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Dr Anthony Halog

Lecturer

School of the Environment
Faculty of Science
a.halog@uq.edu.au
+61 7 336 56141

Overview

Anthony Halog is a Continuing Academic Staff at the University of Queensland (Australia) and joined from the University of Maine, USA where he was a professor in Industrial Ecology and Sustainable Bioeconomy. He has been researching the circular economy and bioeconomy since 2008 long before it became known in Australia in 2017. He was educated in Asia, Australia, and Europe, and worked in Japan and North America prior to settling in Australia. His research focuses on the sustainability of human-nature complexity through understanding the nexus of material and energy systems. Over the years, he has been working on the foundation and industrial applications of Circular Bioeconomy, Greening Supply Chains, Green Economy, Sustainable Operations, Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (LCSA), and Resource Management. His Research Group in Industrial Ecology and Circular Economy at UQ (http://industrialece.wixsite.com/main) endeavours to provide service/expertise for industry clients (e.g. agri-food-energy systems) in transforming existing linear system-based value chains and operations towards circularity, which enhances their resource efficiency & productivity, creates added value products from wastes, and reduces emissions into the environment for more sustainable consumption and production in the future. He is keen in pursuing collaborative and cross-disciplinary research across industries via system analysis and modelling. He participated in sustainability assessment-related courses at the United Nations University, Japan, and Vienna University of Economics and Business, Austria. His qualification in environmental life cycle assessment (LCA) has been certified by the American Centre for Life Cycle Assessment (ACLCA) since January 2009. He has been serving as Australia-Germany Research Ambassador (DAAD-Australia) since September 2019.

He has been a Visiting Research Scholar/Fellow/Professor in several leading research institutions in Europe, North America, and Asia. He has given keynote talks worldwide to share his expertise in greening supply chains, circular economy, and industrial sustainability. He has served on different grant review panels in the USA, Europe, and Asia as well as in several technical and organising committees in conferences over the past years, and involved in editorial boards in peer-refereed journals. Before UQ, he received funding from highly competitive grants and was involved in US-funded projects of ~$7.7 million as a CI, out of which $841,281 was awarded to his specific research on the life cycle sustainability assessment of biomass-based technological systems. He had been awarded highly competitive early-career fellowships in Japan, Canada, and the USA, equivalent to ARC DECRA/UQ. Together with his collaborators, he has received grants and fellowships for a total of $69192 non-ARC funds in Australia.

Funded Projects through Grants and Fellowships

  • 2022- 2026 Optimization of Refuse-Derived Fuels to Decarbonize Electricity Sectors and Achieve Nationally Determined Contribution Targets in Indonesia, Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) Climate Change Engagement Initiative, A$406K.

  • 2022-2023 Partnering for Innovation and Impact: Collaboration for Net Zero Emission, Circular Bioeconomy, UQ’s Global Strategy, and Partnership, A$10K
  • 2022 Updating Greenhouse Gas Emission Factors and Methodology, Earth Check, Australia, A$25K

  • 2020 - 2021 Small is beautiful – moving towards a zero organic waste community on Karragarra Island through a community-based organics recycling scheme, Goodman Foundation Moreton Bay (Quandamooka) Research Grant, Total Value: $116,500 (Johannes Biala, Anthony Halog, Christian Brunk, Karragarra Community Garden, Running Wild Youth Conservation Culture, Southern Moreton Bay Islands Permaculture, Redland City Counci.

