research projects university of adelaide

University Scholarships

Adelaide Summer Research Scholarships

The Adelaide Summer Research Scholarships have been created to provide undergraduate students with experience working within a research team and to encourage them to consider postgraduate study leading to a career involving research.

Up to 240 Summer Research Scholarships are available to continuing undergraduate students who wish to undertake a six week research project at the University of Adelaide over the 2024-25 summer vacation.

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

At the time of application you must:

• Be an Australian Citizen, permanent resident of Australia, New Zealand Citizen, holder of a permanent humanitarian visa or an international student who  is currently studying in Australia and holds a current appropriate visa permitting study in Australia beyond February 2025
• Be studying an undergraduate (Bachelors) level program (equivalent programs of study are not eligible)
• Have completed at least one year (24 units) of their program at a standard acceptable for admission to an Honours program  
• Be enrolled in 2024
• Not have completed your Bachelors degree
• Be available to undertake the summer research project on campus

Students who are in receipt of, or expect to receive any other summer or vacation scholarships over the 2024-25 summer vacation (e.g. National Heart Foundation Summer Scholarship, Cancer Council Vacation scholarships) are not eligible for the Adelaide Summer Research Scholarship unless the other scholarship is for a separate research project.

The Scholarship must be taken up in the year in which it is offered; acceptance of the Scholarship offer cannot be deferred. If a student declines the Scholarship offer, the Scholarship will be offered to the next eligible student.

APPLICATION PROCESS

To submit an application you must:

• Contact a potential supervisor to ensure an appropriate research project is available
• Complete a Research Project and Supervisor Form (available to download in the application form)
• Obtain your Supervisor signature on the Research Project and Supervisor Form
• Submit your application ONLINE by the closing date

To find a project and supervisor, please select your Faculty below: Faculty of Arts, Business, Law and Economics Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences Faculty of Science, Engineering and Technology

Or visit the Researcher Profiles website .

Students can only submit ONE online application for ONE project. 

Students who are enrolled to study at another University can apply for the Adelaide Summer Research Scholarship but must contact the Coursework Scholarships & Prizes Office via email [email protected]  

The Coursework Scholarships & Prizes Office will notify students of the outcome of their application by late November 2024.

For more information, please see the scholarship rules . Please note only completed applications will be considered. Please ensure the supervisor has signed the Research Project and Supervisor form before attaching to your application. The signature MUST be digital, electronic or scanned. Typed names/signatures will NOT be accepted.

LATE APPLICATIONS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED.

PLEASE ENSURE YOU CONTACT YOUR SUPERVISOR WITH ENOUGH TIME FOR THE FORM TO BE COMPLETED, SIGNED AND SUBMITTED BY THE DUE DATE OF 5PM FRIDAY 20 SEPTEMBER 2024.

University of Queensland researchers part of international project helping better track and predict hail storms

Researchers are collecting large and oddly-shaped hailstones from around the state to recreate models of them.

They say the hailstones collected in Queensland have been used to track the path of hail through storms.

What's next?

Researchers hope the project will inform more accurate hail models in the future to improve forecasting.

Queensland researchers say data they've collected as part of an international hail modelling project will help forecasters better predict and understand storms in the future.

With the help of the public, the University of Queensland has been collecting hailstones from across the state.

These hailstones are scanned, recreated with a 3D printer and uploaded into a database that also includes hail from across North America.

Some stones are then cold stored, while others are sliced in half to better understand how they are formed.

The findings of the study, led by PhD student Yuzhu Lin from the Pennsylvania State University in the United States, have been published in the Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences .

Dr Joshua Soderholm, a research scientist at the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM), said current practice assumed all hail was perfectly spherical.

"We have sort of a one model fits all for natural hailstones," he said.

He said no hailstone was the same, and understanding how different shapes develop and move through storms was essential to better forecasting.

"These knobbly hailstones behave quite differently," he said.

"They fall differently, they pick up water in the storm differently, but the biggest factor that appears to change is they actually take different pathways through the storm."

Dr Soderholm said these oddly-shaped hailstones were less likely to form at the core of the storm compared to more spherical stones.

"They're not actually getting bigger in most cases, but they're coming from different regions and then falling out in different regions," he said.

