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More than 75 per cent of new Federal funding for WA research will go to The University of Western Australia.

Today's announcement by Federal Education Minister Christopher Pyne allocates $31 million to UWA out of a total of $40 million in federal funding for WA.

It forms part of a total of $522 million in new Australian Research Council grants for 1177 projects throughout Australia.

The UWA component includes almost $800,000 for new nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy facilities to advance research into medicine, minerals and energy, and the environment.

UWA-administered facilities will help to develop new research in areas such as oil and gas processing, which are vital to Australia's economic future.  Curtin, Edith Cowan and Murdoch Universities and the WA Museum will partner UWA in the facilities.

UWA Vice-Chancellor Professor Paul Johnson said today's announcement demonstrated the Federal Government's confidence in world-class research at UWA.

"This University has played a vital role in the development of Western Australia and has a proven track-record in delivering valuable research outcomes on an increasingly global scale."

Other UWA projects to secure ARC funding include:

• developing fast, accurate, reliable and low-cost ways to ensure recycled water quality;
• designing antioxidants for the treatment of oxidative damage-related diseases that affect millions of people;
• recovering waste methane gas - a greenhouse gas 21 times more potent than carbon dioxide;
• investigating orbits and interactions of satellite galaxies;
• examining coastal reef wave dynamics;
• studying the health benefits of volunteering by seniors.

In addition, ARC Future Fellowship grants to UWA researchers will fund projects such as generating new therapies to treat incurable tumours and examining the letters of Catherine de Medici for new insights into early modern female political participation and power.