Electro-Optical Primers for Safe Use and Clean Manufacturing. Conventional primers contain a mechanically-sensitive primary explosive that is used to detonate the more stable propellant in a bullet. This project aims to address the health and environmental impacts of heavy metals in current primers by replacing them with benign, electrically or optically activated silicon-based materials. Modern semiconductor fabrication techniques will be used to develop safe and clean primers through cost-effe ....Electro-Optical Primers for Safe Use and Clean Manufacturing. Conventional primers contain a mechanically-sensitive primary explosive that is used to detonate the more stable propellant in a bullet. This project aims to address the health and environmental impacts of heavy metals in current primers by replacing them with benign, electrically or optically activated silicon-based materials. Modern semiconductor fabrication techniques will be used to develop safe and clean primers through cost-effective doping and deposition protocols. The expected outcomes of the project include a sovereign primer manufacturing capability for Australia. This will provide a significant strategic advantage and health benefits for law enforcement and defence personnel during live fire training and firing range exercises.Read moreRead less
Foundations for Physically Unclonable nano-Security on Silicon. This project aims to develop an on-chip physical unclonable function (PUF) based on recent progress in nanotechnology to generate unprecedented number of unique signatures. This is significant because these signatures can be used for preventing fraud and counterfeiting, protecting sensitive data and securing communications. PUFs will play an extremely vital role in future security systems. The PUF in the proposed project will be sim ....Foundations for Physically Unclonable nano-Security on Silicon. This project aims to develop an on-chip physical unclonable function (PUF) based on recent progress in nanotechnology to generate unprecedented number of unique signatures. This is significant because these signatures can be used for preventing fraud and counterfeiting, protecting sensitive data and securing communications. PUFs will play an extremely vital role in future security systems. The PUF in the proposed project will be simple, fast, tiny, energy efficient and highly secure as a result of the abundant nano-fabrication variations. The outcome of this project will be a prototype of a super high secure nanoelectronic-based PUF that will be tested to evaluate the technology and its security against malicious attacks.Read moreRead less
Visualisation of latent DNA. This project aims to deliver a proof-of-concept that allows visualisation of invisible DNA (latent DNA) into a quick, inexpensive and practical DNA collection method that will lead to DNA evidence being available in more cases. It will build upon a proof-of-concept method ready for transferal to forensic casework. This will allow DNA evidence recovery technicians to improve their hit rate in recovering latent DNA from real crime items, leading to more informative DNA ....Visualisation of latent DNA. This project aims to deliver a proof-of-concept that allows visualisation of invisible DNA (latent DNA) into a quick, inexpensive and practical DNA collection method that will lead to DNA evidence being available in more cases. It will build upon a proof-of-concept method ready for transferal to forensic casework. This will allow DNA evidence recovery technicians to improve their hit rate in recovering latent DNA from real crime items, leading to more informative DNA profiles. Crime items that currently yield no genetic information will now be informative, assisting investigations of serious crimes or terrorist incidents.Read moreRead less
Drug targets in the relict plastid of malaria parasites. Malaria is a major world health problem and new drugs are needed urgently. Essential genes are potentially excellent targets for anti-malarial drugs. This project will use a novel strategy to identify genes that the parasite cannot exist without. Function and drug potential of these genes will be explored.
