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Kumi Abeysuriya

Kumi Abeysuriya

Senior Research Consultant, Institute for Sustainable Futures

Ph.D (UTS)

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Email: Kumi.Abeysuriya@uts.edu.au
Phone: +61 2 9514 4881
Fax: +61 2 9514 4941
Room: CB10.11 (map)
Mailing address: PO Box 123, Broadway NSW 2007, Australia

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Biography

Kumudini (Kumi) Abeysuriya joined the Institute for Sustainable Futures in February 2003 as a PhD candidate, and since submitting her thesis in July 2007, has been working as a Senior Research Consultant at ISF. During her candidature she also worked on a small number of ISF projects related to energy, water and sanitation and international development on a casual basis.

Prior to joining ISF, she worked as a consultant in the New South Wales energy utilities sector with a focus on sustainability-related issues. She co-founded the green energy advocacy venture EarthWatts, and was jointly responsible for providing thought leadership for establishment of the Australian Green Electricity Market (GEM).

Kumi's PhD thesis examines how urban sanitation in developing Asian countries may be resolved in a manner aligned with sustainability. She proposes that resolution is predicated on treating the problem as a 'complex' one, and uses transdisciplinarity as a research approach. Her thesis draws on a range of disciplines including thermodynamics, ecological economics, Buddhist economics and deliberative democracy to develop guiding principles and a deliberative decision-making framework based on soft systems methodology. Kumi holds a Master of Science in experimental physics from Cornell University, USA, and a Bachelor of Science with first class honours in physics from the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka.

Research

Research areas
  • Energy and climate change
  • International Development
  • Water and sanitation

Research supervision: Yes

Publications

Project reports

Mitchell, C.A., Fam, D.M. & Abeysuriya, K.R. 2013, 'Transitioning to sustainable sanitation: a transdisciplinary pilot project of urine diversion', Institute for Sustainable Futures, UTS, Sydney, pp. 1-137.
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Hamlyn- Harris, D., Mitchell, C.A., Abeysuriya, K.R. & Turner, A.J. 2012, 'Study of local alternative water supplies: Discussion paper', Bligh Tanner Consulting Engineers and Institute for Sustainable Futures, UTS, Brisbane, Australia, pp. 1-82.

Mitchell, C.A., Fam, D.M. & Abeysuriya, K.R. 2011, 'Mutual Learning for Social Change: Using social research to support the introduction of urine diverting toilets in the Kinglake West Sewerage Project', Institute of Sustainable Futures, Sydney, pp. 1-23.
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Fam, D.M., Mitchell, C.A. & Abeysuriya, K.R. 2010, 'Kinglake mutual learning for social change project - international and local review of user manuals for urine diverting toilets', Prepared for Yarra Valley water by the Institute of Sustainable Futures, University of Technology, Sydney.

Abeysuriya, K.R., Langham, E. & Fane, S.A. 2009, 'Water reuse feasibility project: water sensitive urban design opportunities', Institute for Sustainable Futures, UTS, Sydney, Australia, pp. 1-146.

Retamal, M.L., Glassmire, J., Abeysuriya, K.R., Turner, A.J. & White, S. 2009, 'The water-energy nexus: investigation into the energy implications of household rainwater systems', Institute for Sustainable Futures, UTS, Sydney, Australia.
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Retamal, M.L., Abeysuriya, K.R., Turner, A.J. & White, S. 2009, 'Water energy nexus literature review', Institute for Sustainable Futures, UTS, Sydney, Australia.
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Dunstan, C., Abeysuriya, K.R. & Shirley, W. 2008, 'Win, win, win: Regulating electricity distribution networks for reliability, consumers and the environment: review of the NSW D-Factor and alternative mechanisms to encourage demand management', Institute for Sustainable Futures, UTS, Sydney.
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Mitchell, C.A., Abeysuriya, K.R. & Fam, D.M. 2008, 'Development of qualitative decentralized system concepts for the 2009 Metropolitan Sewerage Strategy. vol 1: synthesis report', Institute for Sustainable Futures, UTS, Sydney, Australia.
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Mitchell, C.A., Abeysuriya, K.R. & Fam, D.M. 2008, 'Development of qualitative decentralized system concepts for the 2009 Metropolitan Sewerage Strategy. vol 2: concepts and case studies', Institute for Sustainable Futures, UTS, Sydney, Australia.
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Riedy, C.J., Usher, J.S., Daly, J.G. & Abeysuriya, K.R. 2008, 'Cogeneration in NSW: Review and Analysis of Opportunities'.

Usher, J.S., Riedy, C.J., Daly, J.G. & Abeysuriya, K.R. 2008, 'Cogeneration in NSW: review and analysis of opportunities', Institute for Sustainable Futures, Sydney.

Conference papers

Fam, D.M., Abeysuriya, K.R., Meeks, T., Sharples, J. & Mitchell, C.A. 2012, 'Social learning is essential in transitioning to sustainable water services', Ozwater '12 'Sharing Knowledge, Planning the Future', Sydney, Australia, May 2012 in Proceedings of OzWater'12 'Sharing Knowledge, Planning the Future', ed Australian Water Association (AWA), Australian Water Association (AWA), Sydney, Australia, pp. 1-2.

