Research facilities and centres
Australian Centre for Astrobiology
ACA is one of the few organisations in the world that is truly inter and multi-disciplinary in a way that is reflective of astrobiology as well as being the only centre of astrobiological research in Australia. Its key goals include contributing to the understanding of the origin of life on Earth and to set an Australian life-seeking instrument on the surface of Mars. In addition to being an Associate Member of the NASA Astrobiology Institute, it also has close links with the European Space Agency and other international space agencies and institutions.
Australian Wetlands and Rivers Centre
AWRC focuses research effort on the key threats, risks and uncertainties facing biodiversity of wetlands and rivers and their conservation values. We are also involved similar challenges in terrestrial ecosystems. We have a strong emphasis on providing rigorous advice to governments at State and Federal levels and building expertise in the adaptive management of Australia’s ecosystems. Communication of research results is a key objective through peer reviewed papers, the media, electronic databases and other research outputs.
Bioanalytical Mass-Spectrometry Facility
The Bioanalytical Mass Spectrometry Facility (BMSF) is part of the UNSW Analytical Centre. The BMSF’s upper and lower campus laboratories provide access to advanced instrumentation, expertise and training for UNSW, national as well as international research groups. Staff at the BMSF are recognised experts in mass spectrometry and its growing analytical applications. They engage in projects with many scientists, engineers and clinicians. BMSF staff also develop research enabling mass spectrometry based methods and technologies.
Centre for Marine Bio-Innovation
The Centre for Marine Bio-Innovation (CMB) is an international focal point for interdisciplinary basic and applied research into chemically mediated interactions between organisms. It drives research excellence in a number of platforms, including microbial biofilms and bacterial signalling, marine chemical ecology and prokaryote-eukaryote interactions, environmental and microbial genomics, colonisation biology of marine sessile organisms, novel antifouling technologies, bioremediation, inter-kingdom signalling and the bridge between environmental microbiology and engineering. These research platforms are based on understanding, in a mechanistic fashion, how chemical signals mediate the ecology, physiology and molecular biology of organisms, and the subsequent application of this knowledge to novel biotechnologies across environmental, industrial and medical settings.
Centre for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology
The Australian Centre of Excellence for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology is an international research effort to develop the science and technology of a global quantum information network, encompassing ultra-fast quantum computation, absolutely secure quantum communication and distributed quantum information processing.
Centre for Sustainable Materials Research and Technology (SMaRT)
SMaRT has strong relationships with Industry and Research partners from the metallurgical, materials, building, construction and mining sectors across the globe. The Centre has 20 academic staff and postdoctoral researchers. The Centre also has state-of-the-art Research Infrastructure funded through the Vice- Chancellor's strategic priorities funding, along with well-equipped sustainable materials laboratories.
Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science
The Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science is a major initiative funded by the Australian Research Council. The Centre is an international research consortium of five Australian universities and a suite of outstanding national and international partner organisations. It will build on and improve existing understanding of the modeling of regional climates to enable enhanced adaptation to and management of climate change, particularly in the Australian region.
Climate Change Research Centre (CCRC)
UNSW CCRC is a multi-disciplinary research group comprising one of the largest university research facilities of its kind in Australia. CCRC houses research expertise in the key areas Earth's climate: atmospheric, oceanic and terrestrial processes.
Connected Waters Initiative
The UNSW Connected Waters Initiative aims to help fill critical gaps in our knowledge of the complex interactions between groundwater and surface water and their sustainable management through research, teaching and public education.
Cowan Field Station
The Cowan Field Station encompasses an area of about 4 ha in the Muogamarra Reserve, near the town of Cowan on the northern outskirts of Sydney NSW. The field station incorporates a laboratory/service facility, and a number of cages and yards for holding various animal species. The station forms an essential component of the School's activities, as it provides a means for research, holding and breeding of larger members of the Australian vertebrate fauna.
Entrepreneurs in Science Unit
The Unit currently offers an undergraduate Diploma in Innovation Management for science educated students and a Graduate Certificate in Research Management and Commercialisation for postgraduate students. The primary objective is to integrate business and entrepreneurial training into the core tertiary education of our future scientists.
Evolution & Ecology Research Centre
The Evolution & Ecology Research Centre draws together the diverse strengths of 18 academic staff, 8 independent research fellows, and over forty postgraduate students from the School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, the School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, and the School of Mathematics and Statistics at UNSW in Sydney. The Centre's purpose is to build capacity for and quality of research, including postgraduate research and supervision. To do so, we provide seed funding for innovative new research collaborations, recognize excellence in research, learning and supervision, run an innovative Graduate Program in Evolution & Ecology, and engage in public outreach relating to evolution and ecology.
Fowlers Gap Arid Zone Research Station
The Research Station has an outstanding national and international reputation for research about the arid lands from a range of disciplines in the physical and natural sciences, as well as the built environment, arts and humanities.
Institute of Environmental Studies
The IES has developed into a multi-faceted institution with a reputation for excellence in research, strong student relationships and high quality learning outcomes. The IES aims to provide students with world-class innovative research opportunities, excellent transdisciplinary teaching in environmental studies and expert environmental services.
NMR Facility
The NMR Facility specialises in analysis of substances using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy.
Optics and Radiometry Laboratory
The Optics and Radiometry Laboratory (ORLAB) is operated jointly by the School of Optometry and Vision Science, University of New South Wales and NewSouth Global. ORLAB is accredited by the National Association of Testing Authorities for a range of services.
Optometry Clinic
The Optometry Clinic is a teaching facility used for educating undergraduates and postgraduate optometry students in high quality optometric care of the patient. Because of our teaching role, we have a number of instruments which are state-of-the-art and assist us with patient management.
Ramaciotti Centre for Gene Function Analysis
The Ramaciotti Centre is a not-for-profit facility located at the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. We are a leading high-throughput functional genomics service provider, offering expertise in next-generation sequencing and microarray technology. We produce data of the highest quality and pride ourselves on excellent, personalised customer service. Our professional team has many years of experience facilitating projects from design through to downstream analysis.
Smith's Lake Field Station
The Field Station is mainly used by the School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Science, UNSW for the purpose of teaching undergraduate and postgraduate students and for research purposes. Many other institutions also use the Field Station, ranging from local community groups, primary and high schools to other universities.
Sydney Institute of Marine Science (SIMS)
The Sydney Institute of Marine Science (SIMS) is a not for profit unlisted public company founded in 2005 by four universities (Macquarie, NSW, Sydney and UTS) as a collaborative research institute bringing together scientists from the universities in the greater Sydney region and from several state and federal government departments, The Australian Museum and the Australian Defence Science & Technology Organisation. It is the principal marine research institute on the South-East Australian coast.
Transport and Road Safety (TARS) Research
Transport and Road Safety (TARS) Research is a research group at UNSW dedicated entirely to road and transport safety research. The philosophy of the road and transport safety research focus at the TARS is the safe system principle, commonly used in occupational health and safety and adopted by the Australian Transport Council in 2004. This requires a multi-disciplinary approach to road safety research and policy development, where researchers focus on Safer Roads, Safer Vehicles, and Safer People and their integration into a Safe System.
