Events

Kristina is currently Kleinfelder's Victoria Area Manager and has over 21 years of industry experience in contaminated land assessment/remediation and sustainable solution development. In addition to Area Management responsibilities, which include management of the contaminated land, geotechnical, and environmental approvals teams, Kristina also serves as Kleinfelder AU’s Sustainability Practice Leader and sits on Kleinfelder’s Global Diversity and Inclusion Committee known as Spectrum.

Kristina has managed complex, large scale environmental projects across the United States, Australia, and the Pacific Islands (Papua New Guinea, Fiji, New Caledonia, and Guam) with clients in various market segments including local and national government, energy, and manufacturing.

Kristina also has experience in stewarding international business setup as part of her work in the Pacific Islands and experience in environmental litigation support. Kristina has broad industry experience and a passion for creating and growing diverse and inclusive teams.

Ryan Trevena-Ward

Currently an Environment Manager in Construction, Ryan is qualified as a Mechanical Engineer and has dabbled in multiple roles and experiences.

You can be a better Environmental Professional if you gain varied experience – this is the theme of Ryan’s career where he has worked at consultancies which have provided opportunities to do specialist work and travel, along with demolition and construction where he has had a more direct influence on environmental protection. From being Operations Manager of a PFAS Remediation Technology to Project Manager, if an opportunity was offered to Ryan, he said yes.

Akash is an Environment and Sustainability Engineer at Acciona Rail, contributing to the Shepparton Corridor Upgrade (SCU) and Murray Basin Rail Project (MBRP). With a Chemical Engineering background and over four years in the industry, his area of interests spans over sustainability, resource efficiency, environmental management, and contaminated land management.

Akash has collaborated and delivered the self-assessed Infrastructure Sustainability V1.2 rating for SCU Stage 2 and is delivering  the environmental and sustainability requirements/initiatives for SCU Stage 3. His experience collaborating with clients, regulators, and subcontractors has shaped his growth in this fast-paced sector.

Meena Samuel is a Graduate Environmental Scientist at Stantec, working in the Contaminated Land team. She recently completed her Bachelor of Science in Earth Science at Monash University in 2024.

During her studies, Meena developed a strong passion for all things environment, which she now applies in real-world projects, such as large-scale remediation or environmental site investigations.

Subharthe is a final-year PhD candidate at the Australian Laboratory for Emerging Contaminants, where he researches microplastics and PFAS across various environmental, consumer, and biological matrices.

Since 2018, he has worked closely with industry partners in academia to deliver practical results. He is currently collaborating with Agilent Technologies to advance the 8700 Laser Direct Infrared (LDIR) Chemical Imaging System for microplastics analysis. His work has been published in leading environmental science journals, and he was the first to report microplastics in groundwater unexposed to the atmosphere.

In 2022, Subharthe received the ALGA Innovation Award for his contribution to establishing Australia’s first microplastics testing laboratory for environmental samples at Eurofins Testing Australia and New Zealand. He was also invited in 2024 by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), a United Nations body, to participate in a technical meeting focused on monitoring microplastics in seawater.

Jordan Partington is a PhD candidate at the Australian Laboratory for Emerging
Contaminants (ALEC) under the supervision of Associate Professor Bradley Clarke
and Professor Matthew Watt.

Jordan’s research aims to evaluate the exposure of the
Australian population to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). His current
research aims to understand the distribution of PFAS throughout the bodies various
tissues. He is also collaborating with the U.S. EPA’s Best Practices for Non-Targeted
Analysis (BP4NTA) working group to make PFAS non-target analysis more
standardised and accessible to academia, industry and regulatory bodies.

In 2022,Jordan was the University of Melbourne’s delegate at the Stockholm International
Youth Science Seminar and Nobel Prize Week, and in 2023, Jordan was awarded
ALGA’s Dr Sarah Richards Award. Jordan’s research ultimately aims to establish an
understanding of the current human body burden of legacy, emerging and novel PFAS.