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Monday, 14 November 2011

The University of Western Australia's research strength has again been recognised with today's announcement of $17 million in Australian Research Council funding.

Federal Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, Senator Kim Carr announced UWA had been awarded $10.25 million for ARC Future Fellowships and $6.75 million for ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Awards.

UWA submitted 44 applications for Future Fellowships, of which 14 were successful, resulting in a success rate of 31.8 per cent, compared to the national success rate of 30.7 per cent.

A Future Fellowship was awarded to Dr Boris Baer for his research linking evolutionary and molecular biology to safeguard Australian honeybees.  Dr Baer is a QE II Fellow and coordinator of the Collaborative Initiative for Bee Research (CIBER) at UWA.

Postdoctoral fellow Dr Gavin Flematti was also awarded a Future Fellowship to identify new chemical compounds that may be able to provide anti-bacterials, pesticides and plant growth regulators.

Of 119 applications for Early Career Researcher Awards, UWA received funding for 18 individuals; a 15.1 per cent success rate compared to the national average of 12.8 per cent.

Successful Early Career recipients included Assistant Professor Ba Tuong Vo, who with his older brother Winthrop Professor Ba-Ngu Vo, last year won a Eureka Prize for their work on a revolutionary monitoring and tracking system; and Dr Ionat Zurr, an award-winning artist and researcher with SymbioticA, the Centre of Excellence in Biological Art situated in UWA's School of Anatomy and Human Biology.

UWA Acting Vice-Chancellor, Professor Robyn Owens, said the funding would enable the University to continue its work in serving the local, national and international community.

"Our University is a leader on the world stage and we are working with other top universities to address the issues that impact people worldwide," Professor Owens said.

Media references

Michael Sinclair-Jones (UWA Public Affairs)  (+61 8)  6488 3229  /  (+61 4) 00 700 783

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