About the Hub

The ARC Research Hub for Smart Process Design and Control unites Australia’s top universities, leading mining and steel companies, and international researchers to tackle one of the world’s most urgent challenges: reducing emissions in the steel industry. By combining advanced physics-based modelling with cutting-edge AI, the Hub will transform mineral and metallurgical processes, strengthen Australia’s role as a key global resource supplier, and build national and international leadership in creating a sustainable, low-carbon future. These ambitions and impacts can be seen across the following areas:

  1. The Global Challenge: Significant emissions in the steel industry

    1. The steel industry is one of the world’s largest emitters of greenhouse gases, contributing around 8% of global CO₂ emissions.
    2. Addressing emissions from steelmaking is critical to global efforts toward carbon
      neutrality.
    3. This Hub is timely and essential, focusing on transforming one of the most challenging yet vital sectors for the world’s economy and climate future.

  2. Collaboration Across Excellence

    1. The Hub brings together outstanding researchers from five leading Australian
      universities:

      • Monash University
      • University of Queensland
      • UNSW
      • Macquarie University
      • Western Sydney University
    2. It unites them with three of the world’s most significant industrial players:
      • Rio Tinto – one of the world’s largest mining companies and Australia’s major
        exporter of iron ore
      • Baowu Steel – the world’s largest steel producer
      • China Steel Corporation (CSC) – Taiwan’s largest steel maker
    3. The Hub also involves world-leading international collaborators, strengthening Australia’s role at the centre of global solutions.

  3. Transformative Science and Technology

    1. The Hub will pioneer state-of-the-art physics-informed modelling and simulation.
    2. Combined with advanced AI and data-driven approaches, these technologies will:
      • Optimise current mineral and metallurgical processes
      • Enable efficient and sustainable practices
      • Explore new low-carbon processes spanning raw material preparation, metallurgy, and materials manufacturing
    3. This integration of mechanistic models with AI will overcome the limitations of today’s “black box” processes, leading to intelligent, transparent, and reliable industrial operations.

  4. Australia’s Critical Role

    1. Minerals and metallurgy are central to industrialised economies, and particularly to
      Australia.
    2. Australia is one of the world’s largest exporters of iron ore.
    3. The Hub strengthens Australia’s global leadership in resource technology and sustainable industry, ensuring our resources remain vital in a decarbonising world.

  5. Global Collaboration: Exporters and Customers

    1. This Hub exemplifies global collaboration in action:
      • Australia, a leading iron ore exporter, with Rio Tinto as a key global supplier
      • Baowu and CSC, as Rio Tinto’s major customers and world-leading steelmakers
    2. This supplier–customer integration ensures the Hub is positioned at the heart of real-
      world transformation for the global steel value chain.Leadership for the Future

  6. Leadership for the Future

    1. This Hub represents more than efforts in transforming academic research into
      industrial practice; it is a leadership platform.
    2. It will position Australia as a leader in solving one of the defining global challenges:
      decarbonising steel and mineral industries.
    3. Through partnership, innovation, and training the next generation of researchers, the
      Hub will create enduring impact – both scientifically and economically.