I obtained my PhD from Imperial College, London just before moving to Australia in 1978. Since then, I have mostly worked at the Australian National University, as Professor of Chemistry and have also served as Dean of the Faculty of Science, Chair, Board of the Faculties and as DVC(Education). In 2009, I was appointed the Founding Chief Investigator of the new National Centre of Excellence in Desalination, Murdoch University, Perth. I took up my current position as Research Professor at the University of New South Wales, Australian Defence Force Academy, in Canberra, in September 2010. My main research interests are in: Water treatment and purification, water recycling, desalination, membrane filtration and fouling. Emulsion and colloidal stability and flocculation. Properties of electrolyte and surfactant solutions. Experimental and theoretical study of forces between surfaces and colloidal particles. Recent Publications: M.J. Francis, R.M. Pashley and M. Rzechowicz. ‘The hydrophobicity of non-aqueous liquids and their dispersion in water under de-gassed conditions.’ Current Opinion in Colloid and Interface Science 13, 236-244 (2008). M. J. Francis, T.K. Boyson and R.M. Pashley. ‘Changing the particle size of oil droplets dispersed in water without added surfactants.’Colloids & Surfaces A, 316, 136-141 (2008). M. J. Francis, T.K. Boyson and R.M. Pashley. ‘Oil droplet size manipulation applied to surfactant-free emulsion polymerization.’ Colloids & Surfaces A. 328, 44-51, (2008). R.M. Pashley, M.J. Francis and M. Rzechowicz. ‘Innovative approaches to reverse osmosis, electrodialysis and thermal evaporative desalination.’ Water, Journal of the AWA. 35, 67-71 (2008). M.J. Francis and R.M. Pashley. ‘Thermal desalination using a non-boiling bubble column.’ Desalination and Water Treatment 12, 155-161 (2009). M. J. Francis and R.M. Pashley. ‘Further studies into oil droplet size manipulation.’ Colloids & Surfaces A 334, 1-3, 100-106 (2009). M. J. Francis and R.M. Pashley. ‘Application of a bubble column for evaporative cooling and a simple procedure for determining the latent heat of vaporization of aqueous salt solutions.’ J. Phys. Chem. B 113, 9311-9315 (2009). M.J. Francis, R.M. Pashley and M. Rzechowicz. ‘The effects of feed water de-gassing on the permeate flux of a small scale SWRO pilot plant.’ Desalination and Water Treatment 25, 150-158 (2011). M.J. Francis and R.M. Pashley. ‘The effects of feed water temperature and dissolved gases on permeate flow rate and permeate conductivity in a pilot scale reverse osmosis desalination unit.’ Desalination and Water Treatment 36, 363-373 (2011). M. Shahid, X. Xue, C. Fan, B. W. Ninham and R. M. Pashley ‘Study of a novel method for the thermolysis of solutes in aqueous solution using a low temperature bubble column evaporator.’ J. Phys. Chem. B. 119(25), 8072-8079 (2015).
Textbook: Applied Colloid and Surface Chemistry, by R.M. Pashley & M.E. Karaman, published by J.Wiley & Sons, October 2004. Also: ‘On the surface of things.’ By R.M. Pashley. Published by Connor Court Pty Ltd (Melbourne), November, 2012.
Water treatment and purification, water recycling, desalination, membrane filtration and fouling. Emulsion and colloidal stability and flocculation. Properties of electrolyte and surfactant solutions. Experimental and theoretical study of forces between surfaces and colloidal particles.
