Dr. Sudhir Pillay received his PhD in Chemical Engineering in 2012 from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. As a postgraduate student, he won 3 scholar prizes from the Water Institute of Southern Africa and IWA-YWP Southern Africa for his research on gravity-driven membrane technologies, anaerobic systems and Decentralised Wastewater Treatment. He is currently employed at the South African Water Research Commission where he is responsible for the strategic moulding of the non-sewered sanitation RDI portfolio.

Jayant (Jay) Bhagwan, is the Executive Manager of the key strategic area of Water Use, Wastewater Resources and Sanitation Futures at the South African Water Research Commission, which focuses on the management of water and wastewater in the Domestic, Mining and Industrial sector.  He has been instrumental in creating the portfolio of research projects and innovations  related to water supply and wastewater management.  He completed his Masters Degree in Tropical Public Health Engineering from Leeds University, UK.  With his knowledge and experienced gained in implementa

Melody Lau is a scientist within the Catchments, Wastewater and Environmental Science Team at SA Water Corporation.  Current she has played a lead role in both the research and operational delivery of the COVID-19 surveillance programme at SA Water. Her methods have been proven by multiple independent trials to be industry leading in terms of their quality and reliability. Her work includes hands-on day-to-day delivery of the analysis in Australia as well as training and providing seminars internationally.

Tiffany Chen is a chemical engineer working as a Senior Networks Operations Engineer in Asset Analytics at Sydney Water (Australia). Most recently she has worked with New South Wales Health to devise sewage sampling methods to draw samples to test for SARS-CoV-2 from the sewer network of Sydney and surrounding areas covering over five million people. She has been providing advice to other utilities internationally on her experiences. Her focus is on driving business value through analytics and integrated problem solving.

Dr. Monica Nolan (MBBS, MPH, EIS ’99) grew up in Victoria, obtained her medical degree from the University of Melbourne, Australia and worked in Victoria and the Northern Territory in Australia. While serving remote indigenous communities in Arnhem Land she saw the need to address structural determinants of poor health and wellbeing and was inspired to change curse and pursue a public heath career.

Rachael Poon is currently working as one of the two lead initiators and current managers of the COVID-19 response in her role as the Principal Scientist in the Wastewater Surveillance for SARS-CoV-2 team for the Victorian Department of Health (Australia). She has previously worked as a molecular microbiologist studying Clostridia before moving to the Department of Health where she has worked as a scientist in the Health Protection Branch for 11 years.

Alexandra is the Director of Operations at the Toilet Board Coalition, where she leads program and content development to scale up private sector engagement that is aligned with Sustainable Development Goal 6.2 – sustainable sanitation for everyone, everywhere. This entails covering communications, strategy development, and events management, working closely with a team of colleagues around the world.