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Celebrating Our Team's Achievements in Research Grants, Awards, and the Latest Headlines.
Research Grant:
2025 Sydney Nano Kickstarter
The Sydney Nano Institute and its Kickstarter program of supporting multidisciplinary research has awarded our group to lead the project on "Plasma treatment of PFAS-contaminated water at the nanoscale", working together with Dr Jiaying Li (co-lead) in Civil Engineering and our collaborators Prof. Chiara Neto and Prof. Greg Warr in Chemistry.
Research Award:
2025 ACIS-ECR Lectureship
The Australasian Colloid and Interface Society has awarded us with its 2025 lectureship for traveling around AU and NZ to present our research on Plasma electro-synthesis, Magneto-electrochemistry, and Polyphosphates. This award provides us with the opportunity to achieve broader recognition and exposure, develop our network, and engage activate collaborations.
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Joy's academic visits and research seminars in 2025:
Aug 13th, Australian Centre for Astrobiology, University of New South Wales
Oct 7th, Centre for Materials Science, Queensland University of Technology
Oct 8th, School of Chemistry (with invitations extended to Chem. Eng. and the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN)), University of Queensland
Oct 30th, School of Chemistry, University of New South Wales
Nov 13th, School of Molecular and Life Sciences, Curtin University
Nov 14th, School of Molecular Sciences (with invitations extended to Physics and Chem. Eng.), University of Western Australia
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Additionally, both Joy & Priya will give research talks at the 10th Congress on Ionic Liquids (COIL-10), Nov 17th-21st.
If you'd like to join any of the above events, feel free to reach out for info on time and location.
Research Award:
2025 Selby Research Award
The Selby Scientific Foundation has selected us as an outstanding academic group and is supporting us to develop electrified platforms for chemical synthesis and to address increasing emission levels and climate challenges. This award will help support open-access publications, our undergraduate researchers, and our ongoing collaboration with Harvard University (USA).
Research Grant:
ARC Discovery Project 2025-2028
We have been awarded with ARC DP25 (a highly-competitive national grant) to develop self-healing ionic liquid lubricants for high-vacuum and high-temperature applications. This project will help address the urgent need to replace toxic components of current generation liquid lubricants to create safer, longer-lasting, more energy efficient formulations effective over a wide range of operating conditions. Chief investigator groups include Prof. Gregory G. Warr (USyd), Prof. Rob Atkin (UWA) and us! This project is in collaboration with ANSTO and the University of Oxford (UK).
Research Award:
Sydney Horizon Fellowship 2024-2029
by USYD Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research)
The University of Sydney's flagship fellowship scheme, the Sydney Horizon Fellowships, empowers the world's best and brightest emerging academics to undertake innovative research that will contribute to the common good by addressing the complex challenges of climate change, health and sustainability.
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Our research program of "using plasma and magneto-electrochemistry for solving energy and climate challenges" has been selected as the top 3% (among 1462 applications submitted from across 66 countries) to receive this prestigious award.
Our project aims include using plasma electrochemistry for scalable chemical production, developing magneto-electrochemical technologies for chemical separations and ionic motors, and designing solar-powered plasma devices to produce ozone and mitigate climate damage. Our methodologies encompass plasma chemistry, electrochemical synthesis, radical reactions, and device engineering.