Plenary and Keynote Speakers
Abstracts of plenary and keynote speakers are linked from the abstract title below.
Dr Will Steffen
Australian National University, Canberra
Professor Will Steffen is Director of the Fenner School of Environment and Society at the Australian National University, Canberra, and is also Science Adviser, Australian Greenhouse Office, Australian Government. From July 2004 through October 2005, Steffen was Visiting Fellow, Bureau of Rural Sciences, Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. From 1998 to mid-2004, he served as Executive Director of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme, based in Stockholm, Sweden. His research interests span a broad range within the field of Earth System science, with a special emphasis on terrestrial ecosystem interactions with global change, the global carbon cycle, incorporation of human processes in Earth System modelling and analysis, and sustainability and the Earth System. Steffen shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with many colleagues worldwide for contributions to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fourth Assessment Report.
Dr Josephine Mummery
Department of Climate Change, Canberra
Jo Mummery is Head of the Adaptation and Science Branch, which is part of the new Australian Government Department of Climate Change. In this position Jo has the responsibility for a range of national climate change policy issues, particularly relating to:
- further developing Australia’s climate change science to underpin domestic and international policy; and
- developing a national approach to addressing climate change impacts and adaptation.
Dr Ian Poiner
Australian Institute of Marine Science, Townsville
Dr Ian Poiner is the Chief Executive Officer of AIMS. Dr Poiner has significant experience in strategic development and planning of science, both as a practising scientist and at the organisational level. This is reflected in his successful large-scale, multi-disciplinary research projects and his establishment of national and international research programs to support the sustainable use, conservation and management of marine ecosystems. Dr Poiner’s scientific background is research into tropical fisheries and ecological systems, including those in Australia’s northern Great Barrier Reef, Torres Strait and the Gulf of Carpentaria. He has also worked in Jamaica, Papua New Guinea and Southeast Asia. Dr Poiner serves on a number of national and international committees. He is Chair of the International Scientific Steering Committee of the Census of Marine Life, a 10-year international research program to assess and explain the diversity, distribution and abundance of marine organisms throughout the world’s oceans. As CEO of AIMS, he is responsible for managing the day-to-day affairs of the Institute.
Prof. Robert Naiman
Aquatic & Fishery Sciences, University of Washington
I became a river ecologist because I was fascinated by the visual beauty and intellectually intrigued by the complexity of these unique systems. Currently, I'm a professor in the College of Ocean and Fishery Sciences at the University of Washington, I hold degrees from California State Polytechnic University (BS), UCLA (MA), Arizona State University (Ph.D), all in Zoology. My multidisciplinary and administrative experiences include being a research scientist and director of the Matamek Research Program at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, director of the Center for Water and the Environment at the University of Minnesota, and director of the Center for Streamside Studies at the University of Washington. My research interests focus on the structure and dynamics of streams and rivers, riparian vegetation, and the role of large animals in influencing system dynamics. I have written and edited nine books on aquatic ecology and watershed management, in addition to over 130 journal articles. My current interests revolve around interactions between salmon, brown bear and riparian vegetation, as well as the environmental consequences of changing water regimes. I have chaired national and international committees (such as The Freshwater Imperative, the UNESCO-MAB Ecotone Programme, and the DIVERSITAS Freshwater Program), have participated on advisory panels for the National Science Foundation, consulted for government research organizations in France and South Africa, and advised conservation organizations (Ecotrust and American Rivers) as well as private foundations. My research and administrative endeavors have been used to shape riparian management on Western lands, to instigate the National Science Foundation's Water and Watersheds Program, and to help launch the Global Water System Project. My underlying philosophy is that effective decisions are founded on a balance of environmental and cultural principles, and that effective management solutions can be achieved through innovation. On weekends, I can be found building an environmentally friendly home on San Juan Island or, if fishing is good, on the water.
Dr Nicole Gurran
Urban and Regional Planning Program, Faculty of Architecture, University of Sydney
Nicole Gurran is an urban planner and policy analyst whose research focuses on comparative land use planning systems and approaches to housing and ecological sustainability. Gurran’s research projects include the establishment of the Australian Urban Land Use Planning Policy Monitor, enabling the collective analysis of statutory controls for more than 600 local jurisdictions across the country. She is the chief investigator on the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI) project ‘International Practice in Planning for Affordable Housing’. She is also examining best practice in climate change planning for high growth coastal communities for the National Sea Change Taskforce.
Gurran is the author of Urban Land Use Planning in Australia: Introducing Policy and Practice in NSW (Sydney University Press 2007). Her research monograph “Meeting the Sea Change Challenge: Sea Change Communities in Coastal Australia” for the National Sea Change Task Force, won the NSW Planning Institute of Australia overall President’s award and the award for Research and Scholarship in 2005.
Dr Barbara Norman
Global Cities Institute, RMIT University
Barbara Norman is the Business and Partnerships Manager, Global Cities Institute, Research and Innovation Portfolio, RMIT University, Melbourne. Barbara has worked at a senior level in the Victorian, NSW and ACT public sectors and run her own consultancy. Barbara is Vice President Australia of EAROPH (Eastern Regional Organisations for Planning and Human Settlement), a Life Fellow of the Planning Institute of Australia, an Honorary Member of the Royal Town Planning Institute (UK) and a member of the Environment Institute of Australia and New Zealand. Barbara is also National Chair of the Australian Fabian Society. Barbara was the recipient of a Centenary Medal for her contribution to the community through urban and regional planning. Barbara’s professional expertise is in urban planning, sustainable development and coastal management.
