University of Melbourne researchers recognised in ARC awards

The University of Melbourne has received $32.2 million from the Australian Research Council to advance research projects ranging from climate change and extreme weather, to multiculturalism and the Australian legal system and musical practice in funding results announced this week.

Funding received by the university comprised $22.4 million for 57 Discovery Projects, $7.1 million for 20 Discovery Early Career Researcher Awards and $2.7 million in the Linkage, Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities scheme.
Three projects at the Faculty of the Victorian College of the Arts and Melbourne Conservatorium of Music were awarded $1.1 million in funding, to investigate the role of music therapy in rebuilding identity post-injury, understanding motivation and practice quality in elite music performance and the hearing histories of the western Pilbara.
University of Melbourne Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) Professor James McCluskey said the grants recognised the great breadth and depth of the research at the university and strengthened its world-class research, teaching and learning.
“This funding is a welcome investment in the future. The university is pleased to be leading the way with projects that will address the grand challenges society will face in the future on a global scale.
“The support from the ARC is based on a rigorous competitive process and reflects the outstanding quality of research at the University of Melbourne,” he said.
Some of the funded projects include the following:

• Islamic family law and the Australian legal system:  There has been increasing debate in Australia in recent years about whether the Australian legal system should recognise Islamic family law processes. This research will look into the experience of Muslim women and how these processes operate in Australia and how policy can best address some of the challenges at play.

• How musicians practice: As funding and resources for Australian musicians is scarce, this research aims to better understand how musicians can make the most of their the time spent practicing and how consistent practice has been found to increase performance, learning, creativity and well-being.

• Why are there so many cyclones?: There are currently almost 100 tropical cyclones per year around the globe, but no one knows why so many occur. This project will conduct a series of climate model experiments to help understand more about this weather phenomenon.

• What’s next after the Higgs boson discovery?: Researchers will work to answer the question, what is the origin of dark matter? The project will search for new, as yet undiscovered principles of nature and the effect these have on our existence.

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