The post PhD Candidate wins SA Student Water Prize appeared first on Water Research Australia.
]]>A collaboration between WaterRA, SA Water and the University of Queensland, Sarah’s project is titled Quantification of Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Sludge-Drying Lagoons and Strategies for Methane Emission Mitigation.
Sarah completed a Bachelor of Science specialising in Biotechnology at Flinders University. Her Honours research with SA Water on the microbial risk assessment of source water prompted her interest in the microbiology of water science, and lead to her industry-based PhD on wastewater GHG emissions.
Congratulations Sarah!
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]]>Minh Duc Nguyen’s research is a collaborative project between Water Research Australia, Deakin University and Barwon Water to develop innovative technologies to reuse and manage water treatment sludge. Minh Duc was awarded the 2020 Nancy Millis Memorial PhD Award, an Australia Award in 2013 and most recently awarded International Student of the Year (Regional) at the 2021-22 Victorian International Education Awards.
Another congratulations to Melbourne Water, University of Queensland, University of Melbourne and Ektimo for taking out the R&D Excellence Award at the AWA’s Victorian Water Awards with their project: Real Greenhouse Gas Emission Measurement and Reporting for Real Reductions As We Move Toward Net Zero.
Led by WaterRA Graduate Peter Wardrop, Melbourne Water’s greenhouse gas measurement program establishes validated methods to accurately measure and quantify emissions from sewage treatment, significantly improving industry knowledge and reporting methodologies. Accurate emission measurement is critical to assess mitigation strategy effectiveness as we move towards a net-zero carbon future, ensuring our efforts focus on real reductions.
As leaders in collaborative water research, WaterRA supports innovation in the sector through long-term sponsorship of both the national and state-based Research and Development Excellence Awards offered by the Australian Water Association.
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]]>These awards are presented annually to WaterRA students who have commenced their studies in the previous 12 months. Both awards acknowledge the contribution that devoted members of the WaterRA community, Emeritus Professor Nancy Millis AC ME and Professor Michael R Moore, made to the water industry throughout their careers. In recognition of their accomplishments, we proudly offer two prestigious memorial awards in their honour recognising the water industry’s future talent.
The late Emeritus Professor Nancy Millis AC MBE was deeply committed to WaterRA and its values since its inception. Appointed Chair of the Cooperative Research Centre for Water Quality and Treatment from 1995 until 2008, she maintained her involvement through the Education Program and on the Scientific Advisory Committee throughout her career. Find out more here.
The late Professor Michael R Moore was a singularly energetic, genial and engaging individual. He had a passion for research and thoroughly enjoyed interacting and supporting young students develop professionally. His fields of interest included the toxicology of metals, risk assessment, air quality, alcoholism, cyanobacteria and disorders of porphyrin metabolism. Find out more here.
Submissions close at 5.00pm AEDT on 17 November 2022.
If you are interested in applying for one of the above Awards, please contact Carolyn Bellamy to receive an application form.
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]]>Recognised for his initiative, exceptional qualities and passion for research, Duc’s research looks at how Barwon Water can beneficially reuse waste products from water treatment plants.
A collaboration between WaterRA, Barwon Water and Deakin University, the project has been extended to include three other Victorian water management bodies.
His research skills, including laboratory, experiment design, data analysis, academic writing and project management, have developed significantly while doing his PhD, allowing Duc to work in both the industry and academic sides of the water sector.
Duc successfully balances the demands of his full-time PhD research, working part-time and giving back to his fellow students. He founded a group that supports Vietnamese students in Geelong that now boasts 600 members, which gives advice on accommodation, study tips and making friends.
Duc was also the recipient of WaterRA’s Nancy Millis Memorial PhD Award in 2020.
Congratulations Duc!
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]]>The post PhD candidate presents at IWA World Water Congress appeared first on Water Research Australia.
]]>“The IWA World Water Congress was held in Copenhagen, Denmark during September 2022. The congress was a grand event and a high-level summit for water professionals all over the world, which featured engaging water professionals with interdisciplinarity experts from agriculture, architects, urban planners, social sciences, hydrologists and others. The five-day conference was an excellent opportunity for people to reunite after nearly three years of the pandemic and to share the brilliant idea and thinking around the topics of most concern such as climate change, water and wastewater management, city-scale planning and operations.
As a third-year PhD student, it was my greatest honour to attend this exceptional conference under the support of Water Research Australia through the Nancy Millis Memorial Award! The conference provided a great chance to learn, network and embrace novel research ideas. During the conference, I got to meet with pioneers from my research area. The conversation with them shed light on my future career plan. The interesting talk in each presentation greatly inspired me and I learned so much outside of my research area.
Besides meeting and learning from other water professionals, I was also lucky enough to showcase my research with a topic on modelling and mitigating greenhouse gas emissions from sewage treatment plants using a hybrid modelling approach. I was even more blessed that the audience showed great interest in my work with loads of questions and discussions.
Overall, the overseas conference experience was an absolute highlight of my PhD journey and I was even more motivated after the conference.”
