The Grand Challenge will bring together multidisciplinary minds from across our community to explore solutions around one of the more perplexing problems of our time.

Over $15,000 in funding is available to teams who submit the most innovative proposals addressing the challenge of controlling mosquitoes through improved trap design. Successful teams will receive $5,000 in funding to develop and test a prototype in the field over a six-month period.

The Grand Challenge is a great way to be exposed to fresh ideas, learn new skills, and build creative, original work while having a real-world impact. Great ideas come from everywhere, so no matter your background or experience you’ve got everything to gain by participating.

Be sure to check out the Ask My Anything with mosquito experts Dr. Cameron Webb and Dr. Toby Mills who outline the big hurdles in trapping mosquitoes to help your team develop a compelling innovative trap design proposal.

About the Challenge

Proposals are required to provide a response to the following Challenge statement:

• How might we improve trap designs used to collect adult mosquitoes?

Problem Background

In practice, a correctly assembled and located trap can accurately sample a defined area and when utilised in a site-specific pattern, significant research and bio-security outcomes can be achieved. Withstanding the scientific rigour of utilising tried and true methods, there is an opportunity to redesign and optimise mosquito trap designs to specifically target adults of the Australia saltmarsh mosquito, Aedes vigilax, and revolutionise the portability and practically of mosquito trapping globally.

In the fields of mosquito and arborvirus research, there are a number of trap designs used to collect adult mosquitos. These include:

• Encephalitis Vector Survey (EVS)
• Biogents Sentinel Trap (BGS)
• Centre for Disease Control miniature light trap (CDC)

EVS-style traps typically consist of attractants, a trapping mechanism, and a power source. Dry ice (CO2)  creates a plume of CO2 that attracts mosquitoes, a light attractant brings the mosquitoes within range of a fan that captures mosquitoes and stores them with a continuous current of air. Current EVS trap designs impart minimal damage to the mosquitoes which in turn preserves fragile structures used to identify species under a microscope. Additionally, the traps are required to repel water, as wet samples are destroyed when frozen.

Solution Requirements

We are looking for proposals for a novel trap design that can improve adult mosquito surveillance in the following ways:

• practicality;
• sampling efficiency;
• cost; and
• safety.

The proposed innovative trap design must provide:

• continuous CO2 attractant over a 12 hr sampling period (dry ice is not a requirement)
• contain an attractant light and a trapping mechanism that collects adult mosquitos keeping them alive.

Temporary (12hr), semi-permanent, or permanent trapping solutions will be considered.

Join the online Ask Me Anything with mosquito researchers Dr. Toby Mills and Dr. Cameron Webb on Wednesday 14 October, 1-2 PM to better understand how current traps are transported and operated and the limitations in current designs to find opportunities to reimagine the future of mosquito surveillance.

Assessment criteria

There are three criteria that proposals will be assessed on:

1. Potential to increased practicality, durability, and safety as compared to current options;
2. Potential to improve mosquito sample integrity, with a preference for dry, live mosquitoes with minimal by-catch (unwanted other species); and
3. Potential to increase the total number of mosquitoes and the largest ratio of Aedes vigilax caught over a sampling period.

Why mosquitoes

In the warmer months, mosquitoes can be a major annoyance in Australia, and staff and students would love to find ways to reduce their number. In some parts of the world, mosquitoes pose a major health risk as they carry diseases like malaria, dengue and Zika virus. This makes the mosquito the most dangerous animal on the planet. But there are hundreds of species of mosquito and most are neither a nuisance nor a threat to humans and in fact, are an important part of the wetland ecosystem.

Key dates

Mon 11 Oct Submissions open

Thu 14 Oct Ask My Anything online webinar with mosquito experts Dr Cameron Webb and Dr Toby Mills

Mon 25 Oct, 16:00PM AEDT, Submissions close. All team members must be registered here.

Tue 26 Oct, Applications reviewed, funded projects notified

Mon 29 Nov, Draft project activity plans and budgets submitted

29 April 2022, Final reports due

• Potential to increased practicality, sampling efficiency, cost, and safety
  Potential to increased practicality, sampling efficiency, cost, and safety as compared to current mosquito trapping options.
• Potential to improve mosquito sample integrity
  Potential to improve mosquito sample integrity, with a preference for dry, live mosquitoes with minimal by-catch (unwanted other species).
• Potential to increase the total number of mosquitoes and the largest ratio of Aedes vigilax
  Potential to increase the total number of mosquitoes and the largest ratio of Aedes vigilax caught over a sampling period.