Veena Sahajwalla

Professor Sahajwalla's most significant contributions are in the field of Waste Plastics in EAF Steelmaking – Slag Interactions. Other areas of research include Structure – Reactivity Relationship of Carbon; Carbon Reactions in Iron and Steelmaking. Invented an environmentally friendly technology for recycling plastics and rubber tyres in steelmaking, enabling their use as a partial replacement of coal and coke in electric arc furnace (EAF) steelmaking. The University’s commercialisation arm, NSi, has signed an agreement with Australia’s largest manufacturer of steel long products, OneSteel, to allow the sublicensing of this unique technology. It has been the subject of numerous invited/keynote addresses including the Royal Institution of Great Britain, London. Recognition includes: 170+ refereed papers in international journals; $9.3 m research funding since 1994. Lead a research group of some 25 staff and students, comprising 3 postdoctoral fellows, 15 current PhD, 1 current research Masters students, 3 current Honours students, a research engineer and a visiting researcher.

She has been invited to deliver talks worldwide in over ten countries. She has delivered keynote/invited papers in many international conferences and has lectured in Argentina, Canada, China, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, South Africa, Sweden, UK and USA. She was an invited speaker at The Royal Institution of Great Britain, London in May 2005; invited to be the sole presenter at a 4-day course on Steelmaking at Instituto Argentino De Siderurgia held in Argentina, July 2005; invited to present her work to European industrialists and researchers in Sweden, March 2003. She delivered a keynote address at the World Scrap Metal Congress in Shanghai, December 2005. She was invited by the Latin American Iron and Steel Institute (ILAFA) to deliver her vision on “Recycling Materials” in Mexico, May 2006. She delivered the prestigious Harricks Address of the Institution of Engineers Australia in 2006. She delivered a keynote address at the International Conference on Sustainable Materials in Malaysia, June 2007. She has collaborated with Australian companies and overseas companies/institutions. She has established excellent working relationships and a deep knowledge of industrial processes and issues/problems.