Two top ICT researchers to get over $2m each

Two of Australia’s leading ICT researchers will receive more than $2 million each in funding from the Federal Government as part of the Australian Laureate Fellowships scheme.

In total 15 researchers across a broad range of fields, including work being done with the Square Kilometre Array, will share in $35.5 million being handed out by the Government.

This is the second batch of researchers to receive backing since the program kicked off last year. The Australian Laureate Fellowships scheme, which is administered by the Australian Research Council, will put up $239 million over five years, for a total of 75 grants to researchers.

This year, the University of Sydney’s professor of education and co-director at the Centre for Research on Computer-Supported Learning and Cognition, Peter Goodyear, will have his research into networked learning boosted by $2,744,127.

Goodyear’s research is described as investigating “ways of analysing and improving the increasingly complex systems in which learning takes place, especially those where computer technology plays a strong part” and will look at how people learn through collaboration either wholly or partially online.

The other ICT-related benefactor of the scheme is Professor Min Gu from Swinburne University of Technology, who will pocket $2,340,409 to go towards his research into petabyte data storage technologies.

Gu’s research is explained as establishing a “cutting-edge nanophotonic platform that will allow for the revolutionary scientific discoveries in 3D super-resolution optics as well as technological breakthroughs in ultrafast compact nonlinear optical microscopy. This paradigm-shift research will accelerate the realisation of the new age of Petabyte optical memory technology and enable our innovative discoveries to be translated into practical nanophotonic devices with substantial commercial potential for Australia”.

Gu’s work was also presented in a study published in the journal Nature mid-2009. A 1TB disc created with the technology would provide enough capacity to hold 300 feature length films or 250,000 songs.

More information on the Australian Laureate Fellowships scheme can be found on its website