ANU researchers have secured more than $2.2 million in funding in the latest round of Linkage Grants from the Australian Research Council.

The three-year projects, which are co-funded or supported by industry and public sector partners, are a diverse bunch.

Topics covered include improving the security of bank notes, advancing plasma propulsion engines, boosting wireless telecommunications, and strengthening corporate governance.

The largest single grant, worth $420,000, went to Dr Klaus Weber, Dr Keith McIntosh and Dr Jin Hao from the Centre for Sustainable Energy Systems, part of the ANU College of Engineering and Computer Studies.

In partnership with the companies GP Solar and Spark Solar, the researchers will work to improve the efficiency of conventional solar cells and panels by improving the properties of the surfaces of these devices.

Klaus described the chance to work with Australia's first dedicated PV manufacturing company, Spark Solar, as a "very exciting development".

The successful grants were:

• Rod Boswell, ANU College of Science: Space development of the HDLT Australian Plasma Thruster $232,000
  
• Vincent Craig, ANU College of Science: Innovative platforms for further enhancing security and durability of the Australian Polymer Banknote and other documents $385,000
  
• Yun Liu, ANU College of Science: Tailoring the microwave dielectric properties of promising electroceramics for use in wireless telecommunication components and devices $96,254
• John Mavrogenes, ANU College of Science: Prospectivity of the Windimurra-Narndee Complexes $178,000
• Seumas Miller, ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences:  Corporate Governance, Regulation and Accountability: The Role of Multinational Corporations in Embedding Institutional Integrity $233,274
• Terry O'Neill, ANU College of Business and Economics: The improvement of investment approaches by developing and applying bootstrap methods using innovative evolutionary kernel-based subset time-series modelling. $390,000
• Katherine Reynolds, ANU College of Science: Understanding the school as an intergroup system: Implications for school reform and improving student and staff outcomes. $330,000
• Klaus Weber, ANU College of Engineering and Computer Science: Minimising charge carrier recombination at silicon surfaces with improved dielectric coatings $420,000

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