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]]>‘Development and Comparison of Water Quality Network Model and Data Analytics Model for Monochloramine Decay Prediction’ was published in Volume 14 of the Water 2022 Journal.
Undertaking his PhD at the University of South Australia, Sharif is working with SA Water to develop a management tool to assist water operators with chloramination.
A WaterRA BIG Team congratulations to Sharif!
Header image: Sharif Hossain
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]]>Deakin University PhD candidate, Mariah Sampson, has been awarded Water Research Australia’s 2022 Nancy Millis Memorial Award.
The award, presented annually, is for a student who has demonstrated initiative, has exceptional qualities and a passion for research. It honours Nancy Millis who was a microbiologist of international repute who made enormous contributions in agriculture, environmental protection, medicine, and engineering.
Mariah is currently helping Victoria’s Barwon Water with an assessment of the effectiveness of planned restoration works in the East Barwon River, which can be used to guide future works and negotiations with new landowners if similar projects arise.
The Barwon River is the major source of drinking water for the city of Geelong. The upper reach of the (East) Barwon River currently faces several challenges that pose downstream risks to both water quality and water security.
Barwon Water has established a project that will see crown frontage along the 3km stretch of the East Barwon Branch transferred to a Barwon Water-led committee of management. Under the guidance of the committee, Barwon Water will undertake Willow removal, streambed stabilisation, revegetation and stock exclusion—with the aim of improving the water quality and overall waterway health.
Mariah’s research will assess the extent to which the East-Barwon River Restoration project methodology contributes to improving key river health indicators and assess changes in water quality and ecological parameters associated with a restored riparian buffer zone.
“I am passionate about the balance human and environmental water needs,” Mariah said. “Through my PhD I am able to explore the complex problem of willow removal and riparian restoration within a water supply catchment and how riparian restoration might be optimised as a solution to meet needs of diverse stakeholders and to promote aquatic ecology.”
Mariah says receiving the Nancy Millis Memorial Award is a huge honour and she hopes to do it justice.
“I couldn’t imagine doing a PhD without the support of WaterRA,” she added. “My Deakin University supervisors are fantastic as well as the team from Barwon Water – they are so helpful, we catch up often and they give me access to key information, as well as introduce me to relevant stakeholders.
“There’s been a lot of support from everyone and it’s very easy to stay motivated because I know where the research fits into industry and why it’s useful.”
Mariah’s PhD supervisor, Prof Rebecca Lester from Deakin University, says Mariah is a worthy recipient of the award.
“She is a dedicated and talented student who has developed a comprehensive project to investigate the effect of restoration on temperate streams,” Rebecca said. “Her work will contribute to the scientific literature but also directly inform future restoration efforts.
“The Nancy Mills Award presents a wonderful opportunity for early career scientists like Mariah to develop complementary skills and develop networks with other industry professionals.”
Dr William Buchanan, Chief Scientist at Barwon Water, said he is thrilled to celebrate Mariah being awarded the prestigious Nancy Millis Memorial Award for 2022.
“Nancy Millis was a trailblazer in opening-up opportunities for female professionals in STEM,” he said. “Mariah’s applied research is representative of Nancy’s legacy; helping as it does to deepen and extend our knowledge on waterway health through measuring physio-chemical properties, water quality and biological collections before and after river restoration.
“Barwon Water’s sponsorship of Mariah’s PhD is in recognition of the significance her research holds for the water industry.”
The late Emeritus Professor Nancy Millis AC MBE was appointed Chair of the Cooperative Research Centre for Water Quality and Treatment (CRCWQT) from 1995 until 2008 and subsequently maintained her involvement through the Education Program and on the Scientific Advisory Committee following the inception of Water Research Australia.
To find out more about the late Professor Nancy Millis, her extraordinary life, and successful career as a leading female researcher click here.
Image: Mariah Sampson.
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]]>‘A scoping review on Water Sensitive Urban Design aims and achievements’ was published in Volume 19, Issue 4 of the Urban Water Journal.
Undertaking her PhD at Victoria University, Samira is currently helping Melbourne Water understand the best implementation method and optimal locations of WSUD approaches in existing developments.
A WaterRA BIG Team congratulations to Samira!
Image: Samira Rashetnia
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]]>Huan is a PhD student from University of Technology Sydney (UTS). Her project “A closed loop technology benefits wastewater treatment plants through sludge treatment” is working to develop a technology for improving antibiotic resistance genes and pathogen removal, enhancing anaerobic sludge digestion and boosting dewaterability of digested sludge.
The prize-winning project is part of collaborative research projects sponsored by Water Research Australia and the Australia Research Council, and will bring economic and environmental benefits to the water industry. WaterRA is supporting this research work via Project 2058 Understanding and Reducing the Spread of Antibiotic Resistance in Anaerobic Sludge Digestion supported by industry-partner South East Water.
“I am delighted Huan’s work has been recognised by the water industry and I would like to acknowledge the strong support from WaterRA and South East Water,” said Huan’s PhD supervisor, Professor Qilin Wang from the Centre for Technology in Water and Wastewater at UTS.
Image: WaterRA CEO Karen Rouse with Huan Liu.
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