Rate My Professor Mahshid Firouzi

Associate Professor Mahshid Firouzi is a leading researcher in sustainable minerals recovery, low-emission technologies, and decarbonisation at the University of Newcastle's School of Engineering, within the College of Engineering, Science and Environment. She earned her Doctor of Philosophy in Chemical Engineering from the University of Queensland, completing her PhD between 2011 and 2014. Prior to joining the University of Newcastle in 2021, she held the position of UQ Amplify Senior Lecturer in the School of Chemical Engineering at The University of Queensland from January to July 2021 and continues as an Honorary Associate Professor there. Her career is marked by a commitment to industry-engaged, multidisciplinary research, collaborating with national and international partners to develop sustainable solutions.

Firouzi serves as Co-Deputy Director of the Centre for Critical Minerals and Urban Mining and as a Chief Investigator in the ARC Centre of Excellence for Enabling Eco-Efficient Beneficiation of Minerals (COEMinerals), leading strategic research on recovering critical minerals and metals from end-of-life products and secondary resource streams. Her expertise encompasses the fundamental science of foams, emulsions, and thin liquid films; surface and interfacial characterisation in multiphase flows; urban mining from waste streams and mining tailings; optimising processes for mineral and metal recovery; underground CO2 storage; and low-emission energy production. Recognitions include the 2022 University of Newcastle School of Engineering Excellence in Learning Award, the 2018 University of Queensland Early Career Researcher Award, Fellow of the Australian Institute of Energy (2020), UQ Amplify Research Fellowship (2021), Advance Queensland Industry Research Fellowship (2017), and profiling as one of two Australian female scientists by the Association of Academies and Societies of Sciences in Asia. Key publications feature the book chapter 'Drops and Bubbles in Contact with Solid Surfaces' (2016), 'Cellulose nanocrystal-CTAB stabilised CO2 foams at elevated pressures' (2026), 'Rethinking silver recovery pathways in end-of-life photovoltaic recycling using froth flotation' (2026), 'Mechanisms of gangue transport and recovery in Reflux flotation cells under varying bias flux and salinity conditions' (2025), and 'A Bio-Based Collector Derived from Vitamin E for Hematite Flotation' (2025). Her research has garnered 2356 citations with an h-index of 24.