The work of researchers in fields as diverse as the influence of Australia's Muslim women entrepreneurs and how the behaviour of fish may impact on their survival is being supported by the 2006 UTS Chancellor's Postdoctoral Research Fellowships.

Launched last year to further the development of young researchers, particularly those allied to the University's research strengths, four fellowships were awarded at a recent ceremony presided over by UTS Chancellor Professor Vicki Sara.

The four 2006 fellows are Melanie Bishop and Peter Biro from the Institute for Water and Environmental Resource Management, Hokyong Shon from the Faculty of Engineering and Angeline Low from the Faculty of Business.

Dr Bishop is investigating the effects on local aquatic ecosystems of increasing biodiversity resulting from the introduction of non-native species.

Dr Biro is looking into behavioural variation among reef fish to determine if behaviour traits will have an impact on the ability of fish to adapt to global warming.

Dr Shon is developing a method for treating wastewater that will both avoid residual chemical waste and produce an environmentally-friendly and useful by-product.

Dr Low has set out to reveal how Muslim women entrepreneurs have become change leaders both in Australia and Uzbekistan.

Dr Biro said receiving a Chancellor's fellowship meant freedom to put concentrated effort into research.

"Often, postdoctoral positions last only one or two years, with low levels of funding," he said.

"You end up working for a little while and then have to start madly writing applications for grants and the next fellowship, which takes up an incredible amount of time.

"Three years of funding allows us to stay focused on our research, get a substantial amount of work done and to establish ourselves as researchers."

The goals of the Chancellor's fellowships include supporting research that will benefit society, attracting and retaining talented and high achieving researchers and equipping them to lead the next generation of early career and mid career researchers at UTS.