A pioneering research university the University of Melbourne is a leading Australian research university, with research expenditure second only to that of the CSIRO, and the largest cohort of research students in Australia.
Our achievements range from the Bionic Ear in the 1970s, bringing hearing to profoundly deaf children and adults to today's advances in the Bionic Eye, which will provide unprecedented high-resolution images to thousands with severely impaired vision. They include an HIV vaccine research that attracted $4 million in funding from the US National Institutes of Health and a vaccine set to eradicate a fatal brain parasite, attracting $15.7 million in funding from the British Government and the Gates Foundation as well as the NeCTAR Research Cloud at the University of Melbourne, bringing the power of cloud computing to researchers at Melbourne.
The University itself has been host to many of Australia's, and some of the world's most distinguished medical researchers, including recipients of the Nobel Prize for Medicine.
Further, it has acted as the point of nucleation for a remarkable array of associated medical research institutes and hospitals. Together these form one of the world's premier sites for biomedical research - the Parkville Precinct.
The sheer quantity of life-sciences research facilities, institutes, researchers. Fellows and postgraduate students in the Parkville Precinct and surrounds, and the comprehensive breadth of bioscience disciplines, is without parallel in the southern hemisphere and one of the very few such concentrations of research excellence worldwide.
Our researchers are at the forefront of international scholarship in fields as diverse as human rights law, climate change, telecommunications and medical research. Melbourne is home to the internationally distinguished scholar and Nobel Laureate, Professor Peter Doherty and Laureate Professor, Professor Peter Singer. There are many more renowned scholars at Melbourne, including:
- Professor and ARC Federation Fellow, Frank Caruso in the Faculty of Engineering
- Professor David Karoly in the Faculty of Science
- Professor Rachel Webster in the Faculty of Science
- Fellows of the Royal Society, Professors David Solomon and David Boger in the Faculty of Engineering.
Professor James McCluskey
Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Research
Our strategy
The Research at Melbourne: Ensuring Excellence and Impact to 2025 document outlines the University of Melbourne's research and research training strategy for the next 10-15 years.
Read the document
Facts and figures about research at the University of Melbourne
Rankings
Australia
- Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2018
- 1
- Academic Ranking of World Universities 2017
- 1
Worldwide
- Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2018
- 32
- Academic Ranking of World Universities 2017
- 39
Australia’s leading research university in the world’s most liveable city.
From coral to colliders: The Australian Research Council invests in our researchers
17 August, 2018
The biggest threat to the Great Barrier Reef and coral reefs around the world is climate change. But what if there was a way to forearm the reef to withstand ocean temperature increases?
That, in essence, is the thinking behind a bold proposal by Professor Madeleine van Oppen who was awarded a 2018 Australian Research Council Laureate Fellowship this month. Professor van Oppen’s program will seek to bioengineer the microalgae and bacteria that are integral to coral tissue, giving them characteristics that make them more resilient to climate change.
Two other ARC Laureate Fellowships were also awarded to our researchers. One was to Professor Dan Li who will use materials that consist of a single layer of atoms, such as graphene, to understand and manipulate ions at the nanoscale for use in next-generation batteries, water purification, mineral extraction and biomedical devices. The other, to Professor Jonathan Barnett, will investigate how communities on low-lying islands successfully adapt to climate change.
Of course, the University does not simply support research leaders; a central tenet of our mission is the training of future research leaders, including development of our graduate researchers. So, too, is growing our research impact. Hence, it is with great pleasure I tell you of the new ARC Training Centre for Medical Implant Technologies led by Professor Peter Lee.
Announced by Minister Simon Birmingham, the new centre will train engineers in a unique industry-university-hospital environment. This new generation of engineers will learn to work hand-in-glove with clinicians to develop jaw, hip, knee and shoulder implants exquisitely engineered and 3-D printed to fit individual patients for improved cost, appearance and performance.
To help deliver this technology to patients, the trainee engineers will also develop a deep understanding of the regulatory environment, and the industry, innovation and entrepreneurship needed to bring a medical implant to market.
The University will not be doing this alone. The Training Centre for Medical Implant Technologies includes three Australian Universities, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, 12 small companies from around the globe, large scale manufacturers, ethics and regulatory affairs experts and no less than six hospitals, including the Royal Children’s Hospital in the Melbourne Biomedical Precinct.
Last week also saw the announcement of ten Future Fellowships, supporting University research in areas of critical importance to Australia.
This year’s Future Fellowships include projects to:
- investigate how regulation can improve the practice of poorly performing legal and health practitioners to prevent them doing further harm (Associate Professor Matthew Spittal)
- discover how and why beetles and butterflies reflect near-infrared light, which is expected to create opportunities to develop bio-inspired materials for enhanced energy efficiency (Associate Professor Devi Stuart-Fox)
- develop machine learning techniques to help analyse particle physics results from the Large Hadron Collider, which will increase the chances of discovering new subatomic phenomena, and of ruling out incorrect theories in particle physics (Dr Matthew Dolan)
The full list of Future Fellowships, all equally as compelling, can be seen at the ARC website.
In total the ARC has invested over $20 million in University of Melbourne researchers and their collaborators. My very best wishes to all ARC-funded research teams around the country, and to the professional staff that support them. I look forward to following their research journeys.
Professor James McCluskey – Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research)