$18 million in federal funding to turbocharge ANU research
Research looking at the governance of Indigenous cultural knowledge, turning waste into climate-friendly fertilisers, investigating our planet’s core and finding new ways to save species from the brink of extinction are among projects led by researchers at The Australian National University (ANU) to receive about $18 million in grants from the Australian Government.
17 ANU researchers are among a cohort of exceptional Australian scientists to receive funding under a series of recent Australian Research Council (ARC) funding rounds.
Professor Hrvoje Tkalčić from the Research School of Earth Sciences is one of the Australian Laureate recipients to receive ARC funding.
His research using seismology to uncover the secrets of Earth’s core has helped us learn more about the evolution of our planet and has even shed new light on other planets in our solar system, including measuring the size of the core of Mars and the discovery of an ‘ocean’ of water found deep underground in the Martian crust.
He has received $3,888,099 under the 2025 ARC Australian Laureate Fellowship, which will enable him to lead a research group on deep Earth and planetary seismology over the course of five years.
Dr Ben Scheele’s been awarded an ARC Future Fellowship to continue his research into reducing extinction risk for threatened animals. His previous research has included demonstrating the devastating impact of an emerging fungal disease on amphibians around the globe.
Dr Shimona Kealy is one of four ANU researchers who will receive an Early Career Industry Fellowship. Her project will build on her previous research exploring early human movements through Island Southeast Asia and into Australia, as well as her study of possum biogeography and phylogenetics in the islands east of New Guinea.
ANU Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research & Innovation) Professor Lachlan Blackhall congratulated all the grant recipients on their success.
“At ANU, we value the importance of research collaboration and a supportive environment for the future generations of researchers,” Professor Blackhall said.
“The ARC grants will support ANU to continue to foster strategic partnerships and deliver excellent and impactful research.”
ANU researchers to receive ARC funding:
Linkage Projects 2024:
Associate Professor Brian Houle: Delivering Anindilyakwa Data Governance ($511,554).
Professor Joseph Hope: Fast and Parallel Logic Gates for Trapped-Ion Quantum Computing ($505,858).
Professor Justin Borevitz: Landscape Genomics for Adaptable Native Forest Management and Restoration ($1,224,499).
Professor Robert Furbank: Delivering Step Changes in Canola Yield by Improving Pod Photosynthesis ($788,626).
Australian Laureate Fellowships 2025:
Professor Hrvoje Tkalčić: Echoes from the Planetary Cores: Seismic Insights into Deep Worlds ($3,888,099).
Mid-Career Industry Fellowships 2025:
Associate Professor Tony Travouillon: Additive manufacturing for the Wide Field Spectroscopic Telescope ($949,250).
Early-Career Industry Fellowships 2025:
Dr Hayley Henderson: Collaborative Planning for Revitalising Superdiverse Suburban Centres ($514,200).
Dr Simon West: Caring for Country through Governance of Indigenous Cultural Knowledge ($512,609).
Dr Shimona Kealy: Investigating marsupial biogeography and translocations beyond Australia ($481,488).
Dr Wolfram Buss: Upcycling organic ‘waste’ into novel climate-friendly fertilisers ($514,478).
Future Fellowships 2025:
Associate Professor Katharine Turner: Theory and computation of vineyards and vineyard modules ($1,286,732).
Professor Andrew Lawrence: Biomimetic Innovation for Next-Generation Catalysis and Chemical Synthesis ($1,275,884).
Dr Mat Langford: The atomic structure of ancient flows ($1,093,436).
Dr Grace Shephard: AUSTRALIS – Deep time evolution of mineral systems in the Tasmanides ($1,117,348).
Dr Edward Simpson: Complexity and universality in nuclear fusion ($1,118,947).
Dr Ben Scheele: Uncovering mechanisms of species decline to prevent extinctions ($1,130,122).
Dr Filip Slaveski: Rebuilding Ukraine: From its War-Torn Past to its War-Torn Present ($1,127,074).
Further information is available on the ARC website.
