Speakers

In 2006 Amanda commenced at Flinders University as a teaching/research academic in Chemical and Physical Sciences. During this time she became a full professor and acting Associate Dean of Research for the Faculty of Science and Engineering. In May 2017 she joined the Chemical Engineering Department at the University of Melbourne. She has secured over $20 M in funding from the ARC and non-ARC sources on projects as well as publishing over 145 peer-reviewed publication involving novel polymer coatings, membrane science, functionalised carbon nanotubes and graphene, microfluidics, genotyping and DNA nanotechnology. Currently, she is an ARC Future Fellow, Board member of the Royal Australia Chemical Institute (RACI) and a College of Experts MCPE panel member.

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He has served as an expert advisor on some of the world’s largest and most technically advanced desalination projects and has been appointed to serve on committees by the National Academy of Sciences, World Health Organization, Middle East Desal Research Center and Australia’s National Center of Excellence in Desalination. A former vice president of CH2M Hill, and the director of corporate projects for USFilter/Veolia Water, and he currently sits on several industry technical advisory boards.

He received his Ph.D. degree in materials science and engineering from the University of Science and Technology of China, and then worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the California Institute of Technology and the University of California Riverside. He received an Queen Elizabeth II Fellowship in 2004 and a Future Fellowship in 2010 from the Australian Research Council. Prof Wang is a Fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers and the Royal Society of Chemistry. His current research focuses on metal organic framework and nanoporous materials and polymer composite membranes for water desalination and purification, gas separation, ion selective transport, and electrochemical energy applications.

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His career spans multiple phases from R&D to product development and management; engineering and operations management; and 10 years in a general management. He has worked for Memcor in the UK and Australia; and been engaged in its business activities in Asia, Europe and the USA. Bruce is an inventor or co-inventor of multiple Memcor products. He holds a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering, 1st Class Honours and Master of Business Administration.

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Most recently, she has investigated membrane contactor processes for innovative solutions to contaminant and energy challenges; pressure-driven membrane processes as industry standards for desalination and water reuse; membrane bioreactor technology; and colloidal and interfacial aspects of membrane processes. Dr. Childress has directed research funded by federal, state, and private agencies with research projects in the past two years being funded by the Department of Defense Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program, Environmental Protection Agency, National Science Foundation, California Department of Water Resources, and the Electric Power Research Institute. She has received awards for publications, research innovation, and technology education. Dr. Childress is a past president of the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors. She has been invited as a plenary or keynote speaker to technical conferences worldwide. Dr. Childress chairs NWRI panels on direct potable reuse and seawater desalination projects in California and serves on the external advisory panel for Singapore Public Utilities Board. She is also co-editor of Desalination and on the advisory board of Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology.

Website: www.amyechildress.com

He now directs the Convergence Research Center, named 'Science Walden', supported by National Research Foundation of Korea, with convergence of science and arts being focused, since 2015. He tries to make various designs for communities, education program, etcetera. He proposed the feces Standard Money (fSM) concept in edge.org (edge.org/response-detail/26660). He is one of founding members of North Korea Water Society under the ministry of Unification, Korea, since 2015, to discuss what should be done for Korean unification and on potential ways to collaborate to solve water issues in both Koreas, between two Koreas. He has been providing small water purification units being operated without electricity (named ‘OngDalSaem’), to villages in various different countries.

Website: withBasics.org

He obtained his Chemical Engineering MSc degree (1992) and his Chemical Engineering PhD degree (1997) at the University of Twente (the Netherlands). From 1997-2002 he worked as a Process Engineer at Seghers better technology for Water in Belgium and worked on membrane filtration in waste water treatment.

Since 2003 he is a Senior Scientific Researcher at KWR Watercycle Research Institute and his research topics include membrane fouling and cleaning, rejection of emerging contaminants by pressure driven membranes and developing innovative processes[1].

He published more than 86 papers in well-respected scientific journals (h-factor of 31), co-filed 4 patents and written three book chapters. He received several innovation awards in the field water treatment and membrane filtration.

After being introduced to membrane processes at Bath University, he soon secured a prestigious Royal Academy of Engineering award to work on the evaluation of potential membrane processes for environmental improvements.  His most highly cited research relates to the concept of a critical flux for fouling which has had widespread influence beyond academe.  Although originally introduced for pressure driven porous membrane processes he has led in the development of its wider applicability. His work on pervaporation has encompassed the manufacture of caesium polyacrylate hydrophilic membranes, bespoke hydrophobic membranes and fundamental analysis of the constraints imposed upon systems by boundary layer transport phenomena.  He is currently a Professor at the University of Oxford where his current work includes an interdisciplinary study “Exploring Water Re-use – the nexus of engineering technology and public policy” which is funded by an esteemed APEX award from the Royal Society/British Academy.

