiting Researcher Scheme opens on the 5th June 2017 and will close on the 5th July 2017. Due to funding rearrangements this will be the last round this year, to cover visits during the period 1st September to the 28th February 2018. Please see the Resources page for the application forms and more information.

 

Funding Scheme Update

 

Expressions of interest for Macquarie University Research Fellowships (MQRFs) have now closed and the scheme is being assessed.

Macquarie University Research Development Grants (MQRDG) will open to applications on the 12th July 2017.

 

The Next Generation Technologies Fund is managed by the Defence Science and Technology group, and is geared toward fundamental research. It is forecast to invest $730 million, across a range of priorities, up to 2026. The Defence Innovation Hub through the NGTF brings small agile companies, including start-ups, larger companies and academic researchers to work alongside Defence Science and Technology (DST) Group scientists, and all GC projects are mission-focused with clearly-defined end goals.  For this reason, familiarity with the material on the Defence Innovation Portal and early engagement with leaders of relevant DSTG Research Divisions is essential.

 

Please remember that the Research Office maintains an excellent Training and Support page, giving details of upcoming workshops and seminars and providing links to notes, slides and recordings for past workshops.

 

PURE

The PURE Research Hub can be found here: https://staff.mq.edu.au/research/research-hub. The PURE RMS portal itself is here: https://goto.mq.edu.au/myresearch
All academic staff are asked to check their profiles and their publications and upload a photo of themselves..

 

Closing Soon

The following schemes/prizes are closing in June-July 2017:

NSW Premier’s Prizes for Science & Engineering, closing 30th June

Faculty Visiting Researcher Scheme, closing 5th July 2017

From May 2017

Macquarie University Research Fellowships (MQRFs) will close to applications next week, 24th May 2017. This year only 15 applicants will be selected to proceed to the full application from the Expressions of Interest round, and the EoIs will be assessed at the Faculty level following submission to the University Research Office. All potential EoI candidates have now been assessed by the Departments and Research Directors.

 

Faculty Visiting Researcher Scheme Update:
The next round of the Faculty Visiting Researcher Scheme closed on Monday 27th March 2017. Fifteen applications were assessed and seven visitors were funded for a total of $30,000. Some details of the scheme may change for next round – details will be announced in June or early July 2017.

Macquarie University Research Development Grants (MQRDG) will open to applications on the 12th July 2017.

Please remember that the Research Office maintains an excellent Training and Support page, giving details of upcoming workshops and seminars and providing links to notes, slides and recordings for past workshops.

Closing Soon

The following schemes/prizes are closing in May-June 2017:

Ramaciotti Medal for Excellence in Biomedical Research, closing 31st May

2017 Australian Psychological Society Awards, closing 31st May

Max Day Environmental Science Fellowship Award, closing 1st June

Council of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (CHASS) Awards, closing 30th June

NSW Premier’s Prizes for Science & Engineering, closing 30th June

 

From April 2017


Rachael Gallagher, Richard Garner and James Downes recently attended the 2017 Science Meets Parliament, held over two days at the Old Parliament House in Canberra. Professor Jim Piper was also in attendance. Macquarie University was a Gold Sponsor of the event, which involved discussions with politicians and the National Press Club.

Left: Professor Jim Piper speaks at the SMP2017 event.
Photo by Mark Graham

 

From March 2017

Faculty Visiting Researcher Scheme Update:
The next round of the Faculty Visiting Researcher Scheme closed on Monday 27th March 2017. Assessments are now underway.

ARC Linkage Proposals for 2017 are open continuously until December 2017. The University will be running 3 “rounds” for these over the coming year – please follow the link and refer to the “Key Dates” section. The first round details are as follows:

2017 Round 1
Faculties closing date: 27th April 2017
Research Office closing date: 11th May 2017
Submission to ARC: 18th May 2017

 

Seminar coming up:

Developing your 5-Year Research Plan
Presented by Associate Professor Andy Barron, ARC Future Fellow, Biological Sciences
Wednesday 29th March 2017
12pm – 1pm
Senate Room, C8A 310, Lincoln Building
“Hitting any mid- and long-term research goals is impossible if you don’t know what they are. This seminar discusses how you can identify what you want to do, and how you can plan to give yourself the greatest chance of success.”

 

Changes to Human Ethics applications for Science and Engineering:

As Research Master is due to be replaced by PURE this year, the RMENet online ethics application system will no longer be supported by the University. Eventually RMENet will be taken offline altogether. PLEASE SUBMIT NEW Human Ethics applications using the Macquarie University Human Ethics Application Form instead of RMENet from February 2017. All ethics applications should be submitted to ethics.secretariat@mq.edu.au in pdf format and in a single document, where practical. Please see the FSE Ethics information page for details on the low-risk ethics application process.

