News Archive

The UWA Oceans Institute has been successful in securing more than $4.5 million in research funding.

The Institute was awarded more than $4 million in Federal Government grants from the Australian Research Council in early November.

It was awarded a further $500,000 of research grants from UWA and the Office of Naval Research’s NICOP program.

One of the biggest ARC grants is $700,000 earmarked for a national geotechnical centrifuge facility which will be part the proposed Indian Ocean Research Centre being built on the UWA campus at Crawley.

UWA and several other universities will also contribute $880,000 for the new centrifuge that will be used for testing the seabed soils that have to support large offshore structures such as oil and gas rigs.

“The funding, a total of $1.58 million, will provide a 10-metre diameter geotechnical centrifuge and upgrading of the physical modelling facilities here at UWA Oceans Institute,” says Winthrop Professor Mark Cassidy, the Director of the Centre for Offshore Foundation Systems and Deputy Director of the Oceans Institute.

“With the new centrifuge, we’ll be able to spin large amounts of soil – up to 2.4 tonnes of soil – at up to 100 times the force of Earth’s gravity.

“We have the only geotechnical centrifuges in Australia, and this will be our third centrifuge.

“This is really required in light of the larger tests we’ve been asked to do by the offshore oil and gas companies

“With the new centrifuge to be based at the Indian Ocean Marine Research Centre (IOMRC), our facilities will be among the best in the world.”

For a list of the recent grants download the latest Oceans Institute newsletter .

Media references

Tony Malkovic (on behalf of UWA Oceans Institute)  (+61 4) 11 103 398

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