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AUSTRALIAN WELDING | DECEMBER 2015
Chris Smallbone International
Award: Rahim Kurji
The 2015 Chris Smallbone International Award was won by Rahim Kurji. The award recognises an outstanding individual (up to 40 years of age) who contributes to technology innovation through involvement in the WTIA, the IIW, or their role within industry. Criteria include: promotion of technology diffusion with the objective of creating more Australian technology innovations; involvement in WTIA working units or committees; and promotion of the work of IIW.
Rahim was thrilled to receive the Award,“I am deeply honoured and humbled to receive the Chris Smallbone International Award. I think it is fantastic to see research and development work aimed at enhancing our industry recognised,” “I also think it is critical to note that research is a collaborative effort, and on being awarded this honour, I would like to recognise not only my academic mentors and partners, but the industry partners I have worked with and the brilliant mechanical and electrical workshop teams we have at the University of Adelaide,” said Rahim.
Rahim began his engineering career upon graduating from the University of Adelaide in 2009 with an Honours Degree in Aerospace Engineering and a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics. With these two degrees under his belt, Rahim started working for the Centre for Energy Technology, as a Research Associate, where he investigated the technoeconomic feasibility of domestic wind turbines in the Australian context. Using a novel way of decomposing wind patterns from historic metrological data, Rahim
determined a simple way of mapping potential areas where the use of domestic wind turbines would be both technologically feasible and economically attractive to the end user. Rahim wrote a publication focused specifically on the domestic wind turbine potential in the South Australian context. At the end of his research contract, Rahim began work with Professor Valerie Linton, Dr Nicolas Coniglio and Dr Erwin Gamboa on a series of projects funded by the Australia Pipeline Industry Association (APIA). His work as a research technician focused on assisting the team investigate the integrity of Fusion Bonded Epoxies (FBE) coating for oil and gas transmission pipelines, in addition to investigating the effect of Boron in cellulosic electrodes.
Energy Pipeline CRC Program: Welding Research Project Rahim’s work in the field secured him full scholarship with the Energy Pipeline Corporative Research Centre, where he took on the role of a Researcher in the Energy Pipeline CRC Program1.
Rahim Kurji on-site for the Energy Pipeline CRC Program.
The overarching objective of the program is to derive (through scientific rigour) strategies that lower the cost and extend the life of