Centres Secretariat

Research Strategy Office

UNSW is involved in almost one hundred and twenty Research, Teaching Program and Community Centres and Institutes. These Centres and Institutes are made up of multidisciplinary teams established to work across traditional school, faculty or institution boundaries. Internal Centres and Institutes operate solely within, and are controlled entirely by, UNSW while External Centres and Institutes involve partnerships with other universities, government departments, commercial organisations and funding agencies. Some External Centres and Institutes are led by UNSW, while others, such as Medical Research Institutes associated with the Faculty of Medicine, are affiliated independent organisations that play major roles in the national research effort.

Centres and Institutes range in scale from relatively small groupings of specialists contributing to an area of common interest, through to large, stand-alone structures such as Cooperative Research Centres and Institutes which may involve the collaboration of tens or hundreds of researchers and dozens of organisations across Australia and overseas.

All Centres and Institutes led by UNSW or in which UNSW participates are listed below. This list was last updated on 29 May, 2013.

The Research Strategy Office, through the Centres Secretariat, coordinates discussions, workshops and forums on subjects of interest to Centre Directors and their colleagues to support their unique and often complex function at UNSW.

For all queries about Centres and Institutes, or to lodge documents with the Centres Secretariat, please contact:

Associate Professor Peter Krug
Senior Research Development Manager (Centres and Consortia)
Research Strategy Office
Phone: 02 9385 9736
Fax:  02 9385 6545
Email: p.krug@unsw.edu.au


National Research Centres

Australian Solar Institute - ASI
Executive Director: Mr Mark Twidell

Bionic Vision Australia - BVA
Director: Prof Tony Burkitt

Centre for International Finance and Regulation - CIFR
Director & CEO: Prof Ros Grady

Dementia Collaborative Research Centres - DCRC
Director: Prof Henry Brodaty

The Kirby Institute for Infection and Immunity in Society (Formerly: National Centre in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research - NCHECR)
Director: Prof David Cooper

National Cannabis Prevention and Information Centre - NCPIC
Director: Prof Jan Copeland

National Centre of Excellence in Desalination - NCEDA
CEO: Mr Neil Palmer

Australian Water Recycling Centre of Excellence
CEO: Dr Mark O'Donohue

National Centre for Groundwater Research and Training - NCGRT

Director: Prof Craig Simmons

National Centre in HIV Social Research - NCHSR
Director: Prof John de Wit

National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre - NDARC
Director: Prof Michael Farrell

National ICT Australia - NICTA
Director: Prof Hugh Durrant-Whyte

Water Quality Research Australia - WQRA
CEO: Ms Jodieann Dawe


Co-operative Research Centres

Advanced Manufacturing CRC - AMCRC
Managing Director: Mr Bruce Grey

Australian Poultry CRC
CEO: Dr Mingan Choct

Capital Markets CRC - CMCRC
CEO: Prof Michael Aitken

CRC for Advanced Composite Structures - CRC-ACS
CEO: Prof Murray Scott

CRC for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health/Lowitja Institute - CRC-AH
CEO: Ms Lyn Brodie

CRC for Greenhouse Gas Technology - CO2CRC
CEO: Dr Richard Aldous

CRC for Living With Autism Spectrum Disorders - Autism CRC
CEO: Prof Sylvia Rodger

CRC for Low Carbon Living - CRC-LCL
CEO: Prof Deo Prasad

CRC for Polymers - CRCP
CEO: Dr Ian Dagley

CRC for Spatial Information - CRCSI
CEO: Dr Peter Woodgate

Smart Services CRC
CEO & Director: Mr Warren Bradey


NHMRC Centres of Research Excellence (established 2010 onwards) and
NHMRC Centres of Clinical Research Excellence (pre-2010)

Centre of Clinical Research Excellence in Aboriginal Health: Sexually Transmitted and Bloodborne Viral Infections
Director: Prof John Kaldor

Centre of Clinical Research Excellence in Anxiety and Neuroscience
Director: Prof Richard Bryant

Centre of Research Excellence for Improving Suicide Prevention
Director: Prof Helen Christensen

Centre of Research Excellence in E-health
Director: Prof Enrico Coiera

Centre of Research Excellence in Population Health Research
Director: Prof Raina MacIntyre

