Thao Phan and Zahra Stardust awarded Discovery Early Career Research Award
Author ADM+S Centre
Date 25 November 2025
ADM+S Affiliates Dr Thao Phan and Dr Zahra Stardust have been awarded a Discovery Early Career Research Award (DECRA) from the Australian Research Council (ARC) for their respective research projects.
Thao Phan, from the Australian National University (ANU) was awarded a DECRA for her project, Model minorities: racial targeting and discrimination in the platform era.
This project aims to investigate the impacts of algorithmic targeting and discrimination on racially marginalised groups in Australia. With a goal to generate new knowledge on local impacts of global social media platforms by piloting innovative social science methods to document and analyse the real-world experience of racial targeting and classification.
Zahra Stardust, from the ADM+S node at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT), was awarded a DECRA for her project, Safeguarding sexual and reproductive rights online.
This project aims to investigate how online spaces are increasingly hostile for sexual minorities, who face criminalisation and surveillance. By bringing together local and global stakeholders, including sexual health organisations, public interest technologists, human rights lawyers and affected communities, this project investigates how digital platforms can better safeguard sexual and reproductive rights online.
The ARC has announced over $100 million in funding to support winners of the 2026 DECRA. This funding supports projects of 200 Early Career Researchers that address critical knowledge gaps, strengthening Australia’s research capability and global competitiveness.
ARC Chief Executive Officer Professor Ute Roessner explained that these newly funded projects ensure Australia remains at the forefront of global research and innovation, building a skilled workforce and delivering research backed impacts.
‘The ARC is proud to be empowering the next generation of research leaders to thrive in supportive environments, collaborate globally, and deliver outcomes that matter,’ Professor Roessner said.
Read the full list of 2026 ARC DECRA recipients project descriptions.
