Vice-Chancellor's Senior Research Fellows

Vice-Chancellor’s Senior Research Fellows are internationally recognised experts in their field with excellent research track records.

The Vice-Chancellor’s Senior Research Fellowships is a competitive scheme advertised internationally on an annual basis.

Applicants are selected on the basis of their excellent track record and international recognition for undertaking high quality research in one of RMIT's research priority areas.

2024 Vice-Chancellor's Senior Research Fellows

Dr Jack Feehan

STEM | Health & Biomedical Sciences

Jack is an emerging leader in the treatment and prevention of chronic disease and healthy ageing. Currently Jack is working on a range of translational interventions to improve the health of older people. In addition, he is an AHPRA registered allied health practitioner (osteopathy), with experience managing patients with musculoskeletal disease. Jack received his PhD from the University of Melbourne in 2021, investigating immunological and stem cell involvement in musculoskeletal disease of older adults. Since then, he has published more than 70 peer-reviewed publications, several book chapters and a book on the role of exercise in chronic disease. Jack currently supervises several Ph.D. students working in areas from public health allied health service utilization to drug and vaccine development for diseases of ageing. Jack is also an International Research Leadership Fellow at the University of Technology, Sydney, and sits on the research committee for Osteopathy Australia.

Dr Sam Whiting

DSC | Media & Communication

Sam is a 2024 Vice-Chancellor’s Senior Research Fellow, pursuing a four-year project on crisis in the Australian music industries with a focus on the impact of GenAI, technologies of automation, and other contemporary points of inflection for the sector. His research involves stakeholder partnerships to inform methodology and scope, ensuring that findings inform policy decisions and provide guidance to the Australian music industries. His research is aimed at informing advocacy towards better cultural policymaking in Australia, and he hopes to collaborate with APRA/AMCOS, MEAA, Music Australia and other music industries stakeholders as the project develops. Sam is also a 2024 Churchill Fellowship recipient.

Dr Zlatko Kopecki

STEM | Heath & Biomedical Sciences

Dr Zlatko Kopecki is a past NHMRC ECR Fellow, Future Industries Institute Foundation Fellow, and a Mid-Career Fellow in Childhood Wound Infections. His research integrates cell therapy and biomaterials to develop frontier technologies for improved wound care. Working with industry partners Dr Kopecki aims to develop therapies with broad implications for millions of Australians suffering from impaired healing and wound infection. Dr Kopecki’s transdisciplinary approaches to therapy development using preclinical models of acute and biofilm wound infection provide a platform for testing novel wound dressings and pharmacological material delivery systems hence providing translational outcomes and a clear pathway towards clinical trials.

RMIT Vice-Chancellor's Senior Research Fellows by starting year

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2023 Vice-Chancellor's Senior Research Fellows

Dr Melanie Lowe

School of Global, Urban and Social Studies | DSC College

Dr Melanie Lowe is a Vice-Chancellor’s Senior Research Fellow in the Centre for Urban Research, RMIT University. Melanie investigates how to plan healthy and resilient cities and develops evidence informed indicators to monitor and inform policy. She works at the interface of the urban planning and public health fields and collaborates with researchers and policymakers to strengthen consideration of health in city planning. Her research has been included in local, state and federal government policy in Australia. She is Co-Director of the Global Observatory of Healthy and Sustainable Cities, which develops and provides indicators of healthy and sustainable urban design and planning for cities across the globe.

Dr Sarah Barns

School of Global, Urban and Social Studies | DSC College

Dr Sarah Barns is a Vice-Chancellors Senior Research Fellow whose work is critically engaged with the evolution of digital–urban interfaces, platforms and ecosystems and their implications for urban justice and connected communities.

Dr Emmanuelle Walkowiak

School of Economics, Finance and Marketing | CoBL

Dr Emmanuelle Walkowiak is a Vice-Chancellor Senior Research Fellow in economics at the RMIT School of Economics, Finance and Marketing. Her research analyses how the rapid diffusion of technologies is disrupting work, workers, workplaces, the labour market and employment policies. As businesses struggle with the post-Covid workplace models, it is urgent to adapt employment policies and organisational practices to make them fit for a productive, inclusive and sustainable Future of Work.

