The main line of investigation is understanding the environmental impacts of industries and developing technical strategic solutions. Specific lines: Water management, Life cycle analysis, Risk and economic analysis, Bioenergy generation

Master's theses:
A Life Cycle Assessment of the Chilean Mining Industry with Emphasis on its Water and Carbon Footprint
Master's supervisor
Mairi Dean, The University of Edinburgh
I co-supervised the thesis of Mairi with a colleague at the University of Edinburgh within the Institute for Infrastructure and the Environment. I helped Mairi to develop life cycle assessment models of the Chilean mining industry to look at water demand and carbon emissions. This has led to further collaborations with the University of Edinburgh and we wish to continue supervising students together.

Analisis del Ciclo de Vida en la Industria de Vinos Premium en Chile
Master's supervisor
Jose Maria Perez Polvorin, Universidad del Desarrollo
I co-supervised the thesis of Jose Maria with Dr Alex Godoy, I guided Jose Maria on the development of his life cycle models and construction of the thesis implementing life cycle assessment to the wine industry in Chile.

Teaching:
Since my arrival in Chile I have been teaching a course entitled: 'Sustainable Development in Industry and Business'. The course is aimed at engineers to enhance their understanding of the environmental impacts of industrial processes, social issues related to industry and the application of good environmental management. The course covers measurement of environmental impacts and general sustainability, investigation of different industries, the application of life cycle assessment and environmental management strategies. Furthermore, within the course, the students develop projects to apply new environmental management strategies in communities, develop produces to tackle environmental issues in the laboratory and generate sustainable strategies for local businesses. I have also provided teaching for various Master's courses on the application of life cycle assessment to various industrial processing systems.

It is my intention to continue teaching the course on sustainable development in the future but to also teach a Master's course specifically on the application of Life Cycle Assessment and its applications to various industries. The students will be expected to develop their own environmental models for particular case studies within the course which will lead to the generation of some Master's theses on the topic of life cycle assessment and environmental management. I will also work with the School of Mining in Univesidad del Desarrollo to teach courses on environmental management within the mining industry to enhance the capabilities of the students within that particular area.

Student projects:
I have developed a number of practical projects with students at the university encompassing environmental engineering. We have developed a prototype for a small scale bioreactor system to produce biogas from organic waste. With this project we won funding from the Ministry of Energy as part of the 'Impacta Energia' scheme to develop renewable energy generation projects in Chile. Students were involved in the design and construction phase of the project and the project will continue to be developed with their input. We have also developed a methodology with the students to design and plant 'bosques nativos' in urban areas of Santiago with Shubhendu Sharma of Afforestt, this project has begun at Universidad del Desarrollo with pilot tests. We intend to grow this idea and expand it throughout Santiago working with municipalities.

I have also developed strong links with the Environmental Management Team of the Municipality of La Pintana. Together with students at the university we have been developing projects focussed on energy generation, wastewater treatment and waste management in La Pintana. The students in engineering and various other faculties have developed strategies to improve the environmental management of the municipality. We will continue to work with the municipality to design strategies and implement new technologies that we develop together.

Ingenieros con Impacto:
In 2017 I have iniciated a group called 'Ingenieros con Impacto' which is aimed at engineering students and students from other disciplines with particular interest in the iniciative. The aim of the group is to develop knowledge and experience regarding sustainable practical engineering solutions that can be developed to improve the living standards of local communities and society in general. The group will be largely organised by the students themselves with my guidance and expertise from my colleagues in the faculty of engineering. The students will develop projects working with local communities to identify and develop sustainable solutions to problems identified through collaboration with the communities. The group will host workshops to develop and teach about new technologies and strategies. Regular meetings will be held to report progress and discuss project strategies.

Environmental management in mining:
Journal articles investigating the issue of water management and solutions for the mining industry have been published to provide analysis on the the most cost-effective solutions to tackle low water availability
The research has been presented in a number of international conferences in Chile and internationally
Meetings have taken place with mining companies to discuss the implications of the results with their environmental management respresentatives

Engineering solutions:
The small scale modular bioreactor design that I developed won funding from the Ministry of Energy to develop a prototype. Following the 'Impacta Energia' bootcamp, we have started developing the technology with the Municipality of La Pintana to test the system as part of a 'real life' scenario. We have also developed partnerships with sustainability centres in different regions of Chile to test the prototype using organic waste for their local partners. We have also discussed collaboration with several recycling companies based in Santiago to provide a waste management service for organic waste.
Students from the School of Engineering are now working on research projects with the Municipality of La Pintana to improve environmental management systems, the project results will be tested within the municipality and implemented if proven successful.