Defence Magazine

Vice Chief of the Defence Force Lieutenant General Ken Gillespie welcoming guests to the launch of Defence and Security Applications.
Photo by Geoff Comfort

On 16 May 2006 Senator Sandy Macdonald, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Defence, launched the Defence and Security Applications Research Centre (DSA—not to be confused with the Defence Security Authority). The DSA is located at the University of New South Wales Campus at the Australian Defence Force Academy (UNSW@ADFA) in Canberra.

'It is important that Australia remains at the forefront of research into the best way to improve the security of our nation,' Senator Macdonald said.

'The research to be undertaken at the Centre will provide a great depth of knowledge and analysis for the Government. In particular, it will provide a high level of expertise to government agencies through timely, research-based responses.

'Researchers at UNSW@ADFA have had a long history in defence-related research and will now also transfer this knowledge to security matters through this research centre.'

The centre conducts applied research into defence- and security-related matters, seeking to support the Australian Government, the Australian Defence Force (ADF) and the Australian defence and security industry, and more generally enhance the security of the Australian public. DSA's aims include:

The DSA conducts research and consultancy work on behalf of the ADF, the Australian Government and the security industry in order to maintain the security, safety and wellbeing of the Australian public.

Associate Professor Hussein Abbass, the Director of DSA, gave an overview of the centre, emphasising that its establishment signals UNSW's continued commitment to Defence.

'We are looking at both military and civilian security. Our definition of security is broad and covers a wide spectrum of areas, including safety issues in land, sea and air; crowd behaviour and dynamics; domestic stability; surveillance and intelligence; spread, management and control of epidemics and bushfires; and policies and standards. We are looking forward to working closely and supporting activities in the defence and security industries,' said Associate Professor Abbass.

Professor John Baird noted that UNSW@ADFA is uniquely positioned as a faculty of UNSW with expertise from a variety of areas in science, engineering, information technology and humanities. All these disciplines are represented in the new centre and have a technological focus.

Examples of the areas of expertise in the centre are intelligent sensors, visualisation, quantum computing, remote sensing, logistics, unmanned aerial vehicles, modelling and simulation, hypersonic flow, image processing and multi-agent systems.

'DSA will be a single point of entry to defence and security applications research on the UNSW@ADFA campus, with a strategic aim to provide expertise that DSTO [Defence Science and Technology Organisation] and other defence and government organisations can leverage,' said Professor Baird.

DSA undertakes fundamental research, research and development, linkages with industry and government projects, consultancies, postgraduate training for both Defence and civilian students, and short specialised training courses. DSA is looking for young, bright students who wish to build multidisciplinary skills in defence and security by undertaking studies at the Masters and doctoral level.

Defence

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At the forefront of research