ANU to play a role in eight new ARC Centres of Excellence

The Australian National University (ANU) will play a pivotal role researching issues of national and international significance as part of eight new Australian Research Council (ARC) Centres of Excellence (CoE).

The ARC has announced funding of $384.9 million for 11 new CoEs in total, commencing in 2023, which will conduct high-calibre research in areas of national priority over a seven-year period. 

As part of the new centres, ANU researchers will help eliminate violence against women, make real-time measurements possible in earthquake early-warning systems, and support new technologies for green chemical industries. 

They will also work to improve the life chances of Indigenous Australians, develop knowledge frameworks for modelling weather change in Australia and lay the foundations for an Australian gravitational wave observatory. 

ANU Vice-Chancellor Professor Brian Schmidt said the ARC results were a fantastic outcome, demonstrating the importance of academic collaboration and partnerships.  

“Congratulations to all involved in winning this ARC funding – a great achievement in itself as this is a highly competitive process,” Professor Schmidt said. 

“It’s a privilege to receive funding to progress our understanding of the world around us, and I am very pleased to see the broad range of fields of research recognised in this round.” 

The eight new ARC Centres of Excellence to include ANU are: 

• The ARC Centre of Excellence for Indigenous and Environmental Histories and Futures will generate a new direction in knowledge creation based on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander-led approaches to managing Land and Sea Country. 
• The ARC Centre of Excellence for the Elimination of Violence Against Women aims to understand the problem of violence against women and address the structural drivers that cause and compound it. 
• The ARC Centre of Excellence for the Mathematical Analysis of Cellular Systems will deliver advanced mathematics to study biological processes through whole cell modelling and will develop methods for engineering biotechnological applications.  
• The ARC Centre of Excellence for Indigenous Futures will transform and improve the life chances of Indigenous Australians by utilising Indigenous knowledge to enhance our understanding of the complex nature of Indigenous intergenerational inequity. 
• The ARC Centre of Excellence for Carbon Science and Innovation will develop carbon catalysts for clean energy, CO2 capture and green chemistry to reduce emissions. 
• The ARC Centre of Excellence for the Weather of the 21st Century will provide Australia with the knowledge, technology and capital for evidence-based decision-making in response to future weather changes in the region. 
• The ARC Centre of Excellence in Optical Microcombs for Breakthrough Science will use technology to drive society-wide transformations in the fields of biomedical imaging, communications, precision measurement and astronomy.  
• The ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery will detect and analyse gravitational waves, expanding our knowledge of fundamental physics, the Universe and the nature of ultra-dense matter.  
  
  For more information, visit ARC Centres of Excellence 2023.