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Maureen Hassall is Professor and Director of the Sustainable Minerals Institute's Industrial Safety and Health Centre at the University of Queensland. Her expertises crosses the fields of industrial risk management, safety engineering and human factors. Maureen works collaboratively with industry professionals to develop better human-centred risk management and safety engineering approaches that improve companies’ operational performance and competitiveness. Maureen also develops and delivers process safety, systems safety engineering, risk management and human factors training, education and expert advice to students and to industry. Her industry-focused research is motivated by 18 years of industry experience working in a number of different countries and in a variety of roles including specialist engineering, line management, organisational change and business performance improvement roles.

Julie’s research is mainly focussed on gas-water-rock core reactivity at reservoir conditions using experimental, field, and geochemical modelling techniques. Recent projects have been in the application of carbon dioxide geological storage in which CO2 is captured and stored in formations generally contained by low permeability cap-rock. The safe containment of the injected CO2 and the potential changes to rock porosity, permeability, and water quality should be determined. Recent and current projects with a focus on a demonstration site in the Surat Basin (Precipice Sandstone) include the impacts of impurity or acid gases present in industrial CO2 streams (collaboration with D. Kirste, SFU), inducing carbonate precipitation (in collaboration with S. Golding), and understanding dissolved metal sources and fate. Julie has also worked closely with the CO2CRC, CTSCo, Glencore, SEAL, the NSW government, CI-NSW, and ANLEC R&D, and provided expert opinion to the Queensland Government, and input to Environmental Impacts Assessments.

Julie is currently working with landholders, the QLD regional government, RDMW, councils and industry to understand the sources of methane in aquifers of the Great Artesian Basin, especailly those overlying coal seam gas reservoirs (CSG) (with Arrow Energy, SANTOS, APLNG, H. Hoffman, K, Baublys).

Other projects include gas-water-rock or acid-rock reactivity that modify nano-porosity and gas flow in gas or oil bearing shales.

Julie Pearce graduated with an MCHEM (Hons) degree in Chemistry from the University of York, UK. She then moved to the University of Bristol to complete a Ph.D. in 2007 focusing on laser spectroscopic studies to understand the detailed reaction dynamics of atmospheric processes. From 2007 – 2009 she accepted a Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Postdoctoral Fellowship, hosted at Nagoya University, Japan. There she measured delta 13C and delta 18O isotopic signatures of CO2 simultaneously in real time in the atmosphere using a laser spectroscopic technique to understand anthropogenic and biogenic sources of CO2. After taking a career break to travel in 15 countries in Asia, she moved to Brisbane in 2010 where she is enjoying the surrounding natural beauty of Queensland.

Mohsen Yahyaei is an expert in modelling, optimising, and controlling mineral processing circuits using novel approaches and tools. He is currently the Director of the Julius Kruttschnitt Mineral Research Centre (JKMRC) and Program Leader for Future Autonomous Systems and Technologies (FAST) at the University of Queensland’s Sustainable Minerals Institute.

Mohsen completed his undergraduate studies in Mine Exploration and earned a Master’s degree in Mineral Processing in 2002. His master’s thesis focused on applying column flotation in the Sarcheshmeh Copper Complex, the largest copper mine in the Middle East. After his Master’s, he worked at the R&D centre of the Zarand coal washing plant in Iran for two years before becoming the plant manager. In 2007, he returned to the University of Kerman to pursue a PhD, investigating the effect of liner wear on charge motion and power draw of SAG mills, which he completed in 2010.

Since joining JKMRC in 2011, Mohsen has conducted extensive applied research and successfully delivered numerous industry-funded projects. As a comminution specialist, he is dedicated to implementing fundamental understandings in his research to offer practical solutions to the minerals industry and educate engineers and researchers with problem-solving skills for future resource industry challenges. His research focuses on optimising mineral processing techniques to enhance efficiency and sustainability, with a strong emphasis on practical application. Mohsen's research extends to advanced process control, including the development of soft sensors and model-predictive control solutions. His work aims to improve the precision and reliability of industrial processes, contributing significantly to the field of mineral processing.