If you have any drafts or outstanding human ethics applications in IRIS, please look at deleting them and submitting the application using the application form.

Inaugural Ralph Slayter Medal Winner

Congratulations to ARC Laureate Professor Mark Westoby for winning the inaugural Ralph Slayter Medal from the ANU. This new medal, in honour of emeritus Professor Ralph Slayter, will be awarded annually to a person who has made an outstanding contribution to biological sciences. Professor Westoby will deliver a lecture entitled “Species Traits and Ecosystem Structure” and be presented with the medal on the 15th March 2017, at the ANU in Canberra.

ARC Discovery Projects for 2018 (DP18) have finally closed. Good luck to everyone!

ARC Linkage Proposals for 2017 are now open continuously until December 2017. The University will be running 3 “rounds” for these over the coming year – please follow the link and refer to the “Key Dates” section. The first round details are as follows:

2017 Round 1
Faculties closing date: 5 April 2017
Research Office closing date: 26 April 2017
Submission to ARC: 3 May 2017

Closing Soon

The following major schemes are closing in February/March 2017:

NHMRC Project Grants – 15th March

ANSTO Beamtime requests – 15th March

ARC DECRA – 22nd March

Science and Engineering Student Competition Sponsorship Programme, NSW Dept Industry – 7th April

NSW Young Tall Poppy Awards – 10th April

Prime Minister’s Prize for Science – 12th April

Australia-Indonesia Grants – 19th April

Australian Academy of Science Awards – 20th April

Lennart Nilsson Award – 25th April

Australia-India Grants – 27th April

Australia to US Fellowships (for Masters, PhDs and Postdocs) – 30th April

 

From February 2017

Changes to Human Ethics applications for Science and Engineering:

As Research Master is due to be replaced by PURE this year, the RMENet online ethics application system will no longer be supported by the University. Eventually RMENet will be taken offline altogether. PLEASE SUBMIT NEW Human Ethics applications using the Macquarie University Human Ethics Application Form instead of RMENet from February 2017. All ethics applications should be submitted to ethics.secretariat@mq.edu.au in pdf format and in a single document, where practical. Please see the FSE Ethics information page for details on the low-risk ethics application process.

 

ARC Linkage Proposals for 2017 are now open continuously until December 2017. The University will be running 3 “rounds” for these over the coming year – please follow the link and refer to the “Key Dates” section. The first round details are as follows:

2017 Round 1
Faculties closing date: 5 April 2017
Research Office closing date: 26 April 2017
Submission to ARC: 3 May 2017

ARC Discovery Projects for 2018 (DP18) are also open. The key dates are:

Faculty deadline: Wednesday 1st February 2017
Request Not to Assess due at RO: Wednesday 8th February 2017
Request Not to Assess due at ARC: Wednesday 15th February 2017
Research Office Compliance Check deadline: Tuesday 16th February 2017
ARC Closing Date: Wednesday 1st March 2017

The Faculty is currently reviewing applications (both internally and through external consultants) for those who have notified sci.research@mq.edu.au that they are ready.

 Remember that there is a library of successful grant applications available for you to have a look at. Please contact the following people to make an appointment:

ARC – Ross Hill
NHMRC – Courtney Bendall
MQ Internal Schemes – Belle Chinchen

Closing Soon

The following major schemes are closing in February/March 2017:

ARC Discovery Projects – 1st March

NHMRC Project Grants – 15th March

ANSTO Beamtime requests – 15th March

ARC DECRA – 22nd March

 

From January 2017:

Changes to Human Ethics applications for Science and Engineering:

As Research Master is due to be replaced by PURE this year, the RMENET online ethics application system will no longer be supported by the university. Eventually RMENET will be taken offline.  

PLEASE SUBMIT NEW ethics applications via the Macquarie University Human Ethics Application Form instead of RMENET from Feb 2017. All ethics application should be submitted to ethics.secretariat@mq.edu.au in pdf format and in a single document, where practical.

Welcome to 2017!

