UNSW researchers have been awarded $5.6 million for 18 projects in the latest round of Australian Research Council Linkage grants.

The innovative university research partnerships with industry have attracted close to $15 million from partner organisations. Funding commences in July 2011.

Professors Neil Foster and Ian Frazer will lead a team developing nanotechnology to allow vaccines to be formulated for oral delivery, with potential for considerable societal and economic impacts in developing countries.

For the first time, an understanding of the action of swimmers caught in rip currents will be linked through interviews with rip survivors and measurements of swimmer response and rip flow, following a $292,000 grant to a team of scientists.

A COFA project investigating the contribution of public art to eco-sustainable development, focusing on world's best practice and potential benefits to Sydney and cities in general, has been awarded $272,000.

Photovoltaic engineers have won a $600,000 grant to refine a new technique for silicon cell production that will further reduce the cost of solar power. Two members of that team, Professor Martin Green and Dr Xiaojing Hao, are also part of a second $600,000 project with Dr Hong Song.

See a full list of the 18 grants at the ARC website.

Contact: Denise Knight, UNSW Media Office | 02 9385 8920