A Midas touch for electrophiles in new reaction development. This project aims to address the lack of knowledge about how high-value organic molecules are formed in gold-catalysed reactions by advancing a novel mode of catalysis. This project expects to generate new knowledge about these gold-catalysed reactions using an innovative, interdisciplinary approach incorporating computational and synthetic techniques. Expected outcomes of this project include the optimisation and development of import ....A Midas touch for electrophiles in new reaction development. This project aims to address the lack of knowledge about how high-value organic molecules are formed in gold-catalysed reactions by advancing a novel mode of catalysis. This project expects to generate new knowledge about these gold-catalysed reactions using an innovative, interdisciplinary approach incorporating computational and synthetic techniques. Expected outcomes of this project include the optimisation and development of important organic reactions and enhancing collaboration nationally and internationally between computational and synthetic chemists. This should provide significant benefits in the form of improved chemical reactions for chemists to prepare new pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals and materials.Read moreRead less
The Dark-side of the Milky Way. Astronomers have long sought to determine the 3-dimensional structure of our Galaxy, the Milky Way, with limited success owing to its immense size and obscuration by dust at optical wavelengths. We know more about structure of tens of thousands of other galaxies than we do about the structure of the Milky Way on the far-side of the Galactic Centre. This program will use Australian infrastructure to make the most accurate distance measurements to date of the far-si ....The Dark-side of the Milky Way. Astronomers have long sought to determine the 3-dimensional structure of our Galaxy, the Milky Way, with limited success owing to its immense size and obscuration by dust at optical wavelengths. We know more about structure of tens of thousands of other galaxies than we do about the structure of the Milky Way on the far-side of the Galactic Centre. This program will use Australian infrastructure to make the most accurate distance measurements to date of the far-side of the Milky Way visible from the Southern hemisphere, completing the 3-dimensional picture of our Galaxy. These results will be leveraged to yield accurate distances, providing fundamental information on the stellar masses, luminosities, and ages.Read moreRead less
Unraveling ocean mixing and air-sea forcing along the Indo-Pacific exchange. This project aims to collect unprecedented observations and develop high resolution model simulations to examine changes in the Indonesian Throughflow (ITF) north of Australia. This project expects to develop new knowledge of ocean-atmosphere interactions along the path of the ITF from the Pacific to the Indian Ocean, which are the powerhouse that drives changes in winds and rainfall around Australia and the entire Indo ....Unraveling ocean mixing and air-sea forcing along the Indo-Pacific exchange. This project aims to collect unprecedented observations and develop high resolution model simulations to examine changes in the Indonesian Throughflow (ITF) north of Australia. This project expects to develop new knowledge of ocean-atmosphere interactions along the path of the ITF from the Pacific to the Indian Ocean, which are the powerhouse that drives changes in winds and rainfall around Australia and the entire Indo-Pacific region. Expected outcomes include a 1000-fold increase in the observations of mixing in the Indonesian seas and new understanding of the ocean-atmosphere processes that control water property change along the ITF. This should lead to strong improvement in the skill of climate forecast models in the Australian region.Read moreRead less
Antarctica's leaky defence to poleward heat transport. Southern Ocean currents are barriers to the oceanic transport of heat toward Antarctica. This barrier breaks down at key locations along their path and the poleward heat transport is enhanced. Changing winds are expected to accelerate heat transport, threatening ice shelves that protect Antarctic glaciers from ocean-driven melt. This project aims to advance understanding of the small-scale processes that control heat transport across the Sou ....Antarctica's leaky defence to poleward heat transport. Southern Ocean currents are barriers to the oceanic transport of heat toward Antarctica. This barrier breaks down at key locations along their path and the poleward heat transport is enhanced. Changing winds are expected to accelerate heat transport, threatening ice shelves that protect Antarctic glaciers from ocean-driven melt. This project aims to advance understanding of the small-scale processes that control heat transport across the Southern Ocean. By combining funded international field campaigns that harness new advances in observing systems with next-generation numerical modelling, this research will create a step-change in our ability to predict Southern Ocean environmental change.Read moreRead less
Lifting the Veil on Cold Planets in the Inner Galaxy. The project aims to explore a unique aspect of exoplanet detection: searches for cold planets of Earth mass and larger in the densest stellar fields of the inner Milky Way. Infrared cameras will be used to detect small planets in this extreme galactic environment. The proposed project will open a new era of infrared microlensing observations from the ground and supply critical data in preparation for the next generation of microlensing from s ....Lifting the Veil on Cold Planets in the Inner Galaxy. The project aims to explore a unique aspect of exoplanet detection: searches for cold planets of Earth mass and larger in the densest stellar fields of the inner Milky Way. Infrared cameras will be used to detect small planets in this extreme galactic environment. The proposed project will open a new era of infrared microlensing observations from the ground and supply critical data in preparation for the next generation of microlensing from space. This work directly links to the Nancy Grace Roman Telescope (2026 launch) Galactic Exoplanet Survey. Expected outcomes are a greatly improved understanding of planet formation down to terrestrial-mass planets, and improved techniques for cold planet detection with gravitational microlensing. Read moreRead less
