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Professor Vinayak Dixit; Associate Professor Fiona Johnson; Dr Samuel Gorman; Dr Divya Jayakumar Nair; Mr Peter Cinque; Dr Michelle Whitford; Dr Simeon Baker-Finch

Disaster management relies on timely and accurate information to respond efficiently. This project leverages SQC’s Quantum Machine Learning (QML) hardware and NSW SES's emergency management expertise and datasets to develop novel QML models for real world emergencies. The project will improve and benchmark QML model performance based on accuracy and speed to

1. predict flood, evacuation traffic and emergency management decisions.
2. optimise emergency management decisions on resource allocation.
3. benchmark and develop implementation roadmap.

The project will deliver the world’s first application of quantum computing for emergency services, paving the way for scalable application of quantum computing in emergency management.

Partnering Organisations

STATE EMERGENCY SERVICE (NSW); SQC PTY LTD

Grant

$563,638.00

Professor Vinayak Dixit; Dr Divya Jayakumar Nair; Professor Taha Hossein Rashidi; Mr David Lillo-Trynes; Dr Michelle Whitford; Mr Peter Cinque.

Our society faces increasing disaster risk and the urgent need for affordable housing.

This project develops novel tools and evidence to support planning by addressing:

1. residential location decisions under disaster risk,
2. evacuation timing and destination choices,
3. real-world evacuation capacity estimation,
4. integrated models to evaluate economic resilience and investment trade-offs, and
5. ethics-aware planning that balances fairness, priority and cost-effectiveness.

Combining virtual reality, behavioural modelling, traffic simulation and economic analysis, the project will help governments and emergency agencies deliver socially just, risk-informed and affordable regional strategies.

Partnering Organisations

STATE EMERGENCY SERVICE (NSW); COMPASS IOT PTY LTD

Grant

$350,288.00

Associate Professor Ailar Hajimohammadi; Professor Filippo Giustozzi; Dr Yang Su

This project aims to improve the long-term performance of asphalt made with high recycled content by developing ageing protocols and optimising binder rejuvenation strategies. The project will use innovative laboratory simulations and advanced chemical imaging techniques to better understand how recycled and virgin materials interact. It will create performance-based tools for accurately predicting pavement durability under Australian conditions.

Expected outcomes include new test methods, mix design guidelines, and predictive models. ��This project will enable road agencies to use more recycled materials in asphalt safely, efficiently, and cost-effectively, supporting national goals for carbon reduction and circular infrastructure.

Partnering Organisation

TRANSPORT FOR NSW

Grant

$373,348.00

Associate Professor Fiona Johnson; Dr Sahani Pathiraja; Associate Professor Clara Grazian; Professor Rutger Vervoort; Dr Joshua Simmons; Dr Ann-Marie Rohlfs; Dr Elizabeth Symes.

This project proposes to develop innovative methods to unify and harmonise data on catchment health to enable better water management under a changing climate. The project will combine an innovative virtual catchment laboratory approach with cutting edge statistical and data driven methods for dealing with missing data and diverse sources of catchment knowledge such as in situ data and remotely sensed data.

Efficient and effective data collection is vital for balancing the needs of water managers to understand changing threats to catchments in time and space. In partnership with WaterNSW, the project will inform updated catchment health dashboards and improve catchment management in New South Wales.

Partnering Organisation

WATER NSW

Grant

$448,212.00

Associate Professor Min Zheng; Associate Professor Guangming Jiang; Associate Professor Kang Liang; Dr Zhiqiang Zuo; Professor Richard Stuetz; Mr Thomas Kuen

Ventilation is a key component of urban sewer networks, used to control unpleasant odours and protect public health. However, these systems also release large amounts of methane into the atmosphere, a potent greenhouse gas with a much higher global warming potential than carbon dioxide. Because methane is present in low concentrations in sewer ventilation air, it is hard to abate using current technologies.

This project aims to develop a new, low-energy solution to convert methane into carbon dioxide using innovatively designed biofilm interfaces and to achieve highly efficient sewer ventilation air methane abatement. ��The outcomes will support proactive emission management and establish a scalable technology for zero-emission targets.

Partnering Organisations

MELBOURNE WATER CORPORATION; WATER CORPORATION; AQUATEC MAXCON PTY LTD; BIOAIR SOLUTIONS LLC

Grant

$803,384.00