Rose Amal

ARC Laureate Fellow, Scientia Professor, Particle and Catalysis Group, School of Chemical Engineering.

Professor Rose Amal is a UNSW Scientia Professor who leads Particles and Catalysis Research Group at the University of New South Wales, a Co-Director for ARC Training Centre for the Global Hydrogen Economy and the Leader of the NSW Power Fuel Network. 

Rose is a respected and recognised pioneer and leading authority in the fields of fine particle technology, photocatalysis and functional nanomaterials and have made significant contributions to these research areas over the past 15 years. Her research contributions span from fundamental chemistry to applied chemical engineering fields; from material science and nano-research to a specialised photochemistry field.  Rose was awarded ARC Laureate Fellowship in 2015 for her research on creating sustainable fuels by harnessing the power of the sun, which is also the focus of her current research, which is designing nanomaterials for solar and chemical energy conversion applications, and engineering systems for solar-induced processes, using the sun’s energy to generate clean fuel.

She has successfully supervised over 80 PhD students (36 of them are female), seven Masters students and more than 200 honours students in fields relating to environmental and energy technologies, including eight University Medallists and over 20 Australian and International Postgraduate Award Holders. 

In 2018, Professor Rose Amal was made a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) for her eminent service to chemical engineering and education. She has received numerous prestigious awards.  Key highlights include awarded the James Cook Medal (2021), CHEMECA Medal (2021), NSW Scientist of the year (2019), being listed in the Australia's Top 100 Most Influential Engineers (2012-2015); receiving ExxonMobil Award (2012), Judy Raper Women in Engineering Leadership Award (2012), NSW Science and Engineering Award - Emerging Research (2011), Freehills Award (2008), and the UNSW Vice Chancellors Award for Research Supervision Excellence (2003).  

Rose is a Fellow of Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (FTSE), a Fellow of Australian Academy of Science (FAA), an Honorary Fellow of Engineers Australia and chairs IChemE (Australia). In addition, she is an expert member of Hydrogen Strategy Group chaired by Dr Alan Finkel.  Previously she was the director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Functional Nanomaterials (2010-2013). 

For the past 10 years, she has secured over $35M in competitive research funding to UNSW from the Australian Research Council and industry partners (including ARC Training Centre for the Global Hydrogen Economy (GlobH2E), ARC Research Hub for Integrated Energy Storage Solutions, ARC Laureate Fellowship, ARC Centre of Excellence for Functional Nanomaterials, and ARC Australian Professorial Fellowship, 8 ARC Discovery grants, 10 ARC Linkage Project grants,  and 12  ARC LIEF grants, 2 grants from Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) as well as funding from Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT – HySupply project) and NSW government – P2X NSW Consortium. She has published 6 book chapters, over 420 publications which have cumulatively received over 25000 citations, resulting in an H-index of 83 (SCOPUS, June 2022), 1 US/AUS patent and 3 provisional patents. 

To read her publications, go to https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Rose_Amal 

or connect with her through LinkedIn

or tune in to the 100 Climate Conversations with Rose Amal - an interview with Rae Johnston (STEM journalist) as part of the Australia's most ambitious climate-focused cultural project profiling innovators leading Australia's response to climate change.