Dr. Sivapalan is the Head of the R&D Department at Tadweer, which is the waste management company for Abu Dhabi, UAE. In his role, the main drive is to develop, establish and deploy the first Waste Incubation Centre for Tadweer which will drive Technological change for waste management in UAE and the MEENA Region. Previously, conceptualized and headed the first of its kind Centre of Excellence (CoE) for Waste Management in Malaysia.

This CoE was responsible for establishing Waste Management consultancy, Training and R&D for Malaysia and SEA region. Additionally, developed the ESG framework and GHG inventory for CENVIRO and established the ‘Waste – Voluntary Carbon Certificate’ for all hazardous waste delivered to CENVIRO, Malaysia.

He has over 25 years of experience in the waste management field and was instrumental in establishing the Refuse Derived Fuel Plant in Malaysia. He has played many roles in the Government, Academia and Industry as lead researcher, technical consultant, technical advisor, lecturer and many more roles in many countries around Southeast Asia.

He is a registered Chartered Waste Manager, UK and an Adjunct Professor with University Technology Malaysia. In his role with the Prime Minister’s Office, he established the Biomass Action Plan for Malaysia targeting the SME involvement in the Biomass Sector and was the lead consultant in establishing the National Green Technology Foresight, which chartered the way forward for Malaysia in green technology towards 2030.

Dr. Sivapalan headed the Foresight Team in shaping the waste industry in Malaysia through various projects and inputs like working with the RMK 10 and RMK 11 team and the SCP team. During his time with the Ministry of Science and Innovation in Malaysia, he headed the standards committee for establishing Waste industry Standards for Malaysia. In his early career, he won the Young Scientist Award from the Ministry of Science Technology and Environment, Malaysia for research in radioactive waste management. He has authored more than 50 journal papers and presented at over 200 conferences worldwide.