Australian researchers have more opportunities to work with their colleagues in one of the world’s fastest growing economies through the Australia-India Strategic Research Fund (AISRF), with applications for collaborative research projects opening today.
The AISRF helps Australian researchers from public and private sectors to work with Indian scientists in leading-edge scientific research projects and workshops, and realise the economic potential of the research sector.
This AISRF round is expected to support around eight new projects with the Turnbull Government providing up to $1 million over three years to each Australian grant recipient.
The Government of India will support the Indian teams’ participation in the joint activities.
To ensure the research has a practical focus, grants will be aimed at projects with a clear path to end use, preferably with an industry or other end-user partner, in addition to an Indian research partner.
This round of AISRF-funded projects will be focused on priority areas agreed with the Indian Government while reflecting Australia’s industry growth sectors and science and research priorities.
Applications are invited in the priority areas of:
• disease control – tropical, lifestyle and emerging diseases;
• medical technologies;
• advanced manufacturing and innovative technologies; and
• survey, exploration and mining of natural resources (land and marine).
In addition to funding for projects, applications are open for AISRF-funded fellowships for early and mid-career researchers.
Successful applicants will be able to travel to India and work with leading researchers at major Indian science and technology organisations for up to nine months.
These fellowships will give young Australian researchers an opportunity to engage early in their careers with a rising science superpower.
The AISRF is Australia’s largest fund dedicated to bilateral research with any country and one of India’s largest sources of support for international science.
Previous joint projects include:
• developing and prototyping large scale, high stability, high energy density batteries (Deakin University and the Indian Institute of Science);
• developing salt tolerant rice (University of Tasmania and the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation);
• undertaking pre-clinical trials of a quadrivalent hepatitis C virus vaccine (Uni of Adelaide);
• developing a point-of-care diagnostic tool for tuberculosis (CSIRO).
• researching antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC): a new frontier in vaccine research (Uni of Melb);
• enabling new science with the Murchison Widefield Array, an international low frequency pathfinder for the Square Kilometre Array (Curtin Uni);
• establishing Australian-Indian Collaboration on Gravitational Wave Astronomy (UWA);
• developing biotechnology-based decision-making tools in post-harvest grain pest management (Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Queensland and Tamil Nadu Agricultural University);
For more information about the AISRF and the application process for collaborative research projects, visit: www.science.gov.au/aisrf
For more information about the application process for AISRF-funded fellowships, visit: www.science.org.au/opportunities-scientists/travel-opportunities/grants-and-exchange-programs/fellowships-india
(ENDS)