About

Dr Tom Headley is a constructed wetland specialist with over 20 years’ experience in the research, design, construction and operation of ecological technologies for wastewater treatment. He has published over 20 scientific papers, given keynote presentations at international conferences, supervised PhD students and taught at post-graduate courses on treatment wetlands.

Since completing his PhD in 2004, Tom has worked in New Zealand, Fiji, Denmark, Germany, Turkey, the USA and throughout the Middle East applying the full spectrum of wetland technologies across a broad range of applications, including treatment of sewage, sludge, oilfield production water, landfill leachate, industrial effluents, stormwater and agricultural runoff. Noteworthy in this experience was the world’s largest industrial constructed wetland system, consisting of >700 ha of surface flow wetlands and ponds for managing 115,000 m3/d of oilfield wastewater in the desert of Oman, providing a flagship example of what can be accomplished using ecological technologies.

Tom is now based in Australia and operates as an independent consultant through WET Systems, offering his expertise and services throughout Australia and internationally.

Josephine is passionate about providing assistance and support to community and water user groups to better manage their water resources. Her background in behaviour change within the natural resource sector coupled with her years of technical assistance on many constructed wetland projects provides her a strong understanding of people and water resource management. Josephine’s formal training in Natural Resource Management and a Masters in Environmental Education has given her a solid foundation in understanding and assisting people to better manage their water resources.

Dr Katharina Tondera is a specialist in treatment systems for highly variable inflow, which is mostly, but not exclusively driven by precipitation, including the application of water sensitive urban design. She is experienced in assessing and evaluating treatment solutions, treatment wetlands and nature-based solutions and greywater treatment methods, with a strong background in urban hydrology. She also has a background in the optimisation of treatment solutions in a multi-scale approach from lab to field-scale and is proficient in project development & management and funding acquisition.

Katharina has a strong background in both the applied and academic spheres. She has published over 25 scientific papers and has worked throughout Europe and Australia where she undertook a postdoctoral at the University of the Sunshine Coast (USC), investigating floating treatment wetlands for stormwater treatment.

Mark spent the initial stage of his career (a little over eight years) at Southern Cross and Griffith Universities researching wetland systems for polluted water treatment. During this time Mark’s research was presented at many international and national conferences and in 2007 Mark obtained his PhD. After his time within the academic arena, Mark aspired to move away from universities and apply his knowledge and skill to real-world issues and problems.

In the years since moving from the academic sector to the private sector, Mark has worked for a number of different organisations before being employed at AWC in 2008 – where he found a work environment that valued the benefits of scientific knowledge and understanding but appreciated the needs of their clients to resolve environmental issues quickly.

Mark’s key area of expertise is in the identification, delineation, protection, management and creation of wetland systems – for both the provision of habitat and/or water quality improvement.  In additional to this, Mark has key skills in the management of stormwater in both the agricultural and rural sectors.