The Australian Research Council (ARC) has awarded Curtin researchers more than $1.5 million through the Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities (LIEF) scheme to establish a new world-class facility in Western Australia. The funding will provide researchers across the earth, health and materials sciences and beyond with local access to a next-generation electron microprobe.

The project, A next-generation electron microprobe for Western Australia, includes Curtin’s Professor Katy Evans (School of Earth and Planetary Sciences); Professor Debbie Silvester-Dean (School of Molecular and Life Sciences); Associate Professor Nick Timms (School of Earth and Planetary Sciences); Professor Benjamin Mullins (School of Population Health); and Associate Professor Bogale Tadesse (WA School of Mines). The team will address the significant challenge of limited local access to rapid, high-precision, high-spatial-resolution analysis of solid materials for Western Australian researchers.

The facility will be hosted and managed by the John de Laeter Centre at Curtin’s new, purpose-built Future Science building expected to open in 2027.

Congratulations to everyone involved in delivering an initiative that will strengthen research capability in Western Australia, support the resources sector and contribute to the energy transition.