RMIT University has been awarded more than $4.7 million in grants to foster collaborative research.

The Australian Research Council Linkage grants have been awarded for 15 new projects, with amounts ranging from $150,000 to $606,462. The boost has brought RMIT into its best year to date as far as funding is concerned, with an incredible 114 per cent increase on 2012.

RMIT is currently ranked 6th nationally for number of grants awarded, 7th for ARC funding, that ranking is built on a success rate of 48 per cent for applications, compared to 39 per cent nationwide.

Some of the projects will include software development for comparing factors in home-buying, a project called 'Advanced Studies on the Hydrometallurgy and Electrochemistry of Primary Copper Sulphide Ores' and other education and industry collaborative works.  

Acting Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research and Innovation and Vice-President, Professor David Adams, says it is “an excellent result for RMIT, one that recognises our growing impact in research and innovation, furthermore, it is a tribute to the strength of our industry relationships, locally and internationally."

RMIT is also ranked first compared to other Australian Technology Network Universities in terms of success rates, number of approved projects and total funding awarded.