  • 2020 Empowering Small-scale Recycling Enterprises in Emerging Economies, University of Queensland/Business, Economics and Law (BEL) Connect Grant, $19,947 (Anna Phelan, Jacquelyn Humphrey, Helen Ross, Ian Mackenzie, Anthony Halog)

  • 2018-2019 Optimizing the Reuse Potential of Waste in Agri-food Sector with Circular Economy Strategies, Organisation for Economic Cooperation & Development (OECD)/ Co-operative Research Programme (CRP) on Transformational Technologies and Innovation, A$ 16,000

  • 2018 Transformational Technologies and Innovation/Conference Sponsorship for International Conference on Circular Economy for Agri-Food Resource Management, Organisation for Economic Cooperation & Development (OECD)/ Co-operative Research Programme (CRP) Research Programme, A$ 47,600

  • 2015-2017 Faculty for the Future Fellowship program (Research Project: Analysing Gold Mining’s Impact Pathways in Agusan del Sur, Caraga Region, Philippines: Towards a Circular-Economy-based Formulation of Development Strategies), Schlumberger Foundation, the Netherlands, US$80,000 (A$106000) - with Dr. Raquel Balanay as Postdoctoral Researcher
  • 2015 Exploring the Application of the Circular and Green Economy Paradigm for Australian Agri-Food Sustainability, Global Change Institute, UQ A$5000
  • 2015 UQ Travel Awards for International Collaborative Research/ Project 609677 Halog_Rigamonti (21 September – 20 November), UQ A$3219
  • 2015 Incorporating Socio-Economic Indicators for Evaluating Innovation Opportunities for Sustainable Bioeconomy, European Union and Hungary and co-financed by the European Social Fund/ New Central Europe II” Research Grant under the “Senior Researcher” category, HUF 1 million (A$5000)
  • 2013-2014 Industrial Transformation: Towards Creating Circular Economy-Oriented Industries in Australia,UQ New Staff Research Start-up Grant, A$ 11,192
  • 2012-2013 Life Cycle Sustainability Analysis of Renewable Technologies: Pursuit for Collaborative Activities, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Invitation Fellowship for Research in Japan (Short Term),
  • 2014 Promotion of Circular and Green Economy Principles into Australia-Indonesia Agri-food Trading, UQ-Indonesia Partnership Award, A$5000
  • 2012-2016 Securing the Future of Natural Rubber – An American tire and bio-energy platform from Guayule, USDA/BRDI Collaborative Project, USA, US$ 6.85Million (share of US$ 415,000 )
  • 2011-2013 Database Development for Integrated Sustainability Assessment of Forest Based Biofuels Supply Chain, USDA/NIFA/, FASE Seed Grant, USA, US$149,861
  • 2012 Establishing Collaborations with Japanese University Researchers, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science/Bridge Program, 783,810 Yen (US$10,000)
  • 06/2011 -08/2011 Critical Role of Ecosystem Goods and Services to Sustainability of Renewable Energy Production (Case of Wood Derived Ethanol), Department of Energy/ Visiting Faculty Program (VFP) Fellowship, USA, US$ 12000
  • 06/ 2011- 08/ 2011 Development of a Dynamic Integrated System Model for Sustainable Bioresource Management: Case of Forest Biofuels Production Potential , Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Research Fellowship, 6868 Euros
  • 11/2008- 08/2009 An Active Learning Strategy in Teaching the New Interdisciplinary Course in Industrial Ecology and Life Cycle Assessment to Undergraduate Students, University of Maine Cent,re for Teaching Excellence (CTE), USA, US$1000
  • 10/2008 – 10/2010 LCA of co-production of pulp and ethanol, Department of Energy (DOE), USA, US$100,000
  • 10/2009 - –09/2013 Modelling and Assessment of Forest Biomass for Sustainable Bioenergy Development, McIntire-Stennis/Maine Agricultural and Forest Experimental Station (MAFES) , USA, US$100,000
  • 01/ 2009 – 12/2009 Risikoanalyse Energetischer Biomasseverwertung (Risk Analysis of Bio-energy Use), DFG-German Excellence Seed Funds, Germany, Euro 44,200
  • 06/ 2004 –06/ 2006 Development of Dynamic Systems Models for the Oil Sands Industry: Demonstrating Triple Bottom Line Concept of Sustainability, Natural Science and Engineering Research Council (NSERC)/Canadian National Research Council, Canada, C$100,000
  • 03/2002 – 03/2004 Development of Assessment Methodology for Waste Gasification Technologies with Data Uncertainty, Japan Society for Promotion of Science (JSPS) Postdoctoral Research Fellowship, 14,152,751.91 Yen

