The University of Sydney has achieved its strongest-ever outcome in the latest Australian Research Council (ARC) Future Fellowships round, securing support for 39 impact-focused projects spanning science, engineering, health, humanities, social sciences, architecture and law.

This is the largest number of Future Fellowships awarded to any Australian university as part of the 2026 round, with $344 million awarded to 290 outstanding mid-career researchers across the country. The funding supports academics to undertake internationally competitive research in areas of national importance while strengthening Australia’s future research capability. These criteria are strongly reflected in the University’s Sydney in 2032 strategy and our aspiration to contribute to the common good through research that tackles the greatest challenges.

The University’s Future Fellows are drawn from across almost every faculty, led by the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (12 projects), Faculty of Science (11 projects) and Faculty of Engineering (9 projects), highlighting the breadth of expertise contributing to Australia’s research future. University of Sydney Fellows received more than $45 million to lead these ambitious projects over the next four years.

Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) Professor Mike Ryan congratulated the recipients on this strong outcome.

“This outstanding result demonstrates the remarkable quality and diversity of research led by mid-career academics at the University of Sydney. From helping communities adapt to climate change and strengthening Australia’s biodiversity, to advancing quantum technologies, improving health outcomes and shaping the future of artificial intelligence, our researchers are generating knowledge that will benefit Australia and the wider world for decades to come,” Professor Ryan said.

Researchers will investigate how communities can become more resilient to climate change through improved flood-risk assessment, climate adaptation governance, climate-resilient transport systems, more accurate projections of sea-level rise and Antarctic change, and new approaches to supporting communities experiencing climate distress.

The University’s strong quantum and advanced technology capability is also reflected in projects developing secure communications, privacy-preserving cryptography, federated artificial intelligence, quantum computing architectures, quantum sensing technologies and next-generation wireless networks.

Health-focused fellowships will advance understanding of hearing, living with incurable illness, brain function, ageing, disease prevention, reproductive biology and cellular biology, while creating new opportunities for diagnostics, therapies and improved care.

Researchers in the humanities, social sciences and law will explore challenges including workplace sexual violence experienced by migrants, environmental justice, housing affordability, climate governance, democratic resilience, the impacts of AI on young people and housing systems, and the preservation of Indigenous languages, cultural knowledge and song traditions.

2026 ARC Future Fellows

Sydney School of Architecture, Design and Planning

• Associate Professor Naseem Ahmadpour will investigate how AI companions and chatbots are shaping young people’s experiences of loneliness, helping inform safer and more ethical AI design, regulation and support for families.
• Associate Professor Jennifer Kent will examine how families make everyday transport decisions and identify practical pathways to accelerate the transition to low-emissions travel.
• Associate Professor Sophia Maalsen will explore how artificial intelligence is being used across the housing system and assess its impacts on housing outcomes, policy and regulation.

Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences

• Associate Professor Anna Boucher will investigate workplace sexual violence experienced by migrants and identify reforms to strengthen protections and support.
• Dr David Brophy will recover endangered manuscript traditions from Central Asia, providing new insights into the history of Islam and cultural exchange across the region.
• Dr Daniel Canaris will uncover the origins of Sino-Western comparative ethics, offering fresh perspectives on cross-cultural moral dialogue and understanding.
• Dr Sophie Chao will investigate how communities in Timor-Leste are adapting agricultural livelihoods to climate change through relationships between people, crops and ecosystems.
• Dr Anthony Cordingley will explore how modernist writers reimagined education through literature, creating new insights into learning, creativity and teaching.
• Associate Professor Luara Ferracioli will examine the ethical challenges of demographic change and develop new approaches to policies affecting family formation and population renewal.
• Dr Melissa Kennedy will investigate some of the world’s earliest ritual landscapes to better understand how belief systems emerged and evolved.
• Associate Professor Josh Stenberg will reveal how Chinese-language literary and cultural works shaped Australian society and identity following migration from China.
• Dr Matthew Sussman will investigate how literary criticism has contributed to values such as diversity, tolerance and democratic debate over several centuries.
• Professor Agnieszka Tymula will explore how cognitive ability and economic circumstances influence decision-making, with implications for public policy, ageing and wellbeing.
• Professor Sonja Van Wichelen will examine new models of regional health cooperation in the Asia-Pacific, helping strengthen equitable biomedical partnerships.
• Dr Blanche Verlie will study how communities experience climate distress and identify approaches that strengthen collective resilience and wellbeing.

