Jurg Keller steps down as CRO
Our Chief Research Officer (CRO) and good friend, Jurg Keller, stepped down from the CRCWSC during our 4th Water Sensitive Cities Conference in March.
Our Chief Research Officer (CRO) and good friend, Jurg Keller, stepped down from the CRCWSC during our 4th Water Sensitive Cities Conference in March.
Jurg has been part of the CRCWSC since the beginning. He was an integral member of the bid team, and then established the Queensland hub when the team won the bid. He was Regional Executive Director (Eastern Region) from July 2012 until December 2014, when he became CRO and co-leader of program A (Society) of the Tranche 1 research agenda.
CEO Tony Wong says this move demonstrates Jurg’s willingness to do something completely different because he was not familiar with the subject matter at the time. Even getting his head around all of the 35 projects and teams active in Tranche 1 that produced over 700 individual outputs speaks volumes about Jurg’s tenacity, too. He was also instrumental in consultations for the subsequent research activities of Tranche 2 and initiated the ‘new breed’ of industry-focused, collaborative and integrated projects with their associated three-letter acronyms like IRPs, TAPs etc.
Already a distinguished academic, Jurg established the Advanced Water Management Centre, an internationally leading research centre, within UQ in 1996, but left his role as its director to become the CRCWSC’s CRO at the end of 2014. He still serves as Deputy Director Research of the AWMC, and has shared his focus between both organisations for the past seven years.
While Jurg will no longer be our CRO—and we warmly welcome Dr Briony Rogers to the role—he hasn’t fully retired and will continue to do some work with the AWMC/UQ in a part time capacity. He will also support the ongoing CRCWSC activities in an in-kind/volunteer role and as an ‘ambassador’ for the goals of the CRCWSC through his large national and international networks.
To mark his enormous contribution to the CRC since its inception, CEO Tony Wong presented Jurg with a service award, and had the crowd on its feet with his praise of our indefatigable colleague.
"Our success in achieving multi-sector integrated research outcomes is due to not only Jurg's significant professional knowledge and experience, but also to his unique ability to listen, evolve his thinking and create the collaborative process essential to delivering these outcomes", said Barry Ball (Research Adoption Executive).
We wish Jurg all the very best for his future, and sincerely thank him for helping to make the CRCWSC the prolific, well regarded cooperative research centre it is today. We will miss you, Jurg!
More about Jurg Keller—a giant in water industry research
Jurg Keller is one of the inaugural IWA Fellows and in 2012 was elected as Fellow in the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering. He is also the 2013 Water Professional of the Year, awarded by the Australian Water Association.
Jurg Keller is one of the 34 inaugural IWA Fellows and in 2012 was elected as Fellow in the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE). He is also the 2013 Water Professional of the Year, awarded by the Australian Water Association.
Jurg has over 25 years’ experience in water industry research, particularly in biological wastewater treatment, environmental biotechnology, bio-electrochemical systems and resource recovery concepts. His academic impact has been remarkable, with 288 journal publications, attracting over 22,400 citations to date (over 12,500 since 2014). Equally important, Jurg has been highly successful in combining leading edge research and development activities with effective industry-relevant collaborations. His close working partnerships with many major water utilities in Australia and internationally have resulted in a range of beneficial outcomes for the industry and the researchers involved.
Career highlights
- Secured funding totalling more than A$40 million in past 25 years—mostly collaborative; many as project (co)leader
- Successful in both academic research (10 ARC Discovery grants) industry-linked research (10 ARC Linkage grants) and international collaboration (one ARC Linkage Intl, 3 DIISR ISL grants)
- Numerous industry-related project activities through CRC for Water Sensitive Cities, Environmental Biotechnology CRC, CRC for Waste Management and Pollution Control, Meat & Livestock Australia, and with many industry partners from public and private sectors
- ATSE Fellow
- Board Member of Australian Water Association (2017-2021)
- National Research Innovation Award winner 2017, Australian Water Association
- Twelve books/book sections, and more than 250 international conference publications
- Chair of the Australian Committee of the International Water Association (IWA)
- IWA Governing Assembly Member
- Member of Management Committee of IWA Specialist Groups on Anaerobic Digestion and on Nutrient Removal and Recovery
- Member of IWA, Australian Water Association (also on Strategic Advisory Council) and Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors (AEESP)
- Chair of 11th IWA World Congress on Anaerobic Digestion (AD11) Brisbane, 2007
- Co-Chair of 7th IWA Specialist Conference on Water Reclamation and Reuse, Brisbane, 2009
- Four granted or pending patents (plus four lapsed)
- Graduated 45 PhD students since 1995