The ARC College of Experts supports the advancement of knowledge and contributes to national innovation, and it plays a key role in identifying research excellence for the ARC. Members of the College are experts of international standing drawn from the Australian research community: from higher education, industry and public sector research organisations.

Prof. Nasser Khalili is a globally recognised expert in unsaturated soil mechanics and computational geomechanics, and is the Director and Lead Chief Investigator for the ARC and industry funded Hub Resilient and Intelligent Infrastructure Systems (RIIS).

Professor Bing-Jie Ni is an ARC Future Fellow working in the field of environmental technology and wastewater treatment, and is a worldwide pioneer in modelling and control of potent greenhouse gases emissions from wastewater management systems.

There are currently 269 members on the 2023 College of Experts, with 13 from UNSW including the School’s Director of the Centre for Infrastructure Engineering & Safety (CIES), Professor Chongmin Song who has served on the College since 2022.

Appointments are for a three year duration, which means that Professors Khalili and Ni will be making it an amazing hat trick for the School in 2024!

The College of Experts assists the ARC by:

  • assigning external assessors
  • assessing and ranking ARC grant applications submitted under the National Competitive Grants Program
  • moderating external assessments
  • providing recommendations for fundable applications to the ARC CEO
  • assisting with recruiting through the nomination of new assessors
  • providing advice for peer review reforms, and
  • providing strategic advice to the ARC on emerging disciplines and cross-disciplinary developments.

Note that Prof. Khalili is no stranger to the work of the College of Experts, he was previously elected for 2018-2020.  Another School colleague, WRC Professor Ashish Sharma joined him there in 2019-2021.

Congratulations to Nasser and Bing-Jie!

Prof. Nasser Khalili
Prof. Bing-Jie Ni