Distinguished Professor Andy Ball

In January 2012, Andy was appointed Professor in Environmental Microbiology and in 2016 Distinguished Professor by RMIT University. He started his career as a Research Fellow in Liverpool University, UK and more recently held the position of Reader at the University of Essex, UK. In April 2005, Andy was appointed Chair of Environmental Biotechnology at Flinders University. 

He has held a number of key institutional/organisational roles at each university in which he has been employed over the past 30 years. At the University of Essex UK, Andy was Director of the Centre for Environment and Society. At Flinders University, he was appointed Director and Chairman of Flinders Bioremediation.  At RMIT University, Andy established, as Director a new University Research Centre, Environment, Sustainability and Remediation and is currently Director of the ARC Training Centre for the Transformation of Australia's Biosolids Resource. 

Andy has headed the Environmental Biotechnology Group now at RMIT University (previously based at Essex University and Flinders University) since 1995. Andy has a wealth of research and research and teaching expertise to RMIT University at an International level, particularly in the fields of bioremediation, organic waste treatment, and environmental fate of organic pollutants.

Andy has generated internationally acclaimed research outputs since 1985. He has over 300 peer reviewed publications cited 11,000 times in total, with an annual citation average above 1200 over the past 3 years with an h-index of 54 (Google) and 42 (Scopus). In addition, Andy has published 6 books (3 as author and 3 as editor) and written 42 book chapters. He has currently five provisional patents and one full patent. These metrics demonstrate his respected standing in the research community.

Research

The three main research themes within his research group are:

• Understanding the role of microorganisms in the cycling of nutrients in terrestrial and aquatic environments.
• Studying the impact of anthropogenic activities on microbial activity and diversity in aquatic and terrestrial environments.
• Examining bioenergy production and assessing the suitability of these technologies for commercialisation.

The first 2 areas focus on the influence of pollutants on the activity of the microbial population together with the biodegradation of pollutants in situ. Through collaborations the specific research areas within these two themes vary. Use is made of current technological developments in molecular microbiology environmental chemistry to investigate microbially driven environmental processes.

Andy has successfully completed the supervision of 68 PhD students and 8 Masters by Research students at RMIT University and Flinders and Essex Universities.

Teaching

Teaching commitments include undergraduate and Masters courses in:

• Environmental Microbiology
• Environmental Biotechnology
• Microbiology

• Ph.D. Liverpool University, Department of Genetics and Microbiology, Liverpool, UK, 1986
• B.Sc. (Hons.) Liverpool University, Department of Microbiology, Liverpool, UK, 1983