The University of Wollongong’s Global Challenges Program is a strategic research initiative addressing real-world problems. The program harnesses the expertise of world-class researchers, to solve problems beyond the scope of a single discipline. Interdisciplinary research is fundamental to ensuring that every project and problem is investigated from a variety of perspectives to find a holistic solution.
The magic happens when unlikely collaborators find a focus, and work toward a shared challenge. The Global Challenges Program supports research projects under four challenge areas, including:
- 'Building Resilient Communities’, targeting inequality, vulnerable populations, and disaster resilience;
- 'Living Well, Longer’, with a focus on ageing and dementia, mental illness, and therapeutic and personal recovery;
- 'Making Future Industries’, investigating emerging technologies, new product development and the future of work;
- 'Sustaining Coastal and Marine Zones’ investigating climate change, protecting coastal and marine habitats and resource security.
Global Challenges funds unconventional projects, with teams who work across different fields of research. With a focus on diversity and gender equality, and the development of Early Career Researchers, the program invests in the next generation of research leaders. Global Challenges supports research project teams to grow into self-reliant and sustainable initiatives, through brokering connections with industry, government and communities. As a result, researchers produce both scholarly outcomes, and make a real-world impact, transforming lives and regions.