Faculty of Engineering

Professor Ali Abbas, FIEAust FRSN

Professor Ali Abbas is an internationally recognised leader in process systems engineering, circular economy innovation, and sustainability transitions. He currently serves as the Associate Dean (Research) within the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Sydney, driving strategic research initiatives and fostering significant industry and government collaborations. He is also the Founding Director of the Waste Transformation Research Hub, a national research centre addressing technological challenges in Australia's waste industry.

Ali completed his Bachelor's degree and PhD in Chemical Engineering at the University of Sydney. He previously held academic appointments at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore and the University of New South Wales (UNSW Asia) in Singapore, along with visiting professorships at leading international institutions, including Harvard University.

With over 20 years' experience in Process Systems Engineering (PSE), Ali's expertise encompasses process intensification, techno-economic feasibility, multiscale modelling, process scale-up, optimisation, and the design of low-emissions technologies. His work spans applications in eco-industrial parks, clean energy, biotechnology, waste transformation, carbon capture, and biomedical systems.

Ali has been at the forefront of circular economy transitions in Australia, identifying practical pathways to implement circular economy principles effectively. As Australia's inaugural Chief Circular Engineer at Circular Australia, he actively shapes national sustainability policies and strategies. He is the founding Chair of theAustralian Circular Economy Conference, an influential national platform driving collaboration on circular economy solutions across industry, government, and academia.

A prolific researcher, Ali conducts fundamental computational and applied research, with a strong emphasis on resource optimisation and efficiency across multiple scales. He has authored over 160 scientific and engineering publications, and is recognised as a Highly Cited Researcher by Clarivate Analytics, placing him among the top 2% globally in his field.

Ali has received numerous prestigious awards, including the Australia-Harvard Fellowship (2011), the Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE) Fellowship as an Australia-China Future Leader in Clean Coal Technologies (2012), the international PSE Model-Based Innovation Prize (London, 2008; runner-up 2015), and the Sydney Research Accelerator (SOAR) Fellowship for outstanding research leadership. He was also a finalist in the 2023 Eureka Prize for Innovative Research in Sustainability.

Ali translates his research into impactful commercial outcomes through deep-tech ventures, including Scimita Group and Trofica, developing breakthrough technologies in clean energy, circular economy, and sustainable urban agriculture. He provides strategic advisory services to industry and government bodies, leveraging his expertise to advance sustainable technologies and policies. Additionally, Ali serves on the board of the Australian Government's Council for Australian-Arab Relations (CAAR), actively fostering international research and innovation partnerships.

Dr. Ian Abraham's research sits at the intersection of robotics, optimisation, optimal control, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. His interests are in developing computational methods that enable robotic systems to intelligently interact with, explore, and learn in extreme and remote environments and through collaboration with other robots. He has been recognised with numerous prestigious awards, including an NSF CAREER award as a professor in the US. Previously he was an Assistant Professor at Yale University in the Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science Departments after spending some time as a Postdoctoral Scholar at the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. 

David Airey graduated from the University of Cambridge in 1979 with a BA in Engineering and stayed on to complete Masters and PhD degrees in Soil Mechanics. He took up a position as a research fellow at the University of Western Australia in 1987, and moved to the University of Sydney in 1989. Professor Airey was Acting Head of School of Civil Engineering during 2016.

David Airey is on the editorial board of the Geotechnical Testing Journal, is a core member of TC29 a technical committee of the International Society for Geotechnical and Foundation Engineering concerned with pre-failure behaviour of geomaterials, and is a committee member of the Australian Geomechanics Society.

Dr Behnam Akhavan received his PhD in Advanced Manufacturing from the School of Engineering at the University of South Australia in 2015. In recognition of the excellence of his PhD research, Dr Akhavan was selected as one of UniSA’s Enterprising Faces. Prior to his current appointment at the University of Sydney, Dr Akhavan worked as a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research and Fraunhofer Institute of Microtechnology in Germany. Dr Akhavan has introduced innovative new plasma processes to engineer the properties of surfaces that underpin the performance of products for modern biomedical applications such as bio-mimicking implantable devices. His current interdisciplinary research projects investigate the engineering of surfaces for an array of modern applications, ranging from bone-implantable devices to artificial blood vessels and nerve conduits. In surface and interface science, his research focuses on a variety of problems in the areas of thin film deposition, plasma polymerization, ion implantation, surface biofunctionalization, and interface engineering. In recognition of his contributions to materials science and engineering, in 2020 Dr Akhavan received the Most Innovative Engineers Award from Engineers Australia and Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) from the Australian Research Council.

