$2m for research to safeguard nations critical infrastructure
[ UniNews Vol. 13, No. 21
15 - 29 November 2004 ]
Led by Associate Professor Priyan Mendis from the Universitys Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, the ARC Research Network for a Secure Australia (RNSA) is a knowledge-sharing network of national and international researchers focussed on developing ways to protect critical infrastructure.
Associate Professor Mendis says the Australian government has identified the need to secure Australias critical infrastructure against potential natural or human-caused disasters, including terrorism, as a national priority.
RNSA forms Australias most comprehensive network in the multi-disciplinary areas related to critical infrastructure protection. It includes more than 300 researchers and professionals from 25 Australian research organisations including universities, 15 government organisations, and more than 50 industry groups.
The network has also identified a number of relevant international collaborators in the US, Europe, Africa and Asia.
A difficulty that every major research focus faces is firstly, the multi-disciplinary nature of the research required, and secondly the lack of communication between individual research groups, says Associate Professor Mendis.
The Government has now recognised a coordinated approach that facilitates direction and communication between research groups is essential in order to succeed in progressing to the next level.
Associate Professor Mendis has an international track record for research in protective technology of engineering structures. His area of expertise is in the behaviour of concrete structures under extreme loading such as impact, blast, fire and earthquakes.
He led an AustralianIndonesian joint engineering forensic team to investigate the structural damage to buildings in the Bali Bombing.
Currently he is chairman of a working group nominated to revise the Australian concrete standard to include high-strength concrete. He is also involved in designing critical elements subjected to blast and impact loadings for some landmark structures in Australia and is working with consultants to design protective barriers (for bomb blasts) for some structures in Australia and Indonesia.
RNSA is one of 24 networks to receive a share of $42 million for new research networks awarded by the Federal Government.
Two other University of Melbourne-led networks were also awarded a share of the funding the ARC Research Network on Intelligent Sensors, Sensor Networks and Information Processing, led by Dr Marimuthu Palaniswami (Electrical and Electronic Engineering), and the Economic Design Network: Practical policy tools for industry, infrastructure, services and the environment, led by Professor Peter Bardsley (Economics).
More information about RNSA is available at: http://www.secureaustralia.org
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