CO2CRC today announced the appointment of Professors Peter Cook, Kelly Thambimuthu and John Kaldi as Distinguished Scientists at CO2CRC.
"We are delighted to formalise appointments with Professors Cook, Thambimuthu and Kaldi. All three have made outstanding contributions to the field of carbon capture and storage (CCS) over decades and are globally recognised scientists in the international CCS community," said David Byers, chief executive of CO2CRC.
"As carbon capture and storage is more widely deployed as an essential technology to achieve global emissions reduction targets, we are delighted to welcome these highly credentialed scientists to CO2CRC to add further depth to our research and development agenda. Peter, John and Kelly's extensive global networks will be particularly valuable in helping CO2CRC build technology collaborations with universities and research institutions globally," Mr Byers said.
"In a wider context, these appointments are an important part of Australia maintaining its position as a world-leader and innovator in CCS technology and research," he said.
CO2CRC is Australia's leading carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) research organisation, having demonstrated CCUS technologies over the past decade at the Otway National Research Facility in Victoria. The facility is one of the most advanced field scale CCS research sites globally. CO2CRC's research and industry connections bring together the world's best scientists, engineers, government partners and industry leaders to deliver research, products and services to advance the implementation of CCUS technologies.
Biographies
Professor Peter Cook is one of Australia's foremost scientists and technology leaders in the areas of energy, greenhouse technology and sustainability. He is a Professorial Fellow at the University of Melbourne, a company director, author, consultant and senior advisor to organisations and governments worldwide. His work on CCS with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), alongside Kelly Thambimuthu, made both contributors to the award of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize to the IPCC, and prior to that in 2005, the adoption of CCS as a climate change mitigation technology under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Peter was CO2CRC's chief executive from its inception until 2011.
Professor John Kaldi is CO2CRC's former chief scientist as well as professor and SA State Chair of Carbon Capture and Storage at University of Adelaide. John's career includes being the inaugural head of the Australian School of Petroleum (ASP) and earlier, Director of the National Centre for Petroleum Geology and Geophysics (NCPGG) at University of Adelaide. Prior to academia, John spent 18 years working in the petroleum industry. He has received numerous awards, is an accomplished lecturer and trainer and has been the author and presenter of over 150 journal articles and technical conference papers.
Professor Kelly Thambimuthu has over thirty years' experience in low-emissions technology. For over two decades he has chaired the IEAGHG, a technology collaboration program of the International Energy Agency to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. He pioneered advances in cleaner fossil fuel technologies while heading the Centre for Low Emissions Technology in Queensland from 2004 – 2009. Kelly has been a scientist and program director at CANMET Energy, Natural Resources Canada and professorial fellow at the University of Queensland and has received many awards for his work.
The appointments are effective 1 August 2019.
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