In situ desalination with membranes for climate resilient irrigation. This project aims to design a climate-resilient irrigation system that minimises evaporative losses and can operate on brackish groundwater without reducing crop yield or damaging soil structure. To do so, it will improve a sub-surface irrigation system that uses desalination membranes. The irrigation system is built on understanding water transport under tension caused by plant transpiration and identifying membranes that can ....In situ desalination with membranes for climate resilient irrigation. This project aims to design a climate-resilient irrigation system that minimises evaporative losses and can operate on brackish groundwater without reducing crop yield or damaging soil structure. To do so, it will improve a sub-surface irrigation system that uses desalination membranes. The irrigation system is built on understanding water transport under tension caused by plant transpiration and identifying membranes that can supply water and remove salt without cativation.Read moreRead less
Plasma-catalytic bubbles for sustainable ammonia. Ammonia is one of the world’s most important chemicals directly sustaining over 50% of our food supply. But the current means of its production is highly eco-destructive and responsible for over 1% of global CO2 emissions, a similar value to global air travel. This project aims to produce ammonia from renewable sources of water, electricity and air, which can provide farmers with a zero-carbon fertilizer under a decentralized and even farm-level ....Plasma-catalytic bubbles for sustainable ammonia. Ammonia is one of the world’s most important chemicals directly sustaining over 50% of our food supply. But the current means of its production is highly eco-destructive and responsible for over 1% of global CO2 emissions, a similar value to global air travel. This project aims to produce ammonia from renewable sources of water, electricity and air, which can provide farmers with a zero-carbon fertilizer under a decentralized and even farm-level approach. Moreover, if driven by renewables, ammonia offers an effective means of exporting hydrogen from Australia. Hydrogen has been highlighted by the federal government as a priority technology in its Technology Investment Roadmap with ammonia seen as the best approach for its exportation. Read moreRead less
Advanced solar powered hydrogen production systems based on green algal cells. This project aims to enhance the efficiency of solar powered hydrogen production from water and will facilitate the co-production of H2 and oil through microalgal biofuel systems. This frontier science project will therefore deliver a process with high solar conversion efficiency and will deliver multiple product streams increasing profitability.
Engineering the defence-vigour balance for increased crop yield. This project aims to investigate a novel hypothesis to increase seed yield and vigour. Translating from a model system it will test whether the deliberate inactivation of a gene in tomato and banana, by RNA interference or genome editing, enhances performance. A dysfunctional gene in the viral defence pathway of the model plant species N. benthamiana boosted its seed yield and vigour. This project will investigate the enhancement, ....Engineering the defence-vigour balance for increased crop yield. This project aims to investigate a novel hypothesis to increase seed yield and vigour. Translating from a model system it will test whether the deliberate inactivation of a gene in tomato and banana, by RNA interference or genome editing, enhances performance. A dysfunctional gene in the viral defence pathway of the model plant species N. benthamiana boosted its seed yield and vigour. This project will investigate the enhancement, determine the consequences to the plant's defences, measure the balance between defence and vigour, and examine the risk of disease to such yield-enhanced crops. This is a radical departure from conventional approaches to crop improvement but if successful would provide an additional solution to the problem of future food security.Read moreRead less
Predicting the delivery of ecosystem services in agricultural landscapes. The ecological sustainability of Australian agriculture relies on services (for example, pollination) provided by ecosystems. Service provision is threatened by environmental change, but there is no established approach for predicting the impact of change on services. This project will undertake the most comprehensive experimental examination of ecosystem-service delivery ever conducted in Australia, testing the predictive ....Predicting the delivery of ecosystem services in agricultural landscapes. The ecological sustainability of Australian agriculture relies on services (for example, pollination) provided by ecosystems. Service provision is threatened by environmental change, but there is no established approach for predicting the impact of change on services. This project will undertake the most comprehensive experimental examination of ecosystem-service delivery ever conducted in Australia, testing the predictive capacity of an approach that links environmental change with variation in service provision through species’ traits. The major outcomes include greater capacity for agriculturalists to maximise ecosystem benefits and increase economic returns, and improved biodiversity conservation through recognition of its contribution to agriculture. Read moreRead less
