Local host organizations

The ARC Industrial Transformation Research Hub for Transformation of Reclaimed Waste Resources to Engineered Materials and Solutions for a Circular Economy

◆Local Chair
・ Professor Sujeeva Setunge

◆Local Co-chairs
　・Professor Priyan Mendis
　・Professor Vivian Tam
　・Professor Ralph Horne
　・Professor Hao Wang
　・Dr Chamila Gunasekara
　・Dr Hienz Schandl


◆Introductions of Local chairs and co-chairs:
Prof. Sujeeva Setunge

Professor Sujeeva Setunge is the Associate Deputy-Vice Chancellor Research and Innovation for Science, Engineering Computing and Health at RMIT University in Melbourne Australia. Professor Setunge is the director of the Australian Research Council funded industrial transformation research hub on Transformation of reclaimed waste resources to engineered materials and solutions for a circular economy (TREMS) which is a $21 m partnership between industry government and academia. The hub incorporates 36 research projects across the value chain of waste management and circular economy. Prof. Setunge also leads other multiple research projects in collaboration with industry and government to progress net zero agenda for Civil infrastructure incorporating circular economy and design of carbon neutral infrastructure. Since 2009, Prof. Setunge has led research in to optimised management of Civil Infrastructure, covering predictive modelling of degradation, disaster resilience, optimised funding allocation, predicting remaining life and life cycle cost and budget forecasting. A highlight in this work is a commercialised cloud hosted Civil Infrastructure Asset Management software platform entitled “Central Asset management System” CAMS. She is a passionate advocate for digital transformation of optimised management of Civil Infrastructure for a sustainable future. Professor Setunge is a fellow of Engineers Australia and a chartered professional Engineer.


Prof. Priyan Mendis

Professor Priyan Mendis is a Professor of Civil Engineering in the Department of Infrastructure Engineering at the University of Melbourne and the leader of the globally recognized Advanced Protective Technology of Engineering Structures (APTES) Group. He served as the Convener of the Australian Research Council’s (ARC) Research Network for a Secure Australia (RNSA) from 2004 to 2011. Currently, he holds the position of Director of the ARC Centre for Advanced Manufacturing of Prefabricated Housing (CAMP.H), providing leadership to the Australian construction industry in adopting advanced manufacturing and construction techniques for building modular and prefabricated structures. Additionally, he serves as the Deputy Director of the ARC industrial transformation research hub on Transformation of reclaimed waste resources to engineered materials and solutions for a circular economy (TREMS). Professor Mendis leads multiple research projects in collaboration with industry and government, addressing the net-zero agenda, waste upcycling, and the design of carbon-neutral infrastructure. With more than 500 authored and co-authored journal papers, conference papers, and technical reports covering topics such as high-strength and high-performance concrete, tall buildings, wind and earthquake engineering, fire performance of tall buildings and facades, explosion effects on buildings, and the design and analysis of concrete structures and bridges, Professor Mendis holds one of the most extensive academic profiles among Australian and global experts. He is also the author of the book titled ‘Design of High-Strength Concrete Members: State-of-the-Art,’ a widely used guide for structural engineers designing tall buildings using high-strength and high-performance concrete. Professor Mendis also serves as the Editor-in-Chief of the Electronic Journal of Structural Engineering (EJSE). Professor Mendis has received numerous accolades, including the Eureka Prize in 2013, the leading award in Australia for the best science-based research, and an award for recognition of service to Protective Technology at the Safeguarding Australia Conference in 2006/2007. In 2017, he was honoured with the Honorary Lifetime Membership of the Concrete Institute of Australia (CIA). Professor Mendis is a Fellow of Engineers Australia and a Chartered Professional Engineer.

