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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

Olivia Mejías is a Research Fellow in Critical Minerals and Mine Waste Geoscience at the W. H. Bryan Mining and Geology Research Centre within the Sustainable Minerals Institute and a member of the ARC Training Centre for Critical Resources for the Future. She is also part of the Mine Waste Transformation through Characterisation (MIWATCH) research group. Olivia holds a Masters degree in geometallurgy and has recently submitted her PhD, which focused on indium mobility and transformation in mine waste environments.

A geologist with more than 10 years of combined industry and research experience, Olivia has worked across a range of deposit types and commodities. She has applied geometallurgical frameworks to copper-molybdenum porphyry ores, advanced geochemical studies in cobalt-rich IOCG systems, and most recently characterised indium-bearing mine wastes from copper-tin granite related and copper-gold VMS deposits.

Her research uses multi-scale characterisation approaches to investigate critical minerals in mine waste materials and acid mine drainage. Through this work, she aims to improve understanding of their biogeochemical cycling and to translate these insights into sustainable mineral extraction and geometallurgical practices. This research is supported by experience with a wide range of analytical techniques, including laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS), automated mineralogy using Maps Min, MLA and QEMSCAN, LA-ICP-MS, synchrotron based XFM and XAS, atom probe tomography (APT) and geochemical modelling using PHREEQC.

She is a dedicated and collaborative researcher who is passionate about advancing critical minerals science in ores and mine waste materials and about contributing to a more sustainable future.

Dr Vlado Vivoda is a leading expert in critical minerals, energy security, and the geopolitical dimensions of resource management. His work focuses on the intersection of sustainable energy transitions and strategic mineral supply chains, offering insights into both global policy and industry practices.

With over two decades of experience across academia, research, and consultancy, Dr. Vivoda has contributed significantly to understanding the role of critical minerals in global energy transitions. His research addresses topics such as:

• Geopolitics of critical minerals
• Sustainable mining practices
• Energy policy and security
• Strategic responses to global supply chain vulnerabilities

Dr Vivoda has published extensively in top-tier academic journals, contributed to major international reports, and advised government and private sector organizations on critical minerals and energy strategies. His interdisciplinary approach bridges academia, industry, and policy, making him a trusted advisor in the fields of energy security and sustainable development.

Dr Paul Rogers is an economic geographer and applied researcher with more than 25 years’ experience working in the area of sustainable development and the extractive industries. At the Sustainable Minerals Institute at The University of Queensland, his research is focused on finding new and innovative ways to promote sustainable development in communities and regions impacted by the extractive industries, particularly the development minerals sector, in the Asia-Pacific region.

Paul is currently leading a number of applied research and capacity building projects that aim to build mineral security in the Pacific Islands, focusing on the affordable and adequate supply of minerals need to ensure human development and security, particular in terms of building resilience to the impacts of climate change. He is currently working with the Fiji Government and an international coalition of partners on the Blue Concrete Initiative - a project to bring sustainable low carbon concrete to the Pacific region, as well as a project investigating alternative sources of sustainable sand and aggregates to meet the growing demands of the infrastructure sector in the region. Paul is the project manager of the Mineral Security Masterclass in Fiji and has overseen the successful delivery of the program to dozens of students, early career geoscientists and other professionals working in related fields for the past three years.

In addition to his work on Mineral Security, Paul also consults to the World Bank provide regional minerals development support to the ASEAN Economic Community.

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.

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.

Fitsum is an 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 between extractive minerals and the transition to clean energy for harnessing sustainable energy solutions.

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 between 2011 and 2016. 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, and resource governance.

Fitsum then took the role of Senior Researcher with the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) in London from 2016 to 2019. 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.

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.

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).

Libby Humphries is a Lecturer, Research Fellow, and Education and Training Program Leader at the Minerals Industry Safety and Health Centre (MISHC), University of Queensland. With over 20 years of experience in health and safety, Libby has designed and delivered comprehensive health and safety management systems and risk management plans across high-hazard industries, including mining, smelting and gas sectors. Her work spans aluminium smelting, uranium mining and coal seam gas contracting across Australia, including Gladstone (QLD), Jabiru (NT), and Parkes (NSW).

Libby specialises in the development, implementation, and evaluation of effective health and safety management systems, ensuring they are practical, sustainable, and aligned with industry and regulatory standards. Her approach integrates a layered risk management framework, critical control verification, and continuous improvement processes to drive operational excellence and safer work environments.

As a qualified ISO 45001 auditor and an experienced Trainer and Assessor aligned with Registered Training Organisation (RTO) standards, Libby is skilled in developing and delivering nationally accredited training programs. She ensures learners meet industry and regulatory requirements while fostering practical skills for workplace application.