Intruder alert! detecting and classifying events in noisy time series. This project aims to address the mathematical challenges in automated early detection and classification of intrusion events in noisy time series generated from perimeter security systems. The project expects to develop robust methods to detect intrusion events under different operating environments while ignoring nuisance events. The project will boost the global competitiveness of the Australian security industry, and enabl ....Intruder alert! detecting and classifying events in noisy time series. This project aims to address the mathematical challenges in automated early detection and classification of intrusion events in noisy time series generated from perimeter security systems. The project expects to develop robust methods to detect intrusion events under different operating environments while ignoring nuisance events. The project will boost the global competitiveness of the Australian security industry, and enable improved event detection and classification in noisy time series to the benefit of many critical application areas beyond national security.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE190100046
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$387,000.00
Summary
Fortifying our digital economy: advanced automated vulnerability discovery. This project aims to enable security researchers to detect critical vulnerabilities in large software systems with maximal efficiency, cost-effectively, and with known statistical accuracy. The aim is to develop advanced high-performance fuzzers that effectively thwart malware attacks, ransomware epidemics, and cyber terrorism by exposing security flaws before they can commence. The project will employ a well-established ....Fortifying our digital economy: advanced automated vulnerability discovery. This project aims to enable security researchers to detect critical vulnerabilities in large software systems with maximal efficiency, cost-effectively, and with known statistical accuracy. The aim is to develop advanced high-performance fuzzers that effectively thwart malware attacks, ransomware epidemics, and cyber terrorism by exposing security flaws before they can commence. The project will employ a well-established statistical framework utilised in ecology research to provide fundamental insights to boosting the efficiency of software vulnerability discovery, and on the trade-off between investing more resources and gaining better cyber security guarantees. As our reliance on new technologies is ever growing, this project equips Australia to curb cyber crime cost-effectively.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE170100477
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$380,000.00
Summary
The unintended consequences of foreign military training. This project aims to explore the effects of foreign military training on civil-military relations in recipient states. Developed countries are increasingly training developing countries’ militaries. While training is provided to promote traditional security goals, development, and stability, it may have unintended consequences including increasing the prospect of a coup. Using quantitative and qualitative methods, including case studies o ....The unintended consequences of foreign military training. This project aims to explore the effects of foreign military training on civil-military relations in recipient states. Developed countries are increasingly training developing countries’ militaries. While training is provided to promote traditional security goals, development, and stability, it may have unintended consequences including increasing the prospect of a coup. Using quantitative and qualitative methods, including case studies of the US and Australia, the project aims to explain the effects of these training programs, advance the understanding of civil-military relations and produce policy recommendations to improve outcomes of engagement with foreign militaries.Read moreRead less
In for the count: Maximising trust and reliability in Australian elections. This project aims to develop innovative approaches to identifying, measuring, and evaluating errors and purposeful intervention in the uniquely complex elections at the basis of Australian democracy. Such methods can underpin a world-class election auditing system, which contends with the risks that are emerging at the intersection of election digitisation, cybersecurity and foreign interference. The project’s expected o ....In for the count: Maximising trust and reliability in Australian elections. This project aims to develop innovative approaches to identifying, measuring, and evaluating errors and purposeful intervention in the uniquely complex elections at the basis of Australian democracy. Such methods can underpin a world-class election auditing system, which contends with the risks that are emerging at the intersection of election digitisation, cybersecurity and foreign interference. The project’s expected outcomes are new auditing methods, tested on real Australian election data, with their benefits quantified against global best practice. The research outputs should help reinforce the community’s trust in Australian elections, which are a foundation for our security, social cohesion, and political resilience.Read moreRead less
Nanophotonic metamaterials as anti-counterfeit devices in Australian banknotes. This project will demonstrate the application of novel materials as the basis for next generation security features on banknotes. Such elements play a key role in maintaining the integrity of Australia's currency since they present a significant barrier to counterfeiting.
Understanding the drivers and motivators of extremist violence. Despite intense interest in the issue, our understanding of and ability to respond to extremist violence is limited. This innovative program of research is designed to establish an empirical foundation for understanding and responding to extremist violence in Australia. It aims to examine risk and protective factors for such violence, the needs of those susceptible to committing such acts, and the effectiveness of intervention. Find ....Understanding the drivers and motivators of extremist violence. Despite intense interest in the issue, our understanding of and ability to respond to extremist violence is limited. This innovative program of research is designed to establish an empirical foundation for understanding and responding to extremist violence in Australia. It aims to examine risk and protective factors for such violence, the needs of those susceptible to committing such acts, and the effectiveness of intervention. Findings are expected to inform health, national security, social welfare, and justice agencies in their pursuit to identify those at risk of offending, address their clinical needs and manage the risk of harm they pose to society and to themselves.Read moreRead less