Science in Australian universities has been a steady engine of progress for as long as I can remember – a place where curiosity meets impact, churning out both groundbreaking research and the sharp minds we need for the future. I’ve had a front-row seat to its evolution over the past 30 years, and it’s been a remarkable journey.
Back in the day, teaching and research were funded as one; now, they’re split into distinct streams, pushing universities to chase grants and forge industry ties. Universities have also leaned into partnerships, establishing research hubs that blend academic rigour with industry needs, targeting areas like sustainability, health, and technology – proof of how universities are stepping up to solve big problems. Pursuing global research ambitions isn’t cheap, but the rewards are clear: research output has skyrocketed, and Australian science consistently punches above its weight.
One feature in the latest issue of Australian University Science (Issue 13) that celebrates 30 years of the Australian Council of Deans of Science (ACDS), ‘The rise of big data in science’ (page 10), captures one of the brightest threads in that story. It unpacks how massive datasets are reshaping university research – powering climate models, sharpening agricultural practices with geospatial data, and leaning on maths breakthroughs that birthed AI.
It’s a vivid example of how university science doesn’t just ponder the world; it changes it. I love how it ties back to why this all matters: fundamental research paired with graduates who can think critically and adapt.
Since 1995, when John Rice (Flinders University) kicked off the ACDS, the Council has been a tireless voice – pushing for quality teaching through initiatives like the Science Threshold Learning Outcomes and advocating for research that matters. It’s helped ensure our science graduates aren’t just job-ready but future-ready.
In a shaky geopolitical climate its work fostering collaboration across universities, government, and industry feels more crucial than ever. The challenges are real, but the successes keep this engine of progress humming – that’s why it’s vital the ACDS keep roaring towards their next milestone.
Written by Professor Ian Chubb AC, FAA FTSE FACE FRSN
Image: The Murchison Widefield Array, a project of the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research. Credit: ICRAR/Curtin.
Scientists love the possibilities of a big shiny new instrument. But unfortunately many scientific tools come with a hefty price tag. These are no ordinary tools after all, they are at the extreme of what engineering can produce. That’s why Australian universities have embraced the concept of sharing.
All across Australia, universities buy or barter time in shared facilities in order to do their research. And the philosophy of sharing can pay dividends.
Where a single university might not have the funds to build, maintain and upgrade a high-tech instrument, a shared facility can offer certainty for long-term research.
Scientists can benefit from the expertise of the operators as they take their experimental proposals to them. Experts in microscopy or telemetry, for example, can work with researchers to refine a research proposal using their intimate knowledge of the instrument.
Accessing a shared machine can also bring about serendipitous collaboration with other research groups using the same facility and can increase industry – university collaboration.
Here are three case studies where universities are reaping the benefits of shared infrastructure.
Unlocking the universe
In the red sands of outback Western Australia, huge spider-like metallic instruments stand ready to receive radio waves from outer space. This is the Murchison Widefield Array, a project of the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR). It is a joint venture between Curtin University and the University of Western Australia (UWA), with funding from the state government, and a key partner in the forthcoming multinational Square Kilometre Array (SKA).
The Murchison Widefield Array is a radio telescope that includes 4,096 spider-like antennas. Credit: Marianne Annereau, 2015.
ICRAR was established in 2009 to support Australia’s bid for the world’s largest telescope, the SKA. The bid was successful and WA is reaping the benefits, supporting more than 250 astronomers, researchers, engineers and data experts.
Steven Tingay (Curtin University), deputy executive director of ICRAR, says that tuning into the radio waves of the universe can teach us fundamental things about where atoms and energy came from. “The universe is the biggest physics laboratory that one can imagine,” he says. ICRAR is particularly interested in working out what happened in the 300,000 years after the Big Bang.
The collaborative nature of ICRAR’s existence extends to its research. “Virtually everything that we do has collaboration from multiple Australian universities, CSIRO, and then internationally,” he says.
Professor Simon Ellingsen (UWA), ICRAR executive director and ACDS executive member, agrees that collaboration is key. “ICRAR has a clear goal – to play a crucial role in the international SKA project by attracting leading experts in multiwavelength astronomy, astrophysics, engineering and data-intensive astronomy.”
The benefits of global collaboration are particularly relevant for radioastronomy according to the ICRAR directors.
Other telescopes worldwide can add little pieces to the overall puzzle of what happened after the Big Bang, allowing Australian universities to be at the forefront of cutting-edge physics.
The Australian Synchrotron, operated by ANSTO. Credit: ANSTO.
When synchrotron science took off in the late 1970s, Australian researchers were using overseas facilities. In following decades, organisations including the Australian Academy of Science and the Australian Science and Technology Council recognised the need for a national facility.
It took many years of proposals and several funding partners – including the involvement of several universities – to get a project of this scale off the ground. By 2007 the Australian Synchrotron was up and running for experiments.
In effect, it is a very high-tech X-ray machine, in the sense that it uses light to peer beneath the skin of samples and reveal the internal structure. Time with the ‘beamline’ is allocated on the strength of research proposals and every year, Australian universities, industry and a few international universities compete to access the machine.
The light source has been instrumental in applications such as drug discovery, investigating the COVID virus and in the development of flexible electronics.
“It lets us do things that you can’t imagine doing in a laboratory,” says director and professor Michael James.
Co-locating the synchrotron near Monash has created a research ecosystem in outer Melbourne.
Compared with a similar Canadian facility located far from research centres, “we’re much, much more productive than the Canadian light source.”
Searching via supercomputer
Tucked away in a corner of the Australian National University (ANU) is the National Computer Infrastructure (NCI). It draws a staggering 2 megawatts of power to run its 5,000-node supercomputer, named Gadi, meaning “to search” in the language of the local Ngunnawal people. If an Australian university has a big computing job to do, then Gadi is where they turn.
The National Computer Infrastructure’s supercomputer, Gadi. Credit: NCI.
Lindsay Botten, emeritus professor at the ANU was the NCI’s first director and the architect of its collaborative approach to computing. It was late 2008 and he’d come to NCI fresh from writing a successful grant application for a supercomputer in Sydney. Rather than building their own facility, he asked the NSW team whether they would consider sharing the NCI machine. It made financial and logistical sense and so NCI’s role in being the computational support for Australian university research began.
Rather than bidding for time on the computer for individual projects, Botten established a kind of time-share system, where partners were allocated time according to their financial contribution. They could use this time for whatever research they deemed important. The computer has contributed to research across fields such as climate modelling, cancer research, star formation and artificial intelligence.
