Associate Professor Anita Parbhakar-Fox
Researcher biography
Before completing her PhD in 2012 at the Centre for Ore Deposit and Earth Sciences (CODES), Associate Professor Anita Parbhakar-Fox obtained a 1st class MSci (Hons) degree from the Royal School of Mines, Imperial College (University of London) in Environmental Geology (2005).
Professionally, Anita has worked as an environmental consultant (2005-06) and as a research assistant for the AMIRA P843 geometallurgy project (2006-07). She worked part-time as a Junior Research Fellow for the Cooperative Research Centre for Optimising Resource Extraction (CRC ORE; 2011-2012) and then went on to become a postdoctoral research fellow in the Environmental Indicators program (2012-2015). Anita was appointed as a postdoctoral research fellow for the ARC TMVC Research Hub (2015-2019) where she served as the deputy leader of Theme 3 (minimising geoenvironmental risks) and the leader (2016-2018) of Program 2 (Geometallurgy, Geoenvironment and Mining) at CODES.
Currently, Anita is Group Leader - Mine Waste Transformation through Characterisation (MIWATCH) at the Sustainable Minerals Insitute's W.H. Bryan Mining Geology Research Centre. Anita's research is focused on mine waste characterisation to improve mine planning and waste management practices where she has worked with mining industry, METS sector and government stakeholders. She has developed new tests and protocols for improving waste characterisation and is also involved in identifying remediation options for abandoned/ historical mine sites. Most recently, Anita has led industry and government funded projects characterising a range of mine waste materials to evaluate their economic potential.
Industry, Government and Service
Anita has regular contact with mineral companies, state government and geoenvironmental consultancies to develop and undertake research projects focussed on improving mine waste characterisation. She also serves as a member of the Victorian Government Technical Review Board for Mine Rehabilitation and the Tasmanian Acid Mine Drainage Guidelines Steering Committee. Since 2017, Anita has also been an Assistant Editor of Minerals Engineering.
Collaborations
Anita is an Adjunct Senior Researcher at the University of Tasmania (2019-2022) and in this role continues to co-supervise honours and PhD students. Anita is also the chief investigator on an ATSE-funded project with other researchers based at the University of Cape Town and Petrolab UK Ltd.
Teaching and Outreach
Anita has extensive honours and PhD research supervision and lecturing experience having been unit co-ordinator of Geometallurgy and Environmental Geology units at the University of Tasmania. She welcomes interested PhD and MSc students in the area of mine waste to contact her to discuss project opportunities. Anita has also participated in a number of media outreach activities on TV, local radio and at public events (e.g., 'Mining: Dinosaur or Deliverer?' 2017; 'Pint of Science' 2018).
Funding
Anita is currently involved in research projects with several Tasmanian mine sites. Previously, she has been involved in CRC ORE's Environmental Indicators program (2011-2015) and the ARC Industrial Transformation Researh Hub for Transforming the Mining Value Chain (TMVC; 2015-2019).
Featured projects | Duration |
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Geometallurgical technologies for mine waste | |
GSQ-UQ Webinar Series |