Keynote Speakers
Chris Allison
Chris Allison is Australia’s leading vertical garden expert.
His career started studying plant tissue culture and learning how plants can survive in any environment.
Chris then worked for various hydroponic companies, building vertical farms and implementing advanced water systems.
Chris then set up Hygrow Technologies, a company that designs and manufactures greenwall, greenhouse and hydroponics hardware.
It was then that Chris combined all this knowledge to create The BioActive Wall. The BioActive Wall is a superior, innovative vertical garden system that leverages Chris' expertise in how plants survive, how to get them water most efficiently, and how to design and manufacture the equipment to do it.
In 2010 Chris launched CityForest.
Prof Stuart Khan
Stuart Khan is Professor and Head of School of Civil Engineering at the University of Sydney. He has received funding for over 40 major competitive research projects from Australian, US and European funding agencies. He has published over 200 peer reviewed journal articles on issues relating to water quality and treatment, including drinking water, wastewater, recreational water, environmental water systems, water recycling and desalination.
Stuart is a Fellow of scientific and engineering institutions, including Engineers Australia (FIEAust), The Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (FTSE), The Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC), The Royal Society of NSW (FRSN), and is also an International Water Association IWA Fellow.
Prof Veena Sahajwalla
Professor Veena Sahajwalla is an internationally recognised materials scientist, engineer, and inventor revolutionising recycling science. She is renowned for pioneering the high temperature transformation of waste in the production of a new generation of ‘green materials’ at the UNSW Sustainable Materials Research and Technology (SMaRT) Centre, where she is Founding Director. Professor Veena is the inventor of polymer injection technology, known as green steel, an eco-friendly process for using recycled tyres in steel production. In 2018, Veena launched the world's first e-waste MICROfactorieTM and in 2019 she launched her plastics and Green Ceramics MICROfactoriesTM, a recycling technology breakthrough. Professor Veena is the director of the ARC Industrial Transformation Research Hub for ‘microrecycling’, a leading national research centre that works in collaboration with industry to ensure new recycling science is translated into real world environmental and economic benefits. Professor Veena has also been appointed hub leader of the national NESP Sustainable Communities and Waste Hub. In 2021, Professor Veena featured in the ABC’s Australian Story and she was named the 2022 NSW Australian of the Year in recognition of her work. Professor Veena was named the 2022 Australian Museum Eureka Prizes winner for the Celestino Eureka Prize for Promoting Understanding of Science and was also awarded the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering (ATSE) Clunies Ross Innovation Award. She was also named a finalist for the NSW Woman of Excellence Award at the 2022 Women of the Year Awards. In 2023, Professor Veena was awarded the Engineering Australia Chemical College Chemical Engineer Achievement Award and the Good Design 2023 Women in Design Award. In 2025, Professor Veena was awarded the ‘Officer of the Order of Australia’ (AO) for distinguished service to science, sustainable materials research and technology and waste management on Australia Day. Professor Veena won the prestigious Excellence in Sustainable Innovation (Industrial) Award at an event honouring trailblazing and visionary women as part of the Vogue Codes Summit 2025.
Dr Keisuke Nansai
Keisuke Nansai received his PhD from the Graduate School of Energy Sciences, Kyoto University in 2001 and joined NIES as a postdoctoral researcher, where he has been a fixed-term researcher since 2003, a senior researcher since 2008, a head of research section since 2014, and the current position, since 2026. His expertise is in environmental systems studies and has worked on sustainability assessments of supply chains. He is an adjunct professor at the Graduate School of Environmental Studies at Nagoya University in Japan. He is a panel member of the International Resource Panel (IRP) of the United Nations Environmental Program. He also serves as an editor of Resources, Conservation & Recycling (Elsevier). He is a board member of the Institute of Life Cycle Assessment Japan.