Dr Peter Sherrell

School of Science | STEM College

Dr Peter C. Sherrell is a Senior Vice Chancellors Research Fellow in Applied Chemistry and Environmental Science within the STEM College. His research focusses on capturing and using ambient energy from the environment, to drive green and sustainable chemistries. In particular, Peter is working on developing new methods of harvesting motion and heat from chemical and electrochemical processes, to enable highly efficient catalysis. He is broadly interested in understanding materials structure-property-performance relationships, and unlocking the fundamental mechanisms behind emerging energy devices - and using these mechanistic understanding to engineer more efficient energy storage, conversion, and harvesting systems.

Dr Kate Anderson

School of School of Computing Technologies | STEM College

Dr Natalie Javonovski

School of Health and Biomedical Sciences | STEM College

Dr Philipp Reineck

School of Science | STEM College

Dr Philipp Reineck is a Senior Vice-Chancellor's Research Fellow and an associate investigator of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Nanoscale BioPhotonics. His research interests span many areas including biophysics, fluorescent nanomaterials, plasmonics, nanoparticle chemistry and self-assembly, nano-photonics and bioimaging.

2022 Vice-Chancellor's Senior Research Fellows

Dr Yunhui Chen

Dr Yunhui Chen is a Vice-Chancellor's Senior Research Fellow in the School of Engineering and a Visiting Scientist at European Synchrotron Research Facilities, France. Dr Chen works in the field of in situ synchrotron X-ray imaging of additive manufacturing. She is an avid experimentalist, developing nano-precision apparatus which replicate the processing and service performance of materials on a synchrotron beamline, enabling the 3D vision of the inside of materials as they change in realtime. Her work explores the material phenomena in advanced manufacturing processes, including the microstructural evolution, defect formation and phase transformations that are critical to industrial practice.

Associate Professor Melanie Davern

Associate Professor Melanie Davern is Director of the Australian Urban Observatory at the Centre for Urban Research, RMIT University and a Vice Chancellor’s Senior Research Fellow. Melanie combines her background in public health with urban planning and public policy through a program of liveability research investigating the connections between social, economic and environmental factors and health. Her interdisciplinary research practice includes qualitative, quantitative and spatial research methods with a passion for applied research using methodologies that enhance the translation of research knowledge into policy and planning practice.

Dr Nasir Mahmood

Dr Nasir Mahmood is a Senior Research Fellow in the School of Science, STEM College. Nasir obtained his PhD from Peking University in 2015. He is one of the highly cited researchers of 2021 by Clarivate.

He previously worked at the University of Wollongong and Tianjin University. Dr Mahmood published over 125 papers with citations over 9400 and an H-index of 45, hold four patents and is the author of ten books/book chapters.

Nasir is well known for commercialisation, attracting research funding and media attention, and organising conferences. His research has been highlighted in more than 80 media blogs/magazines in 6 different languages worldwide. He has been awarded several prestigious awards and currently serving as an Associate Editor for Frontiers in Chemistry.

Dr Mahsa Majzoobi

Dr Rebecca Olive

Dr Rebecca Olive is an ARC DECRA and Vice-Chancellor's Senior Research Fellow in the Social and Global Studies Centre. Her work focuses on the role of ocean and water sports in human-environmental health and wellbeing.

Rebecca is interested in recreational sport, physical activity and leisure in everyday life. Building on her work on sex/gender politics, her current focus is on how water sports like swimming, surfing and sailing shape how people feel connected to places and ecologies.

