Rate My Professor Michele John

Professor Michele John holds the position of Professor and Director of the Sustainable Engineering Group (SEG) within the School of Civil and Mechanical Engineering at Curtin University in the Faculty of Science and Engineering. She possesses a B.Ec, MBus, and PhD from the University of Western Australia. As a resource economist, her research specializations include life cycle analysis, sustainability impact assessment, the renewable energy transition, industrial symbiosis, waste management and resource recovery, sustainable development, and eco-efficiency. Under her leadership, SEG conducts applied sustainable engineering research and advances sustainable engineering education. She directs an internationally recognised industrial ecology research group focusing on projects in industrial symbiosis, sustainability education, waste management, re-manufacturing, and sustainability design and policy. Professor John serves as the lead organiser of the Australian Sustainable Engineering Education Network and oversees the MSc (Sustainability Transformation Management) degree at Curtin University. Her teaching portfolio encompasses corporate stewardship, global sustainability studies, organisational sustainability management, engineering for sustainable development, and industrial ecology.

Prior to her current appointment, Professor John held a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at the University of Western Australia and CSIRO. She also gained international experience working with multinational companies in the mining and manufacturing sectors in London, Japan, and Singapore. Her scholarly output includes key publications such as 'Global steel decarbonisation roadmaps: Near-zero by 2050' (2025), 'Enhancing eco-efficiency in hemp-based construction boards: environmental and economic strategies for sustainability' (2024), 'Additive manufacturing of recycled plastics: a ‘techno-eco-efficiency’ assessment' (2023), 'Life cycle cost estimation and environmental valuation of coal mine tailings management' (2021), and contributions to 'Engineering for Sustainable Development: Theory and Practice'. With over 4,900 citations documented on Google Scholar, her work significantly influences the fields of sustainable engineering and industrial ecology. She has been recognised at Curtin University's annual research awards.