Professor Stewart Burn.

Professor Stewart Burn: improving Australia’s urban water systems

Professor Stewart Burn and his team target cost-effective, whole-system innovations to improve the efficiency and sustainability of Australia's urban water systems, an area that is strongly supported by the Australian and international water industries.

• 19 August 2009 | Updated 14 October 2011

Overview

• Current activities
• Background
• Academic qualifications
• Achievements

Current activities

Professor Stewart Burn is Stream Leader of Infrastructure Technologies, a key component of the Water for a Healthy Country Flagship's Urban Water Theme.

Professor Burn's work includes fundamental research on the deterioration and management of urban water networks and the development of asset management, planning, prioritisation and risk assessment systems for these networks.

He is also involved in developing methodologies to allow the transition of existing systems to more sustainable states through the adoption of decentralised technologies and the development of water treatment technologies to recover resources from wastewater.

The research he leads is developing new concepts in the areas of:

• advanced failure models for predicting asset lifetimes
• pipeline condition monitoring and rehabilitation
• water quality assessment using real-time sensing systems
• solutions for water quality issues
• advanced membranes for water treatment
• strategic asset management models
• sustainability-based asset management
• systems transition using decentralised strategies
• community engagement using participatory management.

Background

Professor Burn has been employed by CSIRO since 1978. He is an internationally recognised expert on the performance of polymers subjected to a range of degrading environmental factors.

He was instrumental in establishing CSIRO's Urban Water research area where he has an interest in water, wastewater and stormwater research.

Professor Burn is an Adjunct Professor at the Institute of Sustainability and Innovation, Victoria University, Victoria, Australia, and is chairman of several Australian and international standards committees.

Professor Burn is an Associate Editor for Water Science and technology and Editor for Water Asset Management International. 

He chaired the 9th International Durability of Building materials Conference and has been an expert reviewer for a number of organisations including:

• the Water Research Foundation
• United Nations Development program
• New Zealand Foundation for Research Science and Technology
• The Research Council of Norway
• Technology Foundation STW
• the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council.

He has also supervised a number of masters and PhD students at RMIT, ANU, Swinburne, Monash and Victoria Universities.

Academic qualification

Professor Burn has been awarded a:

• Bachelor of Science with Honours from the University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia in 1972
• Diploma of Education also from the University of Melbourne in 1973
• Graduate Diploma Executive Development Program, Chisholm Institute, Victoria, Australia in 1981.

Achievements

Professor Burn's achievements include:

• Bunshah Award for best paper and presentation at the International Conference on Metallurgical Coatings and Thin Films, 2003
• Best Paper Award, Pipes Wagga Wagga, NSW, Australia, 1999
• John Smithson Award - best paper by member of the Australasian Plastic and Rubber Institute (APRI) at APRI Conference, 1997.

Professor Burn has published:

• 35 papers in peer reviewed international journals
• 3 books
• 10 book chapters
• 127 industry reports
• 39 peer-reviewed international conference papers
• 69 open publications.

Read Professor Burn's Full Publication List.