Australia's Major National Research Facilities - Australian Academy ...

internal resources of the partners. This is an indication of the merit of the proposal and of the
commitment of the partnership to developing the project.
MNRF bids (unsuccessful in 2001) that have demonstrated continued need by securing
low levels of subsequent funding
The 13 bids that fall into this category are in the following research areas:
• the preservation of material and data on Australia’s natural genetic endowment in
plants, animals and fish onshore and offshore (3 bids);
• support for experimental activity on the exploitation of biomass resources (1 bid);
• monitoring and prediction of ocean behaviour (1 bid).
• integrated support for clinical trials (2 bids)14;
• state-of-the-art electron beam instruments (1 bid);
• ion beam experiments (1 bid);
• dedicated supercomputers for use in fluid dynamics and lattice gauge theory (1 bid);
• experimental production of silicon-based microelectronic devices (1 bid);
• bulk solids handling technology (1 bid);
• large-scale experimental fire test facility (1 bid)
MNRF bids (unsuccessful in 2001) that have not secured subsequent funding
There are 23 bids that are still actively seeking funding but which, as far as we are aware,
have yet to secure subsequent funding. Of these:
• five relate to the commercialisation of research in agriculture and aquaculture and to
safeguarding stocks of plants, animals and fish;
• two to generic bio-informatic data-sets and their exploitation;
• two relate to oceanography;
• four relate to R&D, design and development in the ICT, energy, industrial and
construction sectors;
• four relate to monitoring and modelling the processes involved in environmental
degradation;
• two relate to the earth sciences (upgrading existing seismic imaging capabilities and
improvements to analysing isotopes in minerals);
• one to astronomy;
• one to provide upgraded facilities for nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) for use in
medical research;
• one to drug and therapy development; and
• one on plasma containment as part of fusion research.
Section 8.1: National process for identifying research infrastructure investments.
Views are sought on the proposals for a national process.
The Academy agrees that advice should be sought from organisations representing wide research
community views. This seems a logical strategy that provides transparency, independence and
rigour. The Academy supports 21 National Committees of Science, each with a membership of
eight persons, and in addition to professional societies, these committees provide an important
resource and network for providing investment advice. The Academy’s submission includes input
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