Rebecca co-edited 'Women in Action Sport Cultures', regularly contributes to surf media and has a project website, movingoceans.com

Dr Thi Thu Hao Van

Dr Van is a molecular microbiologist. Hao has led impactful industry-related research, which has been recognised internationally and nationally. Her areas of expertise include gut microbiota characterisation and manipulation, identification of bacterial pathogens and deciphering their biology, and developing intervention strategies to combat bacterial diseases, including the development of probiotics, antimicrobial compounds and vaccines.

Louise Byrne

Dr Louise Byrne is a researcher with deep knowledge of organisational issues relevant to ‘lived experience’ mental health employment. Louise is a Senior Research Fellow in the School of Management, College of Business and Law. Louise was awarded a Fulbright Postdoctoral Scholarship in 2017 to conduct research on lived experience employment in the United States, based at Yale University. Louise’s work frequently informs policy. Louise has received several industry and academic awards and been featured on respected national media, including Radio National ‘Life Matters’ and ABC’s ‘Q&A’. View her Tedx video on YouTube.

Louise is aligned to the RMIT Social Change ECP.

Find out more about Louise

Sefa Awaworyi Churchill

Sefa holds a PhD in Economics from Monash University. As an applied economist, his inter-disciplinary research focuses on development economics, innovation, wellbeing, and energy economics. He has published over 80 books, book chapters and journal articles in a wide range of fields, and has a strong record for attracting external grants with over half a million dollars in the last 3 years. He has experience working on consultancy projects for various policy agencies and international development organizations.

Sefa’s work aligns with the Global Business Innovation (GBI) and Social Change ECPs.He is based in the School of Economics, Finance & Marketing.

Sefa is aligned to the RMIT Global Business Innovation ECP.

Find out more about Sefa

Erica Kuligowski

Dr Erica Kuligowski is a Vice-Chancellor’s Senior Research Fellow in the School of Engineering at RMIT University. With a PhD in Sociology and MS and BS degrees in Engineering, she has pioneered interdisciplinary research studies of human response to hazards and disasters to improve the life safety of people in buildings and communities around the world. She joins RMIT University from the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Engineering Laboratory where her research on evacuation and sheltering behaviour and emergency communications in disaster events, including building fire, severe weather, and bushfire, has received prestigious awards from the U.S. Government (Department of Commerce) and international fire engineering organizations (SFPE and NFPA). Dr Kuligowski has written nine book chapters and over 100 journals, conference, and agency articles. Her work has led to the development of new or improved building codes and community standards, decision-making tools for disaster response such as evacuation models, and emergency alert/warning creation tools and templates.

Erica is aligned to the RMIT Urban Futures ECP.

Find out more about Erica

Haiyan Li

Dr Haiyan Li (Vice-Chancellor Senior Research Fellow in the School of Engineering) is a biomaterials scientist with a background in polymer science and bioceramics. Her research focuses on developing bioactive hydrogels for tissue regeneration.

Find out more aboutHaiyan

Dr Troy Innocent

Dr Troy Innocent is a Senior Research Fellow at RMIT University where his creative practice research investigates urban play and its role in re-imagining and co-creating cities.

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Dr Joona Keränen

Dr. Joona Keränen is an Associate Professor and Vice-Chancellor´s Senior Research Fellow at the Graduate School of Business & Law at RMIT University.

His research is focused on understanding how industrial firms can sell, buy, and price value and performance outcomes in business-to-business (B2B) markets.

Find out more about Joona

Dr Monica Barrett

Monica is a Vice-Chancellor's Senior Research Fellow in the Social and Global Studies Centre at RMIT University. She is currently undertaking a four-year program of research investigating psychoactive drug use in digital society.

Find out more about Monica

Dr Francesca Cavalieri

Find out more about Francesca

Dr Anita Quigly

Find out more about Anita

Dr Jaz Choi

Dr Jaz Hee-jeong Choi is the Director of the Care-full Design Lab and Vice-Chancellor’s Senior Research Fellow, who leads RMIT in the EU Horizon 2020 project, CreaTures: Creative Practices for Transformational Futures (2020 - 2022).

Vice-Chancellor's Senior Research Fellows