Johann Poinapen PhD, FIEAust, CPEng

Johann is in the Water Treatment team of KWR where he leads research and innovation in water and wastewater treatment, reuse and resource recovery within the water-energy-food nexus. His role includes developing and driving the international ambitions of KWR. He has over 20 years’ experience in the water and wastewater engineering sectors in developing and developed countries. Throughout his career, he has developed and demonstrated his capabilities in the fields of technical leadership, engineering design, research, business development, project governance, operations and business management. Johann has worked both as a consultant and a practice-oriented researcher in the areas of water/wastewater treatment, reuse and resource recovery for the water and resources industry. His industry experience in many parts of the world has allowed him to develop and demonstrate his competencies in bio-chemical process design, water quality engineering, water reuse, membrane filtration, brine treatment, biological nutrient removal, anaerobic digestion, disinfection, advance oxidation and modelling.
Prior to joining KWR, he served as the Director of the Institute of Applied Sciences which is the Research and Consulting arm of the University of the South Pacific, working directly with both the public and private sectors to respond to their economic, environmental and social needs. In that role, he provided technical leadership and strategic direction to promote a more sustainable Pacific in the areas of water and environment. In Australia, he served as the Water Technical Lead for Amec Australia and led the process engineering of Coal Seam Gas water and brine treatment projects for the Oil and Gas industry. Prior to joining Amec Australia, he worked for the global consultancy firm MWH (now part of Stantec) where he served in several leadership roles and made many key contributions to the organisation. Johann holds a PhD in wastewater process engineering, received from the Water Research Group of the University of Cape Town. He is also a Fellow of the Institution of Engineers Australia and a registered professional chemical and environmental engineer with Engineers Australia.