She was one of six young Victorian scientists to be awarded the state government fellowship last Monday at a function at Government House.

Ms Ftouni is completing a PhD at the school of psychology and psychiatry at Monash University.

Her research is focused on preventing driver fatigue that particularly affects night-shift workers.

National Transport Commission research recently published by VicRoads indicates that up to 30per cent of truck fatalities and 52per cent of major crash insurance claims are related to drowsy drivers.

The fellowship, worth $18,000, will allow Ms Ftouni to run extensive tests on an OptAlert device, the only real-time safety system in the world that detects the early onset of drowsiness by accurately measuring a person's level of

alertness. The device looks like a normal pair of sunglasses, but has infrared transmitters fitted inside the frame that measure a range of eye movements. These feed into a small computer to calculate the driver's level of drowsiness.

In large, easy-to-read numbers on the OptAlert dashboard indicator displaying scores from zero to 10, a driver can check their fluctuating alertness level. The higher the score, the drowsier the driver is.

"The OptAlert device seems to be the most promising in terms of measuring driver fatigue," Ms Ftouni said.

"I'm absolutely over the moon that the state government has provided me with the funding to go out and conduct thorough research."

She aims to head to the US in July next year to run the tests and will spend some time in France to check out the driving laboratory simulation techniques there.

"The fellowship will cover my flights and accommodation and take care of me while I'm overseas.

"I hope more people out there apply for one."