S.M.Parvez Mahbub

Dr. S.M. Parvez Mahbub serves as a Lecturer in the School of Science at UNSW Canberra, University of New South Wales, where he also holds the role of Lecturer in Explosive Ordnance and coordinates the Honours and CDF programs. He contributes to the Canberra Mass Spectrometry Facility. He obtained his PhD in environmental engineering from Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, between 2008 and 2011. Following his doctorate, he undertook postdoctoral training in analytical chemistry at the Australian Centre for Research on Separation Science, University of Tasmania, from 2012 to 2014, supported by a fellowship from the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Before joining UNSW, Mahbub led projects as chief investigator at Victoria University, including advanced oxidation techniques for the aquaculture industry with Huon Aquaculture and Food Innovation Australia Ltd., and detection and remediation of organic peroxide explosives funded by Defence Science Institute. He collaborated on research at the University of Tasmania from 2016 to 2019, developing radiometric analysis of LEDs for portable gas sensing and advanced miniaturized electrochemical detection. Additionally, he taught ‘Environmental Sustainability’ to postgraduate students at Central Queensland University Melbourne Campus, receiving the Student Voice Commendation Award in 2019 for On-Campus Educators of the Year.

His principal research aim is to develop low-cost, portable solutions using advanced analytical techniques for food, agriculture, defence, and medical applications. Core interests include rapid screening of explosives, advanced oxidation processes for scalable production and point-of-care delivery of radicals, continuous-flow reactor technology, contaminant fate, chemometrics, UV-visible-infrared spectrophotometry for environmental hazard monitoring and early warning of hazardous gases, and water-quality engineering. Achievements include securing a $200,000 Enterprise Solution Centre Program grant from Food Innovation Australia Ltd. in 2019 for “Peroxide-based Sustainable Treatment Strategy for Salmonid Aquaculture,” and a $44,570 Higher Degree Research grant from Defence Science Institute Australia in 2020 for “Rapid Screening of Home-made Explosives in Public Places Using Safe Light Sources,” both as lead chief investigator. Further honors encompass the Best Oral Presentation at CESE-2010, Innovative Tasmania Award 2015 for the SCANTEX prototype explosive detector (organic component from his postdoctoral work), and CSIRO ON-Prime performance bonus 2023 for rapid screening technology. Prominent publications are “Scalability of advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) in industrial applications: A review” (Journal of Environmental Management, 2023), “Rapid and selective screening of organic peroxide explosives using acid-hydrolysis induced chemiluminescence” (Analytica Chimica Acta, 2023), “Scalable production of hydroxyl radicals (.OH) via homogeneous photolysis of hydrogen peroxide using a continuous-flow photoreactor” (Chemical Engineering Journal, 2022), “Radiometric characterisation of light sources used in analytical chemistry – A review” (Analytica Chimica Acta, 2020), and the book chapter “Traffic and Climate Change Impacts on Water Quality” (IGI Global).

Professional Email: smparvez.mahbub@unsw.edu.au