ProfessorAndrew Harris

In a world of finite resources and an ever-growing population, Professor Andrew Harris is developing technologies that will provide sustainable sources of clean water, renewable energy and environmentally benign food and mineral resources - everything we need to live our lives, but in a way that doesn't compromise the ability of future generations to live their own lives.

"We have a responsibility to future generations to leave them with a planet that is in a better state than the one we inherited from our own parents.

"The major challenges for humankind in the future will be providing sufficient clean energy, water, food and health care. I am working to develop sustainable technologies that will do this, while also offering superior economic and environmental performance.

"For example, my colleagues and I have already developed a process of making paper from straw rather than wood pulp, a low-cost means of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from underground coal mines by 90 percent, and a process of 'farming' minerals using plants.

"Among my current research interests are growing gold on trees, reverse-engineering beetles to capture water from the atmosphere, and using butterfly wings as templates to produce hydrogen for use in fuels cells.

"Being an academic at the University of Sydney gives me the intellectual freedom to carry out the research to resolve such problems."