Western Sydney University researchers have secured more than $1.2 million in grant funding through the Australian Research Council's (ARC) highly competitive Linkage Project scheme.
The ARC Linkage Project scheme promotes national and international partnerships between researchers and business, industry, community organisations and other publicly funded research agencies.
Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research, Enterprise and Global) Professor Deborah Sweeney said the funding success reflects Western's commitment to being a partner of choice for industry, business and communities.
"Western is committed to not only breaking down barriers between disciplines, but also breaking down barriers between sectors to create real-world impacts and shape a better future for all," said Professor Sweeney.
The project, 'Engaging Digital Objects'– which received $567,156 – will be led by Dr Genevieve Quek, Dr Tijl Grootswagers, Associate Professor Manuel Varlet and Professor Kate Stevens from the MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour and Development.
This project aims to improve digital accessibility of the Powerhouse Museum's online collections using gamified online data collection and neurocomputational analysis methods. The outcomes of this project will provide a more engaging online experience that benefits diverse audiences and enhance the Powerhouse's capacity to inspire audiences and grow a STEM-skilled workforce.
The project, 'Child-centred evidence to drive meaningful social change for children' – which received $661,814 – will be led by Professor Amanda Third from The Young and Resilient Research Centre and Institute for Culture and Society and Dr Catharine Fleming from the School of Health Science.
This project aims to generate a toolkit to engage children in Australia and the Pacific in generating evidence about child rights issues. The adoption of this toolkit will lead to benefits for children, children's services, and child welfare organisations nationally and across the region. This project is a unique collaboration between ChildFund, Plan International Australia, Save the Children, UNICEF Australia, SNAICC, and child rights research leaders from 5 universities including Macquarie University and Flinders University.
These outcomes represent a 50 percent funding success rate for the University, higher than the 32 percent funding success rate across the sector for this round.
