Staff Reporter
29 May 2024 13:56
Funding totalling $58.3 million has been announced through the most recent round of the Australian Laureate Fellowships scheme, supporting projects including quantum computing devices, more durable perovskite-based solar photovoltaic cells, and terahertz biosensing.
Funding for 17 researchers was announced on Tuesday through the scheme, which is part of ARC’s Discovery Program and supports researchers “to design ambitious research programs around a team of postdoctoral fellows and postgraduate students” in various fields.
ARC CEO Dr Richard Johnson added that this is “vital for ensuring high-quality mentorship of Australia’s up-and-coming researchers.”
Funded projects include:
$3,385,000 over five years to UNSW Professor Andrea Morello, for a project to “establish practical methods to perform error-corrected quantum computations using atomic-scale devices in silicon, and will create an Australia-led, globally-connected legacy in high-dimensional quantum computing.”
$3,023,860 over five years to Queensland University of Technology Professor Hongxia Wang, for a project aiming “to make them more durable and therefore economically viable, using molecular engineering and doping techniques to maintain good photoactivity in the perovskite (a metal halide), and to replace gold electrodes with superior low-cost carbon alternatives that have well-tuned and highly efficient electronic and surface properties.”
$3,739,790 over five years to University of Adelaide Professor Derek Abbott (pictured), supporting a project to “investigate terahertz-matter interaction together with sensor design based on advanced materials, breaking current terahertz detection limits” and enabling “rapid substance identification with exquisite precision at trace levels.”
A statement from the University of Adelaide on Wednesday said that Abbott’s work aims to transform terahertz biosensing and create devices for use in security, forensics and space exploration.
A full list of funded projects is available at this link.
Picture: credit University of Adelaide