People

Professor Kara is an engineer with a PhD in manufacturing. He has a professional background of 30 years in industry, research and tertiary education, including several engineering and management positions in manufacturing companies in Australia and around the world. In 1999 he has joined the University of New South Wales with research interests in sustainable manufacturing, sustainable product development and Life Cycle Engineering. Since then, he has successfully completed more than 12 large projects, mainly industry-driven in the area of Reuse and Recycling of products, Energy and Eco-efficiency of product and processes, Life Cycle Assessment and Costing with various applications such as nanotechnologies, composite materials and aircraft components.

He is the founder and academic-in-charge of Life Cycle Engineering Research Group in the University of New South Wales - LCE@UNSW ( the group name is Sustainability in Manufacturing and Life Cycle Engineering Research Group - SMLCE@UNSW). He is also a member of Institute of Engineers Australia and the fellow of the International Academy of Production Engineering (CIRP).

Prof Kara together with Prof Christoph Herrmann, is the joint-director of the German-Australian Research Group (JGARG) on "Sustainable Manufacturing and Life Cycle Management".

Gwendolyn Foo holds PhD in mechanical and manufacturing engineering. She is currently a postdoctoral research fellow in the sustainability in manufacturing and life cycle engineering research group in University of New South Wales.  

She joined University of New South Wales in 2019 and did her PhD in the area of autonomous disassembly of electronic waste.

Emeritus Professor Kaebernick is a mechanical engineer with degrees from the Technical University of Berlin in Germany leading to the Doctor of Engineering in manufacturing. He has a professional background of over 30 years in industry, research and tertiary education, including several engineering and management positions in manufacturing companies and a professorship for production engineering at the University of Hamburg. In 1986, he moved to Australia to head the CSIRO Division of Manufacturing Technology's Sydney Laboratory with growing research activities in assembly automation and industrial lasers. From 1991 to 2008, he held the position of Professor of Manufacturing Engineering in the School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering at the University of New South Wales. He was the head of school from 2003 to 2008. Currently he is an emeritus professor and visiting resercher in the Life Cycle Engineering research group. His areas of interest include rapid prototyping, concurrent engineering, ecologically sustainable manufacturing, laser cutting, automation, robotics, and cellular manufacturing.

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Christoph Herrmann is university professor for Sustainable Manufacturing & Life Cycle Engineering and co-director of IWF, Institute of Machine Tools and Production Technology, Technische Universität Braunschweig. Prof. Herrmann has studied mechanical engineering / production engineering. He was research assistant at IFH (Institute of Production Automation and Handling Technology) and IWF. After his doctor degree (Dr.-Ing.) in 2003 he habilitated in production engineering in 2008 and was appointed associate professor (apl. Prof.) in 2011. As a company’s founder (2002 - 2007) he has transferred tools and services to support design for environment into the electric/electronic and automotive industry. From 2005 to 2008 he was also scientific director of KERP Center of Excellence Environment & Electronics, Vienna. From August 2009 to February 2013 he was scientific director and member of the NFF (Niedersächsisches Forschungszentrum Fahrzeugtechnik / Automotive Research Center Lower Saxony), Germany. In 2011 Prof. Herrmann’s team together with colleagues from Fraunhofer and industry partners has won the German Resource Efficiency Award from the Federal M! inistry of Economics and Technology, Germany. Professor Herrmann has conducted various industry and research projects in the context of life cycle engineering and sustainable manufacturing on national and international level. He was chairman of the international conference series Eco-X in 2005 and 2007 in Vienna and chairman of the 18th CIRP Conference on Life Cycle Engineering held in Braunschweig in 2011. He has published more than 200 papers and book publications as author, co-other and editor.