Creating better models

Dr Soderholm said the project had "proven what we get is very different from our idealised spherical hailstones and models", but researchers said the work was still some time away from helping forecasters.

The focus of the project is to create a model that will lead to more accurate storm predictions. 

"We want to our models to better represent what happens in the real world with natural hailstones taking these long trajectories around storms and falling in different places [rather than directly below the storm]," he said.

"We'll have definitely more skilful warnings as a result."

Queensland's perfect storm

Dr Soderholm said there were three reasons Queensland was a good place to do the research.

"The public is very weather focused, Queensland gets a lot of storms, and furthermore, Queensland gets a lot of very big hail," he said.

When big storms hit, researchers scour social media looking for hail that interests them.

"We're definitely after the larger hailstones. We offer to collect them and ask them if they can contribute back to science," Dr Soderholm said.

"We'll often go out and visit three or four places, and by the time we've done that, we might have 40 or 50 hailstones.

"There's not many places in the world that can say that they get 10-centimetre hail somewhere almost every year, which is what we see around the Brisbane."

• X (formerly Twitter)
• Academic Research
• Weather Forecasts
• Weather Phenomena

Great Scott! Stonehenge’s Altar Stone origins reveal advanced ancient Britain

New research led by Curtin University has revealed Stonehenge’s monumental six-tonne Altar Stone, long believed to originate from Wales, actually hails from Scotland.

Furthermore, the findings point to the existence of unexpectedly advanced transport methods and societal organisation at the time of the stone’s arrival at its current location in southern England about 5000 years ago.

Curtin researchers studied the age and chemistry of mineral grains within fragments of the Altar Stone, which is a 50cm thick sandstone block measuring 5 x 1 metres, that sits at the centre of Stonehenge’s iconic stone circle in Wiltshire.

Lead author PhD student Anthony Clarke from the Timescales of Mineral Systems Group within Curtin’s School of Earth and Planetary Sciences said analysis of the age and chemical composition of minerals within fragments of the Altar Stone matched it with rocks from northeast Scotland, while also clearly differentiating them from Welsh bedrock.

“Our analysis found specific mineral grains in the Altar Stone are mostly between 1000 to 2000 million years old, while other minerals are around 450 million years old,” Mr Clarke said.

“This provides a distinct chemical fingerprint suggesting the stone came from rocks in the Orcadian Basin, Scotland, at least 750 kilometres away from Stonehenge.

“Given its Scottish origins, the findings raise fascinating questions, considering the technological constraints of the Neolithic era, as to how such a massive stone was transported over vast distances around 2600 BC.

“This discovery also holds personal significance for me. I grew up in the Mynydd Preseli, Wales, where some of Stonehenge’s stones came from. I first visited Stonehenge when I was one year old and now at 25, I returned from Australia to help make this scientific discovery – you could say I’ve come full circle at the stone circle.”

Study co-author Professor Chris Kirkland, also from the Timescales of Mineral Systems Group at Curtin, said the findings had significant implications for understanding ancient communities, their connections, and their transportation methods.

“Our discovery of the Altar Stone’s origins highlights a significant level of societal coordination during the Neolithic period and helps paint a fascinating picture of prehistoric Britain,” Professor Kirkland said.

“Transporting such massive cargo overland from Scotland to southern England would have been extremely challenging, indicating a likely marine shipping route along the coast of Britain.

“This implies long-distance trade networks and a higher level of societal organisation than is widely understood to have existed during the Neolithic period in Britain.”

Curtin Vice-Chancellor Professor Harlene Hayne said much of the research and analysis done by Mr Clarke and Professor Kirkland was undertaken at the University’s renowned John de Laeter Centre.

“This fascinating study is another example of the stellar work being undertaken by Curtin University’s Timescales of Mineral Systems Group with the John de Laeter Centre, using state-of-the-art equipment in our GeoHistory Facility that supports important minerals research,” Professor Hayne said.

“It offers specialist mass spectrometers which are used to examine the composition of materials such as rock-forming minerals, archaeological artefacts, meteorites, ceramics and even biological substances such as teeth, bones and shell.

