Alice is a flooding and hydraulics expert with over 14 years of experience in water engineering and hydrology.  Alice is a chartered engineer with a double degree in Civil Engineering and Science (BE/BSC) and also has a Masters of Engineering Science,   by Research focusing on biofiltration and Water Sensitive UrbanDesign (WSUD) more broadly. Alice had led flooding teams on several infrastructure projects across MRPV and LXRP. 

Alice has extensive experience in tertiary education, teaching and lecturing at Monash University and LaTrobe University.

Julia Baumann is a Senior Engineering Manager and a Senior Associate at Dalton Consulting Engineers (DCE). DCE is a mid-tier consultancy with approximately 75 employees in Victoria and Queensland. Julia has more than 15 years of experience in stormwater engineering. You may know her from presentations at Stormwater Victoria conferences! She graduated from Rice University in 2004 and moved to Melbourne in 2008. Julia enjoys developing stormwater solutions that achieve great outcomes for multiple stakeholders. She is grateful that she can see the tangible benefits of her professional work protecting and improving Melbourne's waterways in her everyday life.

Sumari is the Water Resources Team Lead at Styantec in Perth.  She is a Civil Engineer and Architectural Designer specialising in Integrated Water Management, WSUD, Flood Modelling, Mitigation and Emergency Planning.  Early in 2023 she was seconded to a water retailer in Victoria as part of their IWM Planning Team looking at adaptive pathways for alternative water use uptake through a strong stormwater focus and analytical lens.

Her background in urban design, research and exhibition curation has culminated in a passion for multi-disciplinary design approaches to key resilience challenges such as water and waste management, environmental conservation and equitable development. Having lived in South Africa, Australia, the UK and Ireland, she has keen appreciation for the wide-ranging and complex challenges that face modern designers and citizens of the world.

Her diverse skill-set and strong interest in delivering creative solutions and technical quality, to benefit clients and the wider community, is transferrable across a range of projects. She’s passionate about bringing people together, breaking down traditional barriers and finding a collective voice to reimagine the future.

Aaron is a Civil Engineer with 12 years’ experience in WSUD design, stormwater management and strategy development gathered during his career spanning across the public and private sector. He is passionate about the design and implementation of innovative water servicing solutions that deliver high value
community outcomes while protecting and enhancing the natural environment.

Aaron’s professional experience includes the creation, review and delivery of Melbourne Water Development Services Schemes (DSS’s), through which he has gained a strong appreciation of the challenges and opportunities to incorporate integrated outcomes within the Scheme framework. His strong technical background and strategic mindset has been developed and refined through design of over 40 new DSS’s and authorship of numerous Stormwater Management Strategies and IWM Plans for developments across the country. He has developed tools, authored guidelines and manuals and delivered training workshops and stakeholder engagement sessions to support industry in designing and delivering WSUD and drainage works.

Aaron is a self-motivated, adaptable professional with experience in hydrologic and hydraulic engineering, water sensitive urban design and Integrated Water Management. He has developed his strong analytical and problem solving skills from broad exposure to the development industry standards and practices. Leveraging these qualities, he has delivered several major IWM Plans and WSUD masterplans incorporating adaptive IWM planning approaches.

Alan is an Associate Integrated Water engineer with over 13 years’ experience, primarily in the fields of flood risk, hydrology, hydraulics, urban water and waterway management. His career has spanned a range of geographical locations and environments, including Scotland, Papa New Guinea, North Queensland and Victoria. Alan now resides and works in Geelong and is passionate about regional stormwater issues.

Currently, Alan is a Senior Associate Integrated Water Engineer at Spiire, working out of the Geelong office. Alan holds a BSc in Natural Resources Management and specialises in urban water, being involved in all phases of the project cycle, from strategy through to construction.

Dr Belinda Hatt is an environmental scientist with 20 years’ experience in the urban water sector. She currently works for Melbourne Water as a Waterways & Wetlands Research Specialist, where she undertakes research on stormwater impacts on river health and the design and operation of stormwater control measures, such as  raingardens and wetlands. With experience across academia, consulting and government, Belinda aims to bridge the gap between research and practice and enjoys  working on practical research that addresses real-world needs. She has authored over 90 publications and is an experienced tertiary and professional educator and mentor.

Emily work for the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action in the resilient cities and towns
branch. I have worked in the branch for just over four years now, starting in the regional IWM team and now
in the reform projects team for close to three years. My main focus area is in stormwater harvesting and
reuse policy.

Jamie is an Environmental Engineer, Urban Planner and Geographer who has worked in sustainable water management for over 20 years. His experience encompasses a breadth of strategic, policy, technical, research, engagement and land-use planning aspects associated with implementation of integrated water management (IWM), water sensitive urban design (WSUD) and urban sustainability.

With extensive experience working across urban and rural water corporations (including Melbourne Water), Clearwater, local government and large consulting firms, Jamie has run his own IWM consulting business since 2013. Naturally collaborative and with a big-picture view, Jamie is passionate about improving sustainability and liveability outcomes for our community.

