Professor Miller Alonso Camargo-Valero

Profile

Brief Biography. Professor Miller Alonso Camargo Valero is water@leeds Chair of Sustainable Energy and BioResource Systems. His early career as an academic at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia in Bogota (Assistant Professor, 1997-2010) enabled him to develop a deep knowledge in water and wastewater engineering by undertaking both research and teaching activities, and working there as an environmental engineering consultant in multi-disciplinary projects and contracts to public and private sectors. In Colombia (1997-2004), he dedicated his research work to study the formation and control of disinfection by-products in water supply systems and the performance of wastewater stabilisation pond systems at high altitute in the tropics. In the UK (2004 - present), Miller Alonso's research work has been dedicated to study nitrogen transformation pathways and removal mechanisms both in wastewater treatment systems (PhD at Leeds, 2004-2008) and in natural environments (Postdoctoral position at Queen Mary, University of London; 2008-2009); airborne pathogen transport and control in indoor environments (Postdoctoral position at the University of Leeds; 2009-2011); to develop alga-based technologies to retrofit existing assets in the water industry to tackle nutrient discharges and renewable energy generation (Lecturer at Leeds; 2011- 2018); the optimisation of the water, carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus cycles within processes aimed at dealing with waste streams through resource recovery routes (Associate Professor at Leeds, 2018-2026); and sustainabe organic waste for biohydrogen/biomethane production and nutrient recovery and safe reuse in agriculture using photosynthetic organisms (Professor at Leeds; 2026-present). Professor Camargo-Valero is a Visiting Professor at the Department of Civil Engineering and Planing, State Univesity of Malang (Indonesia) and has active research activities with partners in Colombia, Mexico, Uganda, Nepal, Senegal, Indonesia, India, Malaysia, Ethiopia, Australia and Indonesia.

Responsibilities

• Chair, Recruitment Group, Doctoral College, University of Leeds
• Head of Graduate School, Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences
• Leader, BioResource Systems Research Group

Research interests

Miller Alonso's current research interests are in the field of Water and Sanitation in Developing Countries and Resource Recovery from Low-grade waste streams. That includes the following research areas: (a) natural wastewater treatment systems, (b) wastewater reuse in agriculture, (c) nutrient control and recovery from wastewater and excreta, (d) renewable energy generation and high-value chemical production from anaerobic digestion and fermentation of organic waste and (e) algal biomass cultivation.

Current and recent research projects:

