Centres Secretariat

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, most notably the 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.

A listing of all Centres and Institutes is available below. This list was last updated on 8 May, 2012.

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 [dot] krug [at] unsw [dot] edu [dot] au

National Research Centres

Australian Solar Institute - ASI
Executive Director: Mr Mark Twidell

Centre for International Finance and Regulation - CIFR
Interim Director: Mr John Trowbridge

Dementia Collaborative Research Centres - DCRC
Director: Prof Henry Brodaty

The Kirby Institute (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 - NCED
CEO: Mr Neil Palmer

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 Alex Frino

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

CRC for Cotton Catchments Communities
CEO: Mr Philip Armytage

CRC for Environmental Biotechnology - EBCRC
Executive Director: Mr Ross Graham

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

CRC for Low Carbon Living - CRC-LCL (new Centre - no URL yet)
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

ARC Centres (Including Centres of Excellence)

Director: Scientia Professor John Piggott

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 in E-health (New Centre, no web site yet)
Director: Prof Enrico Coiera

Centre of Research Excellence in Immunisation in Understudied and Special Risk Populations
Director: Prof Raina MacIntyre

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

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
Director: Prof Phil Mitchell

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

UNSW Research Centres

Director: Prof Johanna Westbrook

Centre for Health Informatics - CHI
Director: Prof Enrico Coiera

Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing - CHeBA (New centre - no website yet)
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 Stephen Foster

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
Executive Director: Prof Mark Harris
CEO & Director: Assoc Prof Gawaine Powell Davies

Centre for Refugee Research
Director: Dr 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 Ian Acworth

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

Evolution and Ecology Research Centre
Director: Prof Rob Brooks

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

Indigenous Law Centre
Director: Assoc 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 
Director: Prof Fariborz Moshirian

John Hume Institute for Global Irish Studies - JHIGIS
Director: Prof Rónán McDonald

Journalism and Media Research Centre - JMRC
Director: Prof Catharine Lumby

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: Prof Peter Whiteford

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

UNSW Cancer Research Centre
Director: Prof Phil Hogg

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

UNSW Community Centres

Centre for Innovation & Entrepreneurship - CIE
Director: Dr Martin Bliemel

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

NSW Cancer Survivors Centre - NSWCSC
Director: Prof Andrew Lloyd

UNSW Program Centres

Gifted Education, Research, Resources and Information Centre - GERRIC
Director: Prof Miraca Gross

Institute of Environmental Studies - IES
Director: A/Prof John Merson 

Nura Gili Indigenous Programs Centre
Director: Prof Martin Nakata

Joint Research Centres

 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

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

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

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