Partner Investigators

Giorgio Buonanno earned a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering (Major in Air humidity properties and measurements)in 1996 from the University of Cassino and Southern Lazio, Italy. He has been in 2016-2019 full professor of Applied Thermodynamics at the University of Naples “Parthenope”. From 2020 he is full professor at the University of Cassinoand Southern Lazio where is also Deputy Rector in Applied Research and PhD. Since 2011, he has been an Adjunct Professor at the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia. His research interests and contributionsfall into the aerosol metrology, the characterization of urban atmospheric pollution, the particle emissions fromindustrial plants and commercial devices and the Indoor Air Quality (IAQ), in the airborne transmission of respiratory pathogens.

Marc Dunn is the Director, Government at Samsung Electronics Australia. Marc originally joined Samsung in 2008 as the General Counsel and Company Secretary and prior to Samsung worked in house and in private practice with some of Australia’s most well-known companies including Coles Myer Limited and Allens Linklaters. Marc has held a number of senior management rolesat Samsung including managing the Government, Legal, Compliance, Risk Management,Company Secretary and Internal Audit functions. Marc’s current role as Director, Government includes managing Government strategy, Business Development, Government Relations andPolicy. The role is diverse and requires him to manage and execute complex projects with speedand precision, whilst engaging multiple teams and providing strategic direction on all facets of Samsung’s business relating to Government.

Paul Hoertz, PhD is a Lead Chemist within the Materials and Chemistry Network of Excellence at Trane Technologies. In this role, Paul focuses on improving Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) with an emphasis on the evaluation and testing of air cleaning devices and dehumidification technologies. Paul has accrued 15 years of industrial R&D experience managing the develop ment and demonstration of advanced materials and their integration into energy – efficient commercial products, devices, and processes that promote healthy and sustainable outcomes for buildings and the environment. He is currently a Voting Committee Member of ASHRAE 241, Standard to Address Mitigation of Airborne Infection Transmission, and is a corresponding member on several IEQ – related ASHRAE technical committees. Paul is an author of forty peer – reviewed technical publications and is an inventor on 6 pate nts and 10 patent applications

Mark got his BSc Hons. in Physics from the University of Birmingham, UK, in 1993 and his PhD from the University of Kent, UK, in 1997. He worked for the UK Ministry of Defence and Cranfield University before coming to the University of Canterbury in 2005. He teaches fluid mechanics to engineering undergraduates and forensic scientists. His research mostly concerns particles carried by fluids: potentially infectious droplets and aerosol exhaled by humans, blood droplets at crime scenes, silica particles in geothermal fluids, fuel droplets in combustors, herbicide sprays, and recently, pine seeds carried by the wind. He has also worked on gas flows in the human upper airway during non-invasive ventilation and cyclist aerodynamics.

In July 2014, Pat Keady co-founded Aerosol Devices Inc., a small women-owned manufacturing corporation in Fort Collins, Colorado, USA, where she served as President/CEO. Pat’s co-founding partner and licensor of patented technology is Dr. Susanne Hering. Pat was honored by CEO Today magazine with a 2021 Business Women of the Year award (CEO Today Business Women of the Year Awards 2021 (ceotodaymagazine.com). Aerosol Devices was acquired by Handix Scientific Inc. in June 2022, and Pat now serves as VP Business Development. Previously, she was a senior-level manager at two medium-sized aerosol instrumentation companies. She has BS and MS Degrees in Mechanical Engineeringfrom the University of Minnesota, USA and MBA coursework from the University of St.Thomas, St. Paul, MN, USA with an emphasis in marketing and management. She is a Past-President of the American Association for Aerosol Research, andhas four issued and one pending patent(s) for aerosol measurement and over 25 publications in scientific journals

Professor Prashant Kumar holds the Chair in Air Quality and Health and is the founding Directorof the Global Centre for Clean Air Research (GCARE) and the founding Co-Director of the Institute for Sustainability at the University of Surrey, UK. He also founded the successfulGuildford Living Lab, a GCARE platform promoting collaboration among researchers, communities, and stakeholders. His cross-disciplinary research develops the interfaces of air pollution science with the human health and sustainable urban living. He has published over 400 journal articles, including in prestigious journals like Scienceand Chemical Society Reviews, with over 24,500 citations (h-index 77, i10-index 314). Recognised as a top 1% highly cited researcher by Clarivate in 2022 and 2023, his paper wonthe 2023 Haagen-Smit Prize. He has secured over £13M in research funding, including the £1.45M UKRI-funded RECLAIM Network Plus. His work is frequently featured in major media outlets like the BBC and The Times. More information is available at http://www.surrey.ac.uk/gcare

Graeme is QEDs Principal Consultant for the Brisbane and Sydney office, and has over 10 years’ experience consulting within the fields of indoor environment quality and the Built Environment. Graeme is supporting clients across ESG, sustainability strategy and outcomeswith experience in APAC region within commercial sustainability, establishing and leading a branch office in China for several years, employing his Mandarin language skills. During this tenure he delivered turnkey consultancy services, advising on building standards & certifications, solutions and ESG ratings. Graeme is a Certified Indoor Environmentalist (CIE)with MSc in Sustainability.

