Space Research: grant outcomes under the ARC 2019 Future Fellowships scheme

The Australian Research Council (ARC) has today released the approved grant outcomes for 2019 research projects and seven space-based awards have been issued in a variety of fields ranging from the impacts of space across Australian society, through to learning more about mysterious Fast Radio Bursts. 

Minister for Education Dan Tehan today announced the 100 Australian Research Council Future Fellows who will share $87.8 million to conduct important research projects, across a wide variety of fields that are expected to deliver significant health, scientific, environmental, social and economic benefits.

“We are supporting research in areas of national importance which will result in economic, environmental, social and health benefits. Our Government is also fostering greater collaboration between academia and industry to improve the connection between research and real-world results.

“I congratulate all of the 2019 Fellows announced today as they embark on their research,” Mr Tehan said.

A total of seven space-based research projects have been awarded, sharing a total pool funding for their projects.

Project Listings

The following are the projects that have been awarded funding:

• Dr. Kateryna Bazaka ($907,000) - Advanced materials for space propulsion: satellites and cubesats. Developing reliable propulsion platforms for massive communication and observation satellite networks and deep space exploration. Queensland University of Technology
   
• Associate Professor Juan Salazar ($1,022,064) - Australia as a space-faring nation investigating the challenges, opportunities, and implications of outer space as a site of economic, political, environmental and cultural interest for Australia. Western Sydney University
   
• Professor Ilya Mandel ($935,735) - Gravitational waves on binary astrophysics: growing the data set of gravitational-wave observations, to answer fundamental questions in astrophysics. Monash University
   
• Dr. Shari Breen ($748,282) - Dense Gas and Star Formation in the Milky Way: understanding how high-mass stars form - by utilising a new, innovative, purpose-designed astronomical survey. Macquarie University
   
• Dr. Natasha Hurley-Walker ($857,533) - GLEAM view of the Universe: exploring the entire radio sky visible to the future Square Kilometre Array ten times more deeply than before, fully characterising the life cycles of active galactic nuclei and finding previously-undetected supernova remnants in the Galactic Plane. Curtin University
   
• Dr. Ryan Shannon ($784,832) - Transforming fast radio bursts into an astrophysical tool: determining what causes fast radio bursts by utilising the revolutionary capabilities of the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder. Swinburne University of Technology
   
• Dr. Danail Obreschkow ($885,923) - The Enigma of Galactic Rotation: aiming to uncover the origin and evolution of galactic rotation. University of Western Australia