
  • Staff
  • Students
  • Library
Flinders University Logo Flinders University Logo
  • Study

    Study areas

    • Business
    • Computer science and information technology
    • Creative arts and media
    • Criminology
    • Defence and national security
    • Education
    • Engineering
    • Environment
    • Health
    • Humanities and social sciences
    • Innovation and enterprise
    • International relations and political science
    • Languages and culture
    • Law
    • Medicine
    • Nursing and midwifery
    • Psychology
    • Science
    • Social work
    • Sport

    I am...

    • a high school student
    • a non-school leaver
    • a future honours student
    • a future postgraduate student
    • a future research student
    • a future online student
    • a future Indigenous student
    • an international student
    • a parent
    • a school counsellor/teacher
    Explore
    Admission pathways
    Apply
    Contact us
  • Study

    Study areas

    • Business
    • Creative arts
    • Education
    • Engineering
    • Environment
    • Government
    • Health sciences
    • Humanities
    • Information technology
    • Law
    • Medicine
    • Nursing
    • Psychology
    • Public health
    • Science
    • Social sciences
    • Social work

    International websites

    • China
    • Vietnam
    Explore Flinders
    Apply
    Contact us
  • Research

    Research areas

    • Engineering and technology
    • Health and medical
    • People and society
    • Science, environment and natural resources
    • Emerging research - Defence

    Brave Minds

    • Making a difference

    I am...

    • a potential collaborator
    • a researcher
    • a potential research student
    • a current research student
    Research impact
    Institutes and centres
    Partner with us
    Participate
  • Engage

    I want to...

    • Engage with us
    • Connect with students
    • Locate a clinic
    • Book a campus venue
    • Find a tender
    • Give to Flinders
    • Work at Flinders
    • Participate in a research study
    • See what's on

    Related links

    • Flinders New Venture Institute
    • Alumni
    • Health2Go
    • Flinders University Museum of Art
    • Flinders One Sport and Fitness
    Business and government
    Community
    Culture
    International
  • Alumni

    I want to...

    • Join an alumni network
    • Establish an alumni network
    • Share a memory
    • Access career services
    • Order a transcript
    • Give to Flinders
    • Update my details
    • Find a classmate
    Our alumni
    Benefits and services
    Get involved
    Stay connected
  • Giving

    Donate today

    • Donate online
    • Donate by mail
    • Giving online FAQs (PDF)
    • Staff Workplace Giving Program
    • Contact us

    Ways to give

    • Give in celebration or in memory
    • Leave a gift in your Will
    • Giving from overseas
    • Give a cultural gift
    • Get involved

    Donate to
    Why give
    Our donors
  • About

    The 2025 agenda

    • Vision and mission
    • Our strategic plan
    • Our values and ethos
    • Flinders Village

    Governance and leadership

    • University Council
    • Chancellor
    • Vice-Chancellor

    Our organisation

    • Colleges
    • Library
    • Professional services
    • Staff directory

    Campus and locations

    • Bedford Park
    • Tonsley
    • Victoria Square
    • Flinders in the NT
    Fast facts
    History
    Structure
    Contact us
  • Staff
  • Students
  • Library
  • You have no saved courses.

    Continue to explore your course options.

     
    Explore our courses

    Your saved courses

    {{{courseName}}}
    mail_outline
    delete
    View all saved courses
  • Quick links 
    • Current students
    • Staff
    • Library
    • Flinders dashboard (Okta)
    • Ask Flinders
    • Flinders Learning Online (FLO)
    • Parking
    • Campus map: Bedford Park
    • Staff directory
    • Jobs at Flinders

 
  • Research 

    Research areas

    • Engineering and technology
    • Health and medical
    • People and society
    • Science, environment and natural resources
    • Emerging research - Defence

    Brave Minds

    • Making a difference

    I am...