Mitchell, C.A., Abeysuriya, K.R. & Fam, D.M. 2012, 'Urine Diversion (UD) for P recovery: Learning from experience', Developing a Blueprint for Global Phosphorus Security, University of Technology Sydney, February 2012 in 3rd Sustainable Phosphorus Summit, ed Cordell D., White S. and Niset T., Global Phosphorus Research Initiative (GPRI), Sydney, Australia.
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Fam, D.M., Mitchell, C.A., Abeysuriya, K.R. & Lopes, A. 2011, 'Facilitating social learning in transdisciplinary collaboration: a socio-technical experiment in implementing sustainable sanitation', All together now - working across disciplines: People, principles and practice, Hull, UK, July 2011 in 55th Meeting of the International Society for the Systems Sciences, ed Wilby, J. and Klein, L., International Society of Systems Scientists, Conference preceedings.
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Fam, D.M., Mitchell, C.A. & Abeysuriya, K.R. 2011, 'Learning to facilitate learning', 2nd International Conference on Sustainability Transitions - Diversity, plurality and change: breaking new grounds in sustainability transition research, Lund University, Lund, Sweden, June 2011 in 2nd International Conference on Sustainability Transitions, ed Smith, A. and Grin, J., Lund University, Lund University.
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Abeysuriya, K.R., Fam, D.M., Hagare, P. & Williams, J. 2010, 'Transitioning to sustainable sanitation through cross disciplinary, practice-based research: an on-campus pilot of urine diversion at UTS', International conference of Australasian campuses towards sustainability, Melbourne, Australia, September 2010 in The 10th international conference of Australasian campuses towards sustainability (ACTS Inc): connecting curriculum and campus, ed RMIT, RMIT, Melbourne, Australia, pp. 1-8.
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Fam, D.M., Mitchell, C.A. & Abeysuriya, K.R. 2010, 'Institutional challenges to system innovation in wastewater management - the case of urine diversion in Sweden', Cities of The Future 2010, Marriott hotel, Boston, USA, March 2010 in Cities of The Future 2010, ed IWA, IWA, Boston, USA.

Fyfe, J., Abeysuriya, K.R., Glassmire, J. & Mitchell, C.A. 2010, 'Centralised or decentralised? Environmental assessment of distributed wastewater treatment and reuse infrastructure options for a new land release', OzWater'10: Achieving Water Security, Brisbane, Australia, March 2010 in Proceedings of OzWater'10: Achieving Water Security, ed Australian Water Association,, Australian Water Association (AWA), Sydney, Australia.

Mitchell, C.A., Abeysuriya, K.R., Willetts, J.R. & Fam, D.M. 2010, 'Enabling decentralized urban sewage infrastructure by facilitating successful organisations to provide long-term management', Cities of the Future 2010, Marriott Hotel, Boston, USA, March 2010 in Cities of The Future 2010, ed IWA, IWA, Boston, USA.

Sankaran, S., Abeysuriya, K.R., Gray, J. & Kachenko, A. 2010, 'Closing the loop: A systems thinking led sustainable sanitation project in Australia', Meeting of the International Society for the System Sciences, Waterloo, Canada, July 2010 in Proceedings of the 54th Annual Meeting of the ISSS, ed Wilby, J., International Society for the System Sciences, Hull, UK, pp. 1-13.
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Abeysuriya, K.R. & Mitchell, C.A. 2009, 'The end of water sector privatisation in an age of cooperation?', SaciWATERs International Conference on Water Resources Policy in South Asia, Colombo, Sri Lanka, December 2008 in Conference Report: International Conference on Water Resources Policy in South Asia, ed Maheshwaro, A., SaciWATERs (South Asia Consortium for Interdisciplinary Water Resources Studies), Andhra Pradesh, India, pp. 1-58.
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Fam, D.M., Mitchell, C.A. & Abeysuriya, K.R. 2009, 'Critical stakeholder engagement in shifting paradigms from removal to recovery in wastewater management - a case study of implementing urine diversion in Sweden', Brisbane, November 2009 in Asia-Pacific Science, Technology and Society Network Conference 2009, Griffith University, Queensland.

Fam, D.M., Mitchell, C.A., Abeysuriya, K.R. & Mellick-Lopes, A. 2009, 'Distributed wastewater management in Melbourne, Australia: A case study of transition in practice', Dynamics and governance of transitions to sustainability, Amsterdam, June 2009 in 1st European Conference on Sustainability Transitions.

