One hundred mid-career researchers have received $114.6 million in federal grants through the latest round of the Future Fellowships program, with Victoria and New South Wales receiving the lion’s share of approved projects.
The 2025 round of Future Fellowships, announced by the Australian Research Council (ARC) this week, delivers multi-year backing to researchers in fields ranging from renewable energy to artificial intelligence and biotechnology.
ARC chief executive Professor Ute Roessner said the scheme plays a vital role in strengthening the national research and innovation pipeline, by investing in research capability that can “translate into real-world impact”.
“The research funded in this round of Future Fellowships showcases the breadth of outstanding work being undertaken by talented researchers to address national and international priorities,” Professor Roessner said on Wednesday.
According to a dataset released by the ARC, researchers in Victoria and New South Wales topped the list of Future Fellowships with 32 each, followed by Queensland (17), the ACT (7), South Australia (6) and Western Australia (6).
Monash University and the University of Queensland led the field in institutional funding, while the most common field of research was engineering, followed by human society, biological sciences, and information and computing sciences.
University of Adelaide’s Associate Professor Lan Nguyen secured $1.29 million to decode complex cellular communication networks and discover how cells make decisions, with potential applications in biotechnology, including biofuel production and more resilient crops.
Another project led by University of Queensland Associate Professor Ruifeng Yan will develop an innovative, data-driven modelling method for renewable energy generators. The project aims to replace outdated black-box models and enhance grid stability, supporting greater investment in clean energy technologies.
In NSW, the University of Technology Sydney’s Professor Jahangir Hossain will use his $1.29 million grant to build a digital twins model that uses quantum-inspired optimisation to strengthen electricity grid resilience in the face of extreme weather events.
Monash University’s Associate Professor Liton Kamruzzaman has also been granted $1.29 million to design a new modelling framework for net zero transport policy. His research will deliver Australia’s first transport emissions database to support scalable emissions reduction.
Meanwhile, Professor Lina Yao at Macquarie University has been awarded $1.28 million to develop adaptive AI systems built on large language models that will advance multimodal decision-making, with practical applications in dynamic environments such as manufacturing and education.
The full list of Future Fellowships can be viewed here.
Do you know more? Contact James Riley via Email.