Rozetta Institute is proud to announce the winners of the Winter 2026 round of the Rozetta Institute Scholarship Award (RISA) — our program supporting outstanding doctoral and research masters students whose work is strategically aligned with Rozetta’s mission to solve systemic challenges facing Australian industry.
The RISA reflects our belief that the next generation of researchers will play a critical role in addressing the challenges that matter most to Australian industry. The award is designed to bridge the gap between high-level academic inquiry and practical impact — supporting researchers whose work doesn’t just describe a problem, but creates the conditions for real change.
Recipients receive a $15,000 top-up scholarship paid over 12 months, access to Rozetta’s network of industry leaders, researchers and policymakers, and are matched with a mentor from our Research and Innovation Advisory Committee. In return, recipients work with their mentor to produce an impact assessment and implementation plan — connecting their research to a real-world initiative Rozetta can support.
The response to our Winter 2026 round was outstanding — applications spanned energy market design, artificial intelligence, critical minerals, quantum computing, and more, drawn from universities across the country. It was a highly competitive round, and every one of our winners should be proud of their selection.
CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR WINNERS
Eric Liu (Zhi Liu) — Monash University, Pricing System-Strength Directions in the National Electricity Market
AEMO pays generators “directed” to run for grid stability under a formula that isn’t cost-based — an estimated $163.8 million overpaid by South Australian consumers alone between 2022 and 2024. Eric is building a genuine cost-based benchmark to quantify the gap and test fairer alternatives, with findings landing just as the AEMC reviews this exact rule.
Sebastian Gee — UNSW Sydney, Measuring Market Power in the National Electricity Market
Australia’s electricity market has no equivalent of the interval-level surveillance used overseas to detect market power. Sebastian’s detection prototype already correctly flagged every verified high-price episode in a full month’s blind audit, with minimal false alerts — heading toward an open-source surveillance tool for regulators.
Amrita Nambiar — Macquarie University, Trade Secret Governance for Australia’s AI Innovation System: A Healthcare AI Case Study
Artificial intelligence has been identified as a strategic national capability, but whether AI research actually translates into deployed, real-world value often comes down to something rarely discussed: the legal architecture of trade secrets and intellectual property. Amrita’s research examines how governance settings around trade secret protection and transparency shape whether AI innovation in healthcare reaches the people it’s meant to help.
Rishav Prasad — UNSW Sydney, Measuring and Optimising National Value from Industrial Innovation
As Australia invests in critical minerals, green metals and hydrogen, does that investment build lasting domestic value — or leak offshore? Rishav is building a framework combining techno-economic modelling, value mapping and policy optimisation to give investors and policymakers a genuinely systemic way to compare industrial pathways.
Congratulations again to Eric, Sebastian, Amrita and Rishav — we’re proud to support your research and look forward to working with each of you over the coming year to help translate your work into real-world impact. We also extend our sincere thanks to every applicant who put their research forward this round; the quality and breadth of applications reaffirmed just how much talent is working on the problems that matter most to Australian industry.
Applications for the next round of the Rozetta Institute Scholarship Award will open in due course.