Dr Ashok Sharma is researching sustainable water systems

Dr Ashok Sharma aims to advance the uptake of distributed and decentralised urban water systems to address the challenges faced by conventional systems.

• 20 November 2009 | Updated 14 October 2011

• Current activities
• Background
• Academic qualifications
• Achievements
• Professional activities

Current activities

Dr Ashok Sharma is a Principal Research Scientist in the in the Integrated Urban Water Systems group which is part of the Urban and Industrial Water research program.

He is actively involved in the development of distributed and decentralised systems and development of methodologies to allow the transition of existing systems to more sustainable states through adoption of alternative systems and technologies.

He leads the research in the area of:

• planning and design of distributed and decentralised urban water systems
• water use and wastewater generation to understand the impact of decentralised systems on the existing infrastructure
• integration of alternative technologies and systems
• system validation and monitoring of distributed systems
• alternative water systems design and delivery approaches
• identify needs for institutional and social research on distributed systems.

Background

Dr Sharma is a professional Engineer with 25 years of industrial, research and teaching experience in planning, design and construction management of water supply, wastewater and stormwater infrastructure, sustainability assessment, environmental planning and assessment, water quality and river pollution prevention works. 

He joined CSIRO in 2003 after working at the Queensland Department of Natural Resources and Mines for seven years, where he provided advisory services and promoted appropriate policies and practices for urban water, wastewater, drainage, floodplain management and related environmental impact issues in West Moreton District, Queensland, Australia.

Prior to that he was Assistant Professor (Civil/Environmental Engineering) at Delhi College of Engineering, New Delhi, India, where he taught undergraduate and postgraduate engineering students and supervised Masters students.

He also worked as a construction/design engineer for ten years and managed large urban water and wastewater infrastructure projects.

Academic qualifications

Dr Sharma has been awarded a:

• Bachelor of Technology (Civil Engineering), Pant University of Agriculture and Technology Pantnagar, India
• Master of Engineering (Environmental Engineering), Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, India
• Doctor of Philosophy (Environmental/Civil Engineering), Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, India.

Achievements

Dr Sharma is the author or one book on water distribution systems design, three book chapters, 14 journal research papers, 21 conference papers and 22 reports.

Dr Sharma has won several awards including:

• International Water Association’s Sustainability Specialist Group Prize for Research Excellence 2008
• Victorian Premier’s sustainability Award 2009 for a collaborative research project with Yarra Valley Water and RMIT (Yarra Valley Water received this award)
• Stormwater Industry Association Research Award 2005 for the Geelong Region Stormwater Reuse project
• University Grants Commission (India) Research Fellowship award for Engineering.

Professional activities

Dr Sharma’s affiliations are:

• Professor at Institute of Sustainability and Innovation, Victoria University, Melbourne
• Fellow Institution of Engineers, Australia
• Chartered Professional Engineer, Australia
• Fellow Institution of Engineers, India
• Member Australian Water Association
• Member Editorial Board, Water journal, Australian Water Association.

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