Successful grants
Outcome of the 2020 Australia-India Council Grant Round
Dr Sanjay Nimbalkar and Distinguished Prof Daichao Sheng have been able to secure the funding of $115,500 for the one-year project entitled "Heavy-haul Indian Railway: Towards Safe, Efficient and Sustainable Design" in the 2020 grant round. The total project value is $177,465. See the funding announcement
This year the Australia-India Council (AIC) received 146 applications, out of which 20 applications were invited to present their proposal to the AIC Board and 11 applications were finally successful in the 2020 grant round. The evaluation process was extensive. Each application was reviewed by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and its overseas network. The Board of the Australia-India Council made the final determination and they reiterated the importance of the project demonstrating innovation, sustainability, positive economic impacts, and reaching a wide influential audience.
The proposed joint research project will promote exchange and collaboration between UTS and IIT Kharagpur in the field of railway transportation with special emphasis on heavy haul freight which can pave the way to build the bilateral partnership. The successful engagement from academics from UTS and IIT KGP (Prof Sujit Kumar Dash and Prof Subhransu Roy from the Center for Railway Research) would aid in the delivery of high-quality technical knowledge for the design, construction and maintenance of heavy-haul tracks.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Awards (DECRA)
Dr Xuzhen He has been awarded a prestigious DECRA of $403,300.00. It is worth mentioning that Xuzhen is also the very first UTS DERCA awarded in 0905 (Civil Engineering).
Project summary: Multiscale modelling of fluid–particle transport in porous media. The aim is to use a multiscale approach to rigorously model fluid–particle transport in porous media – a fundamental process in many engineering problems. With advanced parallel-computing tools, a microscale model is developed to incorporate interacting grains, water, and particles. The model and innovative upscaling methods will transform our understanding of mechanisms, and allow development of predictive models for particle transport in both steady and unsteady porous flows. The fundamental knowledge and new-generation numerical models will support technological advances to directly benefit rail and road construction and their maintenance, fuel and renewable-energy extraction, coastal soil and water protection, and bushfire control.
