Archived News for Research Sector Professionals

The University of Melbourne’s Institute for a Broadband-Enabled Society (IBES) has become a member of a new research consortium - the Green Touch™ Initiative - which brings together leading Information and Communications Technology (ICT) industry players and researchers to fundamentally re-invent the network and reduce ICT energy consumption up to a factor of 1000.

The Prime Minister Julia Gillard has announced new terms of reference and new membership for the Prime Minister's Science, Engineering and Innovation Council (PMSEIC) following a recent review of its operations and membership.

Australia needs to strengthen industry support and engagement with its leading innovation programs to increase competitiveness and productivity, two reports commissioned by GE, have found.

The New South Wales Government has announced $7 million in grants to two research groups as part of the translational cancer research program.

The Australian Government is calling for applications from consortia seeking to establish a Cooperative Research Centre (CRC).

The Department of Industry, Innovation, Science, Research and Tertiary Education will conduct information sessions for the latest CRC program selection in all Australian capital cities from Monday 13 February until 24 February.

The CRC program has been supporting research partnerships between publicly funded researchers and end user organisations to address major challenges for 20 years. Since 1991, 190 CRCs have been funded. Priority areas for this round are clean manufacturing, social innovation and sustainable regional communities.

Further details are available including eligibility requirements and dates for information sessions for the CRC Program.

UniQuest, the main research commercialisation company of the University of Queensland, has facilitated a strategic research collaboration agreement with Janssen-Cilag Pty Ltd in Australia, one of the Janssen pharmaceutical companies, to develop a promising treatment for rheumatoid arthritis.

Under the agreement, Dendright Pty Ltd will receive an upfront seed grant to fund pre-clinical development of its treatment for rheumatoid arthritis . Dendright remains wholly owned by UniQuest. No other terms of the deal were disclosed.

The seed grant will help Professor Ranjeny Thomas and her team at the UQ Diamantina Institute pursue a new treatment for RA, which may also apply to other autoimmune diseases such as type 1 diabetes and multiple sclerosis.

In 2011, Professor Thomas was a plenary speaker at the prestigious American College of Rheumatology Conference in Chicago and a finalist in the Health category of the Australian Innovation Challenge Awards for her research towards a vaccine for RA.

A report released by the Australian Industry Group, Business Investment in New Technologies, has recommended tax breaks and better collaboration between publicly funded research organisations and business to improve public sector take-up of new technologies.

Three major Chinese companies have joined The University of Western Australia and 15 other Chinese and Australian science and industry partners to develop new international collaborative approaches to energy and mining research.

Two research grants worth a total of almost $7 million have been awarded to NSW research groups in the latest injection from the NSW Government’s translational cancer research program.

The Victorian Government has called for submissions to the $10 million mental illness research fund that will aim to bolster collaborative research and achieve improved outcomes for Victorians affected by a mental illness.

For more information on the new Centre go to www.adelaide.edu.au/cpcm/

The National Institute of Complementary Medicine (NICM) at the University of Western Sydney has received $2.9 million in funding from philanthropic and industry supporters.

The major part of the funding has been received from the privately owned Jacka Foundation of Natural Therapies (JFNT). Their $2 million bequest will be used to establish The Jacka Foundation Chair in Complementary Medicine in partnership with the University of Western Sydney (UWS). UWS has committed to endowing the Professorial Chair to support research undertaken by NICM. The Chair will oversee NICM operations and provide clear, expert support for research development and integration of evidence-based complementary medicine into healthcare services.

Leading companies Flordis, Blackmores and Catalent will become supporting partners of NICM, each committing additional financial support.

According to NICM's interim executive director Professor Alan Bensoussan, the donation from JFNT combined with industry and university support will secure NICM as a strong, national agency for Australia.

"This is an extraordinary gift and it is truly exciting to see this level of philanthropic support for complementary medicine research in Australia," says Professor Bensoussan. "Our supporting partners recognise the importance of NICM's work and the need for a national agency."

"Our primary goal will still be to increase the integration of well-evidenced complementary medicine into routine healthcare by enabling translation of evidence into clinical practice and relevant policy to benefit the health of all Australians."

NICM will continue to work alongside government and other industry agencies to guide sector reform and policy development, review and develop clinical practice guidelines, disseminate information on relevant evidence-based research and encourage further investment in the sector.

Priority will be given to the identification and refinement of research priorities and the development of clinical guidelines. Further studies on the cost effectiveness of complementary medicines in the prevention and treatment of a range of health conditions will also be undertaken.

More information is at http://www.nicm.edu.au/

A joint research centre in Intelligent Systems has been launched in a research collaboration between the University of Technology Sydney and China’s Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU).

Seven new members have been appointed to the South Australian Premier’s Science and Industry Council for three-year terms beginning on January 1.

Following the retirement of Professor Paul Greenfield as Vice-Chancellor of The University of Queensland and Go8 Chair,

The Panel of the Strategic Review of Health and Medical Research in Australia  held its second meeting on 19 December 2011 in Melbourne.

Dr Alexander Zelinsky, an expert in information technology with the CSIRO, has been appointed as the Federal Government’s new Chief Defence Scientist and head of the Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO).

Funding totalling more than $105 million has been allocated to ten research programs under the National Health and Medical Research Council’s Program Grants to commence in 2013.

A new open source application developed at Murdoch University is giving researchers a revolutionary new way of accessing supercomputers.