Invited Speakers
Hon Prof Anita Prabhakar-Fox
Hon Prof University of Queensland
Anita is a globally recognised leader in mine waste characterisation and geometallurgy with a strong focus on tailings. Currently, she is the Technical and Innovation Lead at KCB and an Honorary Professor at the University of Queensland’s Sustainable Minerals Institute. Anita holds an MSci (Hons) in Environmental Geology from Imperial College London and a PhD in Environmental Geochemistry from CODES, University of Tasmania. In 2021, she founded UQ’s MIWATCH group, advancing mine-waste characterisation to improve planning, management, and remediation, and served as Deputy Director of the ARC “Critical Resources for the Future” ITTC. Her last role was at BHP in the Resource Centre of Excellence as the Principal Global Characterisation. Her research includes mine waste chraracterisation across the life-of-mine and recovery of critical metals from waste, with numerous publications in leading journals. A 2023 “Superstar of STEM” and WIM100 2024 honoree, Anita is a passionate STEM advocate committed to sustainable mining and mentoring future leaders.
Talk
Opportunities for circularity in the mining industry- a mine waste perspective.
Dr Alessandro Sanches-Pereira
Executive Director, Instituto 17 (i17), Brazil
Dr Alessandro Sanches-Pereira is the Executive Director of Instituto 17 (i17) in Brazil, Adjunct Senior Lecturer and Researcher at the Curtin University Sustainability Policy Institute (CUSP), and a member of the UN Secretary-General's Council of Engineers for the Energy Transition (CEET). He served as Lead Author of Chapter 5 — Demand, Services and Social Aspects of Mitigation — of the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report, Working Group III.
His research and implementation work spans energy transition, circular economy, waste-to-energy and climate policy across Brazil, Sweden, Australia and the wider Global South. He holds a Master's in Environmental Policy and Management, a PhD in Engineering from UNICAMP, and postdoctoral training in Energy Planning. His work focuses on how decarbonisation pathways must be designed differently when development, equity and energy access are treated as central — not peripheral — concerns.
Peter Damen — GDA, Level5design