From robot comedy to Indigenous space policy: $103m in research grants revealed
Taxpayers have funded $103m in research projects including chatbot comedians, ‘culturally respectful space exploration’ and social media porn work.
An interstellar Indigenous policy for “culturally respectful and environmentally responsible space exploration”, inspired by Dreamtime stories, will cost taxpayers more than $500,000 in the latest Australian Research Council grants.
The University of Newcastle will receive $528,491 to “embed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge in Australian space policy’’, the council has revealed in its hotly-contested “Discovery” grant list for 2026.
Drawing upon the songlines and creation stories of the Yolngu people in Northeast Arnhem Land and the Gumbaynggirr custodians of the mid-north coast of NSW, Lara Daley’s research will aim to “broaden understandings of outer space by identifying and supporting Aboriginal connections between space and life on earth’’.
“Guided by these connections, the project aims to develop intercultural guidelines for sustainable human activity in outer space to educate the public, industry stakeholders and policy-makers, and to contribute to culturally respectful and environmentally responsible space exploration,’’ the ARC project summary states.
An academic investigation of whether AI and robots can perform believable comedy will cost taxpayers another $530,079, awarded to University of Melbourne researcher Robert Walton.
“Using innovative theatre-based methods, it aims to develop and evaluate performance techniques that allow machines to create authentic comedy,’’ the project summary concludes.
“The research will provide the first major study on robot comedy performance, a theoretical framework for more-than-human comedy, and new interdisciplinary methods for collaborating with AI’’.
Even though 87 per cent of grant applicants missed out on money in the ARC’s $103m Discovery funding round for early-career researchers, left-of-field humanities research has secured significant public funding.
A study of online pornography will cost taxpayers $525,650, awarded to Monash University’s Emily van der Nagel to help understand “porn creation as a form of digital sexual labour’’.
“It will generate new insights into social media porn work, using qualitative methods that centre the experiences of porn creators and audiences,’’ the project summary states.
“This should provide significant benefits for government and the industry seeking to balance personal freedoms, economic growth and legal oversight.’’
Research into the role of Australian’s women’s magazines in shaping political discourse has won a $528,288 grant for Blair Williams from Monash University.
“By combining archival research, focus groups and interviews, this project expects to generate new knowledge on how women’s magazines frame politics, how politicians use these platforms, and how they impact on women’s political engagement,’’ the ARC states on its website.
“Expected outcomes include a website, exhibition, academic publications, and development of a documentary’’.
A $490,495 grant to the University of Notre Dame’s Adam Piovarchy will “develop a new theory of what blame is, what it is for, and how it can be used for both good and bad’’.
“The project will fill a significant gap in our understanding of the moral emotions and how blame can be abused,’’ the summary for Dr Piovarchy’s project states.
“It will benefit society by answering when blame in the public sphere should be fostered for forsworn.’’
Two hundred early career researchers will share in $103m of ARC spending, announced on Tuesday.
The fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics dominate the grants for research in fields spanning artificial intelligence to carbon-neutral construction, quantum computing and ultra-fast electronics.
RMIT University researcher Mohammad Saberian Boroujeni has been awarded $514,678 to investigate the use of food waste to create next-generation roads.
The University of Adelaide’s Xiaogang Zhu has been given $496,641 to iron out “bugs’’ in AI software systems that “can cause AI applications to make wrong decisions, leading to catastrophic failures such as car crashes’’.
At Flinders University, Jake Robinson will use a $515,079 grant to investigate how human-generated noise pollution impacts soil organisms and affects soil health.
“This research will support nature conservation, food security and climate resilience,’’ the ARC website states.
The University of Queensland will receive $530,079 for Elvis Okoffo to investigate ways to remove microplastics from drinking water, and evaluate the effectiveness of household filtration systems to remove absorbable plastic particles.
The ANU’s Ruitao Jin has been awarded $507,308 to investigate how plants sense drought, by combining computer simulations, AI and molecular biology.
“This offers a promising route for engineering climate-smart crops with enhanced drought resilience, leading to better water use, increased yields and strengthened food security,’’ the ARC project summary states.
Another ANU researcher, Ian Brennan, will use a $517,554 grant to use genetic research to uncover how Australian reptiles have adapted to survive cane toad toxins.
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