“Ongoing investment is required to maintain cutting-edge facilities like this, which are crucial for attracting the world’s best minds. In this case, we are delighted that our outstanding research reputation and facilities led PhD student Anthony Clarke to travel 15,000 kilometres from his home in Wales to study at Curtin and make this significant finding.”

Mr Clarke said he chose Curtin for his PhD because it also offered the chance to work alongside renowned researchers, such as Professor Kirkland.

“Curtin has given us the freedom and independence to explore fascinating work, such as Stonehenge and access to the world’s most advanced equipment and expert staff means I can complete all my work there,” Mr Clarke said.

“Western Australia itself as home to the oldest minerals on Earth, is an outstanding natural laboratory. So I’m very grateful to have had the opportunity to do this research in this outstanding place.”

Funded by an Australian Research Council Discovery Project, the research was performed in collaboration with Aberystwyth University, The University of Adelaide and University College London.

The full study, published in journal Nature , can be found here: A Scottish provenance for the Altar Stone of Stonehenge | Nature . (DOI: 10.1038/S41586-024-07652-1 )

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School of Education

Research Projects

Our research is focussed on policies and practices that impact educational access, attainment, and learning and wellbeing outcomes across diverse student populations.  

Pacific Research in inclusive and specialist education

Researchers.

Associate professor Angela Page; Associate professor Joanna Anderson; Professor Susan Ledger; Professor Christopher Boyle; Dr Tom Porta; Dr Jo Mosen; Dr Kate Ferguson-Patrick 

The project

Pacific Research in Inclusive and Specialist Education (Pacific RISE) are a team of experienced inclusive development practitioners and professional development providers with broad knowledge and expertise in working in the Pacific.  

Our philosophy is to create capacity to ensure sustainable improved practices in partnership with communities and stakeholders. Within our range of skills and abilities and professional knowledge, we bring: research and evaluation capability; current evidence-based professional development to inform teacher practice; a global best practice understanding of inclusive education; experience of working inside Pacific classrooms; and working with Pacific educators that overtly reflect and respect the local education context.

Enacting quality curriculum for developing and progressing reading skills in the differentiated primary classroom

The Australian Professional Standards for Teachers requires teachers to differentiate, which is vital to achieving inclusive education. Key to differentiation is the adherence to quality curriculum. This implies that ensuring that each student has access to effective instruction and curriculum entitlements.

A crucial aspect of guaranteeing students’ access to quality curriculum is ensuring that teachers draw the necessary knowledge, skills, and understanding from the selected curriculum. In understanding how teachers draw their learning objectives (often referred to as learning intentions, learning goals etc) for the teaching of reading, will illuminate how teachers are interpreting the Australian Curriculum: English, and translating this into their classrooms.

As a result of this research, results may highlight more effective ways of drawing the necessary knowledge, skills and understanding from the curriculum, to better improve students’ reading skills in the differentiated classroom. Furthermore, the results may enhance teacher education by ensuring pre-service teachers are taught to plan effectively for both reading and the differentiated classroom collectively.

School of Psychology

The Adelaide School of Psychology has strong international reputation for world leading research into human mental and physical health, thinking, performance, and behaviour.

We are one of only five Schools in Australia to have been recognised with the highest rating for engagement for psychology and cognitive sciences in the Australian Government’s 2018 Engagement and Impact Assessment. We have long-standing partnerships with industry and provide training that equips our graduates with skills that are ready to apply. We are constantly looking toward new and emerging challenges to translate our research into practice

Our four major research groups — Healthy Communities, Lifespan Development, Human Cognition & Performance, and Education & Meta-Research — engage with industry and community partners to ensure the work we do addresses the most important challenges and positively impacts society.

Healthy Communities

We contribute to improving the health and wellbeing of communities.  Our School is home to leading researchers in health and community psychology who are working to understand and improve health and wellbeing across cultural and community contexts.

Human Cognition and Performance

We work to enhance decision making and workplace performance.  In the Human Cognition and Performance Centre, we focus on understanding how people reason and make decisions for enhanced performance and wellbeing in the workplace and other settings.

Lifespan Development

We strive to improve outcomes across the lifespan.  Our researchers in the Lifespan Development Centre are working to understand fundamental questions about human development across the lifespan—from infancy to adulthood to end of life. Our work in the Develop Well group focuses on the foundations of psychological development helping children and the community support children into adulthood.

