NEWS RELEASE
December 16 2002
UniSA’s success
in five Cooperative
Research Centre partnerships
The University of South
Australia is a successful partner in five Cooperative Research Centres
(CRC) announced by the Federal Science Minister, Peter McGauran on 10
December.
The CRC program brings
together universities, research organisations, government agencies and
industry.
Participation in CRCs is an
important part of UniSA's research and research education mission,
according to Professor Ian Davey, Pro Vice Chancellor, Research and
International.
“UniSA’s involvement in
CRCs promotes applied research in collaboration with industry partners,
maximising cooperative links between researchers and end users in the
public and private sectors.
“Our success in the 2002
round of funding brings UniSA’s participation in CRCs to a total of ten.
Our target was for UniSA to participate in ten CRCs by 2005. This is an
outstanding result at the end of 2002!” Professor Davey said.
“As Saturday's successful launch of Fedsat
(Australia's first satellite in 32 years) demonstrated, CRCs play a vital
role in the development of innovative science and technology by bringing
together the research expertise of universities, industry and government
agencies," Professor Davey added.
The successful CRCs include:
CRC for Sustainable Tourism -
Total CRC funding $26.7 million
The CRC for Sustainable
Tourism is Australia's only scientific research and development facility
managing and delivering research to support the sustainability of
Australia's tourism industry.
UniSA is one of 14
universities involved in the CRC along with 20 government, industry and
industry association partners. The School of International Business,
through Professor of Tourism Management, Graham Brown, has a particular
focus on research into tourism policy, products and business.
CRC for Integrated
Engineering Asset Management - Total CRC funding $17.5 million
The CRC for Integrated
Engineering Assets Management involves five universities and significant
industry partners including DSTO, Comalco, Queensland Rail, Mincom, Shell
Services, SunWater, Pacific Power International and others.
The overall budget is nearly $100 million with federal government
contributing $17.5 million.
The CRC will focus on the use
of modern IT architectures to integrate the maintenance and management of
very large physical engineering assets such as power generation plants,
mines and water pumping stations.
It comprises five research programs with Professor Andy
Koronios as research leader of the System Integration and IT program. A
large number of staff and postgraduate students from the School of
Computer and Information Science are expected to be involved in the
research program. Professor Lee Luong, School of Advanced Manufacturing
Engineering, and Dr Howard Harris, School of International Business, will
also be key researchers in the CRC.
CRC
for Enterprise Distributed Systems - (supplementary funding) $3 million
UniSA’s
involvement in this new program will be substantial with Associate
Professor Jim Warren as Program Leader and participating staff from the
School of Computer and Information Science.
The
new program will significantly extend research activity into the ability
of enterprises to monitor and change their state in real time through
advances in awareness technologies, workflow, visualisation, and event
distribution, monitoring and mining.
There
will be close collaboration between this program and the CRC's ‘smart
buildings' project based at the University of Queensland. UniSA and the
South Australian Department of Premier and Cabinet will be core
participants.
CRC
for Irrigation Futures - Total CRC funding $16 million
The
successful CRC for Irrigation Futures is one of only three South
Australian based CRC bids. Professor
Jennifer McKay, Director of UniSA’s Water Policy and Law Group in the
School of International Business, will be a key researcher in the new CRC,
which will endeavour to halve water use within Australia, and define
sustainable irrigation areas and practices. It will address the needs of
stakeholders by delivering the enterprises, services and communities that
can adapt to changing markets, technologies and environmental demands.
The
CRC will examine the issues of urban, industrial and rural communities
sharing and reusing water. It will also seek to enhance analytical
capacity, knowledge and technology in this area, and seek more profitable
and efficient irrigation enterprises and services that improve
environmental outcomes.
CRC
for Earth Desert Knowledge - Total CRC funding $20.68 million
This CRC will support the
development of thriving desert knowledge economies to sustain inland
Australia by providing the mechanisms for inland Australia to better
develop and disseminate an understanding of sustainable living in remote
desert environments. The CRC will create a strong partnership between
Indigenous and non - Indigenous Australians and seek to consolidate and
create a critical mass of currently dispersed business, government and
research efforts across organisations in desert Australia. Outcomes will
include research and development in new desert land uses and management
options and better networks for knowledge building and business.
Susan Semple from the School of Pharmaceutical, Molecular and Biomedical Sciences will be a
part of the CRC's 'Plants for People' project. One
aspect of the project will involve biological testing of some Aboriginal
medicinal plants including the testing of plants for various kinds of
anti-microbial activity.
The Centre for Arid Land Technologies and Professor
Scott Bowman may also be involved through the location of an outpost at
Whyalla.
Media
contact: Geraldine Hinter (08) 8302 0963 or 0417 861832