Centre of Research Excellence in Mental Health and Substance Use
Director: Prof Maree Teesson

Centre of Research Excellence in Traumatic Brain Injury Psychological Rehabilitation
Director: Prof Skye McDonald


UNSW Research Institutes

Australian Energy Research Institute - AERI
Director: Prof Vassilios Agelidis

Australian Institute for Population Ageing Research - AIPAR
Director: Prof John Piggott

Australian Institute of Health Innovation - AIHI
Director: Prof Jeffrey Braithwaite

Brain Sciences UNSW
Convenor: Prof Simon Killcross

National Institute for Experimental Arts - NIEA
Director: Prof Jill Bennett


UNSW Community Centres

Centre for Innovation & Entrepreneurship - CIE
Director: Prof Karin Sanders

Centre for Gender-Related Violence Studies - CGRVS
Director: Dr Jan Breckenridge

NSW Cancer Survivors Centre - NSWCSC
Director: Prof Andrew Lloyd


UNSW Program Centres

Institute of Environmental Studies - IES
Director: Prof Graciela Metternicht


UNSW Research Centres

Asia-Pacific ubiquitous Healthcare Research Centre - APuHC
Director: Prof Pradeep Ray

Australian Centre for Astrobiology - ACA
Co-Director: Prof Martin Van Kranendonk
Co-Director: Prof Chris Tinney

Australian Centre for Commercial Mathematics - ACCM
Director: Assoc Prof Bruce Henry

Australian Human Rights Centre - AHRCentre
Director: Assoc Prof Andrea Durbach

Australian Centre for NanoMedicine - ACN
Co-Directors: Prof Maria Kavallaris & Prof Tom Davis

Australian Centre for Perinatal Science - ACPS
Director: Prof Alec Welsh

Australian Centre for Space Engineering Research - ACSER
Director: Prof Andrew Dempster

Australian Centre for Study of Armed Conflict and Society - ACSACS
Director: Prof Jeffrey Grey

Australian Centre for Sustainable Mining Practices - ACSMP
Director: Assoc Prof David Laurence

Australian Wetlands and Rivers Centre - AWRC
Director: Prof Richard Kingsford

Centre for Accounting and Assurance Research - CAAR
Director: Prof Ken Trotman

Centre for Advanced Macromolecular Design - CAMD
Director: Prof Tom Davis

Centre for Applied Economic Research - CAER
Director: Prof Kevin Fox

Centre for Clinical Governance Research in Health - CCGR
Director: Prof Jeffrey Braithwaite

Centre for Energy and Environmental Markets - CEEM
Joint Directors: Dr Regina Betz and Dr Iain MacGill

Centre for Health Systems and Safety Research - CHSSR
Director: Prof Johanna Westbrook

Centre for Health Informatics - CHI
Director: Prof Enrico Coiera

Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing - CHeBA
Co-Directors: Prof Perminder Sachdev and Prof Henry Brodaty

Centre for Interactive Cinema Research - iCinema
Director: Prof Dennis Del Favero

Centre for Infrastructure Engineering and Safety - CIES
Director: Prof Brian Uy

Centre for Law, Markets and Regulation
Director: Prof Justin O'Brien

Centre for Marine Bio-Innovation
Joint Directors: Prof Staffan Kjelleberg and Prof Peter Steinberg

Centre for Modernism Studies in Australia
Director: Prof Julian Murphet 

Centre for Primary Health Care and Equity - CPHCE
Incorporating the former Centre for Health Equity Training Research and Evaluation - CHETRE
and the former Centre for General Practice Integration Studies - CGPIS
Executive Director: Prof Mark Harris
CEO & Director: Assoc Prof Gawaine Powell Davies

Centre for Refugee Research - CRR
Director: Assoc Prof Eileen Pittaway

Centre for Sustainable Materials Research and Technology - SMaRT Centre
Director: Prof Veena Sahajwalla

City Futures Research Centre - CFRC
Director: Prof Bill Randolph

Climate Change Research Centre - CCRC
Co-Directors: Prof Matthew England and Prof Steve Sherwood

Connected Waters Initiative - CWI
Director: Prof Andy Baker

Cyberspace Law and Policy Centre
Executive Director: Mr David Vaile
Academic Director: Prof Graham Greenleaf

