ARC Industry Fellow, Scientia Associate Professor in Environmental Engineering

I am an environmental microbiologist and water engineer with extensive experience spanning both academia and industry. My research focuses on environmental biotechnology and process engineering for sustainable wastewater treatment, resource recovery, renewable gas production, and greenhouse gas emissions reduction. A central theme of my work is translating scientific discoveries into practical solutions for the water, waste, and energy sectors through close collaboration with industry. I am currently a Scientia Associate Professor at UNSW Sydney, leading the Green Environmental Technologies for Sustainability (GetSus) research group. 

Since relocating to Australia as a full-time researcher in 2019, I have secured over $14M in competitive research funding as CI (>$8.5M as lead CI), including ARC Discovery Projects (×2), ARC Linkage Projects (×5), prestigious Fellowships (×3), AEA Ignite (×1), CRC-P (×1), and substantial in-kind support from industry. These projects directly address key national and global challenges in circular-economy innovations and net-zero emissions. I maintain strategic collaborations with several of Australia’s largest water utilities, as well as international industry partners. These strong collaborations ensure my research is grounded in real-world applications with direct implementation pathways.

I have supervised 8 HDR students to completion, with graduates achieving outstanding recognition, including prestigious ARC and Advance Queensland Fellowships, National Student Prize (Australian Water Association), Dean’s Award for Outstanding PhD thesis (UQ), and Honourable Mention for Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Award by Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors (AEESP, USA). I currently lead 12 HDR students, 4 postdoctoral researchers, and 1 ARC DECRA Fellow, providing tailored career development support.

I have authored ~180 peer-reviewed articles in Q1 (or top-25%) journals, averaging >20 journal publications per year. In ~50%, I am the 1st or corresponding author. These publications have garnered >7,200 citations (averaging >40 citations per paper) with an h-index of 48 (Google Scholar). Of the total ~180 publications, ~80 were published in Nature Publishing Group journals (Nature Sustainability, Nature Water, Nature Communications) and in top discipline-specific, Nature-indexed journals (Environmental Science & Technology, Water Research, and The ISME Journal), with many being ESI Highly Cited papers (Clarivate, Web of Science). I currently serve as an Editor of Water Research and a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of Environmental Science & Technology.

My research also generates industry-relevant outputs, including three Australian patents: i) Method of Upgrading Biogas (No. 2025903941), ii) Gas Treatment Process (No. 2022902104), and iii) Method for Treating Wastewater or Sludge (No. 2019901771). I have co-founded a UNSW spin-out company (www.carbonhills.com.au) to accelerate the commercialisation of these groundbreaking technologies.