Sydney Conservatorium of Music

• Dr Georgia Curran will work with Warlpiri women and community organisations to support the preservation and intergenerational transmission of Warlpiri women’s song traditions.

Faculty of Engineering

• Associate Professor Ian Abraham will develop new principles for teams of robots to safely work together on physically demanding tasks such as lifting, carrying and disaster response.
• Associate Professor Xianghai An will establish new ways to design advanced alloys for aerospace, energy and manufacturing applications by understanding how atomic-scale structures influence material performance.
• Associate Professor Agisilaos Kourmatzis will unlock new understanding of complex aerosol flows, improving everything from pollution monitoring and microplastic assessment to pharmaceuticals and industrial processes.
• Dr Weibin Liang will develop new biocatalysts to produce sustainable plastics from renewable carbon sources, supporting Australia’s circular economy ambitions.
• Dr Ying Liu will investigate how advanced lead-free materials store energy, helping develop more efficient and durable technologies for clean energy and electric vehicles.
• Dr Sasha Rubin will create new mathematical tools to help AI and automated systems make reliable decisions when there is limited or uncertain data.
• Associate Professor Mahyar Shirvanimoghaddam will develop new methods for ultra-reliable communications in noisy environments, supporting the next generation of digital infrastructure and secure technologies.
• Associate Professor Qiang Tang will strengthen the security and resilience of distributed computing systems that underpin many essential online services.
• Dr Conrad Wasko will develop improved methods to understand and predict flood risk, helping Australian communities better prepare for future flood events. 

Sydney Law School

• Dr Rosemary Grey will examine how international law responds to feminist critiques and how legal systems can better reflect the experiences of women and LGBTIQ+ communities.
• Dr Rachel Killean will investigate how criminal law is increasingly being used to respond to environmental harm and identify fairer and more effective approaches to environmental justice.

Faculty of Medicine and Health

• Associate Professor Sophie Lewis will investigate how Australians live with long-term incurable illness and develop evidence-based resources to better support patients, families and carers.

Faculty of Science

• Dr Manisha Caleb will use mysterious fast radio bursts to investigate the evolution of galaxies and map matter across the universe.
• Dr Renjie Feng will develop a new mathematical framework for understanding rare and extreme events in complex random systems.
• Professor Sally Gainsbury will examine how manipulative online design techniques influence consumer decisions and develop tools to better protect Australians online.
• Dr Ros Gloag will uncover how genetic interactions drive the evolution of Australia’s native bees, with benefits for biodiversity conservation and crop pollination.
• Dr Christopher Lustri will create powerful mathematical tools to better model complex systems, from optical technologies to wave behaviour.
• Professor Elizabeth New will develop innovative imaging technologies that reveal how metals behave inside living cells, with applications across medicine, agriculture and environmental science.
• Associate Professor Thomas Newsome will create new ways to measure the ecological value of scavenger species, helping guide biodiversity conservation and ecosystem management.
• Dr Daniel Pearson will investigate how people decide which information to pay attention to and how those judgments influence decision-making and behaviour.
• Associate Professor Sophie Webber will examine coastal development and climate resilience in Asia-Pacific cities, helping identify more equitable approaches to urban adaptation.
• Dr Dominic Williamson will develop more efficient approaches to quantum error correction, helping accelerate the development of useful quantum computers
• Dr Haotian Wu will investigate how singularities form in geometric flows, deepening understanding of mathematical processes that underpin applications across science and engineering.