First prestigious Future Fellows announced

Murdoch University’s Dr Mike Bunce and Dr Vedi Hadiz were among the first 200 mid-career researchers to receive the prestigious ARC Future Fellowship award.

Federal Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, Senator Kim Carr, announced the national and international outstanding researchers in the first round of the ARC Future Fellowships scheme.

“The Government established the ARC Future Fellowships scheme to address the gap in opportunities for mid-career researchers in Australia, which forced many of our talented researchers to search for work overseas,” Senator Carr said.

“This first round of the scheme will see 159 of our best and brightest continue their world-class research at home, boosted by the four-year fellowship, worth up to $740,000.

“Fellows will receive up to $135,000 for each of the four years; administering institutions will receive up to $50,000 a year for associated infrastructure and other costs.”

Dr Mike Bunce, Senior Lecturer in Biological Sciences and Biotechnology, was awarded for his research titled An inventory of past biodiversity in Western Australia using ancient DNA.

Dr Vedi Hadiz, an Associate of Murdoch’s Asia Research Centre, was awarded for his research, State, Class and Islamic Populism: Indonesia in Comparative Perspective. Currently Associate-Professor of Sociology at the National University of Singapore, Dr Hadiz will move to Murdoch to take up the Fellowship.

41 Future Fellows, 22 foreign nationals coming to Australia and 19 returning Australians, coming to Australia in pursuit of their research were also announced.

Information about all 200 successful Future Fellows and their research projects can be found at www.arc.gov.au/ncgp/futurefel/ft_outcomes.htm.