• AFFINITY-FORSIDES: Africa-Focused Initiative for Just Energy Transition. Principal Investigator (PI): Dr E R Sadik-Zada (Ruhr University Bochum, Germany); Leeds PI: Dr M A Camargo-Valero. Partners: University of Alberta, University of Cape Town, University of Ghana, Mahidol University, Makerere University, National Cheng Kung University, University of Pretoria, University of Queensland, University of Tsukuba. Funder: Worldwide Universities Network - WUN.
• EMISI: Emissions measurement for improved sanitation in Indonesia. PI: Professor J Willetts (University Technology Sidney – UTS); Leeds PI: Professor B Evans; Leeds Co-I: Dr M A Camargo-Valero. Partners: University of Indonesia, Funder: Kemitraan Indonesia Australia untuk Infrastruktur (KIAT), Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, £1.2M
• Resilient WASH: Indicators for Monitoring Climate-Resilient Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Systems. PI: Professor B Evans; Leeds Co-I: Dr M A Camargo-Valero. Partners: University of Oxford, University of Technology Sydney, WHO. £170k
• H₂BOOST Phase 2: Biohydrogen from organic waste streams via dark fermentation. Leeds Principal Investigator (PI): Dr M A Camargo-Valero; Co-Investigators (Co-Is): Professor A Baker, Dr V Dupond, Dr C Okoro-Shekwaga. Partners: The Biorenewables Development Centre (BDC), Greenthread, NFCC, Quebe. Funder: Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) UK, £5M.
• BioCool: Powering Uganda's Clean Energy Future: Biomethane Technology and Innovation for Clean Cooling in Rural Uganda. PI: Dr C K Okoro-Shekwaga; Co-Is: Dr M A Camargo-Valero. Partners from UK and Uganda. Funder: Innovate UK: Energy Catalyst Round 10: Early Stage, £120k.
• Green H₂: Green hydrogen production from regional resources in Low and Middle-Income Countries. PI: Dr C K Okoro-Shekwaga; Co-Is: Dr M A Camargo-Valero, et al. Partners from UK, Brazil and Uganda. Funder: Worldwide Universities Network (WUN)– Research Development Fund 2022, £20k
• Global STEM: Professional Qualifications without Borders: A roadmap for international accreditation of STEM programmes in Mexico. PI: Dr M A Camargo-Valero; Co-Is: A Heitor, A Matamoros-Veloza, M Asachi. Partners: Tecnológico de Monterrey and Universidad Autonoma de Yucatan (Mexico). Funder: The British Council, £25k
• Duckweed 2: Sustainable aquaculture in Southeast Asia via nutrient recovery and bioenergy production. Leeds PI: M A Camargo-Valero; Co-Is: Professor A Baker, Dr F Prosenc. Partners: State University of Malang (Indonesia) and National Cheng Kung University (Taiwan). Funder: WUN Global Research Group: SDGs in South Asia, £5k
• H₂OforAll. Innovative Integrated Tools and Technologies to Protect and Treat Drinking Water from Disinfection Byproducts (DBPs). PI: Dr Rui Martins – Universidade de Coimbra, Portugal; Leeds PI: Dr E Pournaras; Co-Is Dr M A Camargo-Valero, et al. Partners from Portugal, Israel, Germany, Spain, Cyprus, Sweden, The Netherlands and Belgium. Funder: Horizon Europe (UKRI), €4.0M (€300K UoL).
• SCARE: Climate change and sanitation: assessing resilience and emissions. PI Professor G Howard (University of Bristol); University of Leeds Co-Is: Professor B Evans and Dr M A Camargo-Valero. Partners from Australia, South Korea, Nepal, Ethiopia and Uganda. Funder: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, £1.2M (£400K UoL).
• GCRF Water Hub: Water Security and Sustainable Development Hub. PI Professor R Dawson (Newcastle University); University of Leeds PI: Dr M A Camargo-Valero. Co-Is from Newcastle University, University of Leeds and University of Oxford. Research Partners from Colombia, Ethiopia, Malaysia, India. Funder: ESRC (ES/S008179/1), £17M (UoL £1.7M).

Co-investigator (Co-I)

• Complex Value Optimisation for Resource Recovery from Waste (C-VORR)
• Powering Uganda's Clean Energy Future: Biomethane Technology and Innovation for Clean Cooling in Rural Uganda (BioCool)

Qualifications

• PhD in Public Health Engineering. School of Civil Engineering, University of Leeds (2009)
• MSc(Eng) in Environmental Engineering. National University of Colombia, Bogotá (1998)
• BEng (Hons) – Chemical Engineering. National University of Colombia, Bogotá (1996)

Professional memberships

• Vice-Chair of the IWA Specialist Group on Wastewater Pond Technology (from Jan 2017)
• Senior Researcher, National Registry of Researchers in Colombia, Colciencias (2014-present)
• Chartered Chemical Engineer, Colombian Professional Council of Chemical Engineering
• Associate Member of the Institute of Chemical Engineering (AMIChemE)

Student education

Professor Camargo-Valero has teaching and research training duties in the following taught and research programmes:

• PhD in Water and Waste Infrastructure Systems Engineering for Resiliance (Water-WISER)
• PhD in Bioenergy – EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training
• PhD in Civil Engineering
• MSc in Water, Sanitation and Health Engineering
• MSc in Environmental Engineering and Project Management
• MEng and BEng in Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Research groups and institutes

• Water, Public Health and Environmental Engineering
• Cities, Infrastructure and Energy