Monash academics awarded Australian Research Council Laureate Fellowships

Two Monash University researchers have been awarded Australian Research Council (ARC) 2019 Australian Laureate Fellowships. Professor Lynette Russell AM, Director of the Monash Indigenous Centre, and Professor John Grundy, Senior Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Information Technology, were awarded the fellowships, which total almost $6 million. Professor Russell will examine a thousand years of dynamic encounters between Australia's Indigenous peoples and voyagers from the sea, while Professor Grundy will research new ways to capture and use human-centric software requirements during model-driven software engineering. The Australian Laureate Fellowships scheme supports outstanding Australian and international researchers to build Australia's research capacity, undertake innovative research programs and mentor early-career researchers. Professor Russell's focus is on developing an anthropological approach to the story of the past. Her historical interests are far-ranging – across the 18th to the 20th centuries, from Aboriginal people in the maritime industry, to museums and museum collections and the history of anthropology itself. She's held the positions of president and vice-president of the Australian Historical Association, and was elected a Fellow to the Academy of Social Sciences of Australia in 2013, and Fellow to the Royal Historical Society in 2012. "It's an honour to be recognised and supported to undertake this important research into Australia's role in early global expansion, and how our Indigenous communities interacted with visitors who arrived via the sea over the past 1000 years," Professor Russell said. Professor Grundy's research is in the area of software tools, techniques and architecture, model-driven software engineering, visual languages, software security engineering, service-based and component-based systems, and user interfaces. He's a chief investigator at the ARC Research Hub for Driving Farming Productivity and Disease Prevention. He was awarded the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Technical Council on Software Engineering Distinguished Educator Award in 2014, and elected a Fellow of Automated Software Engineering and Engineers Australia in 2012. "Through this generous fellowship, I hope to grow my research team in order to explore how age, gender, culture, language and disability impact the manufacturing process in products like smart homes so they are a help, not a hindrance, to the end-users," Professor Grundy said. "As Australia's population continues to age and diversify, it's imperative to ensure all perspectives are considered so products can be enjoyed by all." Monash President and Vice-Chancellor Professor Margaret Gardner AO congratulated Professor Russell and Professor Grundy on their success. "These prestigious fellowships are awarded to researchers who are undertaking research that delivers great benefits for Australia at both a national and international level," Professor Gardner said. "To be awarded these fellowships is a true testament to the work these researchers are doing, as well as the research being undertaken at Monash University."