Karl Velasco is an Associate Water Resources Engineer at SMEC with 12 years’ experience specialising in hydrology, flood modelling and WSUD design. Karl holds a Bachelor of Engineering (Civil) (Hons) and is a registered member (NER) of Engineers Australia. He previously worked at Melbourne Water in Development Services before moving to SMEC Water and Dams team. Karl has been responsible for a wide range of technical engineering roles in Victoria (and overseas) involving catchment strategy development, dam break modelling and consequence assessments, concept and detailed design of stormwater assets, flood modelling for major infrastructures project, and construction supervision roles. As a long-time member of Stormwater Victoria, he is keen to get more involved in the wider stormwater industry and try to advocate for the engineering practitioners in urban and major infrastructure space. Karl became an engineer to apply his analytical skills for the betterment of the wider community.

Lily is a Specification Engineer at Ocean Protect within the Southern Region responsible for stormwater treatment design, working with councils and engineers on how best to meet the stormwater quality and quantity requirements using MUSIC modelling and the most innovative and effective products available at Ocean Protect.

Prior to joining Ocean Protect, she was an engineer with Nalco Water where I provided technical support for complex integrated water cycle management issues and managed water treatment on cooling tower systems, boilers, and trade waste.
I also previously worked at AECOM as a Process Engineer, responsible for preparation of concept, preliminary and detailed design documents for water, wastewater, and recycled water treatment plants.  Lily holds a Bachelor of Chemical Engineering from RMIT university.

Mahima is an Engineer/Designer at Engeny Australia with close to 3 years of experience in the stormwater industry. She is currently enjoying working on a diverse range of projects including waterway designs, concept to detailed design of stormwater drainage, stormwater harvesting, and WSUD projects. Mahima graduated from Swinburne University with a Masters in Construction and Infrastructure Management.

Neha is an IWM Consultant at Arup, with experience in integrated water management (IWM) strategies, stormwater harvesting and blue-green infrastructures. She has been working in the stormwater industry for the past 4 years and has a range of technical experience in stormwater modelling (MUSIC), catchment modelling (SOURCE), surface runoff and streamflow modelling (RORB) and spatial analysis (QGIS). Neha has built her expertise in IWM through successfully delivering projects for local government, state government and water authorities across Victoria. Previously, Neha has held committee roles at Australian Water Association Young Water Professional (2021-2023) and at Our Future Cities (industry Network Lead,
2020-2022).

Peter Woodman is a Senior Environmental Engineer and Project Manager in the Water Resources group at GHD in Victoria. He has over 16 years' experience completing flood studies, dam break & consequence assessments, drainage investigations and design projects around Australia - but have most experience in urban settings in Victoria. Peter's role on these projects has largely focussed on hydrologic and hydraulic modelling, but he has also developed a strong ability to assess and present outcomes that meet the needs of a range of audiences (both detailed and overarching). He has a passion for innovation and maintaining current best practice, which sees him drive continuous improvement of processes to ensure they reflect current information and technology availability. This passion means Peter is always focussed on delivering better outcomes for clients and the industry as a whole.

With over 8 years of experience in civil and environmental engineering, Sadaf Haghiri is currently the Construction Assessment & Delivery Manager for the North Region at Melbourne Water. In this role, Sadaf oversees the delivery of stormwater projects and drainage schemes across Melbourne. She has a strong background in drainage design, stormwater management, hydraulic modelling, and catchments management, as well as a keen interest in stormwater and wastewater treatment.

Before joining Melbourne Water, Sadaf was a Senior Civil Engineer at WSP and AECOM, where she contributed to major projects such as the Level Crossing Removal Project (LXRP) as a designer. She also has experience as a CPS-Civil Engineer, supporting the West Gate Tunnel project. Sadaf is passionate about delivering innovative and sustainable solutions for stormwater challenges. She enjoys collaborating with diverse teams and stakeholders to achieve the best outcomes. Her technical expertise is complemented by her certifications as a Chartered Professional Engineer and her recognition on the National Engineering Register

Sarah is an Environmental Engineer with 18 years’ experience in stormwater management including integrated water, water sensitive urban design, flooding, and maintenance. Sarah has recently started working at Streamology as a Senior Engineer and is looking forward to being on the forefront of strategy and design in both the waterways and stormwater spaces. She is passionate about improving designs to increase maintainability and protection of waterways and natural wetlands from the impact of urbanisation and climate change.

Suresh is the IWM Planning Lead at South East Water. With 25 years of experience in water industry, he is highly regarded for his strategic expertise across water, sewerage, stormwater, flooding and IWM. In his previous roles with Melbourne Water, City West Water and Yarra Valley Water, he has led numerous visionary projects such as Fishermans Bend IWM, Port Phillip Bay EMP, and Flood Management Strategy. More recently, he has led the development of South East Water’s Stormwater Plan and Rainwater Tank Strategy, and strategic assessments for IWM Plans. Suresh holds Master’s degree qualifications in Environmental Engineering, Sociology, Business Administration and Water Resources Management.

Tom is a Project Manager working for Greater Western Water, with a passion for how we can shape the direction of IWM to address the challenges of population growth and climate change and advocating the benefits of a Greener West through the development of Stormwater Harvesting Schemes.  

Zaki is currently the Victorian Team Lead for Water Resources at KBR and over ten years of consulting experience in hydrologic and hydraulic modelling, flood mapping, risk mitigation and drainage infrastructure design. He holds a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering and a master’s degree in project management. Zaki has undertaken lead roles as part of Melbourne Water drainage scheme reviews, flood mapping studies, and completed a secondment role within Melbourne Water’s flood mapping program team. He has co-authored three technical papers in recent years published through industry associations, FMA (2023), Stormwater Australia and New Zealand (2019).