Melbourne University partners with Vanderbilt University: a positive and enduring exchange

Vanderbilt University, in Nashville, Tennessee and Australia’s University of Melbourne have been engaged in building a new kind of strategic international partnership since 2007 through joint research, mobility and cultural exchange programs.

Now, Vanderbilt University and the University of Melbourne have taken their academic partnership to a new level with the announcement of a research partnership program offering $400,000 to support eight joint research projects as part of the expansion in their academic partnership.

This year, health and medical sciences, physical and biological sciences, social sciences and humanities are the winners with eight separate projects funded. All the proposed programs are collaborative bringing together two universities that have a shared commitment to advancing research.
"Setting up a grants program seemed the next logical step and cements the relationship between us. We encourage collaboration from every stage of the research process; from identifying the research, offering joint proposals and accessing early seed funding which can lead to significant findings and publication. This is a very exciting advance in the partnership," said Susan Elliott, Deputy Vice-Chancellor Global Engagement.
"This unique partnerships grant process encourages recipients to travel between either campus and take advantage of the specialist offerings of both Vanderbilt and Melbourne. As the list of recipients shows, the specialist research partnership is not just open to some faculties but it is a whole of university partnership from physics to education, to medicine and history," she said
Across the other side of the Pacific, the response has also been enthusiastic. "This program offers the opportunity to create new collaborative interactions and truly solidify the Vanderbilt-Melbourne partnership. The range of topics represented by the projects that have been selected is quite impressive and should allow the exchange of unique expertise and technology," said Dennis Hall, Vice Provost for Research at Vanderbilt.

Recipients of the Inaugural partnership grants are:
E.Michelle Southard-Smith-Vanderbilt University
Heather M Young-University of Melbourne
Neural stem cell therapy for gut motility disorders.

Evan Bieske- University of Melbourne
Darryl Bomhop-Vanderbilt University
Ultrasensitive techniques for photoactive molecules.

Berin Boughton- University of Melbourne
Jeff Spraggins- Vanderbilt University
Spatial analysis of lipids, metabolites and proteins in plants using matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-imaging mass spectrometry (MALDI-IMS) and technology transfer.

DYC Chan- University of Melbourne
PT Cummings- Vanderbilt University
Multiscale and multimodal characterization of the dynamics at fluid interfaces

Andrew Christie- University of Melbourne
Daniel Gervais- Vanderbilt University
Increasing access to medicines through patient reforms: a global debate and a global response.

Richard Haglund- Vanderbilt University
Ann Roberts- University of Melbourne
Plasmonic metamaterials controlled by a metal insulator transition.

Barbara Keys- University of Melbourne
Thomas Schwartz- Vanderbilt University
Internationalising the study of the Cold War.

Frances Separovic- University of Melbourne
Terry Lybrand- Vanderbilt University
Membrane structure and lipid interactions of the pore-forming toxin Equination II.