Education and Meta-Research

We research our outstanding and innovative teaching practices.  Our research in the Education & Meta-Research Centre focuses on the enhancement and evaluation of teaching and learning approaches, and research methodologies in psychology. We engage in scholarship about teaching and instruction both to improve our own practice and lead in the implementation of innovation in teaching and learning practice.

How to get started in research

If you want to challenge yourself and potentially pursue a career in research, but aren’t sure where to start, consider applying for our Bachelor of Psychological Science (Honours) or Bachelor of Psychology (Advanced) (Honours) .

The honours program enables you to research an area of personal interest, and develop the skills required for postgraduate study at a higher level (see below), through coursework and completing a thesis.

Completing an honours degree is also a prerequisite for our Master of Psychology degrees. Find out more about applying for honours  within the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences.

Postgraduate research degrees in Psychology

The School of Psychology offers a range of exciting postgraduate research opportunities aimed at helping you make an impact in your chosen field of study. Staff and students within the school are engaged in research fields of cognition, perception, neuropsychology, and individual differences. There is also a strong emphasis on applied research engaging with social and organisational issues. Further interests focus on health and wellbeing throughout the human lifespan, the evaluation of interventions to promote health and wellbeing, and associated health policy implications.

Doctor of Philosophy

The Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) is the basic qualification for a research career or academic position and is a stepping stone to a range of career opportunities. The PhD involves three to four years of research for a full-time candidate or the equivalent in half-time candidature, together with participation in the compulsory Career and Research Skills Training (CaRST) program, which requires completion of 120 hours of activities prior to thesis submission. The candidate completes the approved program of study and research under supervision and presents a thesis embodying the results of the original investigation.

Master of Philosophy

The Master of Philosophy is offered in every faculty as the primary research master’s degree available to prospective research students. 

Ready to take the next step?

You’ll find full admission requirements for each of these degrees in the  Adelaide Graduate Centre Academic Program Rules .

Then, to apply for one of our higher degrees by research, visit the  Adelaide Graduate Centre . If you have any queries, contact  [email protected] .

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ARPA-H announces awards to develop novel technologies for precise tumor removal 

Published August 13, 2024

Biden-Harris Administration announces ARPA-H awards to develop novel technologies for precise tumor removal  

PSI performer teams aim to deliver groundbreaking tools enabling surgeons to successfully remove tumors through a single operation

The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health ( ARPA-H ), an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), announced the first eight teams selected by its Precision Surgical Interventions ( PSI ) program to receive awards. The agency’s commitment is not expected to exceed $150 million to develop novel technologies that will allow surgeons to remove cancerous tumors with higher accuracy. If successful, these technologies will revolutionize surgeries, dramatically reducing rates of repeat procedures. They can also reduce instances of unintentional injury to critical structures such as nerves, blood vessels or lymph ducts. These imaging tools may also be used to improve other types of surgeries.   

“From the start, ARPA-H has had a singular purpose: to drive breakthroughs in health, including cancer. Revolutionizing surgical techniques is a critical step forward towards improving detection and treatment of cancer, and improving the overall patient experience in the process,” said HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra. "The Biden-Harris Administration is committed to reducing the cancer death rate by at least 50 percent over the next 25 years. This goal is becoming more and more achievable thanks to breakthrough treatments and innovative technologies like these.”  

“With the Precision Surgical Interventions program, we're seeking to fundamentally change how surgery is done. PSI and its technical performer teams are committed to developing tools that reduce the rate of reoperations or accidental damage to critical structures,” said Ileana Hancu, Ph.D. , ARPA-H PSI Program Manager.   

ARPA-H selected these awardees to develop methods and techniques to improve cancer detection and increase the visibility of critical anatomical structures during surgery. PSI will pursue two technical areas: cancer localization (technical areas 1-A and 1-B) and healthy structure localization (technical area 2).   

