News Archive

It is heartening that at the end of another highly successful year for our University, the quality of our researchers was again recognised in recent national funding rounds.

Both the Australian Research Council (ARC) and the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) have endorsed our researchers in the last fortnight with funding of more than $13 million.

ARC Future Fellowships were awarded to eight individuals working on a range of projects from a networked robotic telescope array; to the timing and processes of continent formation; and building proactivity at work.

And NHMRC Fellowships and People Support Grants were awarded to researchers working on projects addressing topics as varied as creating active environments for mentally and physically healthy communities; hunting human disease genes; exploring the link between dietary patterns and mental health; and paediatric diabetes.

This latest funding for researchers themselves comes soon after NHMRC grants of almost $20 million for specific projects. These include work on gestational diabetes; coronary heart disease; neuropsychiatric outcomes for children of mothers with psychosis; prostate cancer; neurosurgery; men's health; asthma; malaria; bone disease; management of Rett syndrome; risk factors for autism spectrum disorders; and cognitive development.

This work will be carried out by staff of the University on this campus and at affiliated institutes such as the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research and the Western Australian Institute for Medical Research.

Such funding ensures that our University continues its work in serving the community - locally, nationally and internationally.

Over almost a century, our researchers have been able to make positive differences in the daily lives of countless numbers of people in communities right across the globe.

The confidence placed in our University by national funding bodies also helps us continue to reach our goal of being counted among the world's top 50 universities by 2050. In achieving this goal, we will be even better able to contribute to our State and our nation.

However, whatever your role within the University - whether you are part of our academic or professional staff - your valuable contribution to the smooth and effective running of our University is appreciated. As leadership expert Ken Blanchard said ‘None of us is as smart as all of us'.

Only through the team-work and community spirit so evident on our campus can we achieve the results we do as a University.

I wish you all a safe and happy festive season and look forward to further achievement throughout 2011.

Vice-Chancellor Alan Robson

• UWA News 29 November 2010