Four ARC Future Fellowships for Swinburne researchers

Four outstanding researchers at Swinburne have been awarded prestigious four-year Future Fellowships in the latest round of Australian Research Council (ARC) grants.

Professor Katherine Albury, Associate Professor Tianyi Ma, Professor Baohua Jia and Professor Niki Frantzeskaki are the deserving recipients. Their research spans digital literacy and sexual health, producing solar fuels, nanoprinting of graphene-based digital IDs and supporting climate resilient cities.

The announcement continues Swinburne’s recent ARC success with five industry and community connected grants worth more than $2.5 million funded in the latest round of ARC Linkage Projects.

Swinburne’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research), Professor Bronwyn Fox, said each of the Future Fellowships projects reflected the university’s mission to bring people and technology together to build a better world.

“Humanity is facing increasingly urgent challenges and Swinburne is committed to working at the cutting-edge of global best practice to address these,” Professor Fox said. “It is also fabulous to see that three of our successful Future Fellows are women, which reflects Swinburne’s active gender equity and diversity programs”.

“Congratulations to all the researchers who have been recognised today for their drive to positively shape societal transformation in a tech-led future.”

Future Fellowships projects

Four Swinburne researchers were awarded ARC Future Fellowships.

Professor Katherine Albury will look at how young adults use digital apps and social platforms to help improve sexual healthcare provision and inform sexual health policymakers and professionals.

Associate Professor Tianyi Ma’s project aims to minimise fossil fuel consumption, increase energy security and expand the clean energy industry by developing perovskite-based ferroelectrics for solar fuel production. These cutting-edge materials aim to improve the efficiency and sustainability of current fuel production methods.

Professor Baohua Jia aims to harness the unique properties of laser nanoprinted graphene metamaterials to create a new generation of micro-tags that could be used in everything from logistics and retail to personal care and biomedicine.

Finally, Professor Niki Frantzeskaki is developing a global atlas of nature-based climate solutions (such as conservation, restoration and improved land management actions) to help shape more climate resilient cities.

The Future Fellowships support excellent research and research training by outstanding researchers, drive national and international research collaboration and enhance the scale and focus of research in Australian Government priority areas.

Future Fellowships provide four years of funding to outstanding Australian researchers. In addition to four years’ salary, the ARC awards up to $60,000 yearly to help support the costs of research.