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Research into honeybees, a clock for the Square Kilometre Array and the next generation ‘microscope in a needle' to find cancer will be among dozens of projects to receive a slice of almost $775,000 awarded by The University of Western Australia to collaborative research efforts across the globe.

The annual UWA Research Collaboration Awards (RCA) provide individual grants of up to $20,000 to support new and existing initiatives and expand UWA's research collaborations, both nationally and internationally.

Researchers from a wide range of UWA schools and centres will benefit from the 2014 round of grants, announced last week. A total of $774,985 will go to 57 collaborative projects spanning diverse areas - from physics, plant biology, engineering and evolutionary biology to population health, law, the earth and environment, and paediatric, women's and infants' health.

Projects include the impacts of parasite resistance on honeybees; bubbles in weightlessness; the use of inoculation theory to promote healthy behaviour among adolescents; measuring the impact of music on mood; climate and sea-level changes in the past three million years in northern Australia; and the next generation ‘microscope in a needle' - technology designed to find cancer.

UWA researchers will work with researchers from universities and research centres across Australia, Europe, the UK and the USA, and other countries including Singapore, Korea, China, Japan, South Africa, Canada and Saudi Arabia.

Winthrop Professor Peter Davies, Pro Vice-Chancellor for Research, said the top research universities were all characterised by a high level of global collaboration.

"Such ongoing collaborations lead to enhanced institutional ties and increased publishing, papers in better quality journals, grants, and training opportunities for UWA researchers," Professor Davies said.

Since the RCA scheme began in 2009, collaborative research projects have received a total of $2,753,659. This year's funding round sees an increase in the total amount awarded, with researchers last year receiving a total of $663,561.

A full list of the 2014 RCA recipients can be found here .

Media references

Ms Andrea Tongue (UWA Research Grants Office)  (+61 8)  6488 3597
Michael Sinclair-Jones (UWA Public Affairs)  (+61 8)  6488 3229  /  (+61 4) 00 700 783