The Occurrence of Cold Planets in the Galaxy. The project aims to explore a unique niche in exoplanet detection: searches for cold planets down to Earth mass, including ice giants and rogue free-floating planets. Infrared cameras and adaptive optics on large telescopes will be used to make accurate measurements of cold planets in diverse galactic environments. These are significant because they are completely different from most known exoplanets, being far from their host stars and unique probes ....The Occurrence of Cold Planets in the Galaxy. The project aims to explore a unique niche in exoplanet detection: searches for cold planets down to Earth mass, including ice giants and rogue free-floating planets. Infrared cameras and adaptive optics on large telescopes will be used to make accurate measurements of cold planets in diverse galactic environments. These are significant because they are completely different from most known exoplanets, being far from their host stars and unique probes of planet formation theory. Expected outcomes are a greatly improved understanding of planet formation, and improved techniques for cold planet detection with gravitational microlensing. The project will strongly benefit the next generation space-based programs planned for the next decade.Read moreRead less
Risks of rapid ocean warming at the Antarctic continental margin. This project aims to comprehensively understand the interconnected processes by which oceanic heat is circulated towards Antarctica. The risk of rapid ocean warming at the Antarctic margin is profound, with change already detected via deep ocean warming, land-ice melt, and ice shelf collapse. Yet this region remains poorly understood, with only limited observations due to both a harsh environment and a lack of standard data stream ....Risks of rapid ocean warming at the Antarctic continental margin. This project aims to comprehensively understand the interconnected processes by which oceanic heat is circulated towards Antarctica. The risk of rapid ocean warming at the Antarctic margin is profound, with change already detected via deep ocean warming, land-ice melt, and ice shelf collapse. Yet this region remains poorly understood, with only limited observations due to both a harsh environment and a lack of standard data streams. This project will use high-resolution global and regional ocean/sea-ice models to examine mechanisms for rapid warming of Antarctic continental shelf waters via both large-scale drivers and fine-scale processes, including mesoscale eddies, tide-topography interactions, and bottom boundary flows. This work will better constrain future rates of ice melt around Antarctica by providing vital knowledge of the ocean processes, dynamics, and feedbacks relating to warm water intrusion onto the Antarctic continental shelf.Read moreRead less
Physics-aware machine learning for data-driven fire risk prediction. The 2019/20 Australian fire season was unprecedented in its extent, impact, and the response of fire agencies. In this project, we aim to answer the question: was the scale of these fires driven by known drivers of fire (drought, weather, fuels and ignitions), or were fundamentally new undescribed processes and phenomena involved? We will accomplish this by developing an innovative, physics-aware machine learning model of fire ....Physics-aware machine learning for data-driven fire risk prediction. The 2019/20 Australian fire season was unprecedented in its extent, impact, and the response of fire agencies. In this project, we aim to answer the question: was the scale of these fires driven by known drivers of fire (drought, weather, fuels and ignitions), or were fundamentally new undescribed processes and phenomena involved? We will accomplish this by developing an innovative, physics-aware machine learning model of fire risk and spread, trained and validated on a two-decade satellite fire record. The predictive ability of the model will be tested on the 2019/20 fire season to determine if novel drivers of fire can be identified, and the model itself will be operationalised into a novel short-to-mid term fire risk prediction tool. Read moreRead less
Cosmic powerhouses: The birth, death, and legacy of black hole jets. This project targets relativistic jets powered by supermassive black holes - the most powerful systems in the Universe. Theoretically, the enormous energies released have a profound influence on how galaxies evolve; empirically, observations reveal signatures of their impact across cosmic time. However, fundamental questions remain about how these jets are triggered and what impact they have on galaxies. The project will addres ....Cosmic powerhouses: The birth, death, and legacy of black hole jets. This project targets relativistic jets powered by supermassive black holes - the most powerful systems in the Universe. Theoretically, the enormous energies released have a profound influence on how galaxies evolve; empirically, observations reveal signatures of their impact across cosmic time. However, fundamental questions remain about how these jets are triggered and what impact they have on galaxies. The project will address these questions using novel supercomputer models of black hole jets in realistic cosmological environments, then confront these predictions with new data from Square Kilometre Array (SKA) pathfinding radio telescopes. This will substantially enhance Australia’s leadership capacity in a strategically important area.Read moreRead less
Dust to the ocean: Does it really increase productivity? This project aims to investigate the relationship between dust deposition and marine productivity. This project will quantify dust deposition to the ocean and its chemical and ecological impact by using new geochemical techniques and novel approaches with autonomous ocean sensors. Expected outcomes of this project include improved estimates of dust deposition to the ocean and the development of globally-applicable methods for quantifying t ....Dust to the ocean: Does it really increase productivity? This project aims to investigate the relationship between dust deposition and marine productivity. This project will quantify dust deposition to the ocean and its chemical and ecological impact by using new geochemical techniques and novel approaches with autonomous ocean sensors. Expected outcomes of this project include improved estimates of dust deposition to the ocean and the development of globally-applicable methods for quantifying the link between dust and biology using profiling floats. This should provide significant benefits such as improved dust models used to predict future changes in nutrient deposition, with implications for predicting future ocean fish production and carbon uptake.Read moreRead less