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Ian Satchwell is an Adjunct Professor with UQ's Sustainable Minerals Institute. Ian is also an Affiliate of the UQ's Global Centre for Mineral Security and a Senior Fellow at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.

Ian advises business, government and NGOs on minerals, energy and infrastructure policies, practices and governance to facilitate investment and deliver outcomes aligned with sustainable development goals. The focal areas of his research are on:

• Australia’s global investment footprint in minerals exploration, mining and processing and its role in fostering sound governance and sustainability frameworks and performance.
• Building diverse, secure and sustainable supply chains for critical minerals, and Australia’s domestic and global role.
• The geopolitics of menerals and energy, implications for Australia and how it contrbutes to global minerals and energy security.
• Strengthening the contribution of Northern Australia to the nation's strategic interests.

For much of his career, Ian was a senior executive in minerals and energy industry bodies, and a partner in an Australian consulting firm specialising in economics, policy and strategy. He also served on boards and advisory committees of research and policy organisations in Australia, Asia and Canada.

In addition to reseaching and preparing reports on key topics, Ian Satchwell writes regularly for the Lowy Interpreter and ASPI’s The Strategist on minerals and energy policy and geopolitics

Nadja's work centres on identifying, modelling and mitigating complex water and sustainability challenges within the industrial sector, with a focus on mining and resources. She also has a growing interest in applications of artificial intelligence (especially large language models) to enhance environmental governance and to assess and improve sustainability performance. In teaching, Nadja is passionate about training engineers to extend their core technical skillsets to work more effectively at the interface of policy, business, and society.

Nadja holds UQ degrees in Chemical Engineering (Honours Class I), Business Management, and a PhD in Interdisciplinary Engineering through the Sustainable Minerals Institute (SMI). Thereafter, Nadja completed postdoctoral research at the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag) in Switzerland. From 2017-2025, Nadja was a faculty member at The University of British Columbia (UBC) in Canada (promoted to Associate Professor in 2024), where she was jointly appointed across the School of Public Policy & Global Affairs and the Norman B Keevil Institute of Mining Engineering. She also held an NSERC Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Mine Water Management and Stewardship.

Throughout her career, Nadja has also gained applied experience through a variety of roles across sectors and companies, including with Rio Tinto, BP, Incitec Pivot, Visy Paper, SLR Consulting and the International Finance Corporation (World Bank Group). Her leadership experience has included serving on the Board of Directors for Genome British Columbia, Canada, and while at UBC she led the academic direction for several interdisciplinary, cross-campus research clusters including the BRIMM Water Stewardship theme and the UBC Future Minerals Initiative. Nadja brings a global perspective to her work, with fieldwork locations that have included Australia, Canada, Mongolia, Peru, and Ethiopia.

Juliana is a Senior Research Fellow at The University of Queensland's Sustainable Minerals Institute. Her interdisciplinary research is dedicated to enhancing the sustainability and circularity of mineral resources supply through innovation. Juliana's current work focuses on developing sustainable, circular solutions, such as ore-sand co-production, to address the global sustainability challenges associated with sand supply and conventional mineral waste management.

With a Bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering from Universidad del Valle in Colombia and a Master of Science and a PhD in Metallurgical and Materials Engineering from Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, Juliana's academic background includes a strong emphasis on extractive metallurgy and Life Cycle Assessment approaches for sustainability in mineral resources supply.

Her work experience includes leading applied research projects in collaboration with the mining industry in South America, Europe, and Australia. During her graduate studies, Juliana worked as a part-time Research Assistant in Brazil and later as a full-time Research Assistant at Imperial College London on the Horizon 2020 IMPaCT project from 2019 to 2020. She remained affiliated with the institution as an Honorary Research Associate from 2020 to 2025.

