Curtin University

Australia

Curtin University is one of Australia’s most collaborative tertiary institutions and a prominent name in the Nature Index. Established in 1986 in Western Australia, the university has expanded around the Indian Ocean rim, and now has campuses in Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, Dubai and Mauritius.

In recent years, Curtin has risen rapidly in the world rankings, owing largely to its research performance. The university is placed in the top percentile of tertiary institutions worldwide in the 2019 Academic Ranking of World Universities, and is ranked second in the world for Mineral and Mining Engineering in the 2020 QS World University Rankings by Subject.

The national evaluation, Excellence in Research Australia, ranked more than 95 per cent of Curtin’s assessed research areas as world standard or above.

Long term, the university aims to strike a balance between demand-driven research, which solves defined problems for industry and society, and researcher-driven research, which is characterised by a desire to push the limits of understanding.

Curtin is also a key partner in some of the world’s biggest astronomy projects. The Curtin-led Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) is a low-frequency radio telescope capable of reaching deep into space and far back through time, making the night sky visible with better resolution than ever before. The array is a precursor project to an even larger telescope, the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), to be built in Western Australia and in South Africa. When completed, the SKA will give scientists a better understanding of the Universe in its first moments.

Curtin’s extensive computing capabilities provide the support that large-scale, data intensive projects like these require. The Curtin Institute for Computation boasts 150 researchers in the fields of simulation, modelling, optimisation, data analytics and visualisation. They have access to world-class facilities including the Pawsey Supercomputing Centre – a joint venture between CSIRO and Western Australia’s four public universities – which houses the world’s only real-time supercomputing service dedicated to telescopes used in astronomy research.

Curtin leads many more international research collaborations, spanning data science, renewable energy, defence, health sciences, materials and climate. Partners include, but aren’t limited to, NASA, BHP, Cisco, Woodside, Royal Australian Navy and The University of Aberdeen.

The Greater Curtin Master Plan will transform Curtin’s sprawling 114-hectare Perth campus into a major Asia-Pacific innovation precinct by 2030. The plan will drive collaboration and commercialisation, positioning Western Australia at the forefront of the knowledge economy. It will become the home of many forward-thinking companies and researchers – a critical mass that can be leveraged to form new research opportunities.

For more information on Curtin University’s research capabilities, visit research.curtin.edu.au.

1 November 2018 - 31 October 2019

Region: Global
Subject/journal group: All

The table to the right includes counts of all research outputs for Curtin University published between 1 November 2018 - 31 October 2019 which are tracked by the Nature Index.

Hover over the donut graph to view the FC output for each subject. Below, the same research outputs are grouped by subject. Click on the subject to drill-down into a list of articles organized by journal, and then by title.

Note: Articles may be assigned to more than one subject area.

Count	Share
139	34.02

Outputs by subject (Share)

Subject	Count	Share
Chemistry	23	9.95
Life Sciences	21	1.75
Earth & Environmental Sciences	65	18.78
Physical Sciences	37	4.92

Highlight of the month

Fungi with a penchant for gold

A fungus that gathers gold from the soil to adorn its surface could help miners prospect for the precious metal.

Fungi help cycle many metals such as aluminium, iron and magnesium at the Earth’s surface through their influence on soil processes, but little is known about their interactions with chemically inactive gold.

A team that included researchers from Curtin University studied the pink fungus Fusarium oxysporum, gathered from a gold-mining region in Western Australia.

Electron microscopy images revealed that the fungus had gold particles spread across its surface. The fungus gathers gold flakes from its surroundings, oxidizes them, and then solidifies the tiny gold particles on its surface.

The team grew F. oxysporum in soils spiked with different quantities of gold and found that fungal diversity and size increased with increasing gold content.

This fungus could be a natural signpost to gold, reducing the cost and environmental impacts of prospecting through excessive drilling.

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