New $342 million ARC Discovery Projects round announced

Research programs developing new metamaterials, higher-quality long-life lithium batteries, and novel thermal energy storage approaches are among those supported in a new round of Australian Research Council Discovery Projects.

Announced on Tuesday, the round allocated $342 million in funding to 536 projects supporting basic and applied research. 

“Discovery grants support individual researchers and research teams in research projects that provide economic, commercial, environmental, social and/or cultural benefits to the Australian community,” said acting CEO at ARC, Dr Richard Johnson in a statement.

The projects include:

• An RMIT University team developing “metallic metamaterials with exceptional mechanical strength at near-water density” ($553,437.) The project – one of two involving metamaterials to win grant support – expects to lead to “new national capabilities in breakthrough metallic metamaterials, new fundamental knowledge in material design and fabrication, a range of promising metallic metamaterial product designs, and interdisciplinary training of future leaders.” 
• A University of Adelaide project aiming to develop “safe and long-life solid-state lithium batteries (SSLBs) for next generation energy storage” ($727,100.) Successfully delivered, the project will “generate new fundamental knowledges and facilitate commercialisation of SSLBs for renewable energy storage and electric vehicles, benefiting Australia’s research and manufacturing capability, economy and sustainability.”
• A University of Melbourne team aiming to develop “a novel steel-concrete composite vessel for molten salt (MS) energy storage.” The project hopes to advance “ knowledge in the behaviours of steel-concrete composite under high temperature and corrosive environments, and developing a new generation of MS storage vessel that is highly scalable, efficient, and cost-effective.”

Between $30,000 and $500,000 in support per annum for up to five consecutive years is available through Discovery grants. 

By university, Monash University (72) had the highest number of successful grant applications, followed by University of NSW (64) and University of Sydney (57.)

By discipline, biological sciences and biotechnology (136) and engineering, information and computing sciences (128) had the highest number of projects to win grant support.

The full list of supported projects can be seen here.

Picture: A 3D printed titanium “metamaterial” structure (credit RMIT)