DrJames Gong

The EMCR Forum is part of the Australian Academy of Science. It is is the national voice of Australia's emerging scientists, representing researchers who are up to 15 years post-PhD (or other research higher degree), irrespective of their professional appointment.

One of the Guest Editors for the Special Collection on State of the Art and Future Trends in Water Loss Management

Invited as one of the Guest Editors to host a Research Topic on Advances in Electromagnetic Geophysical Exploration in the journal Frontiers of Earth Science.

In Episode 8 of The Pipeline, Tom Roberts (Global Director of PMG, International Code Council) sat down with Dr James Gong, Senior Lecturer of Water Engineering at Deakin University, Australia, to discuss some of the research advancements being made in leak detection and how these solutions can save drinking water before it’s lost.

A paper titled Monitoring and Analysing Water Demand in Australian Multi-Level Residential Buildings and first-authored by Deakin PhD candidate Brendan Josey was selected by the Ozwater22' conference committee as part of the top 12 papers of the conference.

Two papers in collaboration with SA Water and titled SA Water’s Smart Networks and Technology Strategy in a Rapidly Changing Digital Environment and Creating a Machine Learning Software Platform for Improved Operations and Asset Management in SA Water were selected by the Ozwater20' conference committee as part of the top 11 papers of the conference.

Awarded by Australian Water Association SA Branch, it recognises our contribution to the water industry through our collaborative work with SA Water on the topic of Machine Learning Analytics for Proactive Pipe Leak Detection and Repair. The research team has also received a signed letter from Hon. David Speirs MP, SA Minister for Environment and Water.

Our conference paper titled Leak Detection in the Adelaide CBD Water Network using Permanent Acoustic Monitoring was selected by the Ozwater18' conference committee as one of the top 11 papers.

Awarded by the committee of the 13th International Conference on Pressure Surges, held in Bordeaux, France, for my paper Correlation of Post-Burst Hydraulic Transient Noise for Pipe Burst/Leak Localisation in Water Distributions Systems.

Awarded by the committee of the 12th International Conference on Pressure Surges, Dublin.

Awarded by the Graduate Centre of the University of Adelaide.

Awarded by Australian Water Association (AWA) South Australia branch to recognise the impact of my PhD research.

Awarded by the committee of the International Conference on Pipelines and Trenchless Technology (ICPTT) 2011, held in Beijing China and sponsored by American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), for my paper and presentation Detection of Distributed Deterioration in Single Pipes using Transient Reflections.

Invited by Pint of Science Australia to present my research to local communities in the 2024 Geelong event.

Invited by the Australian Academy of Science to present in the Surprising Science public speech series.

In collaboration with industry partner Hydraulic Consultants Association Australasia (HCAA), I have developed a stochastic-modelling-based approach for estimating the water demand in Australian residential apartment buildings. This new approach represents a major update to the peak demand estimation for premise plumbing design purpose. It addresses the problem of significant over-estimation of the peak demand in the current Australian standard (AS/NZS 3500) and therefore systematic oversizing of premise plumbing systems. It has been endorsed by the Australian Building Codes Board (ABCB) and will be included in the upcoming National Construction Code (NCC) 2025 as a Verification Method.

I worked as a Smart Water Data Analytics Engineer in South Australian Water Corporation (on secondment from University of Adelaide) from 2017 to 2019. I initiated the research collaboration between University of Adelaide and SA Water on the research theme of Smart Water Networks, and contributed to the operation and R&D of the Adelaide CBD Smart Water Network. I have developed techniques (together with researchers from University of Adelaide and engineers from SA Water) to detect emerging through-wall pipe cracks/leaks for pipe break early warning using IoT-based permanent acoustic monitoring. This work has resulted in a 50% reduction in the pipe break rate of the Adelaide CBD water distribution system. My Ozwater'18 conference paper Leak Detection in the Adelaide CBD Water Network has been selected as one of the top papers by the Australian Water Association.

Through my research during my PhD and Postdoc periods, I have developed (together with researchers at University of Adelaide) a patented technology on pipeline condition assessment using controlled transient pressure waves (water hammer). The technology has been commercialised through an industry partner under the trade mark of p-CAT, and it is a tool for cost-effective screening of the pipeline condition for long-distance water transmission mains. In addition to the detection of pipe sections with wall deterioration, it can also detect blockages, air pockets, pipe material or class changes, and unregistered connections. The company was awarded the TRILITY Planning & Delivery Award for this pipeline condition assessment technology at the 2016 Smart Water Awards in South Australia. This work represented the University of Adelaide for the Engineering field (FoR code 09) in the Australian Research Councils 2018 Engagement and Impact assessment, and has achieved the maximum High score across all measures