Five DECRAs advance transformative research

Monash Engineering is celebrating five successful Discovery Early Career Researcher Awards (DECRA) in the latest announcement from the Australian Research Council (ARC).

The DECRA scheme provides targeted support for outstanding early-career researchers. It enables high-quality, innovative work that addresses critical knowledge gaps and strengthens collaboration. Delivering economic, environmental and social benefits for Australia, it also helps build leadership capability and opens diverse career pathways in supportive research environments.

These projects led by our emerging research leaders have been awarded funding:

• Dr Stephen Terrington (Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering)
  "Optimal surface texture for drag reduction in rolling body flows"
• Dr Meiyan Gao (Chemical & Biological Engineering)
  "Smart Covalent Organic Frameworks for Recovery of Rare Earth Elements"
• Dr Pengrui Jin (Chemical & Biological Engineering)
  "Integrated Photothermal Membrane Distillation for Water-Energy Nexus"
• Dr Anna Lintern (Civil & Environmental Engineering)
  "Hotspots and legacies: integrating history into water quality modelling"
• Assistant Professor Xiantong Yan (Civil & Environmental Engineering)
  "Carbonation of Waste Slag for Next-Generation Radiative Cooling Buildings"

These results reflect the depth of talent across our Faculty, and our commitment to supporting the next generation of research leaders. We warmly congratulate all recipients and wish them well with their projects.