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.

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Areas of research