Dr. Eric O.Ansah is a hydrometallurgist with geochemistry expertise focused on developing sustainable solutions for enhanced metal extraction and improved mine closure outcomes. His research integrates innovative technologies to advance eco-efficient mineral processing and mine waste repurposing.With extensive expertise in geochemistry, hydrometallurgy, and heap leaching, Eric has a proven track record in technology development. As part of BHP’s Think & Act Differently (TAD) Essential Minerals Cohort, he pioneered protonated brine lixiviant technology for copper heap leaching, stemming from his PhD research at the University of Melbourne on coupled chalcopyrite dissolution and reprecipitation. This work has driven advancements in sustainable metal extraction.

Eric’s research and projects encompass:

• Metals: Copper, gold,zinc, cobalt, uranium, rare earth elements (REE) etc.
• Applications: Metallurgical research, plant operations, and translating laboratory innovations into industrial applications.
• Focus: Sustainable heap and in-situ leaching, mine waste management through reuse and repurposing, and mineral carbonation for environmental benefits.

His interdisciplinary approach bridges research and industry, delivering solutions that balance economic and environmental goals. Eric collaborates globally to innovate mineral processing technologies, ensuring efficient resource recovery and responsible mine closure.

Yifei Lin is a researcher at The University of Queensland’s Sustainable Minerals Institute, working in power systems modelling, geospatial analysis and risk management. Yifei combines engineering, information technology and network analysis to understand complex systems and support informed decisions about risk, reliability and resilience. Current work focuses on developing detailed models of electricity distribution networks at state scale using open tools and dtasets. This research brings together engineering modelling and geographic data to represent how electricity networks are structured and support their simulation and analysis. With a multidisciplinary background in civil engineering and information technology, Yifei’s experience spans plant reliability, risk assessment and software development for risk assessments, electricity modelling, and underground mining hazard assessments.

Key areas: Power systems modelling; geospatial analysis; risk management; graph theory; network analysis

Fitsum is an award-winning economist and social scientist focused on sustainable human development effects of economic activities including those related to extractive resources, infrastructure, and industrial development. He is internationally recognised for his work on the potential for resource-rich countries to utilise the inter-sectoral linkages with the extractive sector for economic transformation, and the role of policy makers and industry actors in achieving it. He is particularly passionate about harmonizing the interplay between state intervention and market dynamics, and optimizing the opportunities related to the interface of minerals with food, infrastructure and energy security.

Having started his career in economics and finance in government and banking sector, Fitsum applied his development economics and political science training in his role as researcher with the Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining at SMI. In this role, he conducted applied research on fiscal and non-fiscal contribution of large-scale mining, impact of extractives on political settlements and conflict, mining and sub-regional development, engaging the private sector for inclusive extractive industries, artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) and formalisation efforts, extractive industries transparency and governance, social license in technology design, resettlement and livelihoods, and social aspects of mine closure. He has also delivered capacity building programs to practitioners, policy makers and key stakeholder groups from several countries in Africa, Asia-Pacific and Latin America. Topics included connecting mining to human development outcomes, managing the social and environmental impacts of mining, community research methods, climate-smart mining, and resource governance.

Fitsum then took the role of Senior Researcher with the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) in London. In this role, he led ASM action dialogue programmes, overseeing research to support the national dialogues in Tanzania, Ghana and Madagascar. He also led and conducted a series of research activities to inform decisions by more than 60 member countries of the Intergovernmental Forum on Mining, Minerals and Sustainable Development (IGF).

More recently, Fitsum worked as an independent senior research consultant; and Senior Social Specialist for GHD in Australia. In addition to applied and academic research and capacity building experience, he has delivered presentations and guest speaking in numerous global conferences and workshops.

I am a Research Fellow in the School of Economics and the Sustainable Minerals Institute, where I am currently collaborating with the Resourcing Decarbonisation Program. I obtained my PhD from the London School of Economics (LSE).

Dr Kamila Svobodova is a Senior Research Fellow at the Sustainable Minerals Institute. Her work focuses on the social and ecological dimensions of mining, mine closure and regional transitions, combining expertise in social science, spatial planning and landscape ecology. Her research explores how mining and energy transitions reshape landscapes, communities and governance systems. Using systems thinking, spatial analysis and participatory approaches, she works to support more inclusive and sustainable land-use decision-making in mining-affected regions.