Previous Research, Academic and Industry Appointments

  • 29/11/2018- 22/03/2019 OECD/CRP Senior Research Fellow, University of Exeter, United Kingdom
  • 11/2018 Lead Trainor in Sustainable Engineering and Management Workshop, University of Santo Tomas, the Philippines
  • 10 - 11/ 2018 Invited Visiting Professor, National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan
  • 12/2017 – 11/2018 Returning (Balik) Scientist, Department of Science and Technology (DOST), Philippines hosted by Caraga State University
  • 01/04/2017 – 10/04/2017 Invited Visiting Researcher, Massey University, New Zealand
  • 01/07/2016 – 01/07/2017 Associate Editor, Elsevier/ Resources Conservation and Recycling Journal
  • 05/30/2016 – 01/07/2016 Visiting Professor in Industrial Systems Engineering and Management, CentraleSupelec, Paris, France
  • 13/05/2016- 29/05/2016 Silla Corona Visiting Professor in Industrial Environmental Management, School of Business, Unibersidad de los Andes, Colombia
  • 01/05/2016 – 12/05/2016 Visiting Professor in Agricultural and Environmental Management, Seoul National University, South Korea
  • 06/2015 – 07/2015 Visiting Senior Research Fellow, University of Pannonia, Kőszeg Centre, Hungary
  • 12/2012 – 02/2013 Visiting Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Invited Research Fellow, Laboratory of Life Cycle Engineering, University of Tokyo, Japan
  • 06//2012 – 08/2012 Visiting Faculty Research Fellow, National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Department of Energy, Golden, Colorado, USA
  • 06/2011 – 08/2011 Visiting Research Fellow, Finnish Forest Research Institute (METLA), Joensuu, Finland,
  • 02/2011 – 03/2011 Visiting Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Invited Research Fellow, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Japan
  • 07/2008 – 06/2012 Graduate School Faculty Member, Graduate Program in Ecology and Environmental Science, University of Maine, USA
  • 07/2008 – 07/2012 Assistant Professor (Tenure Track), School of Forest Resources, University of Maine, USA
  • 08/2006 – 07/2008 Assistant Professor, Faculty of Business, Brock University, Ontario, Canada
  • 01/2006 – 07/2006 Part-time Lecturer, Sprott School of Business, Carleton University, Ontario, Canada
  • 06/2004 – 06//2006 Early Career/Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Sustainable Technology Laboratory, Institute for Chemical Process and Environmental Technologies (ICPET), National Research Council (NRC), Ottawa, Canada
  • 04/2002 – 03/2004 Early Career/Postdoctoral Research Fellow National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Japan
  • 04/1999 – 02/2002 Research Associate/ Scholar, Institute for Industrial Production and Management/ French-German Institute for Environmental Research,Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Germany
  • 06/1995 – 06/1996 Assistant Professor & Part-time ISO 9000 Consultant, Department of Industrial Systems Engineering, De La Salle University, Philippines
  • 05/1994 – 05/1995 Quality Control & Assurance Manager/ISO 9000 Representative, ACEL Precision Plastics Incorporated, Singapore
  • 01/1994 – 04/1994 Quality Control & Assurance Engineer, Dynamic Toys Inc., Thailand
  • 05/1990 – 05/1992 Quality Control & Assurance Supervisor, PureFoods Corporation, Philippines

Teaching Responsibilities

  • Foundations of Sustainable Development (ENVM2100/7100) - Lecturer and Course Coordinator
  • Sustainable Consumption and Production (ENVM2101/7104) - Lecturer and Course Coordinator
  • Industrial Ecology and Life Cycle Thinking - Lecturer and Course Coordinator
  • Case Study in Environmental Management (ENVM 4100) - Lecturer and Coordinator

