their flagship schemes, Discovery Projects and Linkage Projects, date back to this moment. The dual nature of our funding – for fundamental discovery or ‘blue sky’ research, as well as collaborative research that facilitates linkages within universities and outside the university sector – continues today as an important balance of our research investment. All kinds of research effort are supported through our portfolio of funding schemes, and the research featured in this publication is funded through both the Discovery and Linkage streams. This year’s Making a difference also covers the period when the impacts of COVID-19 began to seriously impact the research community, andwe have worked hard to support the many researchers who have experienced difficulties during this time. Border controls and lockdowns have had countless flow-on effects, impacting both fieldwork and lab work, as well as the ability of PhD students and other researchers to return from overseas. But the silver lining is that some research teams have been able to turn their skills to combat these new challenges, or seize opportunities that emerged as circumstances rapidly evolved. This year, we have included a new section that showcases some of these individuals and teams whowere able to transform
their research programs to tackle the new challenge of COVID-19. I am proud of the speed and skill withwhich our entire research sector has been able to contribute in so manyways to Australia’s response to the global pandemic. We hope you enjoy this year’s publication, for the variety of research projects on display, as well as the demonstrable outcomes which are only possible through the efforts of our amazing research community. I congratulate everyone whose research is highlighted in this year’s publication, though of course there is always so much remarkable research activity that we don’t have room to capture. Thank you all for ‘making a difference’, by your contributions to Australia’s research and innovation effort .
Professor Sue Thomas Chief Executive Officer Australian Research Council
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AMESSAGE FROM OUR CEO
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