About Us
The major process engineering industries - chemicals, minerals and energy, food, agricultural and pharmaceutical - and the major utility sectors (electricity, gas, water) all interact with the environment in many ways; from issues surrounding extraction of primary resources, to those consequent on the disposal of wastes and residuals. Increasingly, these same interactions are informed by an explicit set of societal concerns or demands. The research group's research focus is to understand these interactions more fundamentally and holistically, drawing on elements of thermodynamics and systems analysis, process simulation and optimisation, and network and complexity theory.
Previous work has focused on the technology development for waste management, the development of methodologies for the analysis of the environmental performance of industrial networks/sectors with specific considerations of the uncertainty aspects involved and the development of tools to assist in environmental decision making under uncertainty in complex situations with multiple stakeholders. The latest research embodies the explicit consideration of the interaction between businesses and other interested and affected parties (IAPs) and how their individual strategic planning affects the evolution and performance of industrial networks through time. The analysis and design of industrial networks takes place using an array of sophisticated and tailored modelling tools using modelling principles of Life Cycle Assessment, Industrial Ecology, Graph Theory, Agent-Based Modelling and System Dynamics.
More specifically, the role of technology in the promotion of sustainable development is being researched within the framework of Life Cycle and Systems Thinking. This enables the sustainability profile of any product, process or service to be derived in a way which can be used as part of a quantitative multi-objective decision-support structure to explore trade-offs between economic, social and environmental objectives within a preferred set of social values. The focus of this work is on the use of Life Cycle Assessment to inform process design, on the use of Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis tools in process optimisation, and in exploring tools for uncertainty analysis as part of decision making within businesses and for complete industrial network evolution.
This work finds application in projects as diverse as mining and minerals processing, commodity chemicals production, resource provision, water and waste management and the utility sector. Recent additions to this suite of projects includes the development of decision support tools for exploring material chain management using network optimisation and simulation tools (see complex decision making and strategic planning in industrial networks).
The field of Complex Systems and Sustainability is new, and effective collaboration is necessary on a wide scale. The group is involved in activities such as the UNEP / SETAC "Life Cycle Initiative", and the International Society for Industrial Ecology, both of which draw together leading international researchers. Furthermore, intensive research collaborations exist with researchers at the University of Cape Town, South Africa and the Centre for Environmental Strategy, University of Surrey, United Kingdom.
