National security projects granted investment boost

Grants have been awarded to a number of academic institutions leading key national security and intelligence research projects.

Chief Defence Scientist Professor Tanya Monro has announced the round two recipients of the National Intelligence and Security Discovery Research Grants (NISDRG) program, aimed at addressing emerging threats in a changing national security environment.

Recipients include:

the University of Western Australia;
the University of Queensland;
Australian National University;
the University of Melbourne;
Macquarie University;
University of New South Wales;
Monash University;
the University of Sydney; and
the University of Technology Sydney.

The grants are expected to fund further research into:

addressing vulnerabilities in artificial intelligence (AI) systems;
investigating supply chain risks;
new explosive detection methods;
the development of sensing technology;
secure computing; and
machine learning for miniature satellites and electromagnetic shielding.

“This continued initiative, jointly funded by the Office of National Intelligence (ONI) and Defence, is a key component of the National Security Science and Technology Priorities,” Professor Monro said.

“The 10 successful programs represent a balanced portfolio of research and development (R&D) investment that includes universities from different jurisdictions across a range of research topics.

“Collectively, this will generate valuable capability and capacity in tertiary sector R&D related specifically to national security.”

The grants are administered by the Australian Research Council (ARC), tasked with enabling national intelligence and security communities to systematically engage with Australian researchers.