Robran Cock brings his engineering and wider skills to clean energy for South Australia waste water treatment pkants

Combining his interests in clean energy and waste water treatment, Robran Cock, South Australia’s 2024 professional engineer of the year, developed the environmental improvement programmes for Mount Barker waste water treatment plant (at right), among his projects for multiple clients across the state.
Images courtesy Engineers Australia and Mount Barker District Council
Robran Cock, recognised as South Australia’s 2024 professional engineer of the year by Engineers Australia, brought expertise to water infrastructure projects across Australia and globally, combining his interests in clean energy and waste water treatment.
Cock’s broad involvement in the South Australia water industry including being chair of the Water Industry Alliance; chair of the South Australia advisory committee of the Water Industry Operators Association; secretary of the South Australia committee for WaterAid and the water sector's representative on the South Australia government's construction, mining and energy industry skills council.
As a charted professional engineer, Cock’s education skillset included undergraduate degrees in chemical engineering and science from Adelaide University with masters degrees in business administration and environmental engineering from the University of South Australia.
Starting at United Utilities Australia as an undergraduate engineer (2002-03) while at university and then operations support engineerm Cock was an engineer across the South Australian operations on support tasks before being plant manager (2006-08) of the advanced Victor Harbor waste water treatment and then in charge of the company’s 15 Riverland plants. He later moved into cost modelling and managing the treatment operations as part of the competitive alliance developed for the Adelaide water outsourcing contract (2010-11).
Cock next took on senior operations management roles for Trility, a large private water utility operating in Australia and New Zealand. As regional operations manager (2013-18), Cock ran operational performance and strategic direction of all projects in the water and wastewater operations and maintenance portfolios across South Australia, Western Australia as well as the western parts of Victoria and New South Wales.
With Ametqua (2018-22), Cock was engineering and environmental consultant working across the water industry in for multiple clients. He developed the environmental improvement programmess for Mount Barker waste water treatment plant (2019-22), commissioned and managed Murray Bridge wastewater treatment plant (2019-22) and developed operations and managed the Wentworth to Broken Hill pipeline project (2018-21).
Cock also did a part-time philosophy doctorate with Adelaide University school of chemical engineering, researching ways of treating the water phase products produced from converting organic materials to fuels.
Working for Ricardo global consultancy group from 2023, Cock led its involvements in the proposed major Northern Water project for 260 megalites a day seawater desalination plant and 600 kilomtres pipeline as a water supply to support energy transition projects in South Australia.
Cock also lectured engineering at Adelaide University.