Key areas of expertise include:

• Mine closure and post-mining transitions
• Spatial planning and regional development
• Participatory mapping, GIS and spatial modelling
• Community participation and stakeholder engagement
• Cultural ecosystem services and place attachment
• Resource governance and spatial justice

Kamila has more than 20 years of international experience across academia, consultancy and private sector in Europe and Australia. She has contributed to major interdisciplinary research initiatives, including the EU-funded CESMINE project and applied projects within the Sustainable Minerals Institute focused on social aspects of mine closure and complex ore bodies.

Her work integrates qualitative and quantitative methods to inform policy and practice for government, industry and communities navigating environmental and demographic change in resource regions. Kamila also contributes to international scholarship through editorial roles with journals including Ambio and Landscape and Urban Planning.

Pascal is a spatial data scientist whose research combines geographic information systems (GIS), spatial economics, renewable energy, and electricity network modelling to support the transition to sustainable and resilient energy systems. He develops digital spatial models and decision-support tools that help governments, industry and researchers make evidence-based decisions about infrastructure, mining and regional development.

His research integrates large-scale geospatial datasets with engineering, environmental and economic analyses to better understand the interactions between natural resources, energy systems and human activities. Current projects focus on renewable energy planning, power transmission and distribution networks, mine closure and repurposing, critical infrastructure, freight and logistics, and regional resource economies.

Research areas include:

• Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and spatial data science
• Renewable energy planning and energy transitions
• Electricity transmission and distribution network modelling
• Spatial economics and regional development
• Mining systems, mine closure and post-mining land use
• Digital twins and decision-support systems
• Critical infrastructure and freight network analysis
• Earth observation and environmental spatial modelling

Pascal has more than a decade of experience applying geospatial technologies across research, teaching and industry. He works closely with government agencies, industry partners and interdisciplinary research teams to develop innovative spatial tools that support infrastructure investment, decarbonisation pathways and sustainable resource management.

Professor Daniel Franks is Director of the Global Centre for Mineral Security at the University of Queensland’s Sustainable Minerals Institute and is an Australian Research Council Future Fellow. Professor Franks is known internationally for his work on the interconnections between minerals, materials and sustainable development, with a particular focus on the role of minerals in poverty reduction. He has introduced a number of key concepts in development studies including ‘mineral poverty’, ‘mineral security,’ and ‘development minerals;’ and has worked with a wide range of public and private sector partners to implement breakthrough sustainability innovations, such as OreSand to drastically reduce mine waste, and ‘social impact management plans,’ a regulatory tool now adopted throughout the world.

He is the author of more than 160 publications, including more than 40 publications for the United Nations. His research has appeared in journals such as Nature Sustainability and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and is available in 11 languages. He is an Editorial Board Member of the International Journal of Minerals Policy & Economics, as well as Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal and has field experience at more than 100 mining and energy sites and 40 countries.

Dr Olivia Mejías González is the group leader of the Mine Waste Transformation through Characterisation (MIWATCH) group at the W. H. Bryan Mining and Geology Research Centre (BRC) within the Sustainable Minerals Institute (SMI), and Research Fellow in the ARC Training Centre for Critical Resources for the Future (CCRF).

Olivia is a geologist/geometallurgist (MSc, PhD) with 14 years of combined industry and research experience, including her PhD research, applying geochemical and mineralogical characterisation throughout the mining value chain, from exploration and production geology to geometallurgy, across both ore and mine waste materials.

Throughout these years, she has gained valuable experience leading, developing, and applying geometallurgical approaches to Cu-Mo porphyry ores; advancing geochemical studies in Co-rich IOCG systems; and understanding the biogeochemical cycling of In in anthropogenic environments and its implications from a resource-recovery and environmental perspective, particularly in mine wastes derived from Cu-Sn granite-related and Cu-Au VMS deposits, and surrounding creek systems.

She has been growing her expertise across a range of analytical techniques, including LIBS, automated mineralogy (QEMSCAN, MLA and MAPS Mineralogy), LA-ICP-MS, synchrotron-based XFM and XAS, atom probe tomography, and geochemical modelling.