Dr Nawshad Akther is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the School of Civil Engineering at the University of Sydney (USYD). She received her PhD in Environmental Engineering from the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). Before joining the USYD in 2025, she worked as a Postdoctoral Research Associate at UTS. She has more than ten years of research experience across Australia, Japan and the United Arab Emirates.

Her multidisciplinary background spans environmental and chemical engineering. Her research focuses on advanced water treatment, particularly the formation and control of disinfection by-products, as well as emerging contaminants and membrane fouling. She also develops advanced membranes for desalination, selective separation and the recovery of critical minerals from complex water and waste streams. She has published more than 30 peer-reviewed journal articles in leading international journals, including the Journal of Membrane Science, Chemical Engineering Journal and Desalination. Her research has involved collaborations with universities, research organisations and industry partners in Australia and internationally.

Dr Akther was awarded the 2024 UTS Blue Sky Research Grant to develop membranes for critical-mineral recovery and was invited to deliver a keynote presentation on membrane-based resource recovery. She has received numerous awards and distinctions for her research and science communication, including:

• Membrane Society of Australasia Early Career Researcher Award, 2024
• Excellent Researcher Award, ARC Research Hub for Energy-efficient Separation, 2022
• Best Short Talk Award, MSA Annual Meeting and Conference, 2020 
• Winner, UTS Three Minute Thesis Competition, 2020
• UTS Higher Degree by Research Director’s Commendation for Research Excellence, 2019
• Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology Higher Degree by Research Collaboration Experience Award, UTS, 2019
• Best Thesis Award, Khalifa University, 2016
• British Petroleum Student Research Award – The Respect Award, American University of Sharjah, 2015
• Chancellor’s Award, American University of Sharjah, 2014

She contributes to the membrane research community as Secretary of the Membrane Society of Australasia.

Dr Monzurul Alam is a Research Fellow in Rehabilitation Engineering at the School of Biomedical Engineering, The University of Sydney. His research focuses on developing innovative technologies that enhance independence, mobility, communication, and quality of life for people with disabilities and neurological conditions. His work spans rehabilitation engineering, assistive technology, neurotechnology, neural engineering, rehabilitation robotics, neuroprosthetics, brain-computer interfaces, and AI-enabled healthcare systems.

His research combines engineering, neuroscience, rehabilitation, and clinical translation to create accessible and scalable solutions for individuals with neurological and physical impairments. He actively collaborates with multidisciplinary teams across Australia and internationally, contributing to the development of next-generation assistive and rehabilitation technologies through industry, clinical, and academic partnerships.

Dr Tonima Ali joined the University of Sydney in September 2020 as a postdoctoral research associate in the School of Biomedical Engineering. She is currently conducting research work at the Brain and Mind Centre and involved in teaching with the School of Biomedical Engineering. She has previously worked at the University of Queensland as the National Imaging Facility (NIF) Fellow for 7T MRI.

After finishing her BSc in Electrical Engineering at the University of Alberta, Canada, she went to the University of Calgary to complete her MSc in Biomedical Engineering and later joined as a lecturer at the American International University of Bangladesh. She moved to Australia in 2013 and completed her PhD in Biomedical Engineering and Medical Physics from Queensland University of Technology. She developed MRI-based methods for assessment of biological tissues during her PhD, which were successfully implemented forunderstanding the knee joint architecture in kangaroo, identifying the developmental pathway of Osteoarthritis and assessment of tissue density for breast cancer prediction. She started her research career on MRI methods and optimisation at the University of Queensland and is an affiliated research fellow at that institution.

Dr. Francois-Marie Allioux is a Research Fellow at the School of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Sydney. His research focuses on the field of solid and liquid-based electronics and optics. Before joining the School of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, Dr. Allioux was a Post-Doctoral Fellow in the School of Chemical Engineering at the University of New South Wales.

