Dr Richard Davis has 25 years experience in water resources research and applications as a research manager for CSIRO Land and Water, covering topics such as eutrophication and nutrient enrichment of water bodies, environmental flows, urban water management, aquatic biodiversity, and wetlands management. His own research has focused on the development of models and Decision Support Systems for water resource managers.
From 2001 to 2003 Richard was seconded to the World Bank in Washington DC to work on the Bank’s response to the World Commission on Dams. He edited a series of technical notes on diverse aspects of water resources management and participated in a number of Bank and Global Environment Facility projects in Africa. Richard is now a consultant in water resources management, working on water allocation in the southern Murray-Darling Basin and nutrient and sediment losses from rivers in far North Queensland.
Hester Gascoigne is a Canberra-based communication consultant who has written, edited and managed many publications, including a wide range of projects for CSIRO Land and Water, such as Farming Action Catchment Reaction: the Effect of Dryland Farming on the Natural Environment (Eds John Williams, Rosemary A. Hook, and Hester L. Gascoigne). Before starting her company – Hester Gascoigne & Associates – she worked as a communication manager in both public and private sector organisations. Hester now works with heads of organisations and project leaders, helping them to communicate important information to clients, customers and stakeholders with a view to making a difference, and as a ‘lay reader’s advocate’ for a wide range of scientific and technical documents. She also taught public relations strategy and professional writing skