Dr David Johnstone
- Senior Visiting Research Associate
- Member of the Oxford Water Network
Academic Profile
Dr David Johnstone has over 40 years practical experience in the water and sanitation sector in the UK and overseas in Latin America, South East Asia and the Middle East. Originally trained as a chemist, he spent his early career engaged in research into wastewater treatment processes. He joined Thames Water Authority soon after its formation in 1974 as a Divisional Scientist where he was involved in developing scientific services from a zero base and in research into the performance of full scale treatment plants. This was followed by a period in general management when he was responsible for the management and operation of water supply, distribution, sewerage and sewage treatment services for a large area of the Thames basin. In 1984 he joined Sir William Halcrow and Partners as Director of Public Health Engineering working mainly overseas. Following a short period with the Water Research Centre he became an independent consultant in 1992 since when he has been involved with a number of high profile institutional and privatisation projects in the industrialising world and has acted as an Expert Witness in several contractual disputes and major planning enquiries. Over an eight year period he advised on the process design, bidding and procurement of two of the largest sewage treatment works in the world in São Paulo, Brazil. He has also worked on the strengthening of the operational and managerial capacity of developing world water utilities.
In addition to his practical work, David has always had strong links with academia. He is currently Distinguished Research Associate at the School of Geography and the Environment, Oxford, and Visiting Industrial Professor and Member of the Industrial Advisory Board in the Faculty of Engineering at Bristol University. He has contributed chapters to five textbooks and co-authored a textbook on wastewater treatment as well as publishing some 35 papers and more than a hundred project reports on process engineering, institutional issues, company audits, standards and regulatory matters. In 1984 he was awarded the Institute of Water Pollution Control's Fowler, Ardern and Lockett Award for significant contributions to the knowledge of activated sludge systems and in 1994 the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management's Publication Award for a paper entitled "Standards, Costs and Benefits: An International Perspective". His current interests are concerned with the control of chemicals and industrial wastewaters and capacity building and strengthening of developing world water utilities. He was recently appointed to the Editorial Advisory Panel of the journal Water Utility Management International.