Olivia is a dedicated and collaborative researcher who is passionate about characterising mine waste materials, with a focus on identifying potential metals, critical minerals, and other recoverable products to support sustainable mine waste reprocessing, using an industry-driven research approach to make outcomes transferable and applicable. If you are interested in these topics and keen to collaborate or explore research and industry problem-solving opportunities together, please get in touch!

I lead the Carbon & Climate Change Group in the Centre for Environmental Responsibility in Mining.

My research to date has focused on:

• The role of weathering of serpentinites and other ultramafic rocks in the global carbon cycle
• Development of carbon offset projects for mining companies, including reforestation, enhanced rock weathering, and carbon mineralisation projects
• Sourcing feedstocks for reaction with carbon dioxide
• Carbon accounting at mine sites, with a focus on accounting for land-use change emissions
• Environmental impacts of nickel mining, particularly laterite deposits
• Exploration and mining of marine placer deposits, including diamond, gold, and platinum‑group‑element deposits
• Geochemical and mineralogical tools for mineral exploration, for both traditional commodities and feedstocks for reaction with carbon dioxide

I joined the Sustainable Minerals Institute in 2026 after 14 years working in the mining industry in both geology and sustainability roles, including working as a Climate Change Specialist for the De Beers Group and a Carbon Mitigation Principal for Anglo American.

I have worked on mining and mineral exploration projects on four continents: North America, South America, Africa, and Australia. During my Ph.D. studies, I conducted fieldwork in the Sultanate of Oman in the Middle East.

In addition to my academic research, I am a writer and enjoy writing about science for a general audience. I wrote a geology blog for the American Geophysical Union for several years, and my book Rocks & Minerals: An Illustrated Field Guide was published by Cider Mill Press (an imprint of HarperCollins) in 2023.

Lulit holds a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from Addis Ababa Institute of Science and Technology, Ethiopia. She had enriched her teaching experience at the Addis Ababa Institute of Technology, instructing courses such as hydrology, hydraulics, water treatment, urban drainage, wastewater treatment, and environmental engineering. She further advances her study to Master of Science in Water Supply and Environmental Engineering at the same University. Lulit then moved to South Korea in 2018 to start her PhD at the University of Science and Technology. She obtained her PhD in Resources Recycling in 2021 and started working as a postdoctoral researcher at the Korea Institute of Geoscience and Minerals (KIGAM) in South Korea. During her postdoctoral researcher position, Lulit has worked on the enrichment and recovery of rare earth elements from coal by-products using mineral processing, flotation and carbon mineralization. Lulit joined the SMI in 2024. She has been working on multidisciplinary which will enable her to address the circular economy solution in mining sector (i.e. ore-sands).

Dr Nikky LaBranche is a mining engineer, occupational health researcher and industry leader specialising in occupational dust, airborne hazards and respiratory health. She is Director of Professional Development at The University of Queensland’s Sustainable Minerals Institute (SMI) and leads the Dust and Respiratory Health Program within the Minerals Industry Safety and Health Centre.

Nikky leads a portfolio of more than $4 million in applied research focused on preventing occupational lung disease and improving how airborne hazards are understood, assessed and controlled. Her research spans underground and surface mining, engineered stone, mineral processing and other dust-generating industries, with particular expertise in respirable crystalline silica, coal mine dust, diesel particulate matter and complex workplace aerosols.

Her work sits at the intersection of mining engineering, exposure science, advanced microscopy and worker health. She has pioneered the application of automated mineralogy and advanced scanning electron microscopy to occupational dust samples, allowing individual particles to be characterised by their composition, size, shape and associations. Increasingly, her research is also exploring artificial intelligence and large particle datasets to identify patterns that cannot be resolved through conventional exposure measurements alone.

A central theme of Nikky’s work is moving beyond asking simply how much dust a worker is exposed to, towards understanding what the dust contains, where it came from, how it changes with mining and processing activities, and which characteristics may be most important for health. This evidence supports more targeted exposure assessment, control selection and risk management.

