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Projects by researchers at The University of Western Australia to design earthquake-resistant bridges and control crop insect pests were among those to attract funding in the latest round of Federal Government grants.

UWA received more than $3.2 million to support 10 research projects - more than 60 per cent of the total funding ($4.96 million) to universities in Western Australia.

UWA Acting Vice-Chancellor, Professor Robyn Owens, said the University's strong record in gaining research funding in Western Australia was a direct result of the University's ability to attract high-quality researchers.

"This latest funding allocation will ensure research at the University continues to advance important and innovative benefits for both our national and international community," Professor Owens said.  "This is competitive funding and as such is an indicator of the standing of our researchers in an Australian context."

Project leader Winthrop Professor Hong Hao, from UWA's School of Civil and Resource Engineering, received a total of $199,332 over four years for his project to develop techniques for earthquake-resistant bridge design.

Winthrop Professor Steven Smith, from the ARC Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology at UWA, received $288,000 over four years for his project to develop a new method to control chewing insect pests.

In addition, funding of more than $629,000 over six years will enable researchers led by Professor Raphael Didham, from UWA's School of Animal Biology, to examine the reasons for pollination failure of threatened plant species during habitat restoration.

The Federal Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, Senator Kim Carr yesterday announced more than $67 million for 219 new Australian research projects as part of the national Australian Research Council Linkage Projects scheme.

Other UWA projects that attracted ARC funding included studying park-and-ride as an alternative transport mode, developing new and effective strategies for dealing with onshore oil spills and the automation of fish species recognition and size measurement from underwater stereo-video imagery.

The Linkage Projects scheme funds collaborative projects between university researchers and partner organisations in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors.

Media references

Janine MacDonald (UWA Public Affairs)  (+61 8)  6488 5563  /  (+61 4) 32 637 716