Engineering and Energy experts

Associate Professor Graeme Cole

Industrial Control Systems, Computer Based Measurement & Control, Process Control, Bioengineering, Colour Vision

Dr Tania Urmee

Energy policy, energy generation in remote areas, solar and microhydro systems, energy efficiency

Dr Tania Urmee researches social, environmental and policy issues relating to renewable energy technologies, particularly solar and microhydro projects.

She has more than 15 years’ experience in working with rural communities in the Asia and Pacific region on solar photovoltaic (PV) electrification and energy efficiency.

Dr Urmee has been involved in business energy auditing, energy policy analysis, decentralised electricity generation, co-generation, developing energy mapping tools for small and medium enterprises (SME), analysis of building energy efficiency, climate change mitigation and abatement research.

Professor Philip Jennings

Renewable energy research and photovoltaics

Murdoch’s Professor of Physics and Energy Studies, Philip Jennings is an expert in photovoltaics, particularly amorphous silicon solar cells and attempts to improve their efficiency and stability, and has been involved in renewable energy research and education for more than 25 years, leading a range of educational programs in renewable energy at the University.

Professor Jennings is the former president of the Conservation Council, current president of the Wetlands Conservation Society, President of the Cockburn Wetlands Education Centre and Secretary of the Pollution Action Network.

He is also active in the voluntary conservation movement, having held various positions with the Conservation Council of Western Australia and its affiliated groups.

He also represents the Conservation Council on the Cockburn Sound Management Council and the Air Quality Coordinating Committee, and is the Chair of the Beeliar Regional Park Community Advisory Committee.

Dr Martin Anda

Sustainable development, governance and environmental technology in Australian Indigenous communities

Environmental engineer Dr Martin Anda is an expert in liquid and solid waste recycling, and energy efficiency in buildings and human settlements.

He says that if only 10 per cent of Perth’s homes were eco-renovated with insulation and solar panels, the equivalent of one new coal or gas-fired power station could be saved and demand reduced on existing ones.

Dr Anda’s research through the Environmental Technology Centre and Remote Area Developments Group is linked to the Desert Knowledge Cooperative Research Centre, the Sustainable Tourism CRC, Environmental Biotechnology CRC and the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute.

Dr Jonathan Whale

Wind energy

Dr Jonathan Whale is Director of Australia’s National Small Wind Turbine Test Centre, operating out of Murdoch University. The federally-funded centre is the only one of its kind in Australia and aims to stimulate the small wind turbine industry in Australia by improving the quality of small wind turbines.

Dr Whale works with small wind turbine manufacturers, project developers and local councils in assessing wind resources and demonstrating and testing small wind turbines. He also works on international small wind projects with the International Energy Agency.

Dr Gerrard Eddy Jai Poinern

Applied nanotechnology and bionanotechology

An applied nanotechnology and bionanotech expert, Dr Gerrard Eddy Jai Poinern leads the development of a nanomembrane for the repair of skin burns, and has pioneered the manufacture of "nano-bone by wet synthesis" methods.

Dr Poinern is part of the strategic India-Australian scientific collaboration for arsenic removal in contaminated water, the nanotechnology chair and foundation director of the Murdoch Applied Nanotechnology Research Group, MANRG, and also designed the WA State NanoCarbon Manufacturing facility for the WA Nanochemistry Research Institute.