Academic Qualifications

  • Graduate Certificate in Sustainability Assessment in Transboundary Context,Vienna University of Economics and Business, Austria
  • Graduate Certificate in Environment and Sustainable Development, United Nations University, Tokyo, Japan
  • Doctor of Economic Sciences (Dr.rer.pol.) in Industrial Environmental Economics, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Germany
  • Master of Business Administration (MBA) in Decision Sciences, Monash University, Australia
  • Master of Engineering (ME) in Industrial Systems Engineering, Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand
  • Bachelor of Science (BS) in Chemical Process Engineering – (Magna cum Laude and Class Valedictorian), University of Mindanao, Philippines

Professional Associations

  • Since 2015 Australian Industrial Ecology Network
  • Since 2014 Global Change Institute, College of Experts
  • Since 2013 Australian Life Cycle Assessment Society (ALCAS), Australia

Languages

English, German, Tagalog, Filipino, Cebuano

Research Interests

  • Circular Bioeconomy
    This research agenda aims to computationally analyze the large scale "potential" socio-environmental-economic implications in the development and manufacturing products from sustainable organic or waste resources in life cycle and systerms perspective. It encompasses analysing a range of innovative scientific and industrial technologies designed to convert sustainable feedstocks or waste into bioproducts. In particular, I'm interested in analysing the large scale implications of the following. Using renewable resources for circular bioeconomy Developing biomass-based energy for circular bioeconomy
  • Circular Economy
    A circular economy is an economic system aimed at minimising waste and making the most of resources. In a circular system resource input and waste, emission, and energy leakage are minimized by slowing, closing, and narrowing energy and material loops; this can be achieved through long-lasting design, maintenance, repair, reuse, remanufacturing, refurbishing, and recycling. This regenerative approach is in contrast to the traditional linear economy, which has a 'take, make, dispose' model of production. Proponents of the circular economy suggest that a sustainable world does not mean a drop in the quality of life for consumers, and can be achieved without loss of revenue or extra costs for manufacturers. The argument is that circular business models can be as profitable as linear models, allowing us to keep enjoying similar products and services.
  • Industrial Ecology
    Industrial ecology (IE) is the study of material and energy flows through industrial systems. The global industrial economy can be modelled as a network of industrial processes that extract resources from the Earth and transform those resources into commodities which can be bought and sold to meet the needs of humanity. Industrial ecology seeks to quantify the material flows and document the industrial processes that make modern society function. Industrial ecologists are often concerned with the impacts that industrial activities have on the environment, with use of the planet's supply of natural resources, and with problems of waste disposal. Industrial ecology is a young but growing multidisciplinary field of research which combines aspects of engineering, economics, sociology, toxicology and the natural sciences. Industrial ecology has been defined as a "systems-based, multidisciplinary discourse that seeks to understand emergent behaviour of complex integrated human/natural systems". The field approaches issues of sustainability by examining problems from multiple perspectives, usually involving aspects of sociology, the environment, economy and technology. The name comes from the idea that the analogy of natural systems should be used as an aid in understanding how to design sustainable industrial systems.
  • Environmental systems modelling and analysis
    Environmental systems analysis (ESA) is a systematic and systems based approach for describing human actions impacting on the natural environment to support decisions and actions aimed at perceived current or future environmental problems. Impacts of different types of objects are studied that ranges from projects, programs and policies, to organizations, and products. Environmental systems analysis encompasses a family of environmental assessment tools and methods, including life cycle assessment (LCA), material flow analysis (MFA) and substance flow analysis (SFA), and environmental impact assessment (EIA), among others.
  • Green Economy
    Green economy is defined as economy that aims at reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcities, and that aims for sustainable development without degrading the environment. It is closely related with ecological economics, but has a more politically applied focus. The 2011 UNEP Green Economy Report argues "that to be green, an economy must not only be efficient, but also fair. Fairness implies recognizing global and country level equity dimensions, particularly in assuring a just transition to an economy that is low-carbon, resource efficient, and socially inclusive.
  • Transitions to Sustainability
  • Corporate Environmental Management
  • Green Supply Chain Management
  • Techno-Economic Analysis and Life Cycle Analysis