Prof. Vivian Tam

Distinguished Professor Vivian W. Y. Tam is the Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering and a world-leading researcher in the field of construction engineering and management. Her findings have found applications and impact for tackling climate-change issues for green buildings and recycled concrete. She is currently the Director of Centre for Infrastructure Engineering, Associate Dean (Research and HDR), Associate Dean (International) and Discipline Leader (Construction Management) at School of Engineering, Design and Built Environment, Western Sydney University, Australia. She was nominated to the College of Expert, Australian Research Council, Australian Government in 2018-2021. She is currently the Editor-in-Chief of International Journal of Construction Management and Senior Editor of Construction and Building Materials. She has published over 330 referred journal articles. She has been awarded fifty-three research grants (totalled over $5 million). Her work has been recognised by peers nationally and internationally, which has been exemplified by seven Australian Research Council projects and over 24,000 citations with a h-index of 81. Vivian is also named as 100,000 Top-Scientists (Top 2% Scientists) in the World for since 2017. Vivian is also nominated as a Runner Up, Scopus Researcher of the Year Award 2019, Excellence in Research Impacting a Sustainable Future, Scopus, and her team has won the Gold Award, 2021 Urban Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition, Guangzhou International Sister-City Universities (GISU), from this project development.

Prof. Ralph Horne

Prof Horne has 20 years post-doctoral research experience as an international research leader in housing sustainability, with specific interests in the interplay of environmental performance and social and technical dynamics of housing and households. He combines research leadership and participation within industry and government funded research which has a significant impact in policy and wider society. He has held a range of roles as an academic expert in industry and government on boards and councils associated with sustainable cities and housing. He has also been Chief Investigator of 17 Category 1 grants on the subject since 2005.  He maintains strong links with building sector researchers, industries and peak bodies across the UK, Europe and Australia. He is program lead on the Horizon 2020 EU funded project on energy-positive housing, which involves cutting edge case studies on circular economy high performance housing across 4 climate zones in Europe, from the Mediterranean to Scandinavia. He has recently led the AHURI Inquiry project on Circular Economy Housing in Australia,.

Prof. Hao Wang

Professor Hao Wang has been an active researcher for over 30 years. He received his PhD from UQ, then moved to UniSQ in 2006. He was the Director of Centre for Future Materials at UniSQ, and currently is the Theme Leader for Functional Materials in the Centre. He was the ARC College of Experts member from 2018-2020. His research has focused on carbon fibre composites, plastic waste, flame retardants, CO2 conversion, and green concrete (geopolymer). He has published more than 450 refereed papers in high impact journals such as Advanced Materials, Advanced Energy Materials, and Progress in Materials Science, Progress in Polymer Science, with Google Scholar H-index of 92 and citations over 36,000. He is the Clarivate Highly Cited Author in Material Science in 2023, and listed as the esteemed Top 2% of world scientists. He is the Editor-in-Chief of Composites Part B: Engineering, the world No. 1 Impact Factor journal in the composites area (IF 13.1). He is currently the President of Asian-Australasian Association for Composite Materials. He was the Chair of the 11th Asian-Australasian Conference on Composite Materials (ACCM-11), Cairns, Australia in 2018, the second largest international composites conference in the world.

Dr. Camila Gunasekara

Dr. Chamila Gunasekara holds the position of Senior Lecturer in the School of Engineering at RMIT University, concurrently serving as the Partnership & Scientific Program Manager in the ARC TREMS ITRH. Distinguished with the esteemed ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA), he earned his academic credentials from the University of Peradeniya in Sri Lanka (Bachelor’s degree), Saitama University in Japan (Master’s degree), and RMIT University (Doctoral degree). Specializing in Construction Materials and Structural Engineering, Dr. Gunasekara is recognized for his expertise in developing innovative solutions for construction materials through the integration of various waste materials and digital technologies. His research efforts are geared towards advancing sustainability in construction by establishing smart built environments utilizing information and communications technology. With a substantial publication record of over 110 referred journal articles and conference proceedings, he has secured multiple research grants, totaling up to $2 million. Additionally, Dr. Gunasekara is a Chartered Member of Engineers Australia, bringing with him five years of experience in the construction engineering and structural design sector.


Dr. Hienz Schandl (CSIRO)