معرفی
Professor PJ Cullen is a faculty member at the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Sydney, and a member of the Sydney Institute of Agriculture, The Net Zero Institute, and The University of Sydney Nano Institute. He holds a B.Agr.Sc. and PhD from University College Dublin, Ireland. Prior to joining the University of Sydney in 2019, he was a professor at the University of Nottingham, UK, and held academic roles at UNSW Sydney and Technological University Dublin. His research focuses on plasma technologies for sustainable solutions in agriculture, energy, water purification, and biomedical applications, including non-thermal plasma for fertilizer-free plant growth and plasma-activated water for disinfection.
Research interests include atmospheric plasmas for food safety, non-thermal plasma in agriculture, and thermal plasmas for elemental analysis (e.g., detecting arsenic in food). He leads projects on plasma-driven ammonia synthesis and green chemistry, with over 300 publications and recognition as a Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher (2017–2022). As CEO of PlasmaLeap Technologies, he translates research into industrial applications.
Key awards include the 2014 ASABE Rain Bird Engineering Concept of the Year Award for plasma-based food decontamination. Current research students include Susanna KURIAN (PFAS treatment) and Wanping XU (ammonia production).
His work emphasizes multidisciplinary collaboration, linking plasma physics, agriculture, and engineering. Notable projects involve plasma bubbles for wastewater treatment, sustainable nitrogen fixation, and biofilm eradication using plasma-activated water. He also explores plasma applications in renewable energy and rare earth element recovery from mining waste.