Research Impacts

A key contribution of his research outputs is the important role he has played in developing and advancing life cycle sustainability modelling and analysis methods, particularly in the challenge of industrial transformation, for pursuing a green and circular economy. UNEP’s interest in his work in life cycle sustainability analysis and its surging applications to various industries globally is worthy to be acknowledged. This shows his high profile internationally, particularly with issues relevant to sustainable consumption and production, in line with meeting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Further evidence of the quality and impact of his research outputs came from significant interest from the news media in the USA, India, and Australia and invited presentations in circular economy and industrial ecology around the globe. Currently, he is leading a Circular Economy related project particularly on converting solid wastes into refuse-derived fuel to replace some of the coal being used in electricity production in Indonesia while adopting Australian developed energy technologies. Previously, he had done modelling projects in Canada (such as analysing the upscaling of the Canadian oil sands industry’s emerging technologies) and in the USA (i.e., Upscaling Forest biomass-based technologies) funded by the Joint Biomass programme of the US Department of Energy and Department of Agriculture. He had been awarded a grant by the US National Science Foundation to present his work in “Operationalizing Sustainability Principles through Modelling Coupled Human and Natural Systems for Bioenergy Development in the USA. These previous experiences in computational systems modelling and analysis will facilitate the conduct of the proposed project to model and analyse the upscaling of Australia’s emerging technologies for industrial transformation and sustainable manufacturing. Scaling up circularity provides a multi-billion economic opportunity, driving up resource productivity, driving down material costs, improving resource security, and reducing negative externalities and their human and environmental costs. Indeed, the Circular Economy can play a central role in tackling climate challenges and realising the goal of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees post COP26.

Qualifications

  • Bachelor of Science, UM(PH)
  • Master of Engineering, AIT(TH)
  • Master of Business Administration, Monash University
  • Doctor of Economics, Karlsruher Institut für Technologie

Publications

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Grants

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Supervision

View all Supervision

Available Projects

  • Pursuing Circular Economy in Australia for Sustainable Industrial Development

    This project has a number of objectives. They are;

    • To support the transformation of Australian Food Systems from linear production system to circular economy, the objectives of this project are:

    • To develop a database and apply life cycle and systems-based methods to analyse Australian food-production and consumption patterns;

    • To evaluate impacts on biodiversity, land use, water use, phosphorous consumption on selected food sub-sectors;

    • To propose circular economy models for the industrial transformation of Australian Food System in pursuit of sustainable consumption and production.

    This project can be implemented using any of the life cycle, holistic and system thinking based approaches (particularly, materials flow analysis (MFA), substance flow analysis (SFA), environmental life cycle assessment (LCA), system dynamics, agent based modelling (ABM), multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) and data envelopment analysis (DEA). Preferably, applicants have training or exposure in any of the above methods as well as its appropriate software packages.

  • Systems Modelling of Linked Circular Economies

    In many urban areas, pathways of essential resources such as food, water and energy are subject to multiple inefficiencies. Circular economies try to minimize wastages by reusing or recycling the waste products within each resource stream. Explicitly linking these circular economies will enable us to exploit synergies between these cycles, thereby further reducing waste in the urban food-energy-water nexus.

