Stephen Smith

Stephen Smith

Stephen Smith is Professor of Bioresource Systems and is Head of the Environmental and Water Resource Engineering (EWRE) Section in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Imperial College London. EWRE is one of the largest and most research active sections in the Department, with 13 members of academic staff, 35 PhD students, and 15 postdoctoral researchers; it has one of the best equipped Environmental Engineering research laboratories in the UK and also runs two major MSc training programmes currently hosting 73 MSc students from 15 countries. He has also been involved in the senior management team of the Department as Director of the MSc course in Environmental Engineering and as the Year Coordinator for the Final Year of the MEng Degree Course in Civil Engineering. Prior to joining Imperial College, Stephen was a Senior Scientist at the WRc. Stephen has 35 years of experience investigating the treatment and agronomic properties of sludges and organic wastes recycled to land and their environmental impact, including nutrients, potentially toxic elements, organic contaminants and pathogens. He was Principal Investigator for a major programme of research recently completed for the UK Food Standards Agency on the potential transfer of organic contaminants into food from the use of recycled wastes in agriculture. Stephen is Chair of the Mogden Technical Working Group for Thames Water supporting community engagement in the redevelopment of the second largest wastewater treatment plant in the UK. Stephen has worked extensively overseas on the challenges of sewage sludge treatment, management and recycling on farmland, notably in Egypt and Australia. He has written over 300 scientific papers, reports and publications for Government and Industry on sewage sludge and biowaste management practices and environmental impacts, including a standard reference text book on recycling biosolids in agriculture. Stephen has given invited contributions and key note lectures at major international meetings on biosolids and waste management in the US, Canada, China, Australia, Greece, Italy and Cyprus. He participated in the Council of Canadian Academies Expert Panel on Sustainable Management of Water in the Agricultural Landscapes of Canada. Stephen has recently been Guest Editor of special issues of several journals including: Recycling Organic Wastes in Agriculture for the Open Access journal, Agriculture, Biological Wastewater Treatment for Microorganisms (also OA) and on Wastewater and Algae for Algal Research. Stephen is a member of the Wastewater and Biosolids Panel of the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management (CIWEM), and is also a member of the Chartered Institution of Wastes Management (CIWM).