Faculty Award of Excellence: Engineering and Information Technology
Thomas Da Jose has always been a problem solver. This, combined with his lifelong passion for science and technology, made engineering an obvious career choice.
Today, Thomas devotes his formidable talent and skills to transforming the lives of vulnerable communities in the Philippines and helping build capacity and disaster resilience closer to home in NSW. He balances his time as co-founder and director of social enterprise Masy Consultants with his work at E3 Advisory – a high-performing infrastructure advisory firm.
Thomas’ passion for helping others stems from his upbringing in Western Sydney, where his parents taught him about paying it forward (“The Bayanihan Spirit” as it is locally known in Tagalog). He always knew he wanted to help others, both in the Philippines and South-East Asia and within Australia.
It was during his first solo trip in the Philippines on a UTS BUILD program that he witnessed firsthand the many communities, especially young students, that lacked access to clean water or dignified sanitation facilities.
Thomas credits the resilience he developed at UTS for giving him the courage and persistence to pursue his passion. Leading a team of 31 volunteers across Australia and the Asia-Pacific, he has been instrumental in developing and delivering lifesaving innovations including capacity-building programs, community-led sanitation marketing, and construction of locally fabricated handwashing stations across the Philippines.
More recently, Thomas and his team created and implemented WASH Education (WASH-Ed), an innovative learning curriculum for elementary schools in the Philippines. WASH-Ed is recognised by the Philippine Government’s Department of Education and has reached over 70,000 young people across the country through workshops and partnerships with 22 schools so far.
Currently, Thomas works with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, expanding its Reinvented Toilet and Omni-Processor technologies in coastal communities across the Asia-Pacific region. He was appointed as the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s inaugural New Colombo Plan Alumni Ambassador and Mentor for his contribution to humanitarian engineering and strengthening Australia-Asia ties.
Thomas was also recognised as a Westpac Future Leader scholar in 2022 – which has been instrumental in helping him further his education and giving him a platform to achieve his future goals.
I would really like to make education, specifically in water sanitation and hygiene, accessible, dignified, and affordable to everyone so nobody is left behind