SMaRT leader named a top researchers and academic leader

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The researchers in this category are producing the knowledge that the mining industry needs but does not always know how to access. 

From materials science and sustainable metallurgy through to geoscience and drilling analytics, their work addresses fundamental challenges in how minerals are found, extracted, processed, and managed throughout and after their productive life. 

Scientia Professor and Director, SMaRT Centre, UNSW

Veena Sahajwalla is one of Australia's most recognised scientists in the field of sustainable materials and circular economy innovation in mining and metals. As founding director of the SMaRT Centre at UNSW, she has pioneered green steel processes, e-waste microfactories, and a new generation of approaches to recovering valuable metals from waste streams. She was named an Officer of the Order of Australia in the 2025 Australia Day Honours for her contributions to sustainable waste solutions and circular economy research.

Her ranking as a Top 10 Most Read Thought Leader in Mining and Metals on the global illuminem sustainability platform confirms that her ideas have traction well beyond Australia. She was appointed inaugural Editor-in-Chief of the Cambridge University Press journal Cambridge Materials Circularity in 2026. Her research on recycling critical metals from e-waste is directly relevant to the emerging battery materials and rare earths processing challenges that Australia faces as it seeks to move downstream from raw extraction to value-added processing.

Veena's recognition in the list reflects her leadership and work at the UNSW SMaRT Centre pioneering the science of microrecycling R&D creating various MICROfactorie^TM technologies that recover valuable materials from waste and reform them into new products and feedstock for remanufacturing.