Monash Science leads national ARC success with breakthrough funding for catalysis and packaging innovation
Monash Science Precinct
The Faculty of Science at Monash University has emerged as one of Australia’s biggest winners in the 2025 round of the Australian Research Council’s prestigious Industrial Transformation Training Centres (ITTC) scheme securing a lead role in one Centre, a major presence in a second, and contributing to more than half of Monash’s $9.75 million ARC funding haul.
The Faculty will lead the ARC Training Centre in Sustainable and Green Economy Manufacturing, awarded $4.84 million, to transform how Australia designs and produces next-generation catalysts for sustainable manufacturing. Spearheaded by Professor Philip Chan (School of Chemistry), the Centre will train the next generation of industry-ready scientists in cutting-edge catalytic processes with strong export potential and real-world sustainability impact.
In parallel, Science researchers are among key leaders in the ARC Training Centre for Sustainable Materials and Responsible Technologies for Packaging (SMaRT-Pack), led by Professor Gil Garnier from the Faculty of Engineering. Five of the Centre’s Chief Investigators (33%) are from Science, including four from Chemistry and one from Earth Sciences showcasing the Faculty’s depth and interdisciplinary reach.
Across both Centres, 13 Faculty of Science researchers have been named Chief Investigators including 12 chemists and one soil scientist, with five of these positions held by women.
Nationally, only seven ITTCs were funded in this round. Monash University secured two of them placing first nationally in the total ARC funding of $34,747,996 with the Faculty of Science at the heart of both wins.
The ARC ITTC scheme supports industry-focused research collaborations between universities and external partners emphasising transformative outcomes in high-priority sectors. The scheme provides funding to support Higher Degree by Research (HDR) candidates and postdoctoral researchers, embedding them within industry-relevant projects to build Australia’s future-ready capabilities.
Faculty of Science Dean Professor Jordan Nash welcomed the result.
“To lead one national ITTC and help power another is an exceptional outcome for Monash Science,” Professor Nash said.
“It reinforces our leadership in chemistry, sustainable innovation and AI and brings a welcome influx of PhD scholarships and industry-connected research opportunities at a time when these are in particularly high demand across the sector,” he said.
“The result confirms Monash Science as a powerhouse in research training, industry engagement and the development of future-ready technologies, all grounded in world-class science.”
Faculty of Science Deputy Dean (Research), Professor Katya Pas, is a CI on both Centres.
“This result reflects not only the strength of our Chemistry program but also our Faculty’s long-term strategy to embed artificial intelligence in the discovery and design of materials and molecules,” Professor Pas said.
Professor Pas, along with Professors Chan and Garnier, are also co-investigators on a separate Ignite grant from the Faculty of Science focused on AI for materials science, laying the groundwork for a future research hub that will drive innovation at the intersection of chemistry, computational modelling and industry.
Her role across these Centres is to lead the AI strategy fast-tracking catalyst and materials development using machine learning and data-driven approaches.
“This kind of translational, collaborative research is the future,” Professor Pas said.
For more details about the ARC ITTC funding, see: https://www.arc.gov.au/funding-research/grant-announcement-kits
Further information
Silvia Dropulich
Marketing, Media & Communications Manager, Monash Science
T: +61 3 9902 4513 M: +61 435 138 743
Email: silvia.dropulich@monash.edu