    • a potential collaborator
    • a researcher
    • a potential research student
    • a current research student
  • Research impact 
    • Research awards
  • Institutes & centres
  • Partner with us
  • Participate in research
  • Labs & facilities
  • Brave Minds

Defence Research

Forging powerful partnerships

Research Defence Research

Today’s research. Defending tomorrow.

From autonomous marine vehicles to advanced additive manufacturing and cybersecurity, the technologies of tomorrow are results from the world class research we do today.

This island continent we call home presents unique challenges for security.

It brings into play land, sea and air technology and puts this technology into situations where second best simply isn't good enough.

Flinders is at the frontline of defence-oriented research and development in myriad ways across our campuses.

Imagine a day very soon when we have unmanned warships patrolling our coastline. We are developing that capability now.

Our robotics team are making new advances that could keep our soldiers out of harm’s way, our fibre optics technology is revolutionising battlefield communications, our engineers are evolving ways to enhance body mechanics to ensure our military personnel are at peak performance levels…we are even looking at making munitions and explosives more stable for longer.

Defence research brochure

BRAVEMINDS-ID-2@4x.png

Discover how Flinders is making a difference to our culture, economy, environment, society and world.

Learn more

Research Strengths

Advanced materials and surfaces

Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology

Flinders Nanotech is widely recognised for research in the next generation materials and surfaces that will provide the new properties and attributes that will create the products of the future.  With research leaders from physics, chemistry, biology and engineering and core capabilities in carbon based materials (such as graphene and carbon nanotubes), surface science, polymers, membranes and smart /functional coatings, researchers within the centre have the capabilities to provide a holistic and complete solution to a very wide range of technical challenges for the defence industry

Key capabilities

  • Polymeric coatings including functional / reactive coatings
  • Nano-roughened surfaces
  • easy clean
  • super-hydrophobic and hydrophilic coatings
  • antireflection and optical properties
  • corrosion resistant coatings for a range of metals
  • highly sensitive and specific molecular and biological sensing
  • nano and reinforced composites
Data mining and intelligence

Centre for Knowledge and Interaction Technologies

Two related problem areas are the basis for our research.  Data mining looks at mechanisms for finding nuggets of knowledge in a mass of data while conceptual modelling attempts to organise data in a manner that means that we retain its meaning and its context.

Our program of research thus has two interacting parts:

  • the data mining part focuses on investigates the development and application of advanced algorithmic, architectural and visualisation techniques to the problems of deriving, or assisting in the derivation of, knowledge from potentially large volumes of complex data. These three areas use allied techniques and overlapping methodologies although they differ in the quantities of data, the initial information content of that data and the way in which the data is presented to the user;
  • the conceptual modelling part aims to develop conceptual models for complex systems and to explore how these models can be used to build data-oriented solutions to difficult problems. In particular, while current conceptual modelling techniques have proved adequate for many problems, they cannot adequately model many advanced semantic relationships characteristic of complex systems.
Evidence-based treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder

Flinders University: School of Psychology

Flinders University Psychology Professor Nixon and his colleagues have engaged in projects working with defence (Australian Defence Force) and related organisations (e.g., Veteran’s and Veteran’s Families Counselling Service) to research and improve clinical training for clinicians who offer services for serving and post-service personnel with posttraumatic stress and associated mental health issues.This has included improved screening and identification of posttraumatic stress, accompanied by delivery of the latest researched therapies for its treatment.

Key capabilities:

  • Expert training in latest evidence-based treatments for posttraumatic stress.
  • Assessment and evaluation of posttraumatic stress and related mental health issues.
  • Researching novel and new psychological interventions for posttraumatic stress.
Structural analysis

Centre for Maritime Engineering, Control and Imaging

From ships to aircraft, bridges and pipelines; history has seen numerous catastrophic structural failures, such as the disintegration of the space shuttle Columbia on re-entry due to sustained wing damage, the explosive decompression of China Airlines Flight 611 from undetected metal fatigue and the Esso Longford refinery explosion caused by a brittle fracture of an oil pump. As well as the injuries and death that such events can cause, such failures have major economic impacts.

In many cases, the failure of a component or structure in-service is due to the presence of mechanical damage, such as fatigue cracks for metal or delamination for composite materials. There is, therefore, a need to evaluate the strength and integrity of engineering structures.  The non-destructive testing group aims to develop new and existing techniques in order to better detect mechanical damage in components and structure.

Industry capability

Australian Industrial Transformation Institute (AITI)

AITI is a national leader in industry and workplace innovation research, working closely with South Australian manufacturing companies.

Tonsley Manufacturing Innovation Hub

In 2018 Flinders established the Tonsley Manufacturing Innovation (TMI) Hub as a gateway to Industry 4.0 capability building. Working closely with the Innovative Manufacturing Co-operative Research Centre, the South Australian and Commonwealth Governments and industry, TMI is working with companies to accelerate the uptake and diffusion of digital and automation technologies in manufacturing across a broad range of sectors.

Autonomous marine vehicles

Centre for Maritime Engineering, Control and Imaging 

The development of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) for maritime surveying and surveillance is a growth area particularly in the mineral exploration, fisheries, marine engineering, and military defence sectors. This area of research is largely untapped in Australia and yet offers much scope for multi-disciplinary research. The goal in developing such vehicles is to create self-contained, robust, intelligent decision-making robots that can be built at affordable costs. We are working on the development of a 3m vehicle as part of a CSIRO funded Flagship program. The AUV will serve as a test bed for evaluating various strategies including: guidance control, navigation, propulsion, video/sonar imaging, and communications. The primary application of this vehicle is for bathymetric surveying, pipeline tracking, and seabed assessment. Other immediate application areas include: mine detection, harbour security, pollution monitoring etc.

Disruptive challenges and resilience

Torrens Resilience Institute, Flinders University

The Torrens Resilience Institute was established to improve the capacity of organisations and societies to respond to disruptive challenges which have the potential to overwhelm local disaster management capabilities and plans. TRI are a national and international centre of excellence through the development of advanced thinking in the concept of resilience. Our mission is to assist Federal and State Governments, emergency services, organisations and civil society to enhance their leadership and management capabilities, and thus enable them to prepare for, and respond better to, disruptive challenges.

Key capabilities:

  • Conduct evidence-based research enabling informed decisions to be taken on policy, and to assist the development of resilient systems, procedures and practice.
  • Provide information, management tools and specialist technical advice.
  • Increase knowledge and skills of individual leaders and managers through education, training and resilience-focused workshops and seminars.
  • Achieve foreign policy and humanitarian objectives by developing resilient national capacities in the countries of South East Asia and the Pacific Rim in collaboration with relevant partners.
  • Research, development, education and networks concerning issues of resilience related to disaster, humanitarian crisis, health security and deliberate events (including terrorism), including preparedness, response and recovery
Human factors: Attention and cross-modol perception

Brain and Cognition Laboratory

The Brain and Cognition Laboratory has a broad interest in cognitive processes, how they operate and how they might be represented in the brain. Much of this research is centred on two issues. The first is laterality research, which investigates left/right asymmetries in the brain, cognition and behaviour. The second main theme of research investigates the cognitive processes associated with spatial attention and how these are represented in the brain. A recurrent theme of this research has been asymmetries in attention, the limitations of attention and how we are distracted. The laboratory also investigates cross-modal processing (touch/vision/hearing) and timing.

Key capabilities:

  • Attentional distraction
  • Cross modal perception
  • Timing judgements.
Energetic materials

Centre of Expertise in Energetic Materials (CEEM)

CEEM represents an exciting combination of the synthetic and characterisation capabilities of Flinders University together with the energetic material expertise of the Defence Science and Technology Group.

The Centre conducts fundamental and applied research in the field of energetic materials, with a focus on defence and national security, including material synthesis, analysis, ageing, detonation behaviour, and detection techniques.

Security and safety of health data and health information systems

Flinders Digital Health Research Centre (FDHRC)

Data security, information security, network security, mobile security and cyber warfare are key issues to the protection and resilience of information systems.  The complexity of addressing these issues in health, across multiple providers, software, computer platforms and clinical pathways means that an in-depth understanding of the environment of computing and healthcare is required. Flinders School of Computer Science, Engineering and Mathematics and FDHRC have a range of expertise in the generic application of data security, information security and cyber warfare, as well as extensive specific skills in health information security, the security of data at rest and in transit, secure message delivery (SMD), and security visualisation and modelling using contemporary research techniques.

In addition, new issues have arisen from embedded and stand-alone health software, adversely impacting patient safety. FDHRC have experience in the impact assessment of technology and software on patient safety, as well as the development and testing of the safety of health software secure messaging , international standards and frameworks for security of health data, patient e-safety, and human-computer interaction using international standards.

Maritime engineering

Centre for Maritime Engineering, Control and Imaging (CMECI)

CMECI specialises in the control of smart structures, maritime electronics, electrical systems, robotics, fatigue analysis, and video and image processing. The primary purpose of CMECI is to advocate and support a broad range of basic and applied interdisciplinary research activities that encompasses these fields.

Our researchers

Associate Professor Claire Lenehan

“We are studying the stabilising materials to ensure they will remain stable for a long period of time. We want to avoid magazines of explosives going off when we don’t want them to – for obvious reasons,” Professor Claire Lenehan.

Read more

Professor David Lewis

“We are on the cusp of nanotechnology being useful and used right across the economy – it’s very exciting.” Professor David Lewis.

Read more

Associate Professor Karl Summut

“Autonomous boats are better placed to carry out long, precise and often tedious marine searches and surveys than boats driven by humans,” Professor Karl Sammut.

Read more

Get Ready to Secure the Future Study Flinders defence and national security

Flinders Defence and National Security Courses

Partnerships

University of Tasmania Australian Maritime College logo
PMB Defence logo
RTCNDM logo
ASC logo
THALES logo
Department of Defence Science and Technology logo
Boeing logo
DEFENDTEX logo
BAE Systems logo
FINCANTIERI logo
SAAB logo
Lockheed Martin logo
ngc-logo-blue.jpg
SAGE logo
Redarc logo
Centrale Nantes
Centrale Supelec logo
ENSTA Bretagne logo
ENSTA ParisTech Universite Paris-Saclay logo
ECOLE POLYTECHNIQUE logo
Naval Group
Read more

News

Read more

Collaborate with us

Contact Flinders University today to see how we can build a powerful research partnership with your organisation.

Tony Kyriacou
Defence Partnerships Director
Email: tony.kyriacou@flinders.edu.au | Phone: +61 8 8201 5615 | Mobile: +61 411 132 690

Flinders University Logo

Sturt Rd, Bedford Park
South Australia 5042

South Australia | Northern Territory
Global | Online

Information for

  • Future students
  • Alumni
  • Media
  • Business and community
  • Current students
  • Staff
  • External contractors

Directories

  • Contact us
  • Campus and locations
  • Staff directory
  • Colleges
  • Library
  • Research Institutes and Centres

Follow Flinders

Facebook - Flinders University Twitter - Flinders University YouTube - Flinders University Instagram - Flinders University LinkedIn - Flinders University

Brand SA logo Innovative Research University logo Indigenous communities

Website feedback

Disclaimer

Accessibility

Privacy

CRICOS Provider: 00114A

Last Updated: 23 Jun 2020

This website uses cookies

Flinders University uses cookies to ensure website functionality, personalisation, and for a variety of purposes described in the website privacy statement. For details about these cookies and how to set your cookie preferences, refer to our website privacy statement.

You consent to the use of our cookies if you proceed.

Accept and continue