Professor David Thiel (PhD, FIEAust, CPEng) is an established academic and researcher in the School of Engineering and Built Environment at Griffith University (Brisbane, Australia). While working across many disciplines, his contribution is mainly in electronics, sensors and communications engineering. In 2018 he established and now leads a small research group addressing the Griffith Engineering Grand Challenge titled “Emergency Drinking Water Solutions” to provide safe, potable water through filtration and UV disinfection using a lightweight, 2 liter, solar powered system. The containers can be readily deployed by drone or helicopter and can provide at least 250 liters of water to provide emergency drinking water extracted from dirty water sources available on site.