Libby is particularly passionate about enhancing health and psychosocial risk management through robust competency frameworks and targeted education. Her industry expertise ensures that training and risk management initiatives are practical, evidence-based, and tailored to the unique needs of high-hazard operations.

Dr Nikky LaBranche is an occupational health researcher and mining engineer specialising in dust and respiratory health. She leads the Dust and Respiratory Health Program at The University of Queensland’s Sustainable Minerals Institute, managing a $3.6 million portfolio of applied research.

Her work focuses on respirable dust characterisation, exposure assessment, control technologies, and return-to-work strategies for workers affected by lung disease. She has developed advanced methods using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with automated mineralogy (MLA) and field emission SEM (FEG-SEM) to understand particle size, shape, mineralogy, and agglomeration. This research informs industry, government, and unions on practical measures to prevent occupational lung disease in coal, metal, smelting, and engineered stone industries.

Nikky also brings nearly two decades of broader mining health and safety experience, including:

• Incident management – improving underground coal mine emergency exercises, escape systems, and in-place shelters.

• Injury analysis and accident investigation – developing classification systems for mining incidents and identifying organisational risk factors.

• Occupational health systems – linking exposure and surveillance data to disease outcomes.

An AusIMM Fellow and Chartered Professional, Nikky has been recognised with the 2024 AusIMM Professional Excellence Award in Health & Safety and the 2025 QRC Exceptional Woman in Technological Innovation Award. She is committed to creating safer, healthier, and more sustainable workplaces across the resources sector.

Pascal's research interests are diversified over various aspects of the Earth system, including geology, geomorphology, climate, soil and anthropogenic modifications in the context of spatial data analysis and interpretation.

Pascal holds a BSc in Geography from the University of Hamburg (Germany), a MSc in Earth Sciences from the University of Hamburg (Germany) and a PhD from the Queensland University of Technology (Brisbane, Australia). His PhD research on multi-method sediment provenance analysis focussed on the integration of U-Pb thermo- and geochronometer with novel techniques in image analysis and dimension reduction methods. The project was in cooperation with the Geological Survey of Queensland (DoR, GSQ) and the Geological Survey of New South Wales (GSNSW).

Over the last 10 years Pascal has worked with Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in the context of teaching, academic research and for industry applications. He is proficient on a variety of GIS software platforms including ArcMap, ArcGIS Pro, QGIS and SAGA.

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.

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.

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).

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

Julia Keenan is a Research Fellow and PhD candidate at the Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining (CSRM), Sustainable Minerals Institute, The University of Queensland. With over 15 years at CSRM, her work focuses on social performance, sustainable development, and Indigenous self-determination within the extractive industries.

Julia’s research examines the relationship between mining operations and local communities, focusing on agreement-making, gender equity, economic participation, and mine closure. Her PhD investigates corporate social performance (CSP), exploring policy implementation gaps, stakeholder engagement, and social safeguards throughout the mining lifecycle.

Julia has contributed to global mineral resource governance projects, partnering with the United Nations Environment Programme to implement the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA-4) Resolution on Mineral Resource Governance. She also worked on the Strategic Regional Environmental and Baseline Assessment (SREBA) for the Beetaloo Sub-basin, profiling community concerns about resource development.

Since 2023, Julia has coordinated CSRM’s involvement in the Community Smart Consultation and Consent Project (CSCC), which focuses on improving natural resource governance through community-based consultation and FPIC. She has co-authored guidance documents for the International Council on Mining and Metals and Rio Tinto.

Julia holds a Bachelor of Science/Bachelor of Arts (Hons in Linguistics) from The University of Queensland and is nearing completion of her PhD.

Claire is an international expert in mine water and environmental management who has applied her academic and technical knowledge to influence the mining industry’s environmental performance. She has held several positions in research and consulting, and worked with mining companies in Australia, Africa, Chile and Canada to address issues related to water and sustainable development, documenting and implementing best practices. She gained extensive experience in the mining sector at Anglo American from 2011 to 2018, where she provided technical expertise on all topics related to environmental and water management, in Australia and Canada. She has led new approaches to improve planning for mine closure, including a review of closure plans for De Beers operations in Canada.

In her current role, she seeks to promote environmental excellence throughout the mining cycle, based on capacity building and targeted research programs on water and environmental management, integrated closure planning and beneficial post mining land uses. Claire is part of the newly formed Leading for High Reliability Centre at the University of Queensland, a collaboration between the Sustainable Minerals Institute, the School of Psychology and the Andrew N. Liveris Academy for Innovation and Leadership.

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