Professor Sue Harrison
c*change: PAR Programme Manager
Director: Centre for Bioprocess Engineering Research
Department of Chemical Engineering
Building No 54, Cnr Ring Road and South Lane
Upper Campus, University of Cape Town
Private Bag X3
7701 Rondebosch
South Africa
Tel: +27 21 650-
Fax: +27 21 650-
Email: sue.harrison@uct.ac.za
Background
Sue Harrison has some 25 years experience in research in bioprocess engineering, gained in the industrial and academic arenas. She holds undergraduate degrees in microbiology (BSc. Hons) and chemistry (BSc) from the University of Cape Town and a PhD in Chemical Engineering from Cambridge University. She worked as a research scientist in the R&DD department of AECI Ltd in Johannesburg for three years. In 1991, she joined the academic staff of the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Cape Town. Her research in bioprocess engineering spans bacterial, fungal, archael and algal bioprocesses with application in biohydrometallurgy, AMD prevention, maximizing resource productivity, bioenergy products, biocommodities from wastes, fine chemicals, neutraceuticals and expression of niche peptides and proteins. Through these she focuses on microbial dynamics, biokinetics, biological stress responses and process integration. She has a strong interest on quantifying environmental burden associated with processes with the view to its minimisation. She collaborates actively with researchers at the universities of Mumbai, Duisberg-Essen, Technical University Berlin, Cambridge University and Imperial College London and with industrial partners in South Africa and abroad.
Sue has taught actively into the chemical engineering and biotechnology programmes at undergraduate and postgraduate levels at the Universities of Cape Town and Cambridge. She served as Head of Department of Chemical Engineering from 1998 to 2002. She holds the South African DST Research Chair in Bioprocess Engineering and is the director of CeBER, the Centre for Bioprocess Engineering Research and deputy dean of the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment at UCT. In the innovation space, Sue was a founding member and later Chair of the Board of the Cape Biotechnology Trust, and more recently is a Board member of the Technology Innovation Agency.
Qualification
1987-1990
PhD in Chemical Engineering, Trinity College, Cambridge University, UK
1984
BSc Hons (Microbiology) in the first class, University of Cape Town
1981-1983
BSc Chemistry and Microbiology, University of Cape Town
Employment History
Jan 1991 – present University of Cape Town, Dept Chemical Engineering, Rondebosch, South Africa
Senior Lecturer (1991 – 1997)
Associate Professor (1997 – 1999)
Professor (2000 – present)
Head of Department (1998 – 2002)
Director: Bioprocess Engineering Research Centre (2001 – present)
DST-NRF SARChI Research Chair in Bioprocess Engineering (2008 – 2012)
Deputy Dean: Research and Postgraduate, Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment (2011 – present)
Jan 2004 – July 2004 (sabbatical leave) Cambridge University, Cambridge, U.K. Senior Zeneca Fellow, Dept Chemical Engineering, Visiting Fellow Commoner, Trinity College
July 1997 – Dec 1997 (sabbatical leave) M.I.T., Cambridge, Massachussetts, USA Visiting Scientist, Dept Chemical Engineering
Sept 1990 – Jan 1991 Cambridge University, Cambridge, U.K Postdoctoral researcher (Rouse Ball fellowship)
Jan 1985 – Sept 1987 Research scientist, African Explosives and Chemical Industries (AECI), Modderfontein, South Africa
