NEWS RELEASE
October 3 2002
Young guns lead UniSA’s research grant success
While the world has
embraced the many benefits of the 24-hour society, these benefits cannot
be delivered without costs. One significant cost is human fatigue.
UniSA Sleep Research Fellow, Dr Adam Fletcher, South Australia’s Youth
Governor and 2001 South Australian of the Year, has been awarded an
Australian Research Council Discovery grant to develop a scientifically
validated tool to help manage the work-related fatigue associated with
hours of work. This follows a recent federal parliamentary inquiry
recommending that a fatigue risk management approach be applied when
regulating work hours within industry.
Dr Fletcher’s computerised tool will help organisations to determine the
impact of different rosters on fatigue. By entering the hours that an
individual has, or may, work, organisations will be able to predict
work-related fatigue.
Ultimately this will reduce the burden of our 24-hour society on
employees, their families, organisations and the wider community.
Dr Fletcher is just one of the grant winners in UniSA’s best ever result
in the latest round of Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage projects
announced today, with a 75 per cent success rate, making it the third
highest performer among the universities nationally.
Linkage grants worth $2.323 million were awarded for 15 research projects
covering areas such as innovative and economically sustainable solutions
for contaminated soils, increasing bone implant treatments for long-term
stability and a machine vision system to improve the assembly process of
fine surgical products. Industry partners will contribute $3,858,981 to
the Linkage projects.
UniSA’s success in ARC Discovery grants was also its highest ever, with 13
grants worth $2.631 million. This equates to a success rate of 30 per
cent, about five per cent above the national average.
ARC Discovery and Linkage grants totalling $5 million will support UniSA’s
research activities over the next three years.
This is an outstanding result for the University, particularly in
Discovery grants, where UniSA has enjoyed significant growth, according to
Professor Ian Davey, UniSA’s Pro Vice Chancellor for Research and
International.
“It’s by far the best result that we have ever had. What is particularly
pleasing is the fact that in both Discovery and Linkage our success rates
are at the very top end of all universities in Australia.
“We are also very pleased that a lot of these grants have gone to
relatively young and early career researchers, which bodes well for the
future in terms of the University’s competitiveness in the Australian
Research Council grants. We’re also very delighted that some of our
established stars have done exceptionally well,” Professor Davey said.
As well as being a university renowned for its collaborative research with
industry, UniSA is now being recognised for its expertise in basic
research, according to Dr Mark Hochman, UniSA’s Director of Research
Services.
Professor Davey said that he was also pleased to see some significant ARC
grants for research in social sciences, including the first comparative
international study that explores how marginalised youth engage with
popular music in post-industrial societies and how they develop their
music and technological skills by using local cultural resources that
exist outside of formal schooling.
Media contact: Geraldine Hinter (08) 8302 0963 or 0417 861832
