Why this Cluster exists 

The Cluster was established to promote our collective expertise and to harness both internal and external opportunities. Our School has broad research expertise, spread across multiple FOR in, for example, animal and marine ecology, environmental sciences, engineering disciplines and technology. It also has a close relationship with several prominent research centres within the University.

Advanced characterisation techniques accessible at UniSC’s Advanced Instrumentation Facility and major national research infrastructure such as neutron (ANSTO Sydney) and synchrotron (ANSTO Melbourne) facilities, provide invaluable insights into a range of research areas, but is currently limited in their use at UniSC.

As we seek to expand our research capacity and impact, the Cluster aims to highlight our existing collective expertise in these techniques, leverage against them to create new opportunities across SSTE’s research strengths, and be a focal- (and a contact-) point for research with advanced characterisation methods.

Schematic illustration of Advanced Instrumentation Facility (AIF) capabilities in biomolecule discovery (Leads: Dr Trong Tran and Dr Tianfang Wang)

The Cluster aims to be a focal and a contact point for advanced characterisation and analysis research.

Key initial research areas are in manufacturing processes and materials (neutron techniques, Haque), environmental science and soil/geochemistry (X-ray techniques, Sekine), biomolecules and bioinnovation (AIF, Tran + Wang; IR + confocal + micro/nanoscope techniques, Sekine + Watson), with members leading the use of these facilities during the first stage.

Drs Greg and Jola Watson's research focuses on the fundamental understanding and characterisation of various natural materials such as insect wings, plant leaves and vertebrate skins on the micro- and nano-scale. They have over 25 year's experience in Scanning Probe Microscopy (SPM) on which they have published 2 technical scientific books. The research is very much multi-disciplinary in nature, utilising biological, chemical, physical, mathematical and engineering disciplines in order to gleem nature's many secrets. This broad discipline approach has also resulted in over 100 Journal, conference and other publications, as well as many international research collaborations.

Tran and Wang manage the AIF at UniSC Sunshine Coast and has significant research experience in the use of research infrastructure for characterisation and analysis of organic (bio)molecules. They have demonstrated leadership in securing competitive funding nationally and internationally (e.g., ARC DP, ARC LIEF, FRDC, GRDC, and NSFC) and liaising with external partners (Agilent, QBiotics) to support their research activities.

Dr Sekine utilises X-ray methods in order to unravel chemical behavior in the environment, including geochemical cycles of natural elements to the fate of anthropogenic contaminants.

Haque and Sekine will lead programs that utilise neutron and synchrotron facilities, respectively, with support from the Cluster members whose experience cover the above- mentioned disciplines. It is envisaged that the Cluster will also liaise closely with the Research and Advanced Instrumentation team, particularly in relation to AIF led by Tran and Wang.

Other research areas relevant to UniSC include biomolecule (mono)layers analysis, alloy clusters and phase domain analysis, bitumen and construction materials analysis, to name a few. We expect to showcase some of the outcomes and facilitate the cross-fertilisation of ideas and techniques across SSTE and UniSC’s research areas and support. As the Cluster grows, there will likely be an opportunity to collaborate with mathematics and technology academics with expertise in big data and/or image processing expertise in the future, as data generated by some advanced methods can be large and complex (e.g. 4-dimensional microscopy data). In addition, external membership from facilities such as ANSTO or collaborating institutions will be sought in the future.

Cluster members have established, and continue to establish, a strong reputation in their respective disciplines.

Sekine and Greg and Jola Watson have reputable standing within the synchrotron community in Australia. Sekine was an invited speaker at the 2020 User Meeting, invited instructor at XAS workshops, and has over 20 successful beamtime equating to over $1.5m of in-kind value, and published 16 papers from such experiments. He has experience in successfully introducing techniques to new users (e.g. EU NanoFASE project, ARC DP on vanadium geochemistry).

Haque is an expert user of the neutron facilities at ANSTO Sydney and is the recipient of the AONSA young research fellowship in 2021. He is an existing AINSE councillor for UniSC and serves as a reviewer for ANSTO grant applications, as well as acting as a guest editor (Crystals) and conference committee member (CMSE, 2018-20).

The Advanced Characterisation Research cluster is a strategic initiative to increase the visibility and use of national infrastructure facilities at UniSC. The cluster will make this expertise more visible to research groups around UniSC, showcase the capabilities of the techniques, and help promote their uptake in new applications in various disciplines.

Due to its nature, it can support a broad range of research disciplines across key Research Focus Area's (RFA's):

• RFA 2: Agriculture, aquaculture and forestry
• RFA 3: Ecology and Environment
• RFA 1: Health, Medicine and Well-being (in collaboration with staff in the School of Health)

By supporting these RFA’s, the Cluster will contribute to UN Sustainability Development Goals:

• SDG 3: Good health and well-being,
• SDG 12: Sustainable consumption and production,
• SDG 14: Life under water.

There is strategic alignment with external factors as well. This is a timely opportunity with new techniques under Project BRIGHT at ANSTO Melbourne, to which UniSC has preferred access to the facility as a funding partner (5 years). The Cluster will capitalise on this opportunity by bringing together the expertise of existing users. The cluster will also actively support UniSC students in securing AINSE scholarships for material characterisation through collaborations with ANSTO projects, utilizing neutron and synchrotron techniques.

Contacts: Dr Ryo Sekine and Dr Rezwanul Haque