A national leader in research
Latest figures show that the University of Sydney has been confirmed as Australia’s leading research university. Sydney researchers have been awarded more than $49 million by the Australian Research Centre (ARC) for 120 research projects commencing in 2007 – the largest amount awarded to any university in Australia. Of that total, Sydney has received $40.5 million for 97 new Discovery Grants commencing in 2007 – $5.4 million more than its nearest national competitor.
The University of Sydney is home to two ARC Centres of Excellence – Autonomous Systems, and Ultrahigh Bandwidth Devices for Optical Systems. ARC Centres of Excellence are funded on the basis of research excellence and their potential to contribute to the economic, social and cultural development of Australia.
Sydney is a key participant in 19 Cooperative Research Centres (CRCs). In 2005, one new CRC was established and four were renewed, in which the University is a core or supporting participant. They are:
- The CRC for an Internationally Competitive Pork Industry
- Australasian Invasive Animal CRC
- Cotton Catchment Communities CRC
- The CRC for Asthma and Airways
- The CRC for Polymers
The University of Sydney secured more than $46 million in funding in the 2007 round of National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Project Grant, Capacity Building and Fellowship awards, the largest allocation to any university in the state.
Five of the University's affiliated medical research facilities secured $38 million in the Australian government’s 2006 budget, part of $163 million made available for a variety of development and expansion projects. These include:
The Centenary Institute – $10 million for medical research in a range of projects covering immunology and molecular medicine
The Woolcock Institute of Medical Research – $5 million to further its work in the area of respiratory and sleep research
The Westmead Millennium Institute – $15 million for research into cancer and leukaemia; infectious and immune diseases; mental illness and liver, kidney, eye, heart and respiratory disease
The Sydney Melanoma Unit – $6 million for a wide range of basic and clinical research relating to melanoma at the largest treatment centre for melanoma in the world, and
The Brain and Mind Research Institute (BMRI) – $2 million for research on prevalent mental and neurological disorders, and multidisciplinary research into other brain-related areas such as chronic fatigue and chronic pain.
A national leader in PhD completions, the University of Sydney has one of the largest postgraduate research student cohorts in Australia.