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UNSW Sydney has secured more than $7 million in an Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Early Career Research Awards (DECRA) round for 2022.

The ARC is supporting 196 new early career research projects with $83 million in funding for this 2022 round.

The 17 projects awarded at UNSW include research investigating genomics, metallurgical concepts, hydrogen behaviour, corporate giving and suicidal behaviour.

UNSW Pro Vice-Chancellor, Research, Professor Sven Rogge congratulated the UNSW grant recipients.

“The strong result in this ARC funding round reflects the high quality of our early career researchers at UNSW focusing on a wide range of applications, from mental health, to economics, renewable energies and climate change.  

“I am very proud of this promising group of researchers and look forward to seeing them develop into future academic leaders. Their success underscores the University’s commitment to future-thinking research to help produce positive outcomes for all Australians,” Prof Rogge said. 

UNSW Engineering

Dr Hamid Alinejad-Rokny, Deciphering molecular genetic mechanisms underlying chromatin interactions, $451,634

Dr Zhe Jia, Novel multinary intermetallic compounds for water electrolysis, $433,000

Dr Jianbo Tang, Liquid metal nano metallurgy by controlled phase transition thermodynamics, $430,000

Dr Rui Zhang, Temporal-spatial data analytics for stochastic power system stability, $427,600

Dr Alison Ciesla, Is degradation of photovoltaic modules predictable and preventable?, $425,888

Dr He Huang, Ultrastable perovskite nanocrystals for high quality optoelectronic devices, $424,000

Dr Yuchen Zhang, Data-driven wide-area system strength monitoring under weak grid conditions, $412,944

UNSW Science

Dr David Hutchinson, Did ocean circulation changes build the Antarctic ice sheet?, $453,000

Dr Wesley Dose, Sodium inventory for sodium-ion batteries, $450,000

Dr Le Zhang, Giant piezo responses in rare-earth doped eco-friendly relaxor perovskites, $450,000

Dr Sujit Das, Engineering ferroelectric topologies in freestanding membranes, $437,400

Dr Mariana Mayer Pinto, Effects of artificial light at night on coastal ecosystems, $435,748

Dr Felix Rizzuto, Biomimetic catalysis for sustainable polymer syntheses, $420,000

UNSW Medicine & Health

Dr Navid Bavi, Molecular basis of Prestin’s electromotility and sound discrimination, $434,282

Dr Michelle Tye, Understanding how community characteristics shape suicidal behaviour, $432,573

UNSW Business School

Dr Cara Vansteenkiste, Disaster relief: does corporate giving Increase firm value?, $366,666

Read the full list for DECRA 2022 round 1.