Title: Engineering Faculties Crucial Role Across Disruptive Technologies for CO2-eq Reduction and Driving the Research Roadmap

 

In March 2023, the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) released its sixth synthesis report (AR6) summarising the challenges associated with climate change, including risks and impacts, and climate change mitigation and adaptation. It is recognised that “human activities … have unequivocally caused global warming, with global surface temperature reaching 1.1°C above 1850–1900 in 2011–2020”, The report notes that, in-part, “the solution lies in climate resilient development” through a combination of adaptation and actions to reduce GHG emissions. These goals cannot be delivered without ready and speedy uptake of disruptive technologies and alignment of these with societal needs. Working collectively, and with industry and governments, Engineering Faculties have a large role to play in delivering on the sustainable, low-carbon, future, weather through energy, infrastructure, greenhouse gas mitigation, sequestration and/or abatement. This talk will focus on significant questions facing communities and policy makers, on new and disruptive technologies, on how Engineering Faculties can align in facilitating the sustainable future and present on UNSW as a case study.

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Biography

Professor Stephen Foster is Dean of Engineering, UNSW Sydney. He received his PhD from the University of New South Wales in 1993 and has over 35 years’ experience as a structural engineer in practice and in teaching.

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He is a Fellow of Engineers Australia, Fellow of fib, Honorary Member of the Concrete Institute of Australia (CIA), elected President of the International Federation for Structural Concrete (fib) and a member of Standards Australia Committees for Concrete Structures and Bridges.

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Stephen has over 350 publications in the field of structural concrete and concrete materials, with textbooks on Reinforced Concrete and Prestressed Concrete. His main research interests are in the fields of bringing new materials technologies to the design concrete structures, including fibre and ultra-high-performance concrete, low carbon construction materials such as Geopolymer and alkaline activated concretes and high strength reinforcing steels.