Dr. Allioux has a strong background in the field of chemical, process and material engineering. He earned his Master's degree in Chemical Engineering from Paul Sabatier University in Toulouse, France and his Ph.D. degree from the Institute for Frontier Materials at Deakin University in Geelong, VIC, Australia, where he conducted research on advanced materials and their applications in water purification and resource recovery.

BE (Hons. 1) PhD MIEAust CPEng

Dr Ali Amin is an Associate Professor, ARC Industry Fellow and Associate Head (Research) in the School of Civil Engineering. He has held academic roles at ETH Zurich and The University of Toronto and consulting roles at Pells Sullivan Meynink. Ali graduated with a Bachelor in Civil Engineering with Honours Class 1 and the University Medal in 2011, and a Doctor of Philosophy in Civil Engineering in 2015, both from UNSW. He was awarded the 2017 Concrete Institute of Australia National Bursary Award for the best Australian PhD dissertation in concrete and cement based products and processes (in the preceding two years). He is a chartered professional engineer. His teaching has won a UNSW Vice Chancellors Award for Teaching Excellence in the Early Career Category in 2016. Ali's research interests are in the structural analysis and design of high performance and fibre reinforced concrete structures, and he was a substantial contributor to the new section on Steel Fibre Reinforced Concrete in AS5100.5-2017 & AS3600-2018. Ali is also an Associate Editor of the Journal Materials and Structures. 

Dr. Xianghai An received his PhD from Shenyang National Laboratory for Materials Sciences, Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2012. After receiving his PhD degree, he commenced with the School of Aerospace, Mechatronic and Mechanical Engineering (AMME) at The University of Sydney (USYD) as a research fellow, qualifying as a DVCR Research Fellow (Sydney Society of Fellows, 2014-2016), a Discovery Early Career Research Award (DECRA) Fellow supported by Australia Research Council (ARC) (2017-2019). Dr An is currently a Senior Lecturer and Robinson Fellow (one of first recipients of the Robinson Fellowships - named after Sir Robert Robinson, who was the first Nobel Prize winner from the University of Sydney.) He was also conferred to the Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship by Humboldt Foundation in Germany in 2016.

Daria Anderson, PhD, is a Lecturer at the University of Sydney in the School of Biomedical Engineering with research focused on identifying biomarkers and strategies to improve neuromodulation for refractory epilepsy. She completed her PhD in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Utah, USA, on computational modelling of neurostimulation and her postdoctoral training in the School of Medicine at the University of Utah, USA, on neuromodulation for surgical therapies for epilepsy in human and pre-clinical mouse models. She studies patterns of epilepsy, uses machine learning to discover novel biomarkers and automate seizure detection, and conducts prospective preclinical investigations on using neuromodulation in a disease-modifying approach to restore brain networks back to a seizure-free state.

Dr Georgios (Yorgos) Angelis is a biomedical engineer and imaging scientist specialising in Total Body Positron Emission Tomography (PET), quantitative kinetic modelling, and PET/CT protocol optimisation. He is a National Imaging Facility (NIF) Total Body PET Facility Fellow at the University of Sydney, where he leads methodological research in PET image reconstruction, dynamic imaging, and advanced quantitative analyses across multi-organ systems. His work spans clinical trials, translational imaging research, and the development of harmonised acquisition and reconstruction protocols for both clinical and research PET environments. Dr Angelis provides strategic guidance on PET experimental design, supports multidisciplinary clinical research teams, and contributes to national imaging capability through training, protocol development, and infrastructure planning.

Dr Sid Assawaworrarit is Lecturer in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering. He holds a prestigious Sydney Horizon Fellowship investigating the role of electromagnetics in addressing climate and energy challenges.

His research expertise is in the energy applications of electromagnetics - how can we efficiently and robustly move energy wirelessly; how can we envision the power converters in future electronic devices; and how can we harvest renewable energy out of the cold universe.

After his undergraduate studies at Caltech, Sid completed his Master's degree and PhD in electrical engineering at Stanford University.

His research at Stanford has been internationally recognised. He invented a robust new method of wirelessly transferring power from a source to a moving device. This innovation opened a new direction in the field and received the award of 1% highly cited paper in physics from Web of Science.

