Dr Nadja Kunz

Senior Lecturer, School of Chemical Engineering
Adjunct Senior Lecturer, Sustainable Minerals Institute

Nadja is skilled at working across disciplines, management levels, and academe/practice to resolve complex sustainability challenges with a focus on water management and governance within large industrial sectors. Most of her work centres on the mining sector, but she also has a growing interest in optimizing water/energy use within AI datacentres. In teaching, Nadja is passionate about training engineers to extend their core technical skillsets to work more effectively at the interface of policy, business, and society. 

After completing UQ degrees in Chemical Engineering (Honours Class I), Business Management, and a PhD in Interdisciplinary Engineering through the Sustainable Minerals Institute, Nadja completed postdoctoral research at the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag) in Switzerland.  From 2017-2025, Nadja was a faculty member at The University of British Columbia (UBC) in Canada (promoted to Associate Professor in 2024), where she was jointly appointed across the School of Public Policy & Global Affairs and the Norman B Keevil Institute of Mining Engineering. She also held an NSERC Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Mine Water Management and Stewardship. Nadja recently returned to UQ as a Senior Lecturer within the School of Chemical Engineering.

Throughout her career, Nadja has also held a variety of operational, corporate and consulting roles across a range of sectors and companies, including Rio Tinto, BP, Incitec Pivot, Visy Paper, and for SLR Consulting. She also spent over 9 years consulting as a water specialist for the International Finance Corporation (World Bank Group), where her work included supporting mining companies in the South Gobi Desert of Mongolia to improve their water performance and community engagement practices. She has also held several leadership positions, previously serving on the Board of Directors for Genome British Columbia, Canada. While at UBC, Nadja also led the academic direction for several interdisciplinary, cross-campus research clusters including the BRIMM Water Stewardship theme and the UBC Future Minerals Initiative. Nadja brings a global perspective to her work, with research/fieldwork locations that have included Australia, Canada, Mongolia, Ethiopia, Peru, Chile, Indonesia, and South Africa. 

While at the Liveris Academy, Nadja is excited to engage with students about their visions for the future and to brainstorm solutions to the complex global challenges that keep them awake at night. During her period of in-person residence, she will be joined by her 4-month old son, Asher, who will become the Academy’s youngest honorary fellow-in-residence!  

Contact:
Email: n.kunz@uq.edu.au
LinkedIn: Nadja Kunz