Thirty Monash University researchers have been awarded Australian Research Council Future Fellowships, representing a combined investment of $34.7 million in research across the University.
The fellowships will support outstanding mid-career researchers to undertake ambitious projects with the potential to deliver significant benefits for the global community, including projects that tackle immune cell function in the gut, democratic resilience, and Indigenous creative practice. The full list of successful Monash projects span Art, Design and Architecture; Arts; Engineering; Information Technology; Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences; Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences; and Science, and address research questions of national and international importance.
ARC Future Fellowships provide four-year funding to support outstanding mid-career researchers undertaking high-quality, innovative research in areas of national importance.
Among the recipients are Associate Professor James Letts and Senior Lecturer Maria Maldonado, both of whom joined Monash through the EMERGE program, which attracted top talent from around the world. Associate Professor Letts will investigate the evolution and functional biodiversity of mitochondrial complexes, while Dr Maldonado will explore kelp’s carbon metabolism and its potential to help mitigate climate change.
“One of the biggest advantages of conducting this research at Monash is access to its world-class Ramaciotti Centre for Cryo-Electron Microscopy,” Dr Maldonado said. “Like other research platforms across campus, the Ramaciotti Centre is exceptionally well equipped, staffed and supported by the University, and will open up many new avenues for our research.”
Associate Professor James Letts said, “I am very excited and honoured to receive this fellowship. I am very much looking forward to establishing and growing my group at Monash and becoming more embedded in the Australian research community.”
Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Enterprise), Professor Robyn Ward AM said the funding awards are a reflection of the calibre, ambition and breadth of our research community.
“Through these fellowships, our researchers will strengthen Australia’s research capability and translate new knowledge into meaningful and lasting impact. These grants also support mid-career researchers at a pivotal stage of their careers, enabling them to pursue bold ideas, build influential programs of work and develop partnerships across communities, government, industry and cultural institutions – turning research into lasting benefits for society.”
The 2026 Monash Future Fellows include:
- Dr Daniel Priebbenow – Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences | New Photochemical Strategies for Chemical Synthesis
- Associate Professor Stephanie Collins – Faculty of Arts | Reforming Corporate Ethics: A Programmatic Agenda
- Professor Asher Flynn – Faculty of Arts | Preventing Sexualised Deepfake Abuse with Evidence-Based Interventions
- Dr Alon Ilsar – Faculty of Information Technology | Co-designing Accessible Instruments to Transform Musical Culture
- Dr Wenxin Mao – Faculty of Engineering | Data-Driven Material Discovery for Next-Generation X-ray Scintillators
- Professor Brian Martin – Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture | Connecting with Country: Indigenous creative practice research
- Associate Professor Andrew Casey – Faculty of Science | The faults in our stars
- Dr Sandra Leonie Field – Faculty of Arts | Activity and passivity: Spinozist philosophical insights for our time
- Dr Maria Ermakova – Faculty of Science | Illuminating photosynthesis with far-red light
- Professor Mikaël Martino – Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences | Nociceptor-Immune Regulation of Tissue Repair and Regeneration
- Associate Professor Samuel Forster – Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences | Computational and experimental analysis of microbial community dynamics
- Dr Jacki Heraud-Farlow – Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences | How are immune responses to cellular RNA kept in check?
- Dr Maureen Hagan – Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences | Neural architecture of spatial working memory: from neurons to networks
- Dr Christopher Lupton – Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences | Molecular insights into plant-like transporters in eukaryotic metabolism
- Associate Professor Cyril Seillet – Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences | Physiological pathways controlling immune cell function in the gut
- Dr Julia Brown – Faculty of Arts | Engaging Communities in the Ethics of Experimental Reproductive Technology
- Professor Nir Eynon – Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences | How our cells age: Discovering the Molecular Networks that Control Ageing
- Dr Tracy Josephs – Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences | RAMP-dependent modulation of the calcium sensing receptor
- Dr Stanley Cheng Xie – Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences | Reaction Hijacking: A Novel Approach to Inactivate Essential Enzymes
- Dr Mylene Mariette – Faculty of Science | Understanding avian heat adaptation and its developmental drivers
- Dr Kengo Deguchi – Faculty of Science | New ways forward in the theory of turbulent heat and momentum transport
- Dr Senthil Arumugam – Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences | An escape act: learning the principles of endosomal escape from nature
- Dr Benjamin Moffitt – Faculty of Arts | Culture, Democratic Resilience and the Challenge of the New Reactionary Right
- Dr Ehsan Shamsi Gooshki – Faculty of Arts | Addressing Cultural Diversity in Healthcare Through Global Bioethics
- Associate Professor Qianbing Zhang – Faculty of Engineering | Lifetime-Resilient Underground Infrastructure for Multi-Hazard Environments
- Associate Professor James Letts – Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences | Evolution and functional biodiversity of mitochondrial complexes
- Assistant Professor Maria Maldonado – Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences | Understanding kelp’s carbon metabolism to mitigate climate change
- Dr Marcus Robinson – Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences | Do T cells govern B cell fate and lifespan?
- Dr Karolina Matuszek – Faculty of Science | Integrated Design Approach to Advanced Thermal Energy Storage Materials
- Associate Professor Nicholas Evans – Faculty of Arts | Unifying the Ethics of Health Security: Bridging Politics, Policy and Practice