    This project aims to analyse the potential for waste reduction in urban food-energy-water nexus by explicitly linking the circular economies. The research project focuses on System Dynamics Modelling (SDM) methodology of food, energy and water cycles in urban or urbanising environments. Innovatively, these cycles will be modelled as an integrated system, explicitly recognizing that they do not operate in isolation and that feedbacks can cause non-linearly propagating effects. SDM can: a) visualize the structure of both current and alternative resource pathways; b) suggest improvements to reduce overall waste in the nexus; c) illustrate how intended improvements affect the resource fluxes in other cycles; and d) identify possible bottlenecks, thresholds and other potential problems under different management or usage scenarios.

  • Integrated Assessment Modelling

    This project will work on the intersection of Integrated Assessment Modelling (IAM) and Industrial Ecology methods, like Lifecycle Assessment (LCA), Material Flow Analysis (MFA) and Input-Output Analysis (IOA). We will explore different alternatives for the future energy mix and corresponding transition pathways that may lead us to a low carbon society. The objective of the work is to develop and apply a combined Industrial Ecology and Integrated Assessment Modelling framework based on the open source MESSAGEix framework, developed at IIASA that allows for the simultaneous assessment of climate change mitigation and circular economy related aspects, pertaining to the transition of energy and transport sector and its interface with the materials and manufacturing sectors.

View all Available Projects

Publications

Featured Publications

Book Chapter

Journal Article

Conference Publication

Other Outputs

PhD and MPhil Supervision

Current Supervision

  • Enhancing Sustainable Waste Management in Agri-Food Production

    Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor

    Other advisors:

Completed Supervision

Possible Research Projects

Note for students: The possible research projects listed on this page may not be comprehensive or up to date. Always feel free to contact the staff for more information, and also with your own research ideas.

  • Pursuing Circular Economy in Australia for Sustainable Industrial Development

    This project has a number of objectives. They are;

    • To support the transformation of Australian Food Systems from linear production system to circular economy, the objectives of this project are:

    • To develop a database and apply life cycle and systems-based methods to analyse Australian food-production and consumption patterns;

    • To evaluate impacts on biodiversity, land use, water use, phosphorous consumption on selected food sub-sectors;

    • To propose circular economy models for the industrial transformation of Australian Food System in pursuit of sustainable consumption and production.

    This project can be implemented using any of the life cycle, holistic and system thinking based approaches (particularly, materials flow analysis (MFA), substance flow analysis (SFA), environmental life cycle assessment (LCA), system dynamics, agent based modelling (ABM), multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) and data envelopment analysis (DEA). Preferably, applicants have training or exposure in any of the above methods as well as its appropriate software packages.

  • Systems Modelling of Linked Circular Economies

    In many urban areas, pathways of essential resources such as food, water and energy are subject to multiple inefficiencies. Circular economies try to minimize wastages by reusing or recycling the waste products within each resource stream. Explicitly linking these circular economies will enable us to exploit synergies between these cycles, thereby further reducing waste in the urban food-energy-water nexus.

    This project aims to analyse the potential for waste reduction in urban food-energy-water nexus by explicitly linking the circular economies. The research project focuses on System Dynamics Modelling (SDM) methodology of food, energy and water cycles in urban or urbanising environments. Innovatively, these cycles will be modelled as an integrated system, explicitly recognizing that they do not operate in isolation and that feedbacks can cause non-linearly propagating effects. SDM can: a) visualize the structure of both current and alternative resource pathways; b) suggest improvements to reduce overall waste in the nexus; c) illustrate how intended improvements affect the resource fluxes in other cycles; and d) identify possible bottlenecks, thresholds and other potential problems under different management or usage scenarios.

  • Integrated Assessment Modelling

    This project will work on the intersection of Integrated Assessment Modelling (IAM) and Industrial Ecology methods, like Lifecycle Assessment (LCA), Material Flow Analysis (MFA) and Input-Output Analysis (IOA). We will explore different alternatives for the future energy mix and corresponding transition pathways that may lead us to a low carbon society. The objective of the work is to develop and apply a combined Industrial Ecology and Integrated Assessment Modelling framework based on the open source MESSAGEix framework, developed at IIASA that allows for the simultaneous assessment of climate change mitigation and circular economy related aspects, pertaining to the transition of energy and transport sector and its interface with the materials and manufacturing sectors.

