Charles Sturt University (CSU) has increased its share of industry-linked grants, with a number of projects aimed to benefit regional Australia following the announcement of Australian Research Council (ARC) funding for 2002.

CSU boosted its ARC results by eight per cent on the previous year, to a total of $856 540, in an increasingly competitive environment.

The University secured six grants, five of which are designed to foster close partnerships between the University and industry.

The successful grant applications cover a range of disciplines including information technology, education, cultural risk, rural sociology and nursing.

They involve industry partners including the Murray Darling Basin Commission, Western Area Health Service, Ratbag Games, the Land and Property Information Centre and the National Museum of Australia.

CSU Vice-Chancellor, Professor Ian Goulter, said the results of this round of research grants shows the University’s commitment to and growing expertise and reputation in research. (Click here to see the summary of CSU grants for 2002.)

“The successful research projects have proven to be internationally and nationally competitive and relevant to the regions CSU serves,” Professor Goulter said.

The largest grant of $272 000 is for a three-year project to encourage and sustain community participation in natural resource management initiatives in the Murray-Darling Basin.

Another grant will be used to study the reasons for a lack of nurses in isolated communities, working in cooperation with health services and local communities over the next three years.

One project will look at how people deal with food risks such as contamination, poisoning and disease, while a further two grants in information technology will focus on developing computer game languages and online spatial data.