UQ Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Peter Høj joins researchers and industry partners in celebrating their awards.
UQ Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Peter Høj joins researchers and industry partners in celebrating their awards.
21 November 2014

A University of Queensland-led project that is revolutionising worldwide sewer design and management has won a prestigious national prize celebrating researcher-industry collaboration.

The Sewer Corrosion and Odour Research (SCORe) Project - Putting Science in Sewers won the Business-Higher Education Round Table’s biggest annual prize in Melbourne on 20 November.

It won the overarching Award for Outstanding Excellence in Collaboration and the Best Research and Development Collaboration award.

Two other UQ-linked projects received commendations.

Business-Higher Education Round Table executive director Dr Sharon Winocur said the SCORe project's partners had already documented economic benefits reaching several hundred million dollars, despite project outcomes still being in the early stage. 

“With much wider uptake projected for the coming years by the water industry as a whole, it is certain that enormous benefits will accrue from the project,” she said.

Dr Winocur said that collaborative leadership from research and industry had seen the SCORe project develop a suite of innovative technologies and strategies to revolutionise the science and practice of integrated sewer management, addressing key gaps in knowledge, technology and tools that had hindered optimal sewer corrosion and odour management.

The research, led by UQ’s Advanced Water Management Centre, is a joint initiative between the Australian Government, the Australian water industry and the nation’s leading water research organisations.

UQ Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Peter Høj said SCORe was understood to be the world’s largest research project focusing on sewer corrosion and odour.

“It has fundamentally changed sewer corrosion and odour management practice in Australia and will have an enduring impact on the worldwide water industry,” Professor Høj said.

“By working closely with industry partners who collectively provide wastewater services to some two-thirds of Australians, the researchers are delivering conservatively estimated savings of $400 million over 20 years, in net present value.”

Dr Winocur said the $21 million sewer research scheme was the second-largest project funded in the history of the Australian Research Council.

“The aim of SCORe was to undertake the most comprehensive and in-depth study to date on the understanding and abatement of corrosion and odour problems in sewers, to support the water industry in achieving efficient and cost-effective sewer management,” Dr Winocur said.

UQ, UniQuest (UQ’s main research commercialisation company), the Endeavour Foundation and Down Syndrome Ireland received an “honourable mention” in the Best Community Engagement category, for the Literacy and Technology Hands-On (Latch-On) project.

“Latch-On is a truly innovative, evidence-based literacy program that has changed the lives of young adults with an intellectual disability,” Dr Winocur said.

Uniquest also received an honourable mention in the Best Entrepreneurial Educator category.

Professor Høj said UQ’s success in the awards underscored the University’s commitment to translating excellent research into ‘excellence plus’.

 “We are pleased to be recognised nationally for this effort, as this aligns with the growing international recognition of our excellence and consequential multi-million investment from companies such Artesian Capital Management, GBS Venture Partners and Canaan Partners.” 

“I congratulate the SCORe team and Uniquest for their achievements.”

UQ’s partners in the $21 million SCORe project are the City of Gold Coast, South Australian Water Corp, South East Water Ltd, Sydney Water Corp, Water Research Australia Ltd, Melbourne Water Corp, Barwon Water Corp, Hunter Water Corp, Western Australia Water Corp, CH2MHILL, Veolia Water (Australia and New Zealand), The University of New South Wales, The University of Newcastle, The University of Sydney and Curtin University of Technology.

The project has been reported here and is explained on video here.

Contact: Fiona Cameron, UQ Communications, ph +61 7 3346 7086, communications@uq.edu.au

SCORe project: : Professor Zhiguo Yuan, Advanced Water Management Centre, ph +61 7 3365 4374, zhiguo@awmc.uq.edu.au