Seven new research collaborations have been awarded Stage I funding through the 2026 Security & Defence PLuS Seed Grant Scheme. Now in its third year, the scheme supports bilateral and trilateral partnerships across Arizona State University, King’s College London, and UNSW, enabling deeply integrated, problem-driven research aligned to contemporary security and defence challenges.
The grants are designed to support early-stage, high-potential collaborations by bringing together researchers and defence-relevant external stakeholders to co-design research problems, build partnerships, and develop clear pathways towards larger-scale funding and real-world impact.
This year’s projects are oriented toward systemic risk, technological dependency, and operational resilience, particularly at the intersection of emerging technologies and national security architectures.
Trilateral Projects
- Hyperscaling National Security: AUKUS Partners’ Strategies for Dealing with Tech Giants and the Implications for National Security
- Strategic Industrial Policy Coordination for Resilience of Advanced Semiconductors in AUKUS
- Real-time Hub for CBRNE Intelligence and Response – Workshop Proposal
- Neuromorphic Camera Based PINN Control System for Active Aircraft Store Separation
Bilateral Projects
- Security and Privacy Risks of Generative AI Systems Interacting with Children (King’s, UNSW)
- Secure Semantic Communication for Autonomous Underwater Swarms (UNSW, ASU)
- Causal Intelligence for Resilient Critical Infrastructure: Online Spatiotemporal Root Cause Detection for Defense Systems (UNSW, ASU)
Across both trilateral and bilateral collaborations, several common themes emerge. Multiple projects examine critical dependencies, from hyperscale digital infrastructure to globally concentrated semiconductor supply chains, and the implications these have for resilience, sovereignty, and defence capability across the AUKUS partner nations. Others focus on advancing operational capability, including enabling intelligent and controlled aircraft store separation and improving communication between autonomous underwater systems in contested, low-bandwidth environments.
The portfolio also reflects growing attention to societal and informational dimensions of security. Research into generative AI systems interacting with children, alongside work to develop a real-time CBRNE intelligence capability, highlights how security challenges increasingly span both technological systems and human environments.
As in previous years, funded teams will convene through in-person workshops to refine their problem definitions, co-design research pathways, and produce policy-oriented white papers for defence and government stakeholders. These outputs are intended as a foundation for future Stage II development and external funding opportunities.
We thank all applicants for their interest in the 2026 round and are grateful to the review panel for their time and expertise. More information on the successful projects will be shared throughout the year.