Professor Ravi Naidu

In attendance at the Graduation Ceremony for the conferring of the prestigious Doctorate of Science was Professor Ravi Naidu, Global Innovation Chair and Director of the Global Centre for Environmental Remediation at the University of Newcastle, Australia.  Ravi has forged an outstanding career since completing his PhD at Massey University in 1985.  He was the Founding Director, Centre for Environmental Risk Assessment and Remediation, University of South Australia and the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of CRC CARE ¬ a centre that he initiated at that University.  There was a recent shift of the entire research group (75 researchers) to the University of Newcastle where Ravi⊃;s work continues to focus on the remediation of contaminated soil, water and air, and the potential impacts of contaminants upon environmental and human health at local, national and global levels. He has helped revolutionise contamination science by leading the move to a risk-based approach to managing contaminated sites.

By demonstrating that contaminants only pose a risk if they can be taken up by humans, animals, plants and other biota with adverse effects, he has helped pioneer a more rational, effective and affordable approach to contamination science and actual clean-up, which has been adopted in Australia. He has also been a leader in the shift to in situ remediation ¬ cleaning up contamination where it lies, rather than the traditional Œdig and dump⊃; approach. Together, these approaches potentially save industry millions, if not billions, of dollars annually and make clean-up far more feasible and attractive.  At the University of Newcastle, Ravi leads the Global Centre for Environmental Remediation (GCER), where he continues to implement his vision to safeguard the environment for future generations.