Regulating Food Labels: The Case of Free Range Food Products in Australia. The food label has become an important site of contestation and controversy with respect to a range of health, safety, environmental and ethical issues across the food system. This project aims to examine the regulation of food labelling in Australia through a focus on free range labelled eggs and animal products. It aims to shed light on the dynamics of how a network of food producers, retailers, private certification or ....Regulating Food Labels: The Case of Free Range Food Products in Australia. The food label has become an important site of contestation and controversy with respect to a range of health, safety, environmental and ethical issues across the food system. This project aims to examine the regulation of food labelling in Australia through a focus on free range labelled eggs and animal products. It aims to shed light on the dynamics of how a network of food producers, retailers, private certification organisations and regulatory agencies are responding to changing demands for ethical and quality foods. The project is expected to develop new strategies for a more effective, legitimate and stakeholder-inclusive approach to regulating food labels.Read moreRead less
Deciphering the role of microRNAs during pathogen attack: new concepts for disease resistance in plants. Small non-coding RNAs called ‘microRNAs’ regulate diverse pathways in plants including plant defence against pathogens. This project will investigate the roles of plant microRNAs in response to four economically important viruses and compare these to a bacterial and a fungal pathogen. The aim is to dissect the underlying molecular mechanism of microRNA-based gene regulation during pathogen in ....Deciphering the role of microRNAs during pathogen attack: new concepts for disease resistance in plants. Small non-coding RNAs called ‘microRNAs’ regulate diverse pathways in plants including plant defence against pathogens. This project will investigate the roles of plant microRNAs in response to four economically important viruses and compare these to a bacterial and a fungal pathogen. The aim is to dissect the underlying molecular mechanism of microRNA-based gene regulation during pathogen infection and specifically identify common microRNAs which have evident impact during virus attack. This study is crucial due to its focus on virus diseases that cause severe damage to many crop plants; a global issue with strong implications for food security. This project is expected to provide basic new concepts for disease resistance in plants.Read moreRead less
How antibiotic resistance is transferred from animal manure to vegetable. This project aims to decipher the transmission routes of antibiotic resistance from animal manure to manured soil and vegetable. Antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) threaten human health, but the pathways and mechanisms for transmission of ARGs in the environment are unknown. This project will investigate all the major classes of ARGs in typical animal manure and vegetable form, and possible routes for their transmission fr ....How antibiotic resistance is transferred from animal manure to vegetable. This project aims to decipher the transmission routes of antibiotic resistance from animal manure to manured soil and vegetable. Antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) threaten human health, but the pathways and mechanisms for transmission of ARGs in the environment are unknown. This project will investigate all the major classes of ARGs in typical animal manure and vegetable form, and possible routes for their transmission from manure to soil and to vegetable surfaces and endophytic bacterial communities. The results are expected to identify the ARGs indicators likeliest to spread into the food chain, and develop management options to tackle the environmental antibiotic resistance.Read moreRead less
Boosting photosynthetic efficiency using a plant nanobionics approach. The project aims to improve light capture and enhance electron transport rates using a plant nanobionics approach. Biocompatible plasmonic low-dimensional transition metal oxides with unique optical and electronics properties will be selected as the bioinspired materials. The investigation will focus on developing oxide compounds as artificial antenna, capturing extended optical wavelengths that are not normally available to ....Boosting photosynthetic efficiency using a plant nanobionics approach. The project aims to improve light capture and enhance electron transport rates using a plant nanobionics approach. Biocompatible plasmonic low-dimensional transition metal oxides with unique optical and electronics properties will be selected as the bioinspired materials. The investigation will focus on developing oxide compounds as artificial antenna, capturing extended optical wavelengths that are not normally available to natural plants. Energetic hot electrons excited from plasmonic materials injected into the plant system will further be explored, achieving unprecedented energy conversion from solar to chemical. The anticipated findings will provide a strong base to develop new plant systems with improved photosynthetic efficiency.Read moreRead less
Roads to the Future: Infrastructure and the New Development in Africa. This project aims to conduct a comparative analysis of new road schemes in East Africa and the Western Indian Ocean (a region which sits at the intersection of several major global transport and development corridors), in order to understand their economic, socio-political, cultural and public health effects. As global road-building accelerates at an unprecedented rate, especially in the developing world, there is an urgent n ....Roads to the Future: Infrastructure and the New Development in Africa. This project aims to conduct a comparative analysis of new road schemes in East Africa and the Western Indian Ocean (a region which sits at the intersection of several major global transport and development corridors), in order to understand their economic, socio-political, cultural and public health effects. As global road-building accelerates at an unprecedented rate, especially in the developing world, there is an urgent need for new models for understanding roads' potential economic benefits, as well as their risks, including their environmental risks. This project is benefitting citizens, NGOs, donors and governments, by generating new knowledge about how we have in the past, do at present, and should in the future, engage with roads.Read moreRead less