Dr Denys Villa Gomez is a Chief Investigator in the ARC Centre in Critical Resources for the Future, a member of the Centre’s Leadership Team, and represents The University of Queensland across CCRF governance and strategy. She also serves on the Student Experience Subcommittee, contributing to the development of high-quality, industry-connected HDR training and researcher support across the Centre.
Denys holds a joint appointment at The University of Queensland as Senior Lecturer in the School of Civil Engineering and Research Fellow at the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN). Her research leadership lies at the intersection of environmental engineering, biotechnology, and critical mineral recovery, with a strong focus on low-carbon, bio-enabled solutions for extracting value from mine waste and wastewater streams. She applies advanced methodologies — including omics approaches and microspectral tools — to design and optimise biotechnological processes that reduce environmental footprints while enabling recovery of critical and valuable metals.
Within UQ, Denys leads the Synbio Mining research area in the UQ Biosustainability Hub, advancing synthetic biology and biomining approaches to address challenges in mine waste management and resource recovery. Her work delivers clear value to CCRF’s mission by strengthening the Centre’s capability in bioprocessing, mine waste valorisation, and sustainable recovery pathways for critical minerals. She has published more than 40 peer-reviewed journal and conference papers, cited over 700 times, and contributes to the global research community through editorial, review, and advisory roles, including with the International Mine Water Association.
Within CCRF, Denys supervises PhD candidate Michael Grove, whose research focuses on the recovery of critical and valuable metals from IOCG mine waste and tailings. She will also supervise a PhD project on the application of geophysical tools to unravel mine waste environments, further strengthening the Centre’s interdisciplinary capability in mine waste characterisation and reprocessing. In addition, Denys contributes to the CCRF project “Tracking indium and associated critical metals in mine wastes: unravelling their deportment, mobility, and recovery potential”, bringing bioengineering and environmental systems expertise to improve understanding of metal behaviour and recovery opportunities across complex waste streams.