  • Dynamic System Modelling of Relationships between Environmental Sustainability, Food and Health Issues

    This projects aims to develop a prototype computational-based system model for understanding the interrelationship between sustainability, particularly climate change, food systems, dietary choices and human health. Preferably, the applicant has previous training or background in system dynamics and/ or agent based modelling (ABM) including their software packages (e.g. STELLA, Powersim, AnyLogic, Open ABM, REPAST, NetLogo, StarLogo) or has high drive and initiative to learn these computational and quantitative methods for dynamic system modelling and analysis. . Applicants will develop skills in modelling, analysis, data management, scenario and policy formulation and the development of sustainable solutions.

    NOT CURRENTLY AVAILABLE

  • Life Cycle Sustainability Analysis of Deployment of Renewable Energy technologies

    There is an increasing interest around the world to promote the widespread and increased adoption and “sustainable use” of all forms of renewable energy. This includes all forms of energy produced from renewable sources in a sustainable manner including hydro, wind, bioenergy and solar. The main objectives of this project are:

    • Obtaining a comprehensive overview of what environmental and related impact and trade-offs exist in relation to large-scale deployment of each renewable energy technology at all the stages of its lifecycle (e.g. extraction of materials, manufacturing, project implementation, end-of-life treatment), including the identification of diverse – both scientific and perceptive – parameters which affect the understanding and evaluation of impact;

    • Identifying “hot spots” among diverse potential impact areas where we need to pay a particular attention in order to consider their strategies for large-scale renewable energy deployment;

    • The applicant preferably should focus on hydro and bioenergy.

    This project can be implemented using any of the life cycle, holistic and system thinking based approaches (particularly, materials flow analysis (MFA), substance flow analysis (SFA), environmental life cycle assessment (LCA), system dynamics, agent based modelling (ABM), multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) and data envelopment analysis (DEA). Preferably, applicants have training or exposure in any of the above methods as well as its appropriate software packages.

  • Stocks and Flows of Metals and Mineral Resources: Quantifying Environmental Impacts and Risks

    This project has a number of objectives. They are:

    • To understand the metal and mineral resource requirements of Japanese and Chinese industries, particularly in quantifying the demand of rare earth metals in Japanese industries and demand of mineral and other resources in Chinese industries. The metals and resources are supplied by Australian mining and mineral resource industry.

    • To propose viable models of circular economy in Queensland’s mining and mineral resource industries while respecting ecological limits and meeting long-term requirements of other countries.

    • To develop a database of available metals and other minerals in Australia and quantify their usages.

    This project can be implemented using any of the life cycle, holistic and system thinking based approaches (particularly, materials flow analysis (MFA), substance flow analysis (SFA), environmental life cycle assessment (LCA), system dynamics, agent based modelling (ABM), multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) and data envelopment analysis (DEA).

  • Material Flow Accounting and Input-output Analysis for Reducing Australia’s Energy Demand

    This research project aims to reduce Australia’s energy demand through changing our demand of materials and products across the whole supply chain. Firstly, the objective of the project is to understand the key historical drivers of material and product consumption in Australia for the past 20 years. This will involve extending a monetary-based input-output model with physical and energy data to an integrated hybrid model of the Australian economy and its trading partners. Preferably, student has experience in managing and manipulating large datasets, and is familiar with methods such as lifecycle, material flow and input-output analysis. A background in applied and policy relevant research in the field of sustainable consumption and production modelling and climate policy is preferred. You should have relevant background and/or experience in a relevant discipline (e.g. Sustainable consumption and production, input-output modelling, data envelopment analysis, material flow analysis).

