Rate My Professor Michael Stockenhuber

Professor Michael Stockenhuber serves as Honorary Professor in the School of Engineering (Chemical Engineering) at the University of Newcastle. He obtained his Dipl.Ing. in Chemical Technology from the Technical University of Vienna in 1990 and his Dr.Techn. with distinction from the Institute of Physical Chemistry at the Technical University of Vienna in 1994 under the supervision of Professor Johannes Lercher. Following a postdoctoral position at the University of Twente, he worked at Nottingham Trent University as Postdoctoral Researcher in 1995, Lecturer in 1998, and Reader in Physical Chemistry from January to December 2007. He joined the University of Newcastle in January 2008 as Senior Lecturer in Chemical Engineering, advanced to Associate Professor in 2012, established and heads the Catalysis and Process Research Laboratory, and served as Assistant Dean for Research Training in the Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment from 2013 to 2016.

Professor Stockenhuber's research focuses on heterogeneous catalysis and nanoporous materials, emphasizing structure-function relationships. His interests include mineral carbonation for CO2 sequestration, catalytic combustion of ventilation air methane to abate greenhouse gas emissions from coal mines, conversion of glycerol by-products from biodiesel production into value-added products like plastics, characterization of acid sites using infrared and X-ray absorption spectroscopy, dehydrogenation of hydrocarbons, zeolites as base catalysts, selective hydrocarbon oxidation, and fine chemical synthesis using environmentally friendly green solid catalysts. He has authored over 120 peer-reviewed journal articles and holds four patents. Notable publications encompass book chapters such as 'Catalytic Combustion of Methane in Low-concentration Gas Streams' (2025) by Bligh et al., 'Zeolites for Sustainable Chemical Transformations' (2022) by Harvey et al., 'Understanding catalysis for processing glycerol and glycerol-based derivatives' (2019) by Drewery et al., and 'X-ray adsorption spectroscopy of oxides and oxidation catalysts' (2009) by Stockenhuber. He has secured more than $15 million AUD in competitive research funding from the Australian Research Council, other government bodies, and industry partners including BP, EADS/Airbus, and BHP Billiton. Professor Stockenhuber has held prominent roles as President of the Australian Catalysis Society from February 2016 to October 2020, Honorary Secretary of the British Zeolite Association, member of the International Zeolite Association, and member of the International Advisory Board for the International Conference on Environmental Catalysis, which he proposed and co-organized in Newcastle in July 2016. His work advances sustainable catalytic processes for energy conversion, emissions control, and chemical manufacturing.