Technical area 1-A performers will focus on visualizing the surface of excised tumors and identifying if there are any cancer cells left. If so, the surgeon will be able to remove more  tissue prior to completing the surgery. The performers will use different microscopy techniques to visualize the surface of the removed tissue with sub-cellular resolution. All images will be read and classified automatically, without the need to have pathologists in the operating room:  

• Tulane University will build an imaging system that uses a large aperture camera and structured illumination microscopy, an imaging technique that uses patterned light to achieve high resolution in three dimensions. It takes advantage of light wave interference patterns to image entire excised tumors. The team will also develop an AI algorithm to automatically identify cancerous cells for fast data classification. Total award up to $22.9M. 
• Rice University will build a novel microscope that images tumor slices with ultraviolet epifluorescence. They will use advanced methods to create fluorescent stains that label cells and cellular components and will develop automated AI algorithms to transform their images into ones that look similar to conventional pathology. They will also develop an automated pathology algorithm to classify the imaged cells. Total award up to $18.0M. 
• University of Washington will develop a microscopy system to allow surgeons to image the entire surface of the tumor by placing it on a lightsheet scanner. The team is also developing algorithms to pseudo-stain the resulting images, so that the sample doesn’t need to be dyed in the operating room; instead, AI methods will take a greyscale image and render it similar to conventional pathology images in order to better classify it.  Total award up to $21.1M. 

Technical area 1-B performers will focus on identifying microscopic cancer remnants inside the patient to help the surgeon remove all remaining cancer cells before the end of the procedure:  

• University of California, San Francisco is inventing a microscope that uses an optical array that is pressed into the cavity’s surface. Each pixel is its own multicolor microscope. The investigators are also developing a multi-cancer dyeing agent that activates based on enzyme activity in tumors. Total award up to $15.1M. 
• University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign will develop optical coherence tomography techniques to find suspicious tissue structures in the surgical cavity, then image those regions with nonlinear optics, which will give a multilayered view of the cells’ metabolism and structural properties. Total award up to $32.6M. 
• Johns Hopkins University, which is performing on both technical area 1-B and technical area two, will develop a novel non-contact, photoacoustic endoscope to provide a more colorful view of the surgical field without altering the surgeons’ workflow. They will also develop a multi-cancer fluorescent contrast agent.  Total award up to $20.9M. 

Technical area 2 performers will focus on making critical anatomy more visible to surgeons:  

• Dartmouth College is creating a laparoscope-integrating imaging solution that will be especially helpful in prostate cancer surgeries. They will use nerve-dyeing and ureter-dyeing contrast agents, in addition to vascular dyes, to cause these critical anatomical structures to fluoresce. They will then map and visualize the 3D shape and depth of the structures.  Total award up to $31.3M. 
• Johns Hopkins University will use existing fluorescent dyes in combination with their novel photoacoustic endoscope to visualize anatomical structures for surgeons. The endoscope will ‘see’ deep into human tissue to reveal hidden blood vessels and nerves, such as they are not accidentally cut. (See above) 
• Cision Vision will use shortwave infrared and hyperspectral images to help surgeons visualize blood vessels, nerves, and especially lymphatic structures. Going well beyond red, green, and blue, hyperspectral imaging is enhanced by AI algorithms. This would allow the team to distinguish between tissue types without administering dyes.  Total award up to $22.3M. 

“With PSI, we aim to reduce surgical errors significantly and achieve better health outcomes across cancer and other diseases,” said ARPA-H Director Renee Wegrzyn, Ph.D.  “Surgical procedures are often the first treatment option for some two million Americans diagnosed with cancer each year. This lack of precision can lead to repeat surgeries, harder recoveries, cancer recurrence, and higher health care costs. Our hope is to advance cancer surgery so that we remove cancer the first time and every time.”  

The PSI program mandates that all performers design solutions that are compatible with all users. For example, if designing a tool for surgeons, the tool must fit different hand sizes. PSI mandates that all performers also be committed to equitable access and the development of medical devices that will be useable in virtually any hospital. As such, PSI performers must prioritize lower-cost solutions in their designs and test their devices in a rural hospital during the program. Furthermore, the devices must be validated in patient populations that reflect the demographics of the disease studied.  

The performers’ awards are ceilings, based on each performer meeting its contractual milestones. ARPA-H’s total investment is not expected to exceed $150M. 

For more on PSI, visit the PSI program page .   

