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p Director: Professor Faizal Bux
Tel: 031 3732597
Fax: 031 3732777
Email: faizalb@dut.ac.za
Campus: Steve Biko Campus
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Bio: Professor Bux, Director of the Institute for Water and Wastewater Technology (IWWT,) DUT has ~28 years of experience in the field water and wastewater treatment technology. His focus research areas include wastewater technology, algal biotechnology and bioenergy production. Prof Bux has also assumed the position of NRF SARChI (South African Research Chair Initiative) Chair from 2018. As a NRF B rated researcher and Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) member, he has supervised 64 Masters and Doctoral students, hosted 23 PDF’s and received numerous institutional awards. The Water Research Commission has been awarded Prof Bux the ‘Knowledge Tree Award for Transformation and Redress’ for his impact in growing PDI involvement in 2017. More recently, Prof Bux received the 2018 National Research Foundation (NRF) award, “Champion of Research Capacity Development and Transformation at South African Higher Education Institutions”. He has acted/current editor for CLEAN Soil Air Water (John Wiley & sons, Germany), Environmental Science and Health Part A (Taylor Francis, USA), Biofuels Research Journal and Water Science and Technology and as a reviewer for >50 ISI Journals. He has contributed to 148 journal articles, 18 book chapters and >150 conference presentations and led 11 WRC projects. His citations are in excess of 5000 with an H Index of 33. Prof Bux currently holds the positions of the National coordinator and Chair of International Thematic Group (ITG): Water Resource and Pollution Research of the BRICS Networks University.

In 2018 Prof Bux was nominated as Chair of the ITG BRICS-NU for 2 years with the option of a second term. He served 2 terms as a Member of IWA Management Committee specialist group Microbial Ecology and Water Engineering (MEWE) and on the Executive committee of IWA-SA as Treasurer. He was been elected as a member of the Academy of Science of South Africa in 2016. Prof Bux was admitted as a Fellow of the Water Institute of Southern Africa, Royal Society of Chemistry and more recently International Water Association. He has served on the scientific program committee/Advisory board/Chair/Invited speaker of various national and International conferences and holds memberships to many professional bodies. He has an extensive network of university collaborators globally and served as scientific advisor to NGOs both locally & internationally. He has been involved in bilateral projects with India, Brazil, Egypt, China, Algeria with continuing collaboration. He currently has bilateral projects with Japan, Oman, Poland (subject to approval) and global projects involving Oklahoma University (USA) and Aalborg University (Denmark). He has played a key role in assisting the University to increase its research capacity and contribute to the Human Resource Capital Development of the country.
Untitled Professor: Prof Sheena Kumari K Pillai
Tel: 031 373 2782
Email:sheenak1@dut.ac.za
Campus: Steve Biko Campus
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Research Focus Area: Wastewater Treatment, Wastewater Beneficiation and Reuse, Emerging Pathogens & Pollutants in Water/Wastewater, Environmental Health and Risk Assessment, Wastewater Based Epidemiology

Bio: Prof Sheena Kumari leads several national and international projects in her capacity as a Full Professor at the Institute. She is a professional member of the South African Council of Natural Scientific Professions (SACNASP), an Academic Member of the International Water Association (IWA) and the Water Institute of Southern Africa (WISA). Prof Kumari has published over 100 research articles in reputed journals (Google H-Index 31; citation over 4000), co-authored book chapters and presented at national and internal conferences. She has collaborations with several national (UKZN, Rhodes University, CPUT, NICD, Municipalities & Water Boards (eThekwini, Umgeni, Cape Town, Tshwane) and international (Columbia University, University of Minnesota, Oklahoma University, EJUST, NIT Srinagar, World Water Academy, CHAI Vietnam) institutions. Prof. Kumari is actively involved in student capacity development at DUT, where she has successfully supervised 13 PhD and 15 Masters students and mentored 6 Postdoctoral fellows thus far. Prof. Kumari has also been a recipient of several grants and awards from various national and international funding bodies, including the NRF Competitive Funding for Rated Researchers (2021-2023), Water Research Commission (8 projects since 2010), Nuffic (Netherlands), Gates Foundation etc. She serves as a panel member for the NRF funding proposals, steering group member for WRC projects, external examiner and reviewer for various universities, reviewer for national and international funding agencies, and editor and reviewer for several ISI journals.