Before joining the Masdar Institute, he spent two years at FPInnovations-Paprican division, Canada, as a scientist. He was also a visiting scholar at MIT between 2008 and 2009. He joined the Mechanical and Materials Engineering Department at Masdar Institute back in 2008. He established the Advanced Nanofibers laboratory where he investigates novel synthesis techniques and applications of nanofibers with a focus on electrospun membranes for desalination.

He has over 7 years industrial experience in the petroleum and chemical industries with Shell Research and Aspen Technology, and 19 years of academic experience in esteemed UK and US institutions. His area of expertise lies in colloidal and interfacial processes and the application of colloids, surfactants, interfaces and membranes in process technology, particularly in potable and wastewater treatment. He is the Director of the Centre for Sustainable Water Engineering at The University of Oxford, and acted as the Oxford Director of the Singapore-Peking-Oxford Research enterprise. He is Joint Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Water Process Engineering, and sits on the editorial board of four other journals.

Dr. He was educated as a chemical engineer and obtained his Ph.D. in membrane technology from University of Twente in 2001. His current research interests cover membrane fabrication and applications, including phase separation behavior of semicrystalline polymers in immersion precipitation, forward osmosis and membrane distillation, extraction of precious metal ions from brine, isotope separation using membrane chemical exchanges and solvent resistance membrane materials and applications. He is a recipient of Newton Advanced Fellowship (Royal Society) and co-Editor of Desalination.

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Tao_He16

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Lienhard received his bachelors and masters degrees in thermal engineering at UCLA from the Chemical, Nuclear, and Thermal Engineering Department. He joined MIT immediately after completing his PhD in the Applied Mechanics and Engineering Science Department at UC San Diego. Lienhard’s research on desalination has included humidification-dehumidification, membrane distillation, forward and reverse osmosis, nanofiltration, electrodialysis, management of high salinity brines, fouling, energy efficiency, and remediation of wastewater from oil/gas operations. Lienhard has directly supervised more than 85 graduate theses and postdoctoral associates, and he is the author of more than 200 peer-reviewed publications and three textbooks. In addition, he holds more than 40 US Patents and pending applications, many of which have been commercialized in the water industry. Lienhard is a recipient of the 2012 ASME Globalization Medal and the 2015 ASME Heat Transfer Memorial Award.

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After working with BP, Kalsep and Hydranautics in various aspects of membrane R&D and system design, Graeme formed Membrane Consultancy Associates (MCA) in 2005. MCA works with a broad spectrum of users and providers of membrane technology on performance improvement and dispute resolution, as well as with new entrants and prospective investors. He is well known in the field of water and membranes through workshops, teaching, lectures and publications including his own book (see www.membraneconsultancy.com for further details).

She also holds the position of Director, Singapore Membrane Technology Centre (SMTC).  She is the founding President of Membrane Society in Singapore (MEMSIS).

Prof. Wang is an expert in Membrane Science and Technology, with focuses on research, innovation and technology translation. In particular, she specializes in developing novel membranes such as osmosis membrane, aquaporin-based biomimetic membrane and low-pressure nanofiltration membrane, etc. for water, energy and environments.

Prof. Wang has over 250 peer-reviewed SCI journal publications (citation: >10,000; H-index: 55@ Web of Science). She is the inventor of 25 patents/technical disclosures for novel membrane fabrication. Two NTU’s spin-off companies and two industry licensing resulted from her inventions. She delivered 8 plenary lectures and 12 keynote addresses at international conferences in the US, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific countries in the last 3 years. She is an Editor of the Journal of Membrane Science,and sits in the Editorial Board of Desalination.

Prof. Wang received a prestigious “Alternative Water Prize” from Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz International Prize for Water (PSIPW) of Saudi Arabia in 2016, and was featured among the top 25 leading water researchers globally by Lux Research in 2013.  She also received Singapore Minister for National Development R&D Award in 2013, and Nanyang Research Award in 2018.

Over the past 25 years, Luke has worked on an impressive range of water related issues. His passion for aquatic microbiology and engineering is evidenced and fuelled by direct involvement in founding multidisciplinary research and industry teams. His individual contributions have underpinned scientific approaches to understand and improve directly to the health and wealth of the nation’s productivity, skills and training, ground and surface water treatment.