New ARC Industrial Transformation Training Centre announced

Professor Kate Smith-Miles, leading a team of university and industry partners, has received funding for an Australian Research Council Industrial Transformation Training Centre in Optimisation Technologies, Integrated Methodologies, and Applications (OPTIMA).

OPTIMA aims to connect industry partners, who have yet to fully benefit from optimisation technology, with world-leading interdisciplinary researchers and talented students. The Centre will train a new generation of industry practitioners and over 120 young researchers, building a highly skilled workforce looking to transform the advanced manufacturing, energy resources, and critical infrastructure sectors.

OPTIMA is a partnership between the University of Melbourne, Monash University, three international institutions, and 11 industry partners. It brings together 18 Chief Investigators, spanning the key academic disciplines contributing to the field of optimisation (mathematics, statistics, computer science, engineering, economics) with 13 Partner Investigators. The total funding received from the Australian Research Council and OPTIMA partners, valued at over $8 million, will support the establishment and running of the Centre for five years, likely to commence operation in early 2021.

Read the Minister's announcement on the ARC website.