Awards and Recognitions: Vice Chancellor’s Award for Creative Project (2022), Top Faculty Researcher (2021), National Research Foundation (NRF) Rating as an established researcher- (2016-2021, 2022-2026), Faculty Research Excellence Award-(2020), DUT Top Impact Author Award-(2020), Top Published Fellow (DUT)-(2014, 2015), Department of Science and Innovation South African (SA) Young Woman in Science Award (1st runner-up) (2019).

Research Profile:

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=DMrx_kYAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao

ORCiD: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3436-8263

Scopus Author ID: 26534334800

Research Gate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Sheena-Kumari
 tho Honorary Professor: Professor Thor Axel Stenström
Tel: 031 3736703
Fax: 031 3732777
Email: thors@dut.ac.za
Campus: Steve Biko Campus
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Bio: DUT was awarded the first SARChI (South African Research Chair Initiative) in Development and Optimization of WasteWater Treatment Technology for Developing Economies. The SARChI Research Chair will assist the University in increasing its research capacity and contribute to the Human Resource Capital Development of the country and assist the University in driving its Research Strategy. Professor Thor Axel Stenström is the SARChI Research Chair. He completed his PhD at the University of Gothenburg in 1989.During the last 35 years he worked at “the inter-phase” between health and environmental questions, with a focus on Water and Sanitation. He has gained an international reputation in the areas of risk assessment and health-related environmental issues. His work included assessments of the barrier functions of water and wastewater processes in large and small-scale treatment, questions related to emergency response and multidisciplinary applied research, where technology and health impact relates to the agricultural as well as social fields.Before taking up the position at the Durban University of Technology, he spent his time as a Chief Microbiologist at the Swedish Institute for Preventive Communicable Disease Control, as a Senior Research Fellow at the Bio-resource group of the Stockholm Environment Institute, and as a part-time professor at the University of Life Sciences, in the Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering in Norway. He is acting as an advisor for WHO in Geneva, currently dealing with risk assessment and Sanitation Safety Planning. He was also a Government assigned focal point for The International Protocol on Water and Health, UN/ECE Secretariat. As such he was responsible for the international summary reporting (Regional report on the status of implementation of the Protocol on Water and Health) of national reports between 2010 and 2013. Professor Stenström also served as a technical expert for auditing of Water and Sanitation Projects for the European Court of Auditors.As an applied researcher he has been heading and participating in research projects covering drinking water, wastewater and excreta, surface waters and integrated water, and wastewater management, both in industrialised countries and in developing economies. His work is related to drinking water and sanitation management practices in the combined interventions between diarrheal disease and dengue vector control in Asia and Latin America. He has been, and still is supervising several PhDs, both in Scandinavia and from countries representing developing economies, and has been evaluating PhD theses from Africa, Australia and Europe. He has an extensive publication record. He has approximately 500 invitations as an external national or international key note speaker and lecturer since 1990.

 

 dhjfkmh,j Research Technician: Dr Ismail Rawat
Tel: 031 373 6750
Email: rawati@dut.ac.za
Campus: Steve Biko Campus:
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Bio: Dr. Ismail Rawat serves as a researcher and research technician at the Institute for Water and Wastewater Technology. His research focus over the past 12 years has been algal biotechnology with a focus on biofuels, bioproducts, and nutrient recovery from waste substrates. Dr. Rawat has a PhD in Biotechnology. He has contributed 42 accredited journal articles, 6 book chapters, and 21 peer-reviewed conference proceedings. He has 4568 citations with an H-Index of 30 (google scholar). He has an extensive supervision record of BTech and Inservice trainees and currently serves as supervisor/co-supervisor for 2 master’s students, 1 PhD candidate, and mentored several NRF interns. Dr. Rawat is a recognized reviewer for several Elsevier journals and has acted as a reviewer for national and international funding agencies. He also serves as a member of the DUT community engagement committee and as a DUT performance champion. Dr. Rawat is currently involved at various levels in a number of projects including, Orange Knowledge Program (OKP). Bridging The Water: Co-Create To Learn & Experience (Nuffic;Okp-Icp-Saf-103136)(2019-2021), Primary Researcher: WRC Beneficiation of waste streams using algal systems (2019-2020), Enhanced Aquaculture Feed. Funder: KZN EDTEA (2019/2020), Assistant Project leader: TBS13-00019-OC: “Tertiary treatment and beneficiation of domestic wastewater using microalgae (TIA funded) (2016-2021).
 fxxbgshg Laboratory Technician: Mr Kriveshin Pillay
Tel: 031 373 6721
Email: kriveshinp@dut.ac.za
Campus: Steve Biko Campus