Dr Eva Abal
South East Queensland Healthy Waterways Partnership
Dr Eva Abal’s major scientific expertise and research interests include scientific management and coordination of multidisciplinary projects, ecophysiology of marine communities, with emphasis on their use as biological indicators of various impacts on ecosystems, effective science communication, strategic research planning and facilitating linkages between scientists and managers/stakeholders. Eva oversees the management of scientific activities of the South East Queensland Healthy Waterways Partnership (SEQHWP), including quality assurance of scientific activities and information, research plan/design development, and dissemination of information to stakeholders. Eva coordinates the SEQHWP’s Scientific Expert Panel, a consortium of experts, which oversees the strategic research direction to achieve the Healthy Waterways vision. Eva’s passion is in the synthesis and effective communication of scientific information, making science relevant and useful to stakeholders and managers.
Bob Pressey
Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James
Cook University
Bob Pressey has worked on conservation planning for thirty years, first as a private consultant, then as a research scientist with the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service, and now in academia. During this time he has combined scientific research with policy development and collaboration with practitioners in Australia and internationally. His publications have had a high scientific impact with more than 4000 non-self citations. Influence on practice includes close involvement with the systematic design of about 1 million hectares of reserves in New South Wales and collaborative projects that have influenced conservation decisions extensively in other countries. He has current projects in China, South Africa, Brazil, Papua New Guinea and Mexico. He was appointed at James Cook University in the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies to establish and lead a new research program on conservation planning for marine, freshwater and terrestrial environments. The four initial sub-programs will be: 1. Patch dynamics and conservation planning; 2. Estimating actual management costs of reserves and no-take areas; 3. Integrated land-sea conservation planning; and 4. Development of new interactive planning tools to facilitate explicit decisions by practitioners and other stakeholders.
Dr Ray Masini
Manager, Marine Ecosystems Branch, Strategic Policy Division, Department of Environment and Conservation, Perth
Dr Ray Masini is a marine ecologist with over 25 years experience working in Western Australian marine ecosystems, with particular focus on the temperate and tropical arid ecosystems of the central-west and north-west coasts. He holds an adjunct professorship in the Centre for Ecosystem Management at Edith Cowan University and for the last 12 years has held the position of Manager, Marine Ecosystems Branch in the Strategic Policy Division of the Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC). This group develops marine environmental policy and provides technical advice to the Environmental Protection Authority, DEC and Government generally on the impact and management of marine-related development proposals including aquaculture, desalination and industrial discharges petroleum-based exploration and production and port expansion. Ray sits on a number of expert groups and State-based committees including the Coastal Planning and Coordination Council and State Committee for Combatting Marine Oil Spills. He has been centrally involved in the planning and management of a range of multidisciplinary marine-scientific studies around the State’s 13,000 km coastline and is involved in environmental management strategy and policy formulation at the State and National levels.
Professor James Fox
Australian National University
Professor James J. Fox is currently Professor in the Resource Management in Asia Pacific Program at the Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies at the Australian National University. He was educated at Harvard (AB ’62) and Oxford (B Litt.’65, DPhil. ’68). His first appointment at the ANU was as Professorial Fellow in 1975. He has served as Director of the Research School from August 1998 to February 2006.
Professor Fox has taught at various American Universities: Harvard, Cornell, Duke and Chicago and at various European Universities: Leiden, Bielefeld, Frankfurt and the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris. He is a Foreign Fellow of the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences and a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia.
Professor Fox’s area of primary interest is Indonesia and East Timor. More generally, his interests are in comparative issues affecting the whole of the Asia Pacific region and in policy matters relating to resource management and rural development. He has lived for several years on the island of Rote and has done substantial field research on other islands, particularly Timor, in eastern Indonesia. For nearly two decades, he has been involved in the study of the fishermen of region. He is currently writing a book on the historical anthropology of eastern Indonesia.
Prof. Helene Marsh
James Cook University, Townsville
Helene Marsh is Professor of Environmental Science and Dean of Graduate Research Studies at James Cook University. She is a conservation biologist whose major research interest is the application of ecology to the management of marine and coastal wildlife species. The central theme of her research group has been to establish a sound ecological basis for the management of coastal environments in tropical Australia, especially the Great Barrier Reef region. Because of her commitment to cross-disciplinary research, she has collaborated widely with colleagues in natural and social science disciplines. She has wide experience as a member of boards and advisory committees and has provided advice on dugong conservation to 11 countries and three Australian states. She was awarded a Pew Fellowship in Marine Conservation in 1998 and a Distinguished Service Award from the Society of Conservation Biology in 2008.
Joe Morrison
North Australian Indigenous Land & Sea Management Alliance (NAILSMA), Darwin
Joe Morrison has both Dagoman and Torres Strait Islander heritage, and comes from Katherine in the Northern Territory. He has worked closely with Traditional Owners across northern Australia on natural and cultural resource management for seventeen years. He has helped to establish many community based ‘ranger’ and ‘NRM’ groups to ensure that Indigenous Australians have a strong and custodial role in managing their ancestral estates, as they have been doing for millenia. He is the foundation Director of the North Australian Indigenous Land & Sea Management Alliance, and Indigenous NGO. He has also been instrumental in developing new initiatives such as the ‘Working on Country’ Program, additional resources for carbon abatement and increased employment opportunities for community rangers. His interests are to ensure that Indigenous people are at the forefront of developing and using the natural and cultural resources of the north as part of custodial responsibilities and obligations to their kin and country, and to ensure that future generations of Indigenous children are able to fully enjoy their rights to their country. He believes that Indigenous Knowledge has much to contribute to managing country, but a lot has to be done to ensure that the dominant paradigm accepts IK as a legitimate knowledge base.