RESEARCH and research training have increasingly become a major factor setting The University of Western Australia apart as this State’s premier research institution and one of Australia’s ‘research-intensive’ universities. This was signified by the University’s continued success in attracting significant research funding from national funding bodies. In the 2000 application round the highlights were:

• a further seven Australian Research Council (ARC) Fellowships and six National Health and Medical Research (NHMRC) Training Fellowships awarded to UWA, which complement the 17 ARC and NHMRC Training Fellowships awarded last year;

• 38 new NHMRC project grants at a success rate of 27.9 per cent (the national success rate was 24.8 per cent) with $4.568 million of first-year funding;

• $1.95 million of funding from the ARC Research Infrastructure Equipment and Facilities programme to fund four major facilities at UWA including a regional facility for measurement of solute and particle transport in natural aquatic systems and a facility for electron spin correlations and spintronics; and

• 19 new Strategic Partnerships with Industry Research and Training (SPIRT) grants at a success rate of 63 per cent and first-year funding worth $850,000.

In 2000 there were some significant developments in the commercialisation of research outcomes from the University. One exciting development was a $12 million joint venture agreement with the Korean-based world leader in electronic materials, Samsung Corning, which joined with the UWA spin-off company Advanced Powder Technology Pty Ltd (APT) to form a new company—Advanced Nano Technologies. APT will focus on the commercial development of the mechanochemical processing technology developed at UWA’s Special Research Centre for Advanced Mineral and Materials Processing. The joint venturers will construct a pilot plant in Western Australia to manufacture a wide range of metallic, ceramic and semiconductor powders.

The University has also recently joined in partnership with the international communications giant Motorola in the development of a $50 million software engineering centre at the University—complementing the University’s emphasis on information technology, telecommunications and computer science as one of a number of major areas of strategic academic and research opportunity over the next decade. The centre will offer opportunities for a range of industrially-relevant research projects (particularly at PhD and master’s degree levels), and provide a strong incentive for attracting to Western Australia high-quality postgraduate students from interstate and overseas.

Also noteworthy was the University’s continuing collaboration in international research. A key example during the year was the opening of a new research facility at Gingin—the Australian International Gravitational Observatory—which is linked to other international facilities involved in the search for evidence of gravitational waves. The project represents the work of a consortium of leading scientists and astrophysicists from Australia, the United States of America and Europe, and epitomises the benefits of international linkages in the generation of new knowledge at a global level.

The research profile of the University has been further developed by the new Institute of Advanced Studies which was officially opened in 2000. In its first year, the Institute ran two exemplary cross-disciplinary programmes—Land Place Culture Identity and Science in the New Millennium. Both programmes not only contributed to the University’s reputation for excellence and enterprise, but also enriched the learning experience for students, staff and the wider community. More than 5000 people attended Institute events in this first year. There were 37 visitors on campus exclusively at the invitation of the Institute and another 27 who presented a paper or lecture at the invitation of the Institute during their visit to UWA.