Dr Heike Neumeister – Kemp is the principal mycologist, founder and CEO of Mycotec. Heike is world renowned as a leading expert in the field of Environmental Mycology. Her passion for education and human rights helped to found the Indoor – Air Quality Industry in Australia. Affectionately known as the ‘Mould Lady’, she is personally responsible for saving the homes, hospitals and lives of countless people through her work.

Hamesh has a MSc 1st Class Honours (Environmental Science), and delivers specialist air quality monitoring programmes for Mote’s clients. He is responsible for the operation andmaintenance of a number of Mote’s regulatory and low-cost monitoring networks located across a broad range of environments. Hamesh has 7 years’ experience in operating and managing remote networks of air quality monitoring instruments for specialist programmes both in New Zealand and internationally. He has worked alongside some of New Zealand largest government agencies providing input and specialist technical support for air quality management within their jurisdiction. He has also worked with a number of site operators, providing real-time risk assessments to manage their sites efficiently and safely. Hamesh is actively involved in supporting research across a number of academic institutes in Australia and New Zealand, researching new methodologies for quantifying emerging contaminants which contributes to more effective policy.

John has worked on building automation and control systems for over 30 years. He brings long-standing experience to projects for clients through a commissioning process that rigorously plans and tests building technical systems. This includes building automation, ventilation, cooling, heating, lighting and on-site renewable energy generation and storage systems. John’s experience extends to the retrofit of existing commercial buildings with ownerrequirements for high performance including zero on site emissions, low energy demand andenhanced indoor environmental quality. In 2024, he helped establish the Australian chapter of the International Institute for Sustainable Laboratories. The chapter’s mission is to engage stakeholders in advancing sustainability, health, and safety in the built environment.

Dr. Greg Picker has about 20 years’ experience in climate change policy and has worked for private industry, national Government and the United Nations. In 2013, Greg became Executive Director of Refrigerants Australia and the Air Conditioning, Refrigeration and Equipment Manufacturers Association (AREMA). In these roles he works with industry and government tohelp ensure policies drive good outcomes and are designed to be practicable. Prior to acceptingthe role with Refrigerant Australia, Gregwas an Associate Director for 4 years with AECOM andworked for a decade with the Australian Government. From 2004 to 2009, Greg played a leadership role in Australia’s delegations to United Nations. In the early 2000s, he played a key role in developing the Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas Management Act. Before working for the Australian Government, Greg worked for the United Nations Framework on Climate Change.

Andy Poslinski is the director of material and chemistry network of excellence for Trane Technologies. In this role, he oversees the pull throughof material and chemistry innovations into differentiated applications by leveraging internal capabilities and external partnerships. Focus areas include indoor environmentand air quality, refrigerant systems, lubrication,coatings, adhesives, sealants, metals, plastics and materials for 3D printing. As a global technology leader, Poslinski has extensive experience in research and development, external innovation and partnerships, engineering operations, application development and global product innovation. Other industry research and application development experiences include GE Corporate R&D, GE Plastics, Avery Dennison, Berry Global and Tredegar Surface Protection. He holds a Ph.D. degree in Chemical Engineering from the State University of New York at Buffalo, where he has received his formal training inmaterials, specializing in plastics, process modeling and simulation, and polymer rheology.

As Trane Technologies evolves as a pure-play climate innovator, wecontinue to focus on improving the speed and effectiveness ofourtechnology and innovation. In his role, Ken isresponsible for accelerating Trane Technologies’ enterprise engineering, technology and partnering strategy with a focus on our common purpose and central technologies

Scott Tew serves as vice-president of sustainability and co-founder of the Center for Energy Efficiency & Sustainability at Trane Technologies. In addition, he leads the Center for Healthy& Efficient Spaces. Tew is responsible for forward-looking sustainability initiatives aimed at transitioning to more efficient and climate-friendly solutions without compromising health or resource impacts. He is also responsible for climate and energy related public policy matters.

Tunga Salthammer earned a Doctor in Physical Chemistry from TU Braunschweig, Germany. He joined the Fraunhofer WKI in 1990 and since March 2011 he is the deputy director of theinstitute. Since 2007, he has been an Adjunct Professor at the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia. In June 2008, he received his habilitation from the Facultyof Life Sciences at TU Braunschweig and was appointed as a Professor in December 2012. Salthammer has been a Visiting Professor at the Technical University of Denmark in Lyngby, at Tsinghua University in Beijing and at the Central South University of Forestry and Technologyin Changsha. He is a member of the Indoor Air Hygiene Commission of the German Federal Environment Agency and a guest member of the German Committee on Indoor Air Guide Values. He received the Pettenkofer Award from the ISIAQ Academy of Fellows in 2020.

Bob Sharon is a passionate and tenacious ‘disruptor’ and innovator who came out from the I.T., cyber security and data centre arenas. Bob had the privilege of conducting the first“NABERS” Data Centre Energy rating back in 2013. Bob was an honorary member of the organisation that implemented the ‘Checkpoint FireWall1 v.1.0, the first commercial firewall in Australia, in 1994. He has delivered speeches at numerous conferences across APAC overthe past 15 years. He is an eminently qualified data centre judge, judging data centres across the globe. He the CEO and founder of Blue IoT, a multi award winning company, who developed a smart buildings and campuses IoT platform which has significantly reduced carbon emissions. Blue IoT and have made breakthroughs with new technological strategies and developments for improving IAQ.

