Minister Announces Allocation of $381 Million Over Five years to 1,387 New Research Projects from 2005. (November 17, 2004)

     The Federal Minister for Education, Science and Training, Brendan Nelson, today announced that the Australian Research Council (ARC) has awarded nearly 1,400 grants for new Discovery Projects, Discovery Indigenous Researchers Development, Linkage Projects, Linkage International and Linkage Infrastructure Equipment and Facilities grants.

ARC Linkage Projects grants foster the formation of joint projects between university researchers, industry and what are described as "other partner organisations". In the current round the ARC will provide $55.5 million to new collaborative research projects while industry and other partner organisations will contribute $80.4 million. Two of the new projects were specifically mentioned by Dr Nelson:

• investigating the effectiveness and appropriateness of child restraints, and

•  investigating ozone-enhanced particle removal from waste water.

In describing the Discovery Projects the Minister referred to them as supporting "fundamental or basic research, often referred to as 'blue sky' research." According to a spokesman for the ARC, some $295.5 million will be allotted over the next five years for new discovery projects in the current round. Interestingly the three projects singled out for mention by Dr Nelson under newly funded Discovery Projects are:

• high-resolution mapping of surface and root-zone soil moisture to achieve more efficient water use practices in agriculture,

• developing systems for the landing of unmanned aerial surveillance vehicles by studying how bees orchestrate smooth landings, with potential application in defence and space exploration, and a project

• to develop a fatigue detection system for train drivers, to improve train safety.

Now just to what extent these three noted Discovery Projects are fundamental research is, to say the least, arguable; certainly as mentioned, the second would seem at best strategic research while the first and third are applied science.

And whether or not the term 'blue sky research' inserted synonymously with 'fundamental or basic research' is pejorative is a moot point.