Dr Akintunde Babatunde

Profile

Dr Akintunde Babatunde (Akin) is currently an Associate Professor in the School of Civil Engineering, University of Leeds, UK. He is also a member of water@leeds. Akin is a Chartered Engineer and a Chartered Environmentalist. His core expertise is in experimental and numerical approaches for addressing the challenges of water quality, from cloud to coast. He is a specialist in the design of frameworks for water quality and pollution control at various scales; and the engineering design of bespoke treatment systems and management strategies for water quality. From 2007 to 2011, Akin worked with the Irish government to develop a coupled catchment model/decision support system for predicting and mitigating nitrate and phosphate losses from agricultural catchments. During the same period (2007 onwards); he received competitive funding from Enterprise Ireland to scale up the output from his PhD studies. In 2012, he received funding support from Welsh Water to develop research into the phosphorus removing capacity of their water treatment sludges. – This was aimed towards the design and development a novel constructed wetland system with enhanced phosphorus removal, and which can be deployed as part of catchment management solutions. In 2009, Akin was awarded the Green Talent award for outstanding young professionals in environmental engineering by the German Federal Minister of Education, and in 2010, he received the prestigious Irish Research Council and EU Marie Curie Joint Postdoctoral Fellowship award.

Akin has published widely and authored > 100 publications with over 1,500  citations.  He has secured research grants in excess of £9M (both as PI and co-I). He is a member of the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Associate Peer Review College, an Editor for Water Science and Technology Journal, and a regular reviewer for a number of high-impact factor Journals. He is also one of the two regional co-ordinators for Africa for the International Water Association specialist group on constructed wetlands. He has extensive contacts and on-going engagements with the global water community, and this is crucial for understanding needs and developing solutions. Akin received his PhD in Civil Engineering from the University College Dublin, Ireland in Nov 2007. Prior to that, he received his BSc (2000) and MSc (2003) from the faculty of Engineering and Technology, University of Ibadan, Nigeria. He had brief industry working experience before starting his PhD studies.

Akin is open to research inquiries; and he is constantly interested in pushing boundaries and extending the frontiers of knowledge. 

Responsibilities

• Ex-Director of Postgraduate Research Studies (Implementation and progression)

Research interests

• Systems and Processes for Sustainable Water and Wastewater Engineering
• Digital Twins

Qualifications

• PhD
• MSc
• BSc

Professional memberships

• Council Member, Society of Environmental Engineers, U.K.
• Member, International Water Association
• Member, Marie Curie Fellows Association

Student education

Module leader – CIVE3420 Wastewater Engineering

Module leader – CIVE 5535M Advanced Wastewater Management

I currently have teaching duties on the following taught academic programmes:

(a) MSc in Environmental Engineering and Project Management

(b) BEng and MEng in Civil and Environmental Engineering

Research groups and institutes

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

Current postgraduate researchers

• Fika Nikendary