Industrial and Mining Water Research Unit


The Industrial and Mining Water Research Unit is one of several research entities based in the School of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. It provides research as well as supervision to masters and doctorate students within the University, as well as consulting to industry.

Unit Structure

The unit deals with cross disciplinary water issues relating to industry and mining. As such the group includes experts in chemical engineering, microbiology and other sciences.
The unit includes five NRF rated researchers and over 20 masters and doctoral level postgraduate students in the faculties of engineering and science.

Members

The group currently comprises 7 academics, as well as several postgraduate students.

Logo

The logo of the Unit is in the shape of a drop of water, with the left half representing the blue of water.
The right half of the drop is modified to show grass and how water is linked to all life. Underneath the icon are the letters IMWaRU, while to the right, the name "Industrial and Mining Water Research Unit" appears.

Location

The unit is housed in several buildings across the University, most notably in the Richard Ward Building on East campus. Additionally, some members are located in the Biology Building on East Campus and have access to laboratories in that building.
They also have access to an outdoor facility on West Campus where constructed wetland, and other outdoor, experiments take place.

Research

The group has a broad range of research publications in the areas as listed below:
The unit works closely with the Centre in Water and Research Development, a cross disciplinary water research think tank.
Active collaborations include the Schools of Law, Chemistry, Civil and Mining Engineering and the Global Change Institute at the university, in addition to the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research in Leipzig, Germany. They have also collaborated with the Universities of Cape Town, Geneva, Queensland and the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile.
IMWaRU has had several Technology Innovation Agency projects run through Wits Enterprise.
The unit exhibited with several other groups at Mine Closure 2014.

Presentations

Members of the group have had presentations given at: