Deakin University

Deakin University's Deakin Research - Grants Division, a private Australian university, receives federal research funding as a prime recipient of Project Grants and Cooperative Agreements from U.S. Department of Defense and civilian agencies, with no federal prime contract work. The division operates exclusively under unrestricted (non-set-aside) federal grant awards in basic and applied research, with 76% of its recent federal footprint as prime recipient work and 24% as sub-recipient support to other academic and research institutions.

Deakin Research - Grants performs fundamental materials science, advanced manufacturing, artificial intelligence, and biomedical research for defense and health agencies. Representative prime recipient work includes a $2.03 million Defense Health Agency project grant under the Military Medical Research and Development program (CFDA 12.420) running through August 2027 to conduct a randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial on SILEXAN for post-traumatic stress disorder treatment; a $128,950 Air Force Defense Research Sciences Program grant (CFDA 12.800) awarded September 2025 through September 2028 on synergistic enhancement of carbon fiber interfacial and electrochemical properties for multifunctional composites using hierarchically bridged MXenes; and a $117,848 Office of Naval Research Basic and Applied Scientific Research grant (CFDA 12.300) from September 2026 through August 2029 on development of lightweight, ignition and fire tolerant alloys for naval applications. The division also received a $903,884 Department of State Regional Democracy Program cooperative agreement (CFDA 19.221) from October 2022 through September 2025 supporting civic engagement and democratic values work in Iran. A $640,338 Defense Department fundamental research contract awarded August 2024 and completing August 2027 addresses novel human-machine frameworks for adaptive experimental optimization.

Customer concentration aligns with defense research priorities. The Department of the Air Force leads award volume with 11 awards across the Air Force and Air Force Materiel Command Research Laboratory; the Department of the Navy Secretary of the Navy Office of Naval Research accounts for 5 awards; and the Department of the Army Materiel Command Research Development and Engineering Command holds 5 awards carrying $864 thousand in combined potential value. Twelve distinct federal agencies have funded Deakin Research - Grants in the past five years, spanning Defense, Health and Human Services, and State departments. Reported combined potential value across all 37 awards (prime and sub) is $864 thousand; however, obligated dollars total $9.9 million, indicating that grant renewals and funding stage releases substantially exceed initial award ceilings.

In its sub-recipient capacity, Deakin Research - Grants supports collaborative research under prime grants from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (early psychosis clinical recruitment and characterization), Columbia University (physical activity and wellness intervention design and participant data collection), the University of Miami (molecular dynamics simulations for responsive assembly proteins and resilin-based elastomeric materials), and the University of California, Los Angeles (comparative policy case study on community reporting). Activity has remained stable at four to five awards per year over the past five years, with four awards (combined potential value $640 thousand) reaching completion in the next twenty-four months. The division operates all research at its headquarters location in Geelong, Victoria, Australia.