“There are no limits to what we can do or achieve, except for the ones we place in our ownminds”. Bob Sharon

Plum has worked in health policy and public affairs for the last 20 years, with experience in the UK Parliament, international public affairs agencies and in-house for patient advocacy organisations. Plum wrote her undergraduate dissertation on learning the lessons of pandemics of the past to prepare for pandemics of the future and has an MSc in Public Health (Nutrition).

As a result of Plum’s professional background, and personal lived experience with an immunocompromised and high-risk family, she has founded The Safer Air Project, with a mission to get indoor air quality recognised as a critical accessibility and inclusion issue for people living with chronic health conditions, in order to make indoor air safer for everyone to breathe.

Tim received his PhD in inorganic photochemistry at the University of Amsterdam. Afterwards he held R&D positions in the fields of polymers, coatings, FCC and Ziegler-Natta catalysts, ceramics, quartzglass and, during the last 18 years, indoor air quality. He is interested innovel air treatment and sensing technologies and the impact they can have on human exposure to hazardous pollutants in homes, schools and offices. Hereto, he collaborates with scientists, engineers, respiratory physicians and allergologists from universities and academic hospitals. He is involved in studies that assess the effect of portable air purifiers on virus aerosol levels in controlled laboratory environments as well as in clinical studies that assess the potential health benefits of portable air purifiers as a protective measure against infectious aerosols in daily life.

Zubinis part of the global innovation team at Trane Technologies where they identify innovative ideas and take it through a rigorous process to commercialize it. During the pandemic he led efforts to successfully introduce numerous Indoor Air Quality solutions to the market. In addition, to Trane Technologies, he ha sbeen involved with innovation for multinationals like Siemens and Ingersoll Rand. Zubin is a prolific inventor with many patents and author of many technical papers. He holds a PhD from Penn State University, USA.

Mark Vender is Advocacy and Policy Manager at AIRAH. He has been working in the heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration (HVAC&R) industry for the past six years and has experience across both advocacy and communications, focusing on topics such as indoor air quality, refrigerant transition, reducing embodied carbon in the built environment, the need for improved commissioning and maintenance in Australia’s buildings, professional registration of engineers, and occupational licensing.

Boguang Wang is a Professor at the College of Environment and Climate, Jinan University. He leads the Atmospheric Photochemical Pollution Mechanisms and Control Team and has made significant contributions to the development of technologies for VOCs monitoring, mobile observations, source apportionment, indoor/outdoorsmog chamber simulations and health risk assessment,etc. Prof. Wang has led over 30 scientific research projects, securing a total funding of more than 80 million RMB. He has published over 200 papers, obtained 6 invention patents, and received awards including the First Prize from the Chinese Ministry of Education. He serves as the Directors of the“Innovation Base for Air Quality Science and Management for Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao Greater Bay Area”and the“JNU-QUTJoint Laboratory”.

Simon has over 35years’ international experience in the master planning, sustainable design, engineering design, project management, project review and independent sign-off of a widerange of mechanical building services in a multidisciplinary environment. Simon’s systems design experience includes, ESD, heating, ventilation, medical gases, air conditioning systems, steam and HTHW systems, domestic services, and above ground drainage. Simon has specialist design experience in healthcare, laboratory, and education building design. Simon also has expert capabilities in building thermodynamics and in air movement and contamination control using state of the art computational fluid dynamic software. Simon is the co-author and editor of the current Victorian Design Guidelines for Hospitals and Day Procedure Centres prepared for the Department of Health and is a peer reviewer of the Australian Institute of Refrigeration, Air-conditioning and Heating (AIRAH) handbook.

Simon is also a:

• Member of Chartered Institute of BuildingServices Engineers (MCIBSE)
• Fellow of the Institute of Engineers Australia (FIEAust)
• Chartered Professional Engineer (CPEng)
• Chartered Engineer (UK) (CEng)
• National Engineers Register (NER)
• Registered Professional Enginee

Maosheng Yao received his PhD from Rutgers University anddid postdoc work at Yale University. Dr. Yao is currently a Boya Distinguished Professor at Peking University, working on bio/aerosol exposure and health. His research work was recognized by numerous awards, including theMarian Smoluchowski, the KennethT. Whitby, First Prize of Beijing Natural Science Award, the Top 10 Scientific and Technological Advances in Environment and Ecology Field in China, Second Prize for “P.R. China State Technological Invention Award”, and the 44th Geneva International Exhibition Special Gold Award. Dr. Yao was also a winner of the NSFC Distinguished Young Scholar Award, and the PI for the NSFC Innovative Research Group Grant (10 Million RMB).Currently, Dr. Yao is also serving as an Associate Editor of Journal of Aerosol Science and the Vice Chair for Indoor Environment and Health Branch, Chinese Society for Environmental Sciences.