Associate Vice Chancellor for Finance and Sponsored Projects

Published August 15, 2024, via  Research News

Please join us in welcoming Krystina Gross back to WashU. Krys will begin her role as the Associate Vice Chancellor (AVC) for Finance and Sponsored Projects on Monday, October 7, 2024. She will lead a staff of 55 and be responsible for overseeing the activities of Sponsored Projects Accounting (SPA) and the Office of Sponsored Research Services (OSRS) with a dual reporting relationship to the interim Senior Vice Chancellor for Finance & CFO and to the Vice Chancellor for Research. This position will be the key contact for faculty, departmental and central office staff, and executive management. As AVC, she will ensure proper administration for a broad set of operational and compliance functions and serve as the official institutional signatory for the University’s sponsored projects.

Krys has 24 years of experience in financial grant management and regulatory compliance. Most recently she worked at Yale University as the Associate Controller of Sponsored Projects Financial Administration where she directed a team supporting post award finance, compliance, cash management, and analysis. She spearheaded various initiatives to improve research administration business processes, developed research compliance policies and procedures in accordance with federal and institutional rules and regulations, led several projects dedicated to enhancing Workday grants management, established a research think tank group to foster collaboration and transparency with department research administration, and developed an online intake portal for questions and support.  

Prior to Yale, Krys worked at WashU for nearly 22 years serving as the Director of the Workday Support Team, the Grant Business Lead on the Workday implementation project, and a Manager in Sponsored Projects Accounting heading the NIH and Contracts team in award set up, billing, reporting, transaction review and approval, and compliance. 

Until Krys’ transition is complete, the interim task force team comprised of Angie Leahy, Iris Peper, and Brianne Burcke will remain in place to provide operational leadership and administrative guidance, as well as continuing their efforts to streamline business processes, identify staffing needs, resolve issues, and improve profiling metrics.

Mark Lowe, MD PhD Vice Chancellor for Research Senior Associate Dean of Research at WashU Medicine Harvey R. Colten Professor of Pediatric Science Washington University in St. Louis 

School of Architecture and Civil Engineering

Design Research

Design research encompasses the methods and outputs of investigations that contribute to new knowledge through the creation of design projects in Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and Urban Design. 

The home of design research at the University of Adelaide is the Design Research Collective (DRC). The DRC aims to develop a community of designers whose research not only raises the quality of debate around the built environment but also engages in its production. Activities include support for PhD by Design candidates, including the testing and dissemination of their work through the biannual DRC Colloquium. 

Our research

DRC researchers are working on a range of design-focus research projects that include: 

• Epistemological processes of spatial thinking in practice 
• Design research pedagogy and methods 
• Designing for adaptive reuse 

Learn more about our research experts

Lead researchers in this area are currently focused on.

• Landscapes of agricultural tourism ( Dr Jo Russell-Clarke ) 
• Emotive cognition and analytic synthesis in design ( Dr Urs Bette ) 
• Inner city densification and sustainable models of growth ( Dr Jo Russell-Clarke  &  Dr Urs Bette ) 
• Site-related production of architectural character and space ( Dr Urs Bette ) 
• 'Form as space' and 'form as meaning' ( Dr Urs Bette ) 
• Biodiversity positive design research ( Dr Scott Hawken ) 
• Miniforest design research ( Dr Scott Hawken ) 
• Applied design and fabrication research ( Dr David Kroll ) 

Our research units and groups working in this area

The design research collective (drc), researchers in this cluster.

• Dr Urs Bette  
• Dr Jo Russell-Clarke  
• Dr Scott Hawken  
• Dr David Kroll  
• Ms Mirai Morita  

Partner with us

Collaborate with our world-class researchers, academics and highly sought after higher degree students. 

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Research design specialist supporting public health projects

Fri 16 Aug 24

Institute of Public Health and Wellbeing research design specialist Tracey Johns will be providing public involvement and community engagement support to the National Institute for Health and Care Research’s Research Support Service Specialist Centre for Public Health (SCPH).

SCPH is delivered by Newcastle University and partners and Tracey  will provide pre award public involvement and community engagement advice and methodological support to researchers interested in conducting public health research in settings outside the NHS. Tracey brings many years of experience to the role and will be an asset to the SCPH team.

SCPH provides a ‘one-stop shop’ to support the creation of high-quality research evidence needed to inform policy and practice to improve public health and reduce health inequalities.

