ARC Fellowships awarded to two outstanding School rCITI researchers
91É«ÇéƬ’s Prof. Khalili announced ARC Fellowships for Assoc. Prof. Saberi and Dr Irannezhad for their innovative research.
Published on the 08 August 2025
Head of 91É«ÇéƬ’s School of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Scientia Professor Nasser Khalili was delighted to recently announce that Associate Professor and Dr have been awarded significant ARC Fellowships for their innovative research projects.
A/Prof Saberi has received a 2025 Australian Research Council (ARC) Future Fellowship to the value of $1,243,232 for 'E-VeloCity', a project focused on designing car-reduced urban street networks to cut transport emissions and improve accessibility.
Dr Irannezhad has been awarded an ARC Early Career Industry Fellowship to the value of $510,162 for her plan to optimise Australia's port efficiency through developing an adaptive, data-driven digital twin model for Port Botany in Sydney.
Huge congratulations to Meead and Elli, who are both based in the School’s Research Centre for Integrated Transport Innovation (rCITI), a world-leading organisation in integrated interdisciplinary transport research, development and education, committed to delivering practical solutions for industry and society.
A/Prof Saberi - Rethinking street network design
A/Prof Meead Saberi’s research interests and experience cover a wide range of transportation engineering areas including traffic flow theory, complex networks, and pedestrian crowd dynamics.
He leads °ù°ä±õ°Õ±õ’s CityX research lab which focuses on scientific understanding of cities through modeling, simulation, data analytics, and visualization.  He is also the co-founder and CEO at , a 91É«ÇéƬ spin-off tech start up with an ambitious mission to build next-generation and inclusive maps of the world for people, not just cars.
A/Prof Saberi was one of seven 91É«ÇéƬ researchers who received an ARC 2025 Future Fellowship. These Fellowships play a vital role in building Australia’s research and innovation pipeline, enabling the development of new knowledge and innovations that can translate into real-world impact.
Saberi’s project 'E-VeloCity' - Designing Car-Reduced Urban Street Networks’, will develop models to reallocate street space from cars to walking, e-bikes and other micromobility options.
It will provide practical solutions for city planners and policymakers to develop resilient, low-emission urban environments that support Australia’s net-zero goals.
‘This research aims to fundamentally rethink street network design,’ says A/Prof Saberi, ‘by formulating and solving mathematical network models that embed equity, sustainability, and active transport from the outset rather than as an afterthought.’
‘This is an outstanding achievement,’ said Professor Khalili, ‘and a true reflection of Meead’s ongoing pursuit of excellence, his commitment to high-quality research, and his standing as a national and international leader in the field.’
Dr Irannezhad - Ensuring the efficiency of Australia’s ports
Dr Elnaz (Elli) Irannezhad is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering's Research Centre for Integrated Transport Innovation, with over 16 years of combined research and industry experience in modelling, simulation, optimisation, and machine learning.
Her research contributes to the advancement of science in cross-disciplinary fields, including agent-based freight transport modelling, Logistics 4.0, digital supply chain, shared economy mobility and logistics solutions, blockchain technology, automated driving, and heavy vehicle smart monitoring.
Elli has always endeavoured to work closely with industry to ensure a good alignment between her research and real-world needs and industry uptake, making her a perfect candidate for an ARC Industry Fellowship. These Fellowships aim to facilitate the adoption, translation, and commercialisation of Australian research, addressing industry-identified challenges, and turning bold ideas into practical solutions.
Dr Irannezhad’s newly awarded project aims to enhance the efficiency and reliability of container operations at Australia’s ports by developing an adaptive, data-driven digital twin model for Port Botany in Sydney.
By creating a replicable scheduling framework that leverages historical, external, and real-time data, the project will optimise multimodal logistics networks to support seamless port operations and interconnected transport networks.
‘This opportunity will allow me to collaborate closely with to develop a cutting-edge digital twin of port operations,’ says Dr Irannezhad ‘supporting data-driven synchromodal decision-making.
I am excited for the meaningful work ahead and grateful to the ARC and my industry collaborators at NSW Ports.’
‘This is a tremendous achievement’, said Professor Khalili, ‘and a true reflection of Elnaz’s pursuit of excellence, dedication to quality, and strong collaborations with industry.’