ARC Laureate Fellowship recognises world leading expert
The Australian Research Council (ARC) prestigious Australian Laureate Fellowships support world-class Australian and international researchers to undertake transformative research in Australia. The scheme enables recipients to lead innovative research programs, build research capacity, and mentor the next generation of emerging researchers.
Monash Engineering is delighted to announce Professor Wenhui Duan FTSE has received a 2025 Laureate Fellowship for his project “Re-imagining concrete as a carbon sink.”
With ARC funding of $3,756,286, this project aims to revolutionise concrete - one of the most used construction materials worldwide - to make it a carbon uptake system and a significant contributor to climate change mitigation.
Concrete production results in around 8-9% of global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. This project expects to better understand the interaction between CO2 and concrete towards capture/storage of CO2 within concrete.
Expected outcomes include a model for climate friendly concrete production, a pipeline for concrete research harnessing big data, and nurturing the future workforce of multi-disciplinary researchers. Significant benefits of the project include reducing the carbon footprint of the concrete industry towards the eco-friendly urban development.
A graduate of Tianjin University (China) and National University of Singapore (Singapore), Professor Duan is Director of the new ARC Research Hub for Infrastructure Net Zero (awarded in 2024); the ARC Nanocomm Hub; and a Professor of Structural Engineering in the Monash Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE). He was formerly an ARC Future Fellow, and is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences & Engineering.
He has led a range of ground-breaking research projects across engineering and materials science disciplines, collaborating with architects, mechanical engineers, soil scientists, applied mathematicians and physicists.
Of this award, Professor Ha H. Bui – Head of CEE – says “Professor Wenhui Duan is a world leading expert working at the intersection of materials science and civil engineering. An early pioneer in the development of nanoscience and nanocomposites for civil engineering applications, we congratulate Professor Duan for his remarkable achievements and wish him success in this ARC Laureate Fellowship."
Professor Duan is one of three ARC Laureates awarded to Monash University in 2025. He joins ARC Laureate Fellow Professor Jeffrey Walker (awarded in 2024), also of CEE.
Read more about Professor Duan’s Fellowship here.
Learn more about ARC Australian Laureate Fellowships here.
