Celebrating the 2025 Dean's Awards for Research Excellence winners

The Monash University Faculty of Information Technology's 2025 Dean’s Awards for Research Excellence celebrate academic staff who have demonstrated exceptional achievement and impact in their research.

This year, the Faculty recognises six winners across five categories: Researcher of the Year, Early Career Researcher of the Year, Research Team of the Year, Ariel Liebman Award for Excellence in Research Engagement and Impact, and Excellence in Graduate Research Supervision.

‘We’re proud to recognise researchers whose work combines technical excellence with social relevance,’ said Professor Jesper Kjledskov, Deputy Dean (Research) at the Faculty of IT.

‘Their contributions are helping to solve real-world problems and improve lives at scale.’

Here are the winners from this year’s awards:

Dean's Researcher of the Year Award

This individual has achieved outstanding research milestones that reflect the Faculty’s values and demonstrate exceptional leadership within Monash and the broader research community.

Associate Professor Daniel Schmidt
Machine Learning, Department of Data Science and AI

Associate Professor Schmidt is a leading researcher in statistics and machine learning. Known for his key methodological contributions, he has developed algorithms that have become benchmarks in their respective fields and are widely adopted across academia and industry.

Since 2009, he has held research-focused roles and has served as Chief or Primary Investigator on numerous competitive grants, securing over $9.5 million in funding. He has authored more than 100 publications, including papers in top-tier journals such as Nature, with over 14000 citations to date.

Dean's Early Career Researcher of the Year Award

This individual has demonstrated exceptional research excellence and impact in the early stages of their academic career.

Dr Muhammed Esgin
Cybersecurity, Department of Software Systems and Cybersecurity

Dr Esgin is an expert in both the theoretical foundations and practical applications of cryptographic algorithm design, with a focus on quantum-resistant and privacy-enhancing technologies. His work has played a key role in translating once-theoretical cryptographic concepts into practical real-world solutions.

A widely recognised researcher, Dr Esgin has received several prestigious awards and grants, including the Amazon Research Award, Google Research Scholar Award, an Australian Research Council Discovery Project, and the Vice-Chancellor’s Commendation for Thesis Excellence.

He currently leads an industry-funded project and serves as Deputy Director on a $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of State.

Dean's Research Team of the Year Award

This team has delivered outstanding research outcomes that reflect Monash’s values and exemplify exceptional collaboration across the University and wider research, industry, government, and end-user communities.

Professor Rashina Hoda
(Software Engineering, Department of Software Systems and Cybersecurity)

Professor Chris Bain
(Department of Human-Centred Computing)

The Enhancing Telehealth project, led by Professor Hoda and supported by Professor Bain, brings together interdisciplinary experts from Monash University, the University of Melbourne, Monash Health, Healthdirect Australia, and the Victorian Department of Health to address key barriers to adopting emerging healthcare technologies.

Over three and a half years, the team co-designed (with patients, carers, and clinicians) and developed a software add-on to both improve patient-clinician communication and clinical documentation in telehealth settings. The software allows clinicians to generate real-time consultation summaries, aligns with government policy, and has been successfully integrated into the national Healthdirect Australia video-call platform.

Awarded team members:

  • Prof Rashina Hoda (Project Leader, FIT)
  • Prof Chris Bain (Industry Liaison, FIT)
  • Dr Wei Zhou (Postdoc, FIT)
  • Andy Li (Software Developer, FIT)
  • Dr Xiao Chen (During project: Postdoc, FIT; Currently: Lecturer, University of Newcastle)
  • A/Prof Peter Poon (FMNHS and Monash Health)
  • Dr Laura Bird (Postdoc, FMNHS)
  • Prof Wendy Chapman (University of Melbourne)
  • Dr Mahima Kalla (University of Melbourne)
  • Dr Teresa O'Brien (University of Melbourne)
  • Sam Georgy (Healthdirect Australia)
  • David Bevan (Victoria Department of Health)
  • Dr Joycelyn Ling (DHCRC)

Prof Hoda wishes to acknowledge all those who have contributed to the project at various stages, in various capacities, not all of whom could be listed due to the list being too long.

Ariel Liebman Award for Excellence in Research Engagement and Impact Award

This individual has delivered significant community impact through transdisciplinary, challenge-led research underpinned by collaboration, engagement and knowledge mobilisation initiatives.

Professor Rashina Hoda
Software Engineering, Department of Software Systems and Cybersecurity

Professor Hoda is a globally recognised expert in software engineering, consistently ranked among the world’s top 10 scholars in agile methods and grounded theory. With over 160 publications and more than 7000 citations, she was named Australia’s Top Software Systems Researcher in 2025. Her 2024 book on socio-technical grounded theory has attracted significant international interest.

She leads major research initiatives, including the $2 million Enhancing Telehealth project, and holds senior roles in international conferences and editorial boards. A strong advocate for equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in STEM, she actively mentors women and students from multicultural backgrounds, leads EDI initiatives, and is an active science communicator across media, conferences and government advisory forums.

Dean's Award for Excellence in Graduate Research Supervision

This individual has demonstrated exceptional supervision, mentoring and training that has significantly enriched the academic experiences of their graduate research students.

Professor Jianfei Cai
Vision & Language, Department of Data Science and AI

Professor Cai has successfully supervised more than 40 PhD students, five postdoctoral researchers, 10 Master's by Research students and 10 Master's by Coursework students.

Many of his former students have gone on to join leading technology companies such as Facebook, Apple, Amazon, NVIDIA and Adobe, as well as top academic institutions across the globe.