Professor Steven Kenway

Researcher biography
Steven is a water leader with senior experience in research, industry, and government, developed through roles with The University of Queensland, CSIRO, Brisbane Water, Sydney Water, and private consulting. He has worked with urban water, wastewater, stormwater, and related energy and greenhouse gas issues since 1990. His work addresses urban water security, water-energy nexus, and circular economy . He creates collaborations, tools, models and knowledge to address all flows of water – and related energy - into, out of, and within cities. This enables evaluation and management of key concepts such as: (i) net zero carbon water cycle, (ii) hybrid, decentralised and integrated systems performance, and (iii) sustainable urban design and planning.
Steven's work is enhancing performance benchmarking of cities, shaping development, guiding policy and infrastructure investment locally and internationally. He has secured and delivered over $8m funding for his research since 2005, most since 2013. This includes multiple international and national projects for the Asian Development Bank, Water Research Foundation (USA), and CRC Water Sensitive Cities.
He has authored over 60 Scopus-listed articles in high-quality journals, 20 books or major CRC public reports, 10 book chapters and over 67 conference articles (over 200 total articles). Steven is a long-term and regular funded plenary and invited keynote presenter to peak international forums including: World Water Forum, World Water Congress, World Water Week and Singapore International Water Week. Steven's strong multi-disciplinary work spans environmental, chemical and civil engineering, natural resources management, and urban planning and design. He has developed urban metabolism theory, including its links to integrated water management and industrial ecology.
Featured projects | Duration |
---|---|
Global socio-economic losses and environmental gains from the Coronavirus pandemic | 2020 |
Net zero water cycle | 2020 |
Water Energy Carbon Team | |
Analysis of Urban Water Security for the Asian Development Bank | 2016–2020 |
Enabling a Net Zero Greenhouse Gas Emissions Water Cycle | 2022–2027 |
Net zero carbon water cycle program | 2021–2025 |
Water performance evaluation of residential infill development The University of Queensland |
2022 |
Energy-water-greenhouse gas emission nexus of food system in Australia Australian Research Council |
2022 |
Water-energy-carbon links in households and cities: a new paradigm Australian Research Council |
2014 |
Catchment scale landscape planning for water sensitive city-regions in an age of climate change | 2013–2017 |
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