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July 7, 2015

Million-dollar boost for research with industry

Researchers receive more than $1M in the latest round of ARC Linkage Projects funding.

Research projects that investigate ways to convert wastewater to electricity, measure the value of National Disability Insurance Scheme and improve forklift design have received a million dollar boost under the latest round of the Australian Research Council’s (ARC) Linkage Projects scheme. 

Minister for Education and Training, the Hon. Christopher Pyne MP, has announced UOW would receive more than $1.06million in funding over three years to work collaboratively with industry partners to deliver important outcomes for the nation. 

“Australia’s future competitiveness depends on collaboration across disciplines and sectors, on turning our ideas and research into real goods and services, technologies and life improvements,” he said. 

Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Innovation) Professor Judy Raper said the three grants would allow UOW researchers to continue to translate their research into real-life outcomes. 

“These projects will bring researchers from an array of disciplines together to work on practical real-life solutions to industry problems. This work builds on a strong history of industry collaboration and commercialisation at the University.” 

Professor Long Nghiem, from the Faculty of Engineering, has received $470,000 over four years to further develop a method of converting sewerage and waste water into biogas for electricity production. The project is in collaboration with Sydney Water Corporation and the District Of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority in the United States. 

The process of anaerobic co-digestion uses bacteria to break down waste products, which release methane as a by-product. This has the potential to bring significant economic savings to water suppliers and environmental benefits to communities. However, full-scale deployment has to overcome the fundamental challenges of managing impacts such as odour, separating water from the sludge, biogas quality and nutrient build-up. 

Professor Nghiem’s team will draw on expertise in process engineering, biochemistry, analytical chemistry and analytics to develop a set of tools to help water authorities cost-effectively manage these impacts and realise the benefits of co-digestion.  

Associate Professor Melanie Randle, from the Faculty of Business, has received $326,500 over three years to explore the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), which will start rolling out to nearly half a million people with a disability in 2016. 

Professor Randle will partner with not-for-profits Caresouth and CatholicCare to identify changes in objective and perceived consumer value pre-NDIS and post-NDIS and differences in how market segments use their autonomy and whether this leads to differences in benefits gained from the NDIS. 

Findings are intended to contribute to a better understanding of when free market mechanisms serve the needs of their citizens better than traditional means of government support. 

Professor Weihua Li, from the Faculty of Engineering, has received $270,000 over three years to make forklifts more comfortable and safer for drivers. 

The rigid suspension system in forklifts has been linked with high incidences of back pain and musculoskeletal injuries through exposure to hand, arm and whole-body vibrations. Drivers experience more vibration and jolting from variations in the road surface to changes in mass, or common loading, lifting and unloading actions. 

The project aims to draw on the research team’s expertise in fluids that can be thickened by applying a magnetic force. Impulses from the road or lifting load are transmitted as energy to an electromagnetic coil in the damper. When activated the coil cause the iron particles in the fluid to form a chain and harden. In this way, the driving dynamics and impulses from the road directly control the damping power in real time. 

The team will use the technology to develop and evaluate a new wheel and chassis and seat suspension system that can vary damping and stiffness to control mass uncertainty and vibration. The Linkage grant will enable Professor Li to collaborate with China EP Equipment Co. Ltd, M & S Engineering Pty Limited and M & S Engineering Australia Pty Ltd.