Aqsa Riaz is a PhD candidate at The University of Western Australia, supervised by Professor Rob Atkins and Professor Henning Prommer. Her research focuses on the development of green lixiviants for electrokinetic in situ recovery (EK-ISR) of metals from mine tailings.
Aqsa investigates environmentally benign solvent systems, with particular emphasis on deep eutectic solvents, to improve the efficiency and sustainability of electrically driven metal extraction from tailings dams. Her work aims to optimise lixiviant chemistry to maximise metal recovery while minimising environmental impact, contributing to the development of carbon-neutral and fully electrified extraction technologies.
She holds a Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Chemistry from the University of the Punjab, Pakistan, and is completing a Master of Science in Chemistry at Taiyuan University of Technology, China. Her previous research has focused on novel inorganic and hybrid nanomaterials for catalytic, electrochemical, sensing, and environmental remediation applications. She has extensive laboratory experience in materials synthesis and characterisation, including FT-IR, XRD, XRF, BET, UV-Vis, SEM, EDX, and TGA.
Aqsa’s research will support the recovery of valuable critical metals currently stranded in tailings, contributing to circular-economy approaches and advancing sustainable mining technologies in Australia.
