Overview

Join the NECG Early Careers Group for our webinar featuring speakers from Zethos, Leaft and GPA Hydrogen. This event will explore innovative work happening across the sustainability, food-tech, and hydrogen sectors in Australasia. Each speaker will present for approximately 10 minutes, followed by a 5-minute Q&A session, giving attendees the opportunity to ask questions about industry trends, technical challenges, professional development, and transitioning into the workforce.

Speaker

Anne Gordon, Technical and R&D Lead, Leaft Foods

Anne is Technical and R&D Lead at Leaft Foods, where she leads process development and scale-up for leaf-derived protein production. With a PhD in chemical and process engineering, her work focuses on translating novel process design from lab to commercial scale, and innovating food products based on highly functional and nutritious plant proteins.

Leaft Foods is a New Zealand-based food technology company developing a new class of sustainable proteins by extracting Rubisco, the world’s most abundant protein, directly from green leaves. Its proprietary process converts agricultural crops into highly functional, nutritious protein ingredients with a significantly lower environmental footprint than conventional animal proteins. Founded in 2019, Leaft is scaling its platform to deliver both functional ingredients and consumer nutrition products.

Thomas Jackson, Process Engineer, Risk Consultant, GPA Hydrogen

Thomas is a process engineer and risk consultant at GPA Engineering, specialising in hydrogen technologies, process safety, and safety-in-design. He has supported the development and risk assessment of several hydrogen production and refuelling facilities across Australia, as well as compliance and safety assessments for emerging technologies, including electrolysers, fuel cells, and liquid hydrogen carrier systems. Thomas contributes to standards development through the Standards Australia ME-093 Committee for hydrogen technologies, where he is involved in shaping guidance for the safe deployment of emerging hydrogen infrastructure.

Jonothan Ring, Zethos

Jonathan completed a BE(Hons) and an ME in Chemical and Process Engineering from the University of Canterbury. He co-founded Zethos (formerly known as Zincovery) in 2021 alongside Professor Aaron Marshall, with the goal of bringing cleaner, cheaper critical minerals refining to the world. As CEO, Ring has led the company from a university laboratory concept to a large-scale commercial demonstration facility. 

Zethos is a New Zealand cleantech company that extracts zinc and other critical minerals from industrial waste streams, including steel mill dust, using a world-first selective reduction and electrochemical technology. The process uses 70% less energy, up to 50% lower operating costs, and up to 95% lower carbon emissions compared to conventional methods. Founded in 2021 as a University of Canterbury spin-out, the company has raised $16 million NZD, secured partnerships with multiple steel mill companies, received investment from two Fortune 500 businesses, and recently opened a large-scale demonstration facility in Christchurch.

Time

17:30–18:30 NZST.