Professor Andrew Ball
CONSULTANT SCIENTIST | AUSTRALIA
Professor Andrew Ball
With deep expertise in environmentProfessor Ball is the Director of the ARC Training Centre for the Transformation of Australia’s al microbiology and biotechnology, Andy teaches both subjects as part of the School of Science Bachelor and Masters Programs.
Overview
In January 2012, Andy was appointed Professor in Environmental Microbiology and in 2016 Distinguished Professor by RMIT University. He started his career as a Research Fellow in Liverpool University, UK and more recently held the position of Reader at the University of Essex, UK. In April 2005, Andy was appointed Chair of Environmental Biotechnology at Flinders University.
He has held a number of key institutional/organisational roles at each university in which he has been employed over the past 30 years. At the University of Essex UK, Andy was Director of the Centre for Environment and Bioremediation. At RMIT University, Andy established, as Director a new University Research Society. At Flinders University, he was appointed Director and Chairman of Flinders Centre, Environment, Sustainability and Remediation and is currently Director of the ARC Training Centre for the Transformation of Australia’s Biosolids Resource.
Andy has headed the Environmental Biotechnology Group now at RMIT University (previously based at Essex University and Flinders University) since 1995. Andy has a wealth of research and research and teaching expertise to RMIT University at an International level, particularly in the fields of bioremediation, organic waste treatment, and environmental fate of organic pollutants.
Andy has generated internationally acclaimed research outputs since 1985. He has over 300 peer reviewed publications cited 13,000 times in total, with an annual citation average above 1200 over the past 3 years with an h-index of 60 (Google) and 46 (Scopus). In addition, Andy has published 6 books (3 as author and 3 as editor) and written 42 book chapters. He has currently five provisional patents and one full patent. These metrics demonstrate his respected standing in the academic community.
Professor Andrew Ball explains how researchers at RMIT’s Centre for Environmental Sustainability and Remediation (EnSuRe) are working with Australian and international industry and research entities, to minimise the impact of land, water and air pollution.
Industry experience
Andy has worked closely with various end user entities including government agencies (EPA), the oil and water industry (e.g. Shell, Mobil, South East Water, Melbourne Water) and non-government agencies (e.g. Rockefeller Foundation) raising over $22,000,000 in research grant income to date in the area of Applied and Environmental Microbiology, over $14,000,000 since arriving in Australia in 2007.
Research
Andy’s research is focused on the sustainable remediation of contaminated environments, applying cutting edge tools to resolve environmental issues with a focus on the application of environmental biotechnology and solution-focused microbial research to reduce environmental pollution in urban environments.
Research keywords
Environmental Microbiology, Biotechnology, Bioremediation, Biosolids
Research output summary
Supervisor interest areas
⦁ The bioremediation of chemical contaminants in the environment
⦁ Sustainable bioenergy production
⦁ The biostabilisation of organic material during anaerobic digestion
⦁ The survival of pathogens in the environment
⦁ The application of molecular microbial ecology techniques to biogeochemical cycling in the environment
Supervisor projects
⦁ The remediation of contaminants in the environment
⦁ The reuse of organic material for the generation of bioenergy
⦁ The factors influencing the biostabilisation of organic material during anaerobic digestion
⦁ The survival of pathogens in the environment
⦁ The application of molecular microbial ecology techniques to the study of the role of micro-organisms in the environment
Feature publications
Nitrogen contamination and bioremediation in groundwater and the environment: A review
Earth-Science Reviews 22, 103816
Morrissy JG, Currell MJ, Reichman SM, Surapaneni A, Megharaj M, Crosbie ND, Hirth D, Aquilina S, Rajendram W, Ball AS (2021).
Soil type is the primary determinant of the composition of the total and active bacterial communities in arable soils
Applied and Environmental Microbiology 69 (3), 1800-1809
Girvan MS, Bullimore J, Pretty JN, Osborn AM & Ball AS (2003).
Microbial decomposition at elevated [CO2]-effect of litter quality
Global Change Biology 3, 379-386
Ball AS, (1997).