Author Editor
Date 23 December 2022

Day 3 – Wednesday 7 September

The final day of the symposium was an Industry Partners and Training Centre-only day with a few workshops and discussions. There was a great turn-out with 63 people attending in person and 54 people online.

Our Theme 3 researchers ran the initial workshop “From acceptance to engagement: new challenges for biosolids management” and were very pleased with the engagement and feedback they received.

Centre discussions were then chaired by Prof Damien Batstone, covering publications, placements, and training opportunities. We also heard from Emily Chang from Cruxes Innovation on their Base program for early career researchers.

A Training Forum for the Post Docs, PhDs and Industry partners was facilitated by Dr David Bergmann from South East Water, Prof Anas Ghadouani (UWA), Prof Lauren Rickards (RMIT), and Carolyn Bellamy, Water RA.

The final session of the symposium was an online Training Lunch on Developing Impact Pathways run by Dr David Downes from RMIT University.

Thanks to everyone for a wonderful symposium for all the hard work done by the organising committee.

To read more about the symposium check out the article written by UNSW researchers about the symposium – Link.

Author Editor
Date 23 December 2022

Day 2 – Tuesday 6 September

Second day of the Second Annual Symposium was just as outstanding as the first day with another great turnout. There were around 94 in-person attendees and 93 online attendees from across industry and research.

The program included a keynote speech from Prof Glen Daigger, from University of Michigan on the Global perspectives on Thermal Technologies. Glen also provided us with an insightful overview and critique at the end of the day.

The final researcher presentations came from those working on Theme 3: Ensuring Biosolids Sustainability. They did a fantastic job highlighting all the researcher’s work and did some great presentations.

People’s choice topic presentations on the State of Play on Biosolids Management were provided by Richard Lancaster, Technical Director Biosolids, Atkins Global on UK and Europe, and Prof Ian Pepper, University of Arizona on North America and Canada.  Closer to home, representatives from Australian councils and water utilities provided an overview on their management of biosolids across Australian states.

ANZBP ran a 2-hour session for us  in the afternoon, introducing who ANZBP are and then providing insights from some of the research that they have done in conjunction with Industry Partners.

To end the Formal Symposium sessions, we had a wonderful Wrap-up, Critique and Feedback session which showed some of the take-aways of the symposium and provided ideas for the 2023 symposium program and approach.

Many thanks to all our presenters who made the first 2 days such a success. We would also like to thank our session Chairs and the researchers who assisted them by Co-chairing the sessions and helping behind the scenes during the symposium, which ensured the smooth running of the program.

Author Editor
Date 23 December 2022

Day 1 – Monday 5 September

First day of the Second Annual Symposium, an outstanding first day. Great turnout with around 104 in-person attendees and 151 online attendees.

The program included a keynote speech from Paul Higham, Head of Strategic and Enterprise Planning, from Sydney Water about The Changing Market for Biosolids.

Our Centre researchers working on Theme 1: Improving Biosolids Technologies did an outstanding job, great presentations, and insightful research.

People’s choice topic presentations by Dr Jen Martin from Arcadis Australia Pacific on PFAS and Biosolids and by Craig Bagnall, SEATA Group on Biosolids Biochar Markets provided a great overview of current issues facing the industry.

The program on Day 1 also included some outstanding Forums in the afternoon – we heard views from a wide range of Producers and End-Users of biosolids in NSW, as well as paying a tribute to our Biosolids Industry Legends.

We also had another round of our Centre researchers working on Theme 2: Enhancing Biosolids Product Applications. Again, they did an outstanding job of presenting their research at the symposium.

It was also fantastic to see the conversations that the researchers were having with the Industry Partners that attended. This continued into the evening with a successful conference dinner exchange, where we heard from guest speaker, Dr Michael Crawford, CEO of the Soil CRC.