Research grants support industry partnerships

The University of Adelaide has been awarded more than $1 million in linkage grants from the Australian Research Council (ARC) to support alliances with industry. Two projects aim to improve safety in the mining industry and help preserve Australia’s cultural heritage.

“I congratulate our researchers on the award of these grants that will fund their significant work,” said Professor Anton Middelberg, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research), the University of Adelaide.

“The varied nature of the research to be conducted by these two important projects demonstrates the diverse ways in which our University of Adelaide experts can deliver meaningful impact to industry and the cultural heritage sector.

“These projects both aim to provide innovative and meaningful solutions to complex challenges.”

The ARC’s Linkage Program promotes national and international research partnerships between researchers and business, industry, community organisations and other publicly funded research agencies. The latest grants announced are outcomes of the Linkage Projects Round 2 for 2022.

"The varied nature of the research to be conducted by these two important projects demonstrates the diverse ways in which our University of Adelaide experts can deliver meaningful impact to industry and the cultural heritage sector."Professor Anton Middelberg, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research), the University of Adelaide

The two projects led by experts from the University in this round are as follows:

Associate Professor Murat Karakus, from the School of Chemical Engineering, will lead a team undertaking a project to deliver multi-phase modelling and characterisation of cave mining mudrush hazards. Sudden, uncontrolled flow of mud into an underground mine can damage equipment, infrastructure, and even cause fatalities.

The project received $752,402 in ARC funding and will partner with Oz Minerals Ltd with the aim of developing cost-effective management and monitoring of mudrush hazards at the Carrapateena mine.

The project will create a framework to boost the safety, productivity, and profitability of caving operations to benefit miners and the broader resources industry.

Dr Maggie Tonkin, from the School of Humanities, will lead a team to re-activate the Australian Dance Theatre’s (ADT) Archive for the Future, receiving $295,855 in ARC funding for the project.

Dr Tonkin’s team aims to investigate how the rich, vulnerable heritage of ADT, Australia’s oldest contemporary dance company, can be revitalised for the future. In partnership with Indigenous leadership from ADT, it will collaboratively research Western and Indigenous choreographies to generate an innovative work.

Case studies of ADT's female artistic directors will produce new knowledge of gender in Australian dance, and experiment with 3D imaging of the costume collection. Outcomes include an exhibition, dance work, film, and a networked digital dance archive. It will benefit the performing arts by producing archival resources that can be adapted across the sector to preserve Australia’s cultural heritage.

Details of the ARC funding announcement can be found here.