Catalyst Research Grants

The Hon. J.M. GAZZOLA (14:36): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Science and Information Economy a question about the latest round of Catalyst Research Grants.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.M. GAZZOLA: Australia has an ageing research workforce, creating the potential for a shortfall in the number of researchers needed to undertake cutting-edge research and with the skills required by industry. Minister, will you inform the chamber of how the government is supporting South Australian early career researchers?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Employment, Higher Education and Skills, Minister for Science and Information Economy, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for Business Services and Consumers) (14:37): I thank the honourable member for his most important question. Indeed, I recently received advice in relation to successful applicants from the latest round of Catalyst Research Grants. I am pleased to inform those present that seven South Australian early career researchers have received a total of just under $200,000 in financial support from the government.

The Catalyst Research Grants program forms part of the Premier's Research and Industry Fund. It provides funding to support South Australian early career researchers to work on scientific and technological research projects in collaboration with an industry partner or an end user such as a non-profit community group. This provides the next generation of research leaders with industry-relevant experience.

There are a wide range of projects being funded this round, and I obviously will not go into all of them, but I would like to give members present a sense of the important projects that are being undertaken and a bit of a flavour for just what is going on at this level. Dr Megan Sheldon from Adelaide University is developing a new way of screening wheat for salt tolerance. Dr Mikael Larsson from UniSA is developing a device for purifying copper contaminated water. Dr Harriet Whiley from Flinders University is researching salmonella bacteria in relation to storage of commercial eggs.

These are, as I said, just an example of some of the projects. These are important research projects that will contribute greatly to South Australia's commercial economy, not only by assisting their industry partner to innovate but also through the potential to export that research. The grant funding provided under this program often supports our early career researchers to leverage significant commonwealth funding, not that there is much of that left these days.

We see this recent federal budget that has been handed down deliver yet another shocking blow to science and research. This has happened in successive budgets. We can see that the federal government's commitment to research is clearly waning. There are cuts of $26.8 million over four years from 2015-16 through reduced funding for the CRC centres and, of course, six of those are headquartered here in South Australia. They are very important to this economy. But I won't digress; I will get back to these very important awards.

One example is our $30,000 investment in early career research. Dr Danielle Moreau at the University of Adelaide is studying flow-induced noise created by airplanes, wind turbines and submarines with a view to designing a submarine with a low acoustic signature. This small, but significant, state investment has leveraged $345,000 in ARC grant funding.

Another fascinating example is Dr Chia-Chi Chien. She is an early career biomedical engineer at UniSA and her project is to develop the technology that will deliver nanomedicines into cancer tissue. The government invested $30,000 to assist Dr Chien to win $375,000 in ARC grant funding.

There are many other examples of how amazing our research scientists are, and it is gratifying that their brilliance has received recognition through funding which will continue to grow our research capacity and promote collaboration across industry and research institutions. Science and innovation are key priorities of this state government and will help keep our state as a place where people and business thrive.