$12.6 million in fellowship funding

Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research), Professor Kate McGrath, said the seven outstanding researchers will be conducting high-quality research that will improve Australians’ lives.

“From women’s health to high speed rail, reduction of environmental contaminants and electricity grid reliability, our researchers are finding solutions to some of the most pressing issues being faced by the nation,” said.

 “Congratulations to each of these researchers and their teams for securing Australian Research Council funding to help them tackle these critical issues and improve Australians’ lives.”

The seven Australian Research Council fellowships are:

Industry Laureate Fellowship

Distinguished Professor Jie Lu with 23 Strands, Axis Health and Australian Women’s Health Alliance ($3.9 million over 5 years)
This project will spearhead an advanced personalised machine learning framework, methodology and platform for genetic-profile-based states prediction and precision analyses of women’s health characteristics: to empower healthy living and ageing across the individual life courses of Australian women. 

Australian Laureate Fellowship

Distinguished Professor Daichao Sheng ($3.8 million over 5 years)
This project aims to develop next-generation geotechnologies for designing cost-effective, high-speed and heavy haul rail infrastructure. The project expects to develop innovative new computational methods for predicting serviceability, hazards, and risk of foundation solutions to large geo-structures under fast moving loads, contributing to cost savings and reliable cost estimations for such infrastructure.

Future Fellowships

Professor Jahangir Hossain ($1.3 million over 4 years)
This project aims to address the challenge of electricity grid resilience during high-impact, low-probability events through innovative digital twins and quantum-inspired optimisations of microgrid clusters. This project will generate new knowledge in energy resilience using a pioneering model of interconnected systems to address the growing threats to power grids (and coupled utilities, such as communication and electrified transport) from extreme weather events.

Dr Poppy Watson ($940,000 over 4 years)
This project aims to investigate how cues associated with food rewards (such as the McDonald's logo) affect learning, cognition and motivated behaviour in humans. Using well-validated and reliable methods from studies of reward processing in behavioural neuroscience, this project will shed light on how cues that signal reward bias decision making across different contexts - when individuals are hungry, full, stressed, or currently seeking to moderate food intake.

Mid Career Industry Fellowships

Professor Qilin Wang with South East Water, Melbourne Water, Water Research Australia, Austra Engineering and Water Services Association ($960,000 over 4 years)
This project aims to acquire new knowledge to support the development of a globally relevant technology for reducing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in stabilised sewage sludge. Sludge contains toxic PFAS, which are difficult to reduce. In Australia, 80% of stabilised sludge is used in agriculture, causing harmful PFAS contamination in soil and water. This project expects to generate knowledge of a novel technology that leverages a waste by-product of sewage treatment to reduce PFAS in stabilised sludge.

Associate Professor Yang Yang with Frontier Instruments and MilliBeam ($1.2 million over 4 years)
This project seeks to address key research challenges in millimetre-wave antenna-in-package technology for electronic packaging by combining additively manufactured electronics with semiconductor chips. It targets an industry-wide knowledge gap in antenna-in-package beamforming, beam-steering, and thermal management. The proposed antenna-in-package approach provides a cost-effective, on-demand, and waste-reducing solution, enabling complex designs for compact electronic devices that traditional methods cannot support.

Early Career Industry Fellowship

Dr Kai Wu with TPG Telecom ($500,000 over three years)
This project addresses key deployment challenges in millimetre-wave 5G and beyond mobile networks by developing new knowledge in the emerging field of joint communications and sensing (JCAS), positioning Australia as a global leader in JCAS and potentially shaping future mobile standards. Partnering with TPG Telecom, the project will deliver cost- and energy-efficient, robust JCAS solutions tailored to industry needs and constraints.