  • Modelling Urban Metabolism of Cities

    Challenges facing urban planners and governments continue to mount as populations in urban areas increase, pressure on the world’s resources reaches critical levels and degradation of ecosystems around the world becomes increasingly apparent. The movement towards sustainable development has been met with enthusiasm by decision-makers, although exactly how to achieve this target, or even measure progress towards it, is not entirely evident. This project aims to explore how complex urban systems (e.g. Brisbane) can be modelled holistically using multi-agent based framework, and their sustainability assessed using a systems approach. This project will help produce a roadmap towards sustainable development of cities. The research will entail review of literature, development of a survey, statistical analysis, and potentially use of an urban systems model.

  • Agent-Based Modelling of Linked Circular Economies

    In many urban areas, pathways of essential resources such as food, water and energy are subject to multiple inefficiencies. Circular economies try to minimize wastages by reusing or recycling the waste products within each resource stream. Explicitly linking these circular economies will enable us to exploit synergies between these cycles, thereby further reducing waste in the urban food-energy-water nexus.

    This project aims to analyse the potential for waste reduction in urban food-energy-water nexus by explicitly linking the circular economies. The project focuses on Agent-Based Modelling (ABM) of food, energy and water fluxes in urban or urbanising environments. Innovatively, these fluxes will be modelled as emergent properties arising from agents’ (i.e. stakeholders’) decision making, explicitly recognizing that they depend on power relations between the various stakeholders and on non-linearly propagating effects. ABM can: a) illuminate the decision-making structures and power-relations in the food-energy-water nexus; b) evaluate sensitivity to volatility and vacillation in stakeholder decision making; c) illustrate how potential changes in nexus management affect stakeholder decision making and resource fluxes; and d) identify unanticipated feedbacks, thresholds and other potential problems under different management or usage scenarios.

  • Dynamic System Modelling and Analysis for Pursuing Sustainable Bioeconomy in Australia

    Bioenergy is expected to be an important part of the low-carbon energy supply in the future. Besides techno-economic analysis, rigorous assessment of environmental and social impacts of large-scale deployment of bioenergy is needed to ensure its sustainability. This project will focus on developing a spatially and temporally explicit systems model for producing aviation fuels in Australia from possible feedstocks - microalgae, pongamia pinnata, and sugarcane. This will cover a wide range of bioenergy pathways both for transport use and electricity/heat production, with particular emphasis on carbon and water footprints, impact on human health and ecosystems, and economic costs. Uncertainties from various sources will also be dealt with explicitly. Applicants should have a background in Engineering, Mathematics, Physical and Environmental Studies. Experience in numerical modelling using tools such as Matlab, spatial analysis using GIS software or life cycle analysis is highly desirable though not essential.

  • Integration of Multi Agent Systems (MAS) and LCA for Analysing Australian Agri-food Sector

    This project aims to develop a practical and comprehensive methodology for the integration of Multi Agent Systems (MAS) and life cycle assessment (LCA). In order to identify and characterize the Australian agro-system, this project will develop a prototype computational model to simulate Australian agricultural sector. Preferably, applicant has background in computer science or applied mathematics with experience in agent-based systems as well as strong interest in computation, applied mathematics, optimization and scientific programming. Successful applicant will develop skills in modelling, analysis, data management, scenario and policy formulation and the development of sustainable solutions.

This staff member is a UQ Expert for media in the following fields:

circular economy, green ecconomy, industrial transformation, biomimicy, sustainable bioeconomy, industrial ecology, cleaner production, transition to sustainability, systems modelling and analysis, life cycle assessment, sustainability assessment, circular bioeconomy, environmental assessment

They are happy to lend their expertise to your articles or broadcasts and share their research discoveries and insights with the community via media channels.

For additional assistance with story ideas, general advice and information or help with seeking further experts, please email the UQ Media Team or telephone (07) 3365 1120.

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ResearcherID: I-6718-2012

ORCID: 0000-0002-0404-0670

Scopus ID: 14919073000

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