Nikky works extensively with industry, government, regulators, unions, clinicians and researchers to translate research into practice. Her broader research program encompasses exposure assessment and control, occupational disease prevention, respiratory health risk factors, return to work following occupational lung disease, emerging airborne contaminants and the development of new approaches to occupational health surveillance and risk management.

With more than 20 years of experience across mining operations, research, occupational health and safety and industry leadership, Nikky brings a strong applied perspective to her work. Alongside her research role, as Director of Professional Development at SMI she provides strategic leadership for industry-facing education and professional capability development, helping translate university research and expertise into practice across the resources sector.

Nikky is a Fellow and Chartered Professional of AusIMM and a member of the AusIMM Board. She also contributes to national occupational health and professional initiatives through Standards Australia and the Lung Foundation Australia Occupational Lung Disease Network. She is a recognised speaker and media commentator on mining health and safety, respirable dust, silica, occupational lung disease and emerging approaches to exposure assessment.

Her contributions have been recognised through the 2024 AusIMM Professional Excellence Award in Health and Safety, the 2025 Queensland Resources Council Exceptional Woman in Technological Innovation Award, the 2025 Women in Resources National Exceptional Woman in Technological Innovation Award and the 2025 Queensland Mining Industry Health and Safety Conference Health Award.

Bellson holds a Bachelor of Science degree in minerals engineering from the University of Mines and Technology (UMaT), Ghana and a PhD in minerals and materials engineering from the then Ian Wark Research Institute, now Future Industries Institute, University of South Australia. His PhD research topic was “Fluidised-bed flotation of coarse sulphide minerals: factors influencing value recovery” within the AMIRA P260F series.

Bellson has worked as a lecturer at the University of Mines and Technology, Ghana, and as a process engineer at SIMEC Mining (previously Arrium Mining). He joined The University of Queensland's JKMRC with the desire to use his experience in applied research, focusing on novel advances in mineral processing

Mayra is a geometallurgy specialist with extensive experience leading geometallurgical studies and developing predictive models for greenfield and brownfield mining projects. She has a strong background in process mineralogy, the design and management of metallurgical testwork programs, and process design, supporting process optimisation and project development.

Her experience includes working as a Senior Metallurgist at Transmin Metallurgical Consultants in Lima, Peru. She recently completed her PhD in Mineral Processing at The University of Queensland, where her research focused on understanding the effect of mineral textures on flotation performance. She is currently a researcher with the Flotation Chemistry Group at the Julius Kruttschnitt Mineral Research Centre (JKMRC), working on ore characterisation, process mineralogy, metallurgical testing, and flotation chemistry

Laura Natali Sotomayor is a Research Platform Fellow (Geospatial Data Scientist) with the UQ Drone Collaborative Research Platform, based within the W.H. Bryan Mining Geology Research Centre at the Sustainable Minerals Institute. She develops tools and workflows to process, analyse and interpret drone-acquired multi-sensor imagery and lidar data, supporting research and industry applications.

She completed her PhD in Geomatic Engineering at the University of Tasmania, where her research developed deep learning workflows for multi-sensor Unoccupied Aerial Systems (UAS) monitoring of vegetation in semi-arid rangelands, combining remote sensing techniques with automated image analysis to translate high-resolution imagery into spatially explicit information on vegetation cover, structure, and function.

Lizette specialises in applying technical knowledge and research outcomes in industrial applications to improve process performance.

Lizette holds a Bachelor of Engineering Honours degree in Control Engineering from the University of Pretoria, South Africa and is a minerals processing engineer with more than 15 years industrial experience that joined the JKMRC in 2019. She has extensive experience in processing of precious group metals (PGM’s), copper and iron ore.

She has been involved in a number of commissiong projects, including ultra-fine grinding circuits with optimisation of the downstream flotation circuits and the commissioning and operation of gravity separation plants for the treatment of low grade iron ore. She has also implemented metallurgical ore characterisation test programs in PGM and iron ore processing.