Twenty-one Monash researchers have been awarded more than $8.9 million under the ARC Discovery Early Career Research Award (DECRA) scheme.
The DECRA scheme aims to support Early Career Researchers with strengthening their research skills, enhancing national and international research collaboration and supporting high quality and supportive research environments.
The researchers include Dr Pirooz Zareie, from the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, who will use multidisciplinary collaborations to determine how T cells respond to antigens; Dr Kalin Stefanov, from the Faculty of IT, whose project aims to create the largest Auslan dataset to support the Australian Deaf community and promote advancements in this research area; and Dr Nicholas Ferns, from the Faculty of Arts, who will look into the connections between Australia’s post-war development and the decolonisation of Papua New Guinea that dictated post-war global politics.
The $8.9 million awarded to Monash University is among $85.8 million awarded to 200 projects by the Australian Government under the DECRA scheme.
Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) Professor Rebekah Brown congratulated Monash’s Early Career Researchers and their faculties on this year’s DECRA results.
“I am thrilled so many of our bright and talented Early Career Researchers have been recognised with these awards, which will enable them to pursue research with impact across a diverse range of disciplines. Congratulations to everyone involved.”
The funded projects include:
| DECRA Candidate | Faculty | Title |
| Dr Pirooz Zareie | MNHS | Redefining how T cell recognition drives T cell activation |
| Dr Jun Lu | Eng | Novel Hydroxide Ion Conductive Membranes for Advanced Ammonia Fuel Cell |
| Dr Kalin Stefanov | IT | Towards automated Australian Sign Language translation |
| Dr Xin Zhang | Pharm | Cryo-electron microscopy determination of G protein-coupled receptor states |
| Dr Rachael Lappan | MNHS | Microbial life in the atmosphere |
| Dr Aurina Arnatkeviciute | MNHS | Mapping the genetics of brain connectivity |
| Dr Meiling Han | MNHS | Bacterial membrane remodelling and the interaction with peptides |
| A/Prof James Trauer | MNHS | Strategies to minimise the societal impacts of zoonotic pandemics |
| Dr Hao Wang | IT | Reliable Integration of Distributed Low-Carbon Energy Resources |
| Dr Nicholas Ferns | Arts | Australia and the World Bank: Financing Development and Decolonisation |
| Dr Christopher Stubenrauch | MNHS | A novel bacterial secretion system for applications in nanobiotechnology |
| Dr Briony Hill | MNHS | Reframing knowledge of preconception lifestyles: A socioecological approach |
| Dr Reza Nosrati | Eng | Fallopian tube on-a-chip for understanding mammalian reproduction |
| Dr Scarlett Howard | Sci | Investigating the responses of Australian native bees to climatic warming |
| Dr Praveena Thirunavukkarasu | MNHS | Molecular insights into lipid-mediated T cell immunity |
| Dr Sean Bay | Sci | Cave microbial metabolism as a missing biogeochemical sink |
| Dr Reza Razzaghi | Eng | Accurate Fault Location Methods for Complex Power Networks |
| Dr Taissa Danilovich | Sci | Understanding the birth of new elements by observing dying stars |
| Dr Stanley Cheng Xie | Pharm | Inhibiting adenylate-forming enzymes via a new reaction-hijacking mechanism |
| Dr Ludovic Scyboz | Sci | Bridging the accuracy gap: High-precision parton showers for colliders |
| Dr Ruben Loaiza-Maya | BusEco | Variational Inference for Intractable and Misspecified State Space Models |
