| UTAS Collaborators | School of Chemistry |
|---|---|
| Project Status | Current |
The Australian Centre for Research on Separation Science (ACROSS) was established in 2001 as a strategic agreement between key researchers at the University of Tasmania and RMIT University (with University of Western Sydney joining in 2008) to form a consortium of prominent Australian researchers in separation science. ACROSS aims to:
Research in ACROSS has been established using focused research themes to provide both fundamental and applied research outcomes in separation science. ACROSS draws together multi-site, internationally prominent and genuinely collaborative research teams, having complementary skills and synergistic resource-base expertise, and committed to focused programs of national significance.
Separation science involves the study of fundamental processes and materials for the separation and subsequent measurement of specific molecules, usually when these are present in very complex mixtures. It finds use in all of the chemical and biological sciences and in many areas of engineering. Advances in separation science have provided the impetus for exciting new developments in the biological sciences (eg. genomics, proteomics and medicine), pharmaceutical sciences (eg. drug discovery and characterisation), environmental sciences (eg. ultra-trace residue analysis), forensic science (eg. illicit drugs, DNA fingerprinting, and explosives residues) and other areas. The discovery of new modes of separation science involving analysis, characterisation and purification will be essential to these fields. Separation science also bridges the nanoscale through to the macroscale, with common elements of theory and implementation. Advances in separation science will therefore be an important driver behind a very broad spectrum of Australian science, ranging from new developments in nanotechnology to novel biomaterials. Its importance as an enabling science cannot be overstated.
The research structure listed below groups research themes using the three major phases of a separation and also shows the major outcome areas in which these themes are being applied. There are more than 50 active researchers working in ACROSS at UTAS, so numerous individual research projects are under way. Details of these individual research projects, including personnel and funding sources, can be found by following the link to previous annual reports.
Over the past 5 years, ACROSS has received $18,000,000 in external funding and has produced 192 refereed journal publications and 196 conference presentations. In the 2010 excellence in Research Australia evaluations conducted by the Australian Research Council, the research undertaken in ACROSS received a rating of 5, which was the highest rating achievable.
Please see the ACROSS annual reports in the Description section for more information.
Members (External)
Research academics are listed below. Other researchers are listed in the annual reports:
Prof Paul Haddad (Director): Paul.Haddad@utas.edu.au
A/Prof Greg Dicinoski (Deputy Director): Greg.Dicinoski@utas.edu.au
Prof Emily Hilder: Emily.Hilder@utas.edu.au
Prof Brett Paull: Brett.Paull@utas.edu.au
Prof Pavel Nesterenko: Pavel.Nesterenko@utas.edu.au
Prof Mirek Macka: mirek.macka@utas.edu.au
A/Prof Joselito Quirino: Joselito.Quirino@utas.edu.au
A/Prof Michael Breadmore: Michael.Breadmore@utas.edu.au
A/Prof Robert Shellie: robert.shellie@utas.edu.au
Dr Rosanne Guijt: rosanne.guijt@utas.edu.au