Evolution and Ecology Research Centre - E&ERC
Director: Prof Rob Brooks

Gilbert + Tobin Centre for Public Law
Director: Assoc Prof Andrew Lynch

Global Irish Studies Centre - GISC (formerly John Hume Institute for Global Irish Studies)
Director: Prof Rónán McDonald

Indigenous Law Centre
Director: Prof Megan Davis

Industrial Relations Research Centre - IRRC
Director: Prof Michael Quinlan

Injury Risk Management Research Centre - IRMRC
Director of Transport and Road Safety Research Group (TARS): Prof Ann Williamson
Director of Falls and Injury Prevention Group (FIPG): Assoc Prof Jacqui Close

Institute of Global Finance - IGF
Director: Prof Fariborz Moshirian

Journalism and Media Research Centre - JMRC
Acting Director: Assoc Prof Jane Mills

Korea Research Institute - KRI@UNSW
Director: Dr Chung-Sok Suh

Lowy Cancer Research Centre
Director: Prof Phil Hogg

Research Centre for Integrated Transport Innovation - rCITI
Director: Prof S. Travis Waller

Sino-Australian Research Centre for Coastal Management - SARCCM
Director: Dr Xiao Hua Wang

Social Policy Research Centre - SPRC
Acting Director: Dr kylie valentine

UNESCO Centre for Membrane Science and Technology - CMST
Director: Assoc Prof Vicki Chen

Water Research Centre - WRC
Joint Directors: Prof Richard Stuetz and Dr Bill Peirson


Joint Research Centres

Australasian Legal Information Institute
UNSW Co-Director: Prof Graham Greenleaf

Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute - AHURI
UNSW Director: Prof Hal Pawson

Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute
Director: Prof Geoff Prince

Baosteel-Australia Joint Research and Development Centre
Technical Advisory Commitee Chair: Prof Aibing Yu

Blue Mountains World Heritage Institute
Executive Director: Assoc Prof John Merson

Centre for Social Impact - CSI
CEO: Dr Andrew Young

Centre for Vascular Research - CVR
Director: Prof Levon Khachigian

Australia-China Joint Research Centre for Minerals, Metallurgy and Materials - 3-M Centre
Director: Prof Aibing Yu

Clive and Vera Ramaciotti Centre for Gene Function Analysis - RAMAC
Director: Prof Marc Wilkins

Confucius Institute at UNSW
Director: Mr Laurie Pearcey

Defence Systems Innovation Centre - DSIC
CEO: Dr Sanjay Mazumdar

Securities Industry Research Centre of Asia-Pacific Limited
Director: Assoc Prof Michael Briers

Sydney Institute of Marine Science - SIMS
Director and CEO: Prof Peter Steinberg


Joint Community Centres

Centre for Eye Health
Director: Prof Michael Kalloniatis


Affiliated Medical Research Institutes and Centres

Black Dog Institute
Executive Director: Prof Helen Christensen

Centre of Research Excellence in Primary Health Care Microsystems
Director: Prof Claire Jackson

Children's Cancer Institute Australia for Medical Research - CCIA
Executive Director: Prof Michelle Haber

Garvan Institute of Medical Research
Director: Prof John Shine

The Health-Science Alliance - HSA
Chairman: Mr Peter Joseph AM

The Ingham Institute
Research Director: Prof Michael Barton OAM

National Centre for Immunisation Research & Surveillance
Director: Prof Peter McIntyre

Neuroscience Research Australia - NeuRA (Formerly Prince of Wales Medical Research Institute)
Director: Prof Peter Schofield

Skin and Cancer Foundation Australia
CEO: Dr Lynleigh Evans

Simpson Centre for Health Services Research  
Director: Prof Ken Hillman

St Vincent's Centre for Applied Medical Research - SVCAMR
Director: Prof David A Cooper

Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute
Executive Director: Prof Robert Graham


Affiliated Community Centres

Diplomacy Training Program
Director: Mr Patrick Earle

Kingsford Legal Centre
Director: Ms Anna Cody

National Children's and Youth Law Centre
Director: Mr Mathew Keeley 

National Pro Bono Resource Centre
Director: Mr John Corker