This list of projects was produced in June 2024 following feedback from students, academics and alumni regarding their interest in greater transparency surrounding our research agreements.
The ongoing approach to this work will see us publish more detailed information about the processes, systems and governance mechanisms that supports and enable all researchers at the University of Melbourne to undertake their work, in line with our commitment to openness and integrity.
Current research projects with government and involving companies associated with the defence and national security sectors (as of 19 June 2024)
The University of Melbourne works with the Australian Government’s Department of Defence, the United States Government’s Department of Defence, and companies associated with defence and national security.
The University’s research projects in collaboration with the Australian Department of Defence are in a wide range of areas, from new technologies to health and information and communication services. Funding for current research projects is $27.8 million over multiple years.
Funding for current research projects with the United States Department of Defence is $15.4 million over multiple years. Many of the projects are investigating women's health and cancer.
Across all disciplines, the University of Melbourne has active research projects with funding from over 400 companies, both nationally and internationally. To identify relevant companies in the defence and national security sectors, we have used the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute Database and the Defence Connect, Australian Defence Industry Report.
As of 19 June 2024, the University is currently undertaking nine research projects with companies from these two lists. They are detailed in the table below. Not all are directly related to defence or national security. For those projects with Australian Government funding, the respective entity has been specified.
The University of Melbourne has no other current research projects funded by companies on these two lists.
In this table, confidential means there are commercial restrictions preventing the University from disclosing information.
Company | Australian Government | Project title and summary | Funding |
| Boeing Aerostructures Australia | Australian Research Council | Contribution to ARC Training Centre in Optimisation Technologies, Integrated Methodologies, and Applications (OPTIMA) (2021-2027) The Australian Research Council Industrial Transformation Centre in Optimisation Technologies, Integrated Methodologies, and Applications (OPTIMA), has received Australian Government funding of $4.86 million through the Australian Research Council Industrial Transformation Program. OPTIMA partners with industry and research institutions to develop solutions to complex optimisation problems pervasive in the Advanced Manufacturing, Energy Resources and Infrastructure sectors. OPTIMA’s industry partners all seek to do more with less – eg efficient energy generation, managing critical infrastructure resources, efficient and sustainable manufacturing – often focusing on multiple and conflicting commercial, environmental and societal goals. OPTIMA collaborate with our industry partners to work on their specific challenge problems. Together with Boeing and other partners, OPTIMA studies new design prototypes - of aeroplanes, electric batteries or water quality sensor networks - to establish their performance characteristics under a multitude of use cases. The challenge lies in choosing how to combine highly accurate but sparse information with abundant but sometimes unreliable information when modelling these design problems. | $100,000 |
Boeing Defence Australia | n/a | Testing on Polymer Coated Surface Samples (2020-2024) Testing of polymer-coated surfaces (eg plastic surfaces, such as tray tables) to ensure that viruses are not present/remaining on these surfaces to ensure the health and safety of passengers travelling on commercial aircraft. | $296,531 |
Boeing Aerostructures Australia | n/a | Recycling of Commercial Aircraft Parts (2023-2027) Recycling of commercial aircraft parts after decommissioning (industrial engineering application). | $42,453 |
General Electric Company | n/a | High Fidelity Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) & Data Analytics for Robust Design (2016-2026) | Confidential |
Lockheed Martin Australia | Contribution to AUS-QNav Project (2022-2025) | $64,773 | |
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries | n/a | Reinforcement learning and feedback control policies for unmanned vehicles (2024-2025) | Confidential |
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries | n/a | Development of the GEP machine-learning framework for complex and unsteady flow configurations (2021-2024) | Confidential |
Nova Systems Australia | Department of Industry, Science, Energy & Resources | SpIRIT satellite operations: An Australian path to exploration beyond Earth (2023-2026) | Department of Industry, Science, Energy & Resources Award $2,656,305 |
Nova Systems Australia | Department of Industry, Science, Energy & Resources | SpIRIT (Space Industry – Responsive – Intelligent – Thermal) Mission (2020-2024) | Department of Industry, Science, Energy & Resources Award $3,955,223 |
Other information
The University acknowledges one research project with Rosebank Engineering Pty Ltd. This is funded by the Australian Government’s Australian Research Council through their Linkage Program scheme and is titled Computational Alloy Design for Cold Spray Deposition (LP200301355), 2022-2025, $302,816.
The University acknowledges that the AUS-QNav Project is in collaboration with Phasor Innovation Pty Ltd and is funded through the Australian Government's Next Generation Technologies Fund. The aim of the project is to develop Australia's first fully sovereign quantum magnetic global navigation platform for operation in GPS-denied environments. There are many applications for this emerging technology including position and navigation of vehicles, ships and commercial aircraft, through to health and biomedical technologies.
First published on 28 June 2024.
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