A Defence-related project led by University of Adelaide’s Dr Agnieszka Kumorkiewicz-Jamro, under the guidance of SAiGENCI’s Professor Christopher Sweeney, has been awarded $395,000 through Australia’s Economic Accelerator (AEA) Seed Grants program.

The grant follows funding from the Defence Innovation Partnership’s Collaborative Research Fund (CRF) Round 7 which saw an initial $150,000 awarded to kickstart the project in 2024.

Entitled ‘Revolutionising Radiation Protection: World first multiorgan pharmaceutical radiation protection for defence capability and civilians’ (known as the Daisy Project), the cutting-edge Defence research project aims to commercialise the first drug developed to protect internal organs from radiation sources including space and aircrew at risk of cosmic radiation, allied health professionals and civilian emergency service personnel.

If successful, the project will be deployed in medical and defence applications.

Defence Innovation Partnership Director Sumen Rai commended the project as a true showcase of cutting-edge Defence research in South Australia.

“South Australia remains at the forefront of Defence-relevant research, and we believe that our state’s strong commitment to enhanced collaboration between industry, government and academia firmly underpins this growing success,” Ms Rai said.

“The project highlights the variety of R&D required to bolster Defence capability and the importance of follow-on funding to support the subsequent phases of development.”

Supporting genuine collaboration across government, academia and industry, the CRF is a catalyst for Defence-relevant research, development and innovation in South Australia.

Specialist Commercial Manager for the University of Adelaide Anne Donaldson acknowledged the CRF as a springboard for the project’s initial launch success.

“The CRF funding proved invaluable in the launch of the project. Since then, we have gone on to secure additional financial support from the latest round of AEA Seed Grants,” Ms Donaldson said.

“Through the current AEA funding, we aim to accelerate the manufacturing and development of our solution into a scale-up.”

Ms Rai highlighted that of the 98 total projects funded through AEA nationwide, 13 were led by South Australian universities, demonstrating the state’s success in translating defence-relevant research into operational outcomes.

In addition to the radiation protection project, three other Defence-related projects led by South Australian researchers Dr Sarah Scholten and Dr John Codrington from the University of Adelaide and Professor Justin Chalker from Flinders University shared in funding totalling approximately $1.3 million.

Find out more about the Collaborative Research Fund (CRF).