Mitchell, C.A., Abeysuriya, K.R., Willetts, J.R. & Macrellis, A. 2009, 'New 'How to' guidance for successful responsible management entities', National Onsite Wastewater Recycling Association (NOWRA) 18th Annual Technical Education Conference and Exposition, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA, April 2009.
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Mitchell, C.A., Abeysuriya, K.R. & Fam, D.M. 2009, 'Sanitary systems: lifecycle thinking leads to consideration of distributed infrastructure', The Global Challenge of Managing Life Cycles, Cape Town, South Africa, September 2009 in 4th International Conference on Life Cycle Management, ed von Blottnitz, H. and Winter, M., Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Cape Town, South Africa, Cape Town, South Africa, pp. 1-7.
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Mitchell, C.A., Abeysuriya, K.R. & Willetts, J.R. 2008, 'Institutional arrangements for onsite and decentralised systems: needs and opportunities for key players in the field of distributed wastewater management', Onsite and Decentralised Sewerage and Recycling Conference, Benalla, Victoria, October 2008 in Proceedings of Onsite and Decentralised Sewerage & recycling Conference Comming Clean: Sustainable Backyards and Beyond!, ed West, S., Whitehead, J. & Devellerez, Pl, Australian Water Association, Benalla, Victoria, pp. 150-157.
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Abeysuriya, K.R. & Mitchell, C.A. 2007, 'Creating change through deliberation and learning systems', ANZSEE Conference 2007 Re-inventing Sustainability: A Climate for Change, Noosaville, Qld, Australia, July 2007.

Abeysuriya, K.R., Willetts, J.R. & Mitchell, C.A. 2006, 'Kuhn on sanitation: dignity, health and wealth for the children of the revolution', New Dehli, India, December 2006 in Proceedings of the Ninth Biennial Conference of the International Society for Ecological Economics: Ecological Sustainability and Human Well-being, The International Society for Ecological Economics and The Indian Society for Ecological Economics, New Dehli, India, pp. 1-23.

Abeysuriya, K.R., Mitchell, C.A. & Willetts, J.R. 2005, 'Cost recovery for urban sanitation in Asian countries: insurmountable barrier or opportunity for sustainability?', Ecological Economics in Action, Palmerston North, NZ, December 2005 in Australia New Zealand Society for Ecological Economics Conference Proceedings, ed NA, Australia New Zealand Society for Ecological Economics, Palmerston North, NZ, pp. 17-29.
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Fane, S.A., Willetts, J.R., Abeysuriya, K.R., Mitchell, C.A., Etnier, C. & Johnstone, S. 2004, 'Evaluating reliability and life-cycle cost for decentralised wastewater within the context of asset management', 6th Specialist Conference on Small Water and Wastewater Systems and 1st International Conference on Onsite Wastewater Treatment and Recycling, Fremantle, Australia, February 2004 in Proceedings of 6th Specialist Conference on Small Water and Wastewater Systems and 1st International Conference on Onsite Wastewater Treatment and Recycling, ed Matthew, K. and Ho, G., IWA, Fremantle, Australia, pp. 1-8.
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Journal articles

Abeysuriya, K.R., Fam, D.M. & Mitchell, C.A. 2012, 'Reinventing the toilet - Urine diversion where its needed most', The Conversation, vol. 24 October.
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Fam, D.M. & Abeysuriya, K.R. 2011, 'Toilet talk', WME Magazine, vol. 22, no. 4, pp. 32-32.
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Abeysuriya, K.R., Mitchell, C.A. & Willetts, J.R. 2008, 'Expanding economic perspectives for sustainability in urban water and sanitation', Development, vol. 51, no. 1, pp. 23-29.
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Abeysuriya, K.R., Mitchell, C.A. & White, S. 2007, 'Can corporate social responsibility resolve the sanitation question in developing Asian countries?', Ecological Economics, vol. 62, no. 1, pp. 174-183.
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Fane, S.A., Willetts, J.R., Abeysuriya, K.R., Mitchell, C.A., Etnier, C. & Johnstone, S. 2005, 'Decentralised wastewater systems: an asset management approach', Water Asset Management International, vol. 1, no. 3, pp. 5-9.
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Book chapters

Willetts, J.R., Mitchell, C.A., Abeysuriya, K.R. & Fam, D.M. 2012, 'Creative tensions: negotiating the multiple dimensions of a transdisciplinary doctorate' in Lee, A. and Dnaby, S. (eds), Reshaping Doctoral Education: International Approaches and Pedagogies, Routledge (Taylor and Francis Group), London and New York, pp. 128-143.

Abeysuriya, K.R., Mitchell, C.A. & Willetts, J.R. 2010, 'Urban sanitation through the lens of Thomas Kuhn' in J.R. McNeill, J.A. Padua and M. Rangarajan (eds), Environmental History: As if Nature Existed, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, India, pp. 65-84.
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Abeysuriya, K.R., Mitchell, C.A. & Willetts, J.R. 2007, 'Cost recovery for urban sanitation in Asian countries: insurmountable barrier or opportunity for sustainability?' in P. Nair (ed), Urban Public Services: A Development Perspective, The Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India (ICFAI) University Press, Hyderabad, India, pp. 312-332.

In press

Fam, D.M., Mitchell, C.A., Abeysuriya, K.R., Lopes, A. 2013, 'Emergence of decentralised water and sanitation systems in Melbourne, Australia', International Journal of Water, Inderscience Publishers, United Kingdom.
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