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International Mobility Programme in 2020

The ACEMS International Mobility Programme (IMP) was launched in July 2018 and provides support for ACEMS students and ECRs to travel to overseas institutions to undertake small research projects and to collaborate with ACEMS’ vast network of international partners.

Since the programme’s inception, 17 grants have been awarded totalling more than $124,000 of funding and providing ACEMS members with the opportunity to build their international networks and experience, collaborating with 12 different countries.

Four IMP grants were awarded in 2020:

14 ACEMS members have been awarded IMP funding to build their international networks and experience, collaborating with over 10 different countries.

  • Paul Wu (QUT) awarded $6,666 for Claire Kermorvant to travel to QUT and Monash from the University of Pau and the Pays de l’Adour in France from February to April 2020.
  • Paul Wu (QUT) awarded $6,666 for Bastien Mougiart of Pau and the Pays de l’Adour to travel to QUT and Monash from February to April 2020
  • *Joshua Bon (QUT) awarded $7275 to travel to Cambridge University, the University of Bristol and Newcastle University in the United Kingdom, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona in Spain, Vrije Universiteit in the Netherlands and Umea University in Sweden in May and June 2020.
  • *Jinran Wu (QUT) awarded $8060 to travel to Purdue University in the United States from April to June 2020.

Others awarded in 2019 for travel in 2020:

  • *Oscar Peralta Gutierrez (Adelaide) to travel to Aarhaus University, Denmark and the Université libre de Bruxelles, Belgium from March to October 2020.
  • Matias Quiroz (UTS) to travel to Stockholm University and Linkoping University Sweden from Dec 2019 to Jan 2020.
  • *Mehdi Foumani (UniMelb) to travel to the Netherlands from Jan to April 2020.
  • Jesse Sharp (QUT) to travel to the University of Oxford and the BAMC conference, Glasgow in the United Kingdom from March to May 2020.

*Unfortunately travel for these projects was not possible in 2020 due to COVID-19 travel restrictions and also because some recipients would not have been able to return to Australia if they undertook any travel under the IMP. ACEMS has liaised with the affected recipients to explore whether there might be a way to repurpose funds to one of the other ACEMS support schemes to continue to support their research.

The future of the IMP

At the end of 2020, the ACEMS Executive Committee agreed to close the IMP given the uncertainty surrounding international travel in 2021 and remaining funding is instead going to be prioritised towards the Research Support Scheme and Industry Collaboration Support Scheme. The Centre is currently exploring whether there might be opportunity to support the IMP in a virtual sense in 2021.

Collaboration between QUT and the University of Pau and Pays de l’Adour

Two researchers from the University of Pau and Pays de l’Adour visited QUT in early 2020: Bastien Mourguiart, a PhD student of ACEMS Associate Investigator Benoît Liquet, and Claire Kermorvant, a post-doctoral fellow. Bastien’s work focused on exploratory mixture modelling and development of Bayesian Network approach for predicting Liga occurrence, a marine mucus that clogs fishermen's nets. For this, he collaborated with ACEMS researchers Paul Wu and Kerrie Mengersen. During her visit to QUT, Claire worked with Kerrie Mengersen, Erin Peterson and Benoît Liquet on the ARC Linkage Project “Revolutionising water-quality monitoring in the information age”.

Unfortunately, the trips were cut short by COVID-19, but Bastien and Claire were able to make it home safely and the collaborations continue.