Charles Sturt University secures win at Asian Innovation Excellence Awards 2025

The university’s Data Science & Engineering Research Unit advanced sustainability and innovation through AI-driven research in agriculture, health, and education across Australia.

Charles Sturt University won an accolade in the Australia Learning & Development Innovation of the Year - Education category at the Asian Innovation Excellence Awards 2025. The recognition highlights the university’s research outcomes that combine advanced data science, engineering, and technology applications to address Australia’s sustainability and development priorities.

The Data Science & Engineering Research Unit (DSERU), part of the School of Computing, Mathematics, and Engineering, leads national projects that use artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, computer vision, and data analytics to deliver measurable results in agriculture, environmental management, and healthcare. Its initiatives influenced local council decisions, informed community programmes, and supported industry resilience.

Under the leadership of Professor Lihong Zheng, the unit secured more than 25 external research grants and produced over 360 publications, including 118 papers in the top 10% of global journals. These works accumulated more than 216,000 citations with an h-index of 193. The research group collaborated with major Cooperative Research Centres such as CyberSecurity-CRC, Soil-CRC, and FoodAgility-CRC to develop commercial prototypes and promote knowledge transfer in sectors such as agribusiness, regional planning, and energy.

Amongst its notable projects are SCATES, a national collaboration that protects Australia’s agricultural digital systems against cyber threats; TRAKKA, a platform that enables real-time data exchange across the red-meat supply chain; and a university-led water governance initiative that contributes to infrastructure planning and resource efficiency. Each project demonstrates the university’s focus on evidence-based innovation and measurable community benefits.

Since 2023, Charles Sturt University has received more than 30 national and international awards for research excellence, reinforcing its position as a leading Australian institution in learning, development, and applied innovation.

The Asian Innovation Excellence Awards honours companies that achieve measurable outcomes and address key challenges through innovation and operational improvement, recognising initiatives that drive meaningful progress across diverse industries in the region.

The Asian Innovation Excellence Awards is presented by Asian Business Review. To view the full list of winners, click here. For more information on the awards programme, you may contact Julie Anne Nuñez-Difuntorum at (+65) 3158 1386 ext 242 or at [email protected].