All DVCR MQSIS funding proposals for funding in 2017 (including the Reserve and Cross-Faculty items) are now confirmed as being funded. These are:

  1. High-throughput Flow Cytometer $149,229.40
  2. Cross Department Sample Preparation Facility $144,789
  3. Automated Fluorescence Stereo Microscope $142,453.92
  4. Raman Laser Extension Kit $114,348
  5. Multi-functional SEM for high-throughput Analysis $$150,000
    Reserve: mm-wave Vector Network Analyzer $150,000
    Cross-Faculty: Mapping Spectrometer for Elemental Analyses $150,000

ARC Linkage Proposals for 2017 are now open continuously until December 2017. The University will be running 3 “rounds” for these over the coming year – please follow the link and refer to the “Key Dates” section. The first round details are as follows:

2017 Round 1
Faculties closing date: 5 April 2017
Research Office closing date: 26 April 2017
Submission to ARC: 3 May 2017

ARC Discovery Projects for 2018 (DP18) are also open. The key dates are:

Faculty deadline: Wednesday 1st February 2017
Request Not to Assess due at RO: Wednesday 8th February 2017
Request Not to Assess due at ARC: Wednesday 15th February 2017
Research Office Compliance Check deadline: Tuesday 16th February 2017
ARC Closing Date: Wednesday 1st March 2017

 

The DP18 “Building Your Budget” workshop will be held on the 30th January 2017:

Time: 12:30-14:00
Location: Senate Room C8A 310
Speaker: Ross Hill

Remember that there is a library of successful grant applications available for you to have a look at. Please contact the following people to make an appointment:

ARC – Ross Hill
NHMRC – Courtney Bendall
MQ Internal Schemes – Belle Chinchen

Closing Soon

The following major schemes are closing in February 2017:

NHMRC Research Fellowships – 1st February

NHMRC Development Grants – 1st February 2017

NHMRC Boosting Dementia Research Grants and Boosting Dementia Research Leadership Fellowships – 8th February

 

 

From December 2016:

 

The winners of the Faculty Research Awards for 2016 are:

Research: Early Career
Joint winners: Dr Chris Reid (Biology) and Dr Robert Williams (Physics and Astronomy)

Research: HDR Supervision
Professor Orsola De Marco (Physics and Astronomy)

Research: Innovative Research Partnership
Dr Emilie Ens (Environmental Sciences)

Research: Mid-Career
Joint winners: Dr Alfonso Garcia-Bennet (CBMS) and Dr Richard Garner (Mathematics)

Research:
Professor Simon Griffith (Biology)

 

Successes to round out 2016

Associate Professor Juan Carlos Afonso was awarded the 2017 Anton Hales Prize for Geology from the Australian Academy of Science and Engineering

Dr Michelle Power has been successful with her application for a Sea World Research & Rescue Foundation Grant Application titled: Parasite diversity and disease risk in the little penguin, Eudyptula minor.

Dr Simon Gross has been named one of the 10 honourees of the regional MIT Technology Review Innovators Under 35 competition for Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand and Taiwan. Simon will qualify for the 2017 Global MIT Technology Review Innovators Under 35 List, a group of the world’s top young innovators.

Professor Simon Turner has been awarded the prestigious Gauss-Fellowship 2017-2018 by the Academy of Sciences in Goettingen. Professor Turner has also just been awarded the Clarke Medal from the Royal Society of New South Wales.

Congratulations to Dr Annemarie Nadort, who was awarded an NHMRC Early Career Fellowship, the first in the Faculty!

CBMS was very successful in the recent NHMRC Project Grant round – Professor Ian Paulsen had two projects funded through MQ, and another through Edith Cowan University. Professor Nicki Packer was part of a successful bid through Monash University.

 

Four Macquarie University Research Centres were recently approved with the Faculty:

Macquarie University Species Spectrum Research Centre
Centre Director – Professor Mariella Herberstein
A brand new centre applying the trait-based approach to global synthesis to analyse big data sets in brain structure, microbial function, mimicry and crypsis, coral biology and ant perception and navigation.

Macquarie University Centre for Green Cities
Centre Director – Professor Michelle Leishman
This is a change in direction for the former Climate Futures Centre, focusing on urban greening and sustainable energy innovations.

Macquarie University Centre for Astronomy, Astrophysics and Astrophotonics
Centre Director – Professor Mark Wardle
A mature MQ Research Centre, AAAstro has been renewed and will continue doing excellent work in all areas of astronomy and astrophysics.

Macquarie University Biomolecular Discovery and Design Research Centre
Centre Director – Professor Nicki Packer
This rebranding of a mature centre represents a renewal of focus for the former Biomolecular Frontiers, as it expands into synthetic biology while continuing to build on ground-breaking research and collaborations in biomolecular biology and ‘omics.