In his postdoctoral research, Sid demonstrated that the coldness of the universe can serve as a source for renewable energy harvesting. His work on nighttime solar cell energy harvesting opens the door to all-day electricity generation from solar cells without relying on battery storage.

He was also part of the collaboration that pioneered a photonic transformer, a novel device design that uses light to convert one dc voltage to another. This innovative design offers a major advantage over conventional dc voltage converters by providing noiseless voltage conversion.

Dr Mehala Balamurali is a Senior Research Fellow in the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Sydney whose work bridges Artificial Intelligence (AI), computational modelling, sensing, and decision support to address complex real-world challenges across environmental, health, and industrial systems. Her work is characterised by a strong emphasis on translation into practice, connecting academic research with operational implementation, industry needs, and decision-making in high-impact settings.

Mehala’s work takes a transdisciplinary approach, integrating expertise across AI, machine learning, simulation, epidemiological and computational modelling, remote sensing, and environmental intelligence to solve complex challenges that extend beyond traditional disciplinary boundaries. A central theme of her work is the development of decision-centric AI, where analytics and predictive models are translated into actionable insights through uncertainty-aware forecasting, optimisation, and operational decision support.

She holds a PhD in Computational Modelling from the University of New South Wales (UNSW), where her research focused on HIV disease dynamics and host-pathogen interactions, applying mathematical and computational modelling to understand disease progression in complex biological systems. Following her PhD, she undertook postdoctoral research at the Kirby Institute, UNSW, focusing on HIV epidemiological modelling and disease forecasting, strengthening her expertise in predictive modelling and simulation.

Since joining the University of Sydney in 2013, Mehala has contributed to a range of industry-engaged and interdisciplinary initiatives, including long-term collaborations in mining automation, environmental monitoring, biodiversity intelligence, invasive species management, biosecurity, and sensing systems. Much of her work has been undertaken in high-IP and operational environments, where outcomes often extend beyond traditional academic outputs to include decision-support systems, deployment pathways, patents, stakeholder engagement, and long-term translational impact.

Her work frequently integrates satellite, UAV, hyperspectral, LiDAR, and biological sensing technologies with AI and computational modelling to support more resilient, scalable, and evidence-based decisions. Alongside research translation, Mehala has a strong commitment to mentoring and developing future talent, supervising interdisciplinary student projects and helping students apply advanced computational methods to solve practical challenges across engineering, health, environment, and industry.

Dr Balamurali is particularly interested in building partnerships that bridge academia, industry, government, and communities, translating advanced research into practical solutions while preparing future graduates to thrive in increasingly interdisciplinary and AI-enabled environments.

Dr Wei Bao is an Associate Professor in the School of Computer Science in the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Sydney. He is a member of the Centre for Distributed and High Performance Computing. He holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree from Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications (2009), a Master of Applied Science degree from the University of British Columbia (2011), and a Doctor of Philosophy degree from the University of Toronto (2015).

Dr Wei Bao's research focuses on networking and distributed machine learning, an area that significantly impacts the performance, scalability, and collaboration of networked systems. To address the fundamental limitations of current networks and distributed systems that constrain AI applications, Dr Bao founded the I-Net (Intelligent Networking) Group. His current research focuses on three main areas: distributed machine learning, AI for networked systems, and optimisation for intelligent networks. In distributed machine learning, he has developed innovative solutions to improve the speed, scalability, and efficiency of machine learning workflows. His work on AI for networked systems integrates AI with existing networks to achieve high quality digital applications without requiring significant investment in network infrastructure. In addition, Dr Bao's research on intelligent network optimisation aims to improve performance through rigorous analysis of large-scale systems.

Dr Wei Bao has actively pursued industrial collaborations to translate his research into practical applications. His successful partnerships with companies such as Link Group have resulted in significant funding and impactful projects. Recognising the importance of bridging academic research with industry needs, Dr Bao continues to seek new collaborations with both established and emerging technology companies. His aim is to broaden the scope and scale of his research impact by fostering innovative solutions that benefit a wider range of industries.

Dr Wei Bao is also actively seeking self-motivated PhD candidates to join his research team. He offers a dynamic and supportive environment within the I-Net Group, where students can engage in cutting-edge research on networking and distributed machine learning. If you are interested, please send your CV to wei.bao@sydney.edu.au.

