The Australian Research Council has honoured Sami Al-Izzi, Daniel Altman, and Ziyang Lyu with Discovery Early Career Researcher Awards in a major achievement for the School.
UNSW Mathematics and Statistics is thrilled to report that three Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Early Career Researcher Awards (DECRAs) were secured within the School.
Drs Sami Al-Izzi, Daniel Altman, and Ziyang Lyu have each received these prestigious three-year research grants in the latest round.
Dr Sami Al-Izzi is currently a Postdoctoral Researcher in UNSW Physics, working within the ARC Centre of Excellence for Mathematical Analysis of Cellular Systems. He is set to join the School of Mathematics and Statistics next year.
His DECRA project is titled “Active Mechanics of Biological Interfaces”.
Dr Daniel Altman is presently a Postdoctoral Researcher at Stanford University who completed his PhD at the University of Oxford in 2023. He undertook his undergraduate mathematics studies at UNSW, receiving multiple accolades such as featuring on the 2016 UNSW Science Dean’s List and winning a 2018 University Medal.
His DECRA will support his project “Higher-order Fourier analysis: Discerning structure from randomness”.
Dr Ziyang Lyu is a continuing tenure-track Lecturer in Statistics within the School of Mathematics and Statistics. He joined the School as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in 2021.
His DECRA-funded research is titled “Advanced statistical methods for complex longitudinal data”.
Full project abstracts can be found on the ARC’s Discovery Early Career Researcher Award 2026 round 1 webpage.
Research Director at UNSW Mathematics and Statistics, Professor Guoyin Li, commented on the School’s remarkable DECRA success.
“I am absolutely delighted by the wonderful news from the ARC that three DECRA fellowship applications from our School have been successful. My warmest congratulations to Daniel, Sami, and Ziyang on their well-deserved DECRA awards”, he said.
“The DECRA award is one of the most prestigious opportunities for early-career researchers. In this round, only nine DECRAs were awarded nationwide in the Mathematical Sciences (Field of Research Codes 4901–4905). Securing one-third of all awards in the discipline is a remarkable achievement and a testament to the strength and talent within our School.”
Head of School, Professor Andrew Francis, also noted that UNSW received 12 DECRA fellowships, with a full quarter of the university’s awards going to UNSW Mathematics and Statistics. "This is truly an amazing outcome for the School”, he said.
The DECRA scheme provides focused research support for early career researchers. It is designed to assist exceptional up-and-coming researchers with a demonstrated capacity for high-quality research and emerging capability for leadership and supervision, endeavours to help foster collaboration, support excellent and innovative research, create new or advanced knowledge with economic, commercial, environmental, social and/or cultural benefits, and promote enhanced opportunities for diverse career pathways.
A very wholehearted congratulations to Drs Sami Al-Izzi, Daniel Altman, and Ziyang Lyu on this exceptional achievement.