The SCPH provides:

• Local Authority support and resources
• Pre award research design advice
• Training and development
• Governance and ethics

SCPH wants to help researchers to develop their ideas and apply for funding. The pre award research design team has methodologists who specialise in mixed methods, health economics, qualitative methods, epidemiology, quasi-experimental design, and involving the public in your research. They can provide guidance on appropriate research methods and study design, as well as help to identify funding opportunities.

Public Involvement and Community Engagement is central to the SCPH and is embedded throughout their work. Researchers can apply to its Public Involvement Fund for up to £600 to support early public involvement in funding applications.

For further information please contact the Newcastle team directly on [email protected] . To hear about news, events and future funding calls you can also join the mailing list.

Related news

Lecturer honoured for commitment to diversity

Tue 1 Feb 22

Inspiring leader recognised for 'key developments'

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Researchers funded to pursue new discoveries

More than $8.4 million has been awarded to 17 University of Adelaide research projects, in the Australian Research Council’s latest round of Discovery Projects grants.

The awarded projects span a broad array of industries, including artificial intelligence, sustainable energy production, mining, wireless communications, and conservation.

Discovery Projects grants are awarded to individuals and research teams whose work contributes to the growth of Australia’s research and innovation capacity.

“These 17 projects recognised in the ARC’s Discovery Projects program demonstrate the breadth of research being undertaken at the University of Adelaide, and shows that our institution is integral to Australia’s status as a place of research excellence,” said the University’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research), Professor Anton Middelberg.

“Through these projects, our world-class researchers will continue to solve some of society’s most pressing challenges, and shape the future of our nation and its knowledge base.”

The full list of University of Adelaide projects funded are:

Dr Ehsan Abbasnejad ’s team was awarded $544,551 for a project that aims to enhance the capabilities of artificial intelligence through the development of deep reinforcement learning, allowing for capabilities such as counterfactual reasoning, outcome anticipation, improved generalisation and the ability to consider cause-effects.

Professor Derek Abbott ’s team was awarded $561,000 for a project which will investigate the ability of novel tuneable terahertz metamaterials to help address the increased demand for greater communications bandwidth.

Associate Professor Stephen Bell ’s team was awarded $781,608 for a project that will identify and design new enzyme biocatalysts which can be used in the development of new routes to access bespoke molecules of value in fine chemical synthesis and drug development.

Associate Professor Luke Bennetts ’s team was awarded $384,217 for a project which will seek to quantify sea ice retreat due to ocean waves for the first time, with potentially major implications for coupled wave–sea ice modelling in climate studies

Associate Professor Damien Fordham ’s team was awarded $523,813 for a project which aims to improve knowledge of extinction processes and impacts to pinpoint the combinations of ecological characteristics and threats that most affect risk of extinction from environmental change. It is hoped this will enrich conservation research and inform evidence-based solutions to better protect and recover some of Australia’s most threatened species.

Professor Andrei Kotooussov ’s team was awarded $527,934 for a project that will develop a new methodology for the assessment of fatigue life of structures subjected to realistic loading conditions.

Dr Jianfeng Mao ’s team was awarded $380,000 for a project which aims to develop a new generation, high-energy aqueous battery, which would be a safe, energetic and sustainable option for the electric vehicle and smart-grid energy storage market.

Associate Professor Giang Nguyen and Associate Professor Murat Karakus ’s team was awarded $493,390 for a project which will seek to improve the safety and economic efficiency of cave mining operations through the development of a new theory and models to predict rock fragmentation, as well as computational tools for simulations of cave mining operations.

Professor Peng Shi ’s team was awarded $518,252 for a project which aims to design a novel control scheme for insect-inspired, flapping-wing, micro-aerial vehicles.

Professor Yvonne Stokes ’s team was awarded $454,573 for a project which will develop mathematical tools to better isolate cancer cells in blood samples or microplastics in water samples, to develop novel devices for existing and new applications.

Professor Shaobin Wang ’s team was awarded $550,821 for a project which aims to develop next-generation intelligent materials and clean technologies for solar fuels production and CO2 recycling, leading to benefits for Australia’s long-term energy security and sustainability toward a carbon-neutral society.

Associate Professor Steven Wiederman ’s team was awarded $540,834 for a project which will study dragonfly optics and early sensory neurons to better understand signal detection, which could have implications for information processing, computer vision and autonomous systems.

Professor Withawat Withayachumnankul ’s team was awarded $557,810 for a project which aims to realise integrated terahertz components that will be building blocks towards high-speed 6G infrastructure, among other applications.

Associate Professor James Zanotti ’s team was awarded $431,814 for a project which will perform supercomputer simulations to confront one of the outstanding puzzles of nuclear and particle physics – the neutron lifetime.

Dr Wei Zhang ’s team was awarded $292,330 for a project which aims to develop data analytics techniques that can extract accurate information in complex structures from imperfect/incomplete data that changes over time. The project will likely improve data tools relevant to critical sectors such as cybersecurity, healthcare, and defence.

Associate Professor Yao Zheng ’s team was awarded $600,925 for a project which will investigate seawater electrolysis, with expected uses in renewable energy and commodity-chemicals manufacturing.

Professor Ralf Zurbruegg ’s team was awarded $299,396 for a project which will use satellite imagery technology to investigate whether carbon disclosures made by Australian resource firms are less than actual emissions.

More details about the 2024 ARC Discovery Projects  – Round 1 are available, including a full list of all the researchers involved in each three-year project.

Media contact: Johnny von Einem, Media Coordinator, The University of Adelaide. Mobile: +61 0430 476 300, Email: [email protected]

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COBRE Phase III Offering Pilot Project Grants

The center will be accepting applications until 5 pm est on september 13, 2024 ..

The Center of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) Phase III on Dietary Supplements and Inflammation (CDSI) funded by NIH is pleased to announce an open call for Pilot Project grant proposals.

Information on the Pilot Project grants and how to apply can be found on the Center for Dietary Supplements and Inflammation webpage .

Challenge the conventional. Create the exceptional. No Limits.

Centre for Behaviour Change

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• 2025 Conference

The Human Behaviour Change Project

Creating an AI-based knowledge system to find research in a given area of behavioural science, extract key information using an 'ontology', and predict intervention outcomes in novel scenarios.

15 August 2024

Full title:  Human Behaviour Change Project: Building the science of behaviour change for complex intervention development

Funder:  The Wellcome Trust

Total amount awarded: £3,796,005 (main award), £56,388 (award for public engagement) 

Start date:  2016 (main award), 2020 (award for public engagement)

Duration:  7 years

Project Partners:  University College London, University of Cambridge, University of Aberdeen, and IBM Research

CBC Researchers:  Professor Susan Michie (Co-Director), Lisa Zhang , Paulina Schenk

Why this research is needed

A vast amount of behavioural and social science research exists. For example over 100 behaviour change intervention evaluation reports published every week. It is not feasible to extract and synthesise all the key information from these reports by hand.

Terms are also used inconsistently and ambiguously in reports describing behaviour change interventions.

Both of these challenges severely limit our ability to build and test models of behaviour. In turn this decreases our ability to predict intervention outcomes in novel scenarios.

Creating an automated knowledge system

A big milestone was releasing the ground-breaking Behaviour Change Intervention Ontology (BCIO). The BCIO provides a knowledge structure to organise and understand evidence about behaviour change interventions.

Machine Learning algorithms, drawing on the BCIO, are creating a Knowledge System. This will automatically identify new, relevant research to predict a range of behaviour change outcomes.

Real world applications

The first use case we developed was smoking cessation. The second, currently underway, is interventions to increase physical activity.  

We have developed a user interface, focused on the smoking cessation use case. This will enable policy-makers, planners, practitioners and others to understand the following question.

When it comes to behaviour change interventions:

• What works,
• compared with what,
• for what behaviours,
• for how long,
• in what setting,

We have created online tools to facilitate research, synthesise evidence and predict outcomes. Resources from the project are on the HBCP website and BCIO website . We continue to publish to our  Wellcome Open Research collection . 

Find out more

• Visit the HBCP website and the BCIO website
• Follow the team on X @HBCProject
• Follow the team on LinkedIn
• Join the HBCP mailing list
• Join the BCIO user group
• Access training videos and more on the  HBCP YouTube channel