Professor Bilek is an ARC Laureate Fellow. She is Professor of Applied Physics and Surface Engineering at the University of Sydney and heads the Applied Physics and Surface Engineering Research Group within the School of Physics and the School of Biomedical Engineering. She also serves as associate editor for the Journal of Applied Physics. She is internationally recognised for her work on environmentally-friendly plasma-based processes that create new materials and surface modifications. Professor Marcela Bilek holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge, UK, a BSc from the University of Sydney and an MBA from the Rochester Institute of Technology, USA. Prior appointments include visiting Scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, USA, visiting Professor at the Technische Universitat Hamburg-Harburg in Germany and Research Fellow at Emmanuel College, University of Cambridge, UK.

Dr. David Boland completed his MEng. and PhD. at Imperial College London in 2007 and 2012 respectively. He worked at Monash University as a lecturer from 2013 to 2016, before moving to the University of Sydney in 2017.

Professor Athman Bouguettaya received his PhD in Computer Science from the University of Colorado at Boulder in the US in 1992. Before joining the University of Sydney as Professor and Head of the School of Computer Sciencein 2016, he was Professor and Head of the School of Computer Science and IT at RMIT University in Melbourne. Prior to this he was Science Leader in Service Computing at the CSIRO ICT Centre (now DATA61) in Canberra, and a tenured faculty member and program director in the Computer Science department at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) in the US.

Professor Bouguettaya is a founding member and past president of the Service Science Society, a non-profit organisation that aims to form a community of service scientists for the advancement of service science.

He has published more than 220 books, book chapters, journal articles and conference papers in the area of databases and service computing; he is currently editor-in-chief of the Springer-Verlag Services Science book series; and he has served as guest editor of a number of special issues of journals including ACM Transactions on Internet Technology on Semantic Web Services, IEEE Internet Computing on Database Technology on the Web, and IEEE Transactions on Services Computing on Service Query Models.

He has also served on the editorial boards of a number journals including ACM Transactions on Internet Technology, Distributed and Parallel Databases Journal, IEEE Transactions on Knowledge and Data Engineering, IEEE Transactions on Services Computing, International Journal of Cooperative Information Systems, International Journal on Next Generation Computing and VLDB Journal; and as a program chair of the 2017 WISE Conference, the 2012 International Conference on Web and Information System Engineering, the 2010 and 2009 Australasian Database Conferences, the 2008 International Conference on Service Oriented Computing and the 2004 IEEE RIDE Workshop on Web Services for e-Commerce and e-Government.

Professor Bouguettaya has been the recipient of several nationally competitive grants in Australia, the US, the EU, China and Qatar, as well as major industry grants from multinational companies including HP and Sun Microsystems (now Oracle).

He is an ACM Distinguished Scientist, an ACM Distinguished Speaker, a Fellow of the IEEE and a member of the IEEE Fellow Nomination Committee.

Education

· Ph.D, University of Sydney, 2005. “Long Range Imaging Radar for Autonomous Navigation”.

· M.Sc (Elec Eng), University of the Witwatersrand, 1983, “Design of the Tracking Complex for a Tracking Radar System”.

· B.Sc (Elec Eng), University of the Witwatersrand, 1979.

Employment History

21 years: Academic, research and teaching (University of Sydney).

10 years: Military millimetre wave systems (AMS).

2 years: Commercial millimetre wave radar development (AMS).

2 years: Electronic warfare simulation (ESD).

4 years: Tracking radar systems (ESD).

18 months: R&D labs SAAF (National Service).

B.Eng (Aerospace) Hons, PhD (Robotics) USyd, Grad. Cert (Higher Education), FHEA

Dr. Mitch Bryson is currently the director for student life and a lecturer in the school of Aerospace, Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering. He is a research expert in aerial and marine robotic navigation, mapping and sensor fusion, working in applications in marine science and forestry using computer vision, hyperspectral imaging and laser scanning. He leads the ACFR Forestry research group that performs research into new technologies and techniques for measuring and managing forest resources using state-of-the-art sensors, autonomous systems and intelligent processing algorithms.