"It's great to see that so many of this year's recipients already work at the University of Sydney or undertook their studies here.
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"The University of Sydney is committed as part of our Sydney in 2032 strategy to providing an excellent experience for research students to begin their careers, and for our post-doctoral researchers to have access to the infrastructure, industry connections and global research networks to do impactful research for the benefit of all.
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"This is compounded by our LIEF win, which will support the University's - and Australia's - leadership in microscopy and microanalysis."
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2026 ARC DECRA Fellows
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Dr Kirsten Barnes | Dr Barnes was awarded $480,678 to lead research into 'nocebo effects' - where negative expectations trigger adverse outcomes - and develop a new evidence-based model to improve the identification of when and why these effects occur.
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Dr Samuel Boone | Dr Boone ( Net Zero Institute ; School of Geosciences , Faculty of Science ) was awarded $517,214 to lead research into how erosion and geological weathering have historically cooled the climate by removing CO2 from the atmosphere, which will inform carbon removal strategies to combat climate change and help pinpoint critical minerals for the green energy transition.
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Dr Manjunath Chatti | Dr Chatti was awarded $513,478 to lead research into new carbon-neutral fuel creation to support Australia's net zero targets, sustainable manufacturing, and clean energy exports, through the development of a stable new catalyst to convert captured CO2 into carbon-based fuels.
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Dr Fan Fang | Dr Fang was award $528,678 to lead research into artificial photosynthesis of alcohols using nanostructured catalytic reactors to support sustainable development in Australia and the nation's carbon neutrality goals.
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Dr James Graham | Dr Graham ( School of Economics , Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences ) was awarded $511,409 to investigate Australian and international drivers of housing affordability by combining historical housing data with macroeconomic housing market models, and ultimately improve housing affordability and access.
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Dr Serafima Guseva | Dr Guseva was awarded $530,079 to research how gene activity is regulated within cells, guiding future efforts to influence cellular activity - such as when treating diseases - and create more effective treatments, faster.
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Dr Brandon Munn | Dr Munn ( Brain and Mind Centre ; School of Medical Sciences , Faculty of Medicine and Health ) was awarded $530,079 to investigate how the brain coordinates activity across different scales to support flexible cognition and behaviour, advancing our understanding of the fundamental principles that govern brain function.
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Dr Joel Ong | Dr Ong ( School of Physics , Faculty of Science ) was awarded $530,058 to lead a project that will study a newly discovered kind of star - whose insides and outsides rotate around different axes - creating new methods to study the internal structure of stars and informing the search for more of these rotationally twisted stars across the universe.
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Dr Callum Parker | Dr Parker ( School of Architecture, Design and Planning ; Sydney Southeast Asia Centre ) was awarded $504,624 to lead the development of a toolkit to help designers co-design and evaluate context-aware external human-machine interface prototypes, enabling autonomous vehicles to communicate safely with pedestrians in diverse urban environments.
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Dr Mary Petrone | Dr Petrone ( School of Medical Sciences , Faculty of Medicine and Health ) was awarded $530,079 to use advanced computational and molecular biology methods to deep our understanding of RNA viruses, providing new ways to study and protect against viruses in Australia's unique animal ecosystems.
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Dr Adam Poulsen | Dr Poulsen ( Sydney Southeast Asia Centre ; Brain and Mind Centre ; Sydney Medical School , Faculty of Medicine and Health ) was awarded $526,855 to lead a project determining the role, ethics and requirements of sex technology to support sexuality among people living with physical disability in care, improving quality of life and reducing stigma.
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Dr Mansour Sharafisafa | Dr Sharafisafa ( School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering , Faculty of Engineering ) was awarded $516,678 to lead a project to improve geothermal energy systems by modelling fault systems within the earth, reducing the risk of seismic activity when water is injected into the ground to generate extract thermal energy from the ground.
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Dr Caroline Wormell | Dr Wormell ( School of Mathematics and Statistics , Faculty of Science ) was awarded $512,368 to lead a project to improve forecasting models for weather and climate systems, like El Niño, to better predict atmospheric conditions - ranging from turbulence through to heatwaves - in a changing climate.
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Dr Yu Yao | Dr Yao ( School of Computer Science , Faculty of Engineering ) was awarded $516,678 to lead a project that aims to improve the controllability of text-to-image generation models, ultimately making generative AI models more trustworthy and interpretable while reducing risks associated with unreliable or biased AI outputs.
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Dr Xiang Zhang | Dr Zhang was awarded $513,612 to lead a project making deep-learning techniques - which underpin AI technologies - more robust and more widely applicable by overcoming current limitations caused by limited training data, lack of data transferability across different contexts, and 'black-box models' that obscure how AI comes to its conclusions.
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Dr Yichen (Jessica) Zhong | Dr Zhong ( School of Life and Environmental Sciences , Faculty of Science ) was awarded $529,698 to lead a project to support the discovery of new classes of molecules for medicinal chemistry applications by developing an efficient method for screening large libraries of peptide molecules.
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Dr Liyi Zhou | Dr Zhou ( School of Computer Science , Faculty of Engineering ) was awarded $527,178 to lead a project that will develop an advanced AI system capable of autonomously detecting and exploiting software vulnerabilities, mirroring the reasoning of elite human hackers and ultimately improving cybersecurity for businesses, governments and individuals.
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Dr Qi Zhu | Dr Zhu was awarded $529,078 to lead a project to predict the behaviour and guide the sustainable development of new, high-performance alloys with exceptional mechanical properties for use in industry and as part of Australia's transition to net zero.
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ARC LIEF
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Professor Xiaozhou Liao ( School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering , Faculty of Engineering ; Sydney Nano Institute ) leads a team working to enhance Australia's microscopy capability and advance the nation's standing as a global leader in materials research and advanced manufacturing.
rn
The project team was award $955,000 to lead a project integrating an electron microscopy corrector with a cryo-biasing sample holder - providing clearer images of materials at the atomic scale and in extremely cold conditions. This Australian-first initiative will provide researchers and industry with the capability to observe the evolution of materials' microstructural properties in real-time under cryo-biasing conditions.
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The Australian Research Council (ARC) has awarded over $10 million in funding to early career researchers and a research infrastructure project at the University of Sydney through its respective Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) and Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities (LIEF) schemes.
Eighteen early career researchers from across the University have shared in $9.36 million for DECRA projects, spanning advanced materials science, artificial intelligence (AI), housing policy and virus research.
The DECRA scheme is designed to empower the next generation of research leaders to thrive in supportive environments, collaborate globally, and deliver outcomes that matter.
The LIEF scheme provides funding for research infrastructure, equipment and facilities to enable cooperative use by universities and industry, with the University of Sydney leading on a microscopy infrastructure project awarded $955,000.
Professor Julie Cairney , interim Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) at the University of Sydney, said that the high number of DECRA recipients at Sydney - the highest among New South Wales universities - demonstrates the quality and impact of research at the University.
"The ARC DECRA scheme provides vital support to Australia's early career researchers - the future leaders of Australia's research and innovation ecosystem," Professor Cairney said.
"It's great to see that so many of this year's recipients already work at the University of Sydney or undertook their studies here.
"The University of Sydney is committed as part of our Sydney in 2032 strategy to providing an excellent experience for research students to begin their careers, and for our post-doctoral researchers to have access to the infrastructure, industry connections and global research networks to do impactful research for the benefit of all.
"This is compounded by our LIEF win, which will support the University's - and Australia's - leadership in microscopy and microanalysis."
2026 ARC DECRA Fellows
Dr Kirsten Barnes | Dr Barnes was awarded $480,678 to lead research into 'nocebo effects' - where negative expectations trigger adverse outcomes - and develop a new evidence-based model to improve the identification of when and why these effects occur.
Dr Samuel Boone | Dr Boone ( Net Zero Institute ; School of Geosciences , Faculty of Science ) was awarded $517,214 to lead research into how erosion and geological weathering have historically cooled the climate by removing CO2 from the atmosphere, which will inform carbon removal strategies to combat climate change and help pinpoint critical minerals for the green energy transition.
Dr Manjunath Chatti | Dr Chatti was awarded $513,478 to lead research into new carbon-neutral fuel creation to support Australia's net zero targets, sustainable manufacturing, and clean energy exports, through the development of a stable new catalyst to convert captured CO2 into carbon-based fuels.
Dr Fan Fang | Dr Fang was award $528,678 to lead research into artificial photosynthesis of alcohols using nanostructured catalytic reactors to support sustainable development in Australia and the nation's carbon neutrality goals.
Dr James Graham | Dr Graham ( School of Economics , Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences ) was awarded $511,409 to investigate Australian and international drivers of housing affordability by combining historical housing data with macroeconomic housing market models, and ultimately improve housing affordability and access.
Dr Serafima Guseva | Dr Guseva was awarded $530,079 to research how gene activity is regulated within cells, guiding future efforts to influence cellular activity - such as when treating diseases - and create more effective treatments, faster.
Dr Brandon Munn | Dr Munn ( Brain and Mind Centre ; School of Medical Sciences , Faculty of Medicine and Health ) was awarded $530,079 to investigate how the brain coordinates activity across different scales to support flexible cognition and behaviour, advancing our understanding of the fundamental principles that govern brain function.
Dr Joel Ong | Dr Ong ( School of Physics , Faculty of Science ) was awarded $530,058 to lead a project that will study a newly discovered kind of star - whose insides and outsides rotate around different axes - creating new methods to study the internal structure of stars and informing the search for more of these rotationally twisted stars across the universe.
Dr Callum Parker | Dr Parker ( School of Architecture, Design and Planning ; Sydney Southeast Asia Centre ) was awarded $504,624 to lead the development of a toolkit to help designers co-design and evaluate context-aware external human-machine interface prototypes, enabling autonomous vehicles to communicate safely with pedestrians in diverse urban environments.
Dr Mary Petrone | Dr Petrone ( School of Medical Sciences , Faculty of Medicine and Health ) was awarded $530,079 to use advanced computational and molecular biology methods to deep our understanding of RNA viruses, providing new ways to study and protect against viruses in Australia's unique animal ecosystems.
Dr Adam Poulsen | Dr Poulsen ( Sydney Southeast Asia Centre ; Brain and Mind Centre ; Sydney Medical School , Faculty of Medicine and Health ) was awarded $526,855 to lead a project determining the role, ethics and requirements of sex technology to support sexuality among people living with physical disability in care, improving quality of life and reducing stigma.
Dr Mansour Sharafisafa | Dr Sharafisafa ( School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering , Faculty of Engineering ) was awarded $516,678 to lead a project to improve geothermal energy systems by modelling fault systems within the earth, reducing the risk of seismic activity when water is injected into the ground to generate extract thermal energy from the ground.
Dr Caroline Wormell | Dr Wormell ( School of Mathematics and Statistics , Faculty of Science ) was awarded $512,368 to lead a project to improve forecasting models for weather and climate systems, like El Niño, to better predict atmospheric conditions - ranging from turbulence through to heatwaves - in a changing climate.
Dr Yu Yao | Dr Yao ( School of Computer Science , Faculty of Engineering ) was awarded $516,678 to lead a project that aims to improve the controllability of text-to-image generation models, ultimately making generative AI models more trustworthy and interpretable while reducing risks associated with unreliable or biased AI outputs.
Dr Xiang Zhang | Dr Zhang was awarded $513,612 to lead a project making deep-learning techniques - which underpin AI technologies - more robust and more widely applicable by overcoming current limitations caused by limited training data, lack of data transferability across different contexts, and 'black-box models' that obscure how AI comes to its conclusions.
Dr Yichen (Jessica) Zhong | Dr Zhong ( School of Life and Environmental Sciences , Faculty of Science ) was awarded $529,698 to lead a project to support the discovery of new classes of molecules for medicinal chemistry applications by developing an efficient method for screening large libraries of peptide molecules.
Dr Liyi Zhou | Dr Zhou ( School of Computer Science , Faculty of Engineering ) was awarded $527,178 to lead a project that will develop an advanced AI system capable of autonomously detecting and exploiting software vulnerabilities, mirroring the reasoning of elite human hackers and ultimately improving cybersecurity for businesses, governments and individuals.
Dr Qi Zhu | Dr Zhu was awarded $529,078 to lead a project to predict the behaviour and guide the sustainable development of new, high-performance alloys with exceptional mechanical properties for use in industry and as part of Australia's transition to net zero.
ARC LIEF
Professor Xiaozhou Liao ( School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering , Faculty of Engineering ; Sydney Nano Institute ) leads a team working to enhance Australia's microscopy capability and advance the nation's standing as a global leader in materials research and advanced manufacturing.
The project team was award $955,000 to lead a project integrating an electron microscopy corrector with a cryo-biasing sample holder - providing clearer images of materials at the atomic scale and in extremely cold conditions. This Australian-first initiative will provide researchers and industry with the capability to observe the evolution of materials' microstructural properties in real-time under cryo-biasing conditions.
