Suresh Bhargava

Suresh Bhargava (born 1953) is an Indian-Australian academic and multidisciplinary scientist in the field of chemical engineering. He is a Distinguished Professor at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT), founding director of the Centre for Advanced Materials and Industrial Chemistry (CAMIC), and current Dean of Research & Innovation (India) in the STEM college at RMIT University, Melbourne. Bhargava is a fellow of 7 academies around the globe including FTSE, FNAE, FAAAS, FRSC, FRACI, FNASI and FTWAS-UNESCO. In 2021, he joined The World Academy of Science-UNESCO and in 2022 he became a Member of the Order of Australia.

Early life and education
Bhargava was born and raised in Meerut, India. In 1972, he completed his master's and became a chemistry lecturer at his alma mater, the IP College Bulandshahr, Meerut University College. In 1979, he was the only scholar in chemistry selected from India for the Commonwealth Academic Scholarship, allowing him to pursue his PhD under the guidance of E W Abel at the University of Exeter. In 2009, he was conferred an honorary D.Sc. by Rajasthan University, presented by the former president of India, Pratibha Patil, for his academic leadership and outstanding innovations in chemical technology.

Career
Bhargava conferred his PhD in 1982. In 1983, he started a research fellow position at the Australian National University in Canberra, Australia where he became the first Hindi radio announcer until 1986. In 1987, he was invited as a visiting Professor to the Indian Institute of Sciences, Bangalore, India. Throughout 1988 and 1990, he worked as a scientist for the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) in the fuel technology division at Lucas Heights. By the end of 1990, he joined RMIT University as a Senior Lecturer.

In 2011, Bhargava initiated a collaboration with the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT) in Hyderabad. This venture was made possible with support from the Government of India through the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and RMIT University. This partnership led to a joint cotutelle PhD degree from RMIT and IICT. After the success of the IICT- RMIT University collaboration, in 2017, Bhargava initiated a unique award-winning joint PhD degree program between RMIT and the Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research of India (AcSIR) connecting RMIT with 39 leading national laboratories across India. This innovative RMIT-led research program was awarded the prestigious Victorian International Education Award for Excellence in Innovation, Partnership, and International Engagement in 2018. In 2022, aiming to complement the existing joint research program with AcSIR and CSIR-IICT, Bhargava founded a tripod model of global collaboration, joining RMIT University and CSIRO with the Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, called RMIT-CSIRO-BCSIR. Bhargava has spent over 30 years of his academic and scientific career at RMIT University. As of 2024, he was the one of the highest cited academics at RMIT University with an H-index of 86, over 700 peer-reviewed publications, over 26,000 citations, 9 patents, five of which have been passed on to industry or licensed for commercialization, two books and 21 book chapters. Bhargava is the recipient of competitive and collaborative research grants at RMIT University (>$30 million over the last 20 years) from various sources including the ARC, AISRF, industry and CRC-P. This includes a highly competitive Australia-India Strategic Research Fund Grand Challenge ($6 million, success rate ~2%) for the project entitled: Mini DME: A custom-designed solution to bring stranded gas to energy markets (2013) in collaboration with the University of Melbourne, CSIRO, the Indian Institute of Petroleum (IIP), Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee, and Bharat Petroleum from India.

Legacy - Scientific and Technological Contribution
In 2010, Bhargava established a multidisciplinary research centre known as the Centre for Advance Materials and Industrial Chemistry (CAMIC) at RMIT University. Under Bhargava's leadership, the centre has developed several new products, synthesis methods and technologies that have been utilized by industry.

As a multidisciplinary research scientist, some of his landmark discoveries explore the properties of gold at the molecular level and nanoscale for sensing, catalysis, and biomedical applications. Scientific breakthroughs include the electrosynthesis of gold nano spikes, where he pioneered the chemical templating effect of lead ions for the synthesis of gold in conical morphology with selective exposure of crystal facets, and the mercury sensing exploring the amalgamation of mercury with gold forms the basis for his quartz crystal microbalance and surface acoustic wave-based mercury sensors. He has also pioneered unique solutions for mercury abatement from industrial exhausts and wastewater such as ceria-zirconia modified MnOx catalysts for mercury adsorption and oxidation and the use of waste oil for mercury removal, and innovated a 3-in-1 reusable mercury sensor which can remove mercury, detect it and allows the reuse of the sensor after regeneration.

Bhargava's research into gold science extends into molecular engineering. He created a library of important metal-organic compounds whose properties can be controlled at the atomic level. Researching different gold oxidation states in one complex, he explored their biological activities and identified potential for their use in anti-cancer applications, showing selective in-vitro activities as high as 200 times those of commercially available platinum drugs against prostate and cervical cancer cell lines.

Bhargava has also significantly contributed to environmental catalysis, such as catalytic wet oxidation (CWO) in strong alkaline solutions. Having successfully identified the mechanisms at work under these conditions, he was able to translate these fundamental findings into a new CWO technology to treat Bayer liquor for Alcoa’s refineries, addressing a more than $400 million loss in productivity per year. He published two patents and several seminal publications resulting from this work, including an invited refereed review.

With his interdisciplinary research, Bhargava has sought to bridge the gap between fundamental science and applied technology. An example of this is his collaborative research with IIT Bombay on the application of 3D printed catalysts and components for heat removal in hypersonic flights under the VAZARA fellowship. He has innovated a novel and highly efficient method for the green synthesis of soluble graphene from aqueous polyphenol extracts of eucalyptus bark in collaboration with Indian research partners and demonstrated its application in high-performance supercapacitors.

Awards and Recognitions
During his career, Bhargava has received many prestigious national and international awards, the most recent being the RMIT University Vice Chancellor’s Research Excellence Award, making him the only academic at RMIT University to have received this award thrice (2006, 2014, and 2023). In 2023 he was also the recipient of the SASTRA-CNR Rao Award, a tribute to the renowned and influential Indian Chemist, Professor CNR Rao. Other awards received by Bhargava include the 2017 NRI Award (the best Non-resident Indian academic for Southern Pacific), the 2016 Khwarizmi International Award (KIA) Laureate granted by the government of Iran and sponsored by UNESCO, the 2015 CHEMECA medal (recognized as the highest honour in the Chemical Engineering profession in Australia and New Zealand), and one of India’s most prestigious honours granted to foreign scientists by the Indian Science, Technology and Innovation, the P. C. Ray Chair, awarded for his distinguished lecture series in 2014. He has also been recognized by the Royal Australian Chemical Institute with the Citation Award for contributions to Chemistry & Chemical Profession in 2017, the prestigious Applied Research Award in 2013, and the R. K. Murphy Medal in 2008. His outstanding work as an innovator and mentor granted him other relevant awards at RMIT University, such as the Invention Disclosure Award in 2012 for inventing mercury sensing technology for industrial applications and the Ralph McIntosh Medal for outstanding services to students in 2011. Other prestigious institutions, such as the Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) & Engineers Australia (EA), have acknowledged his contributions to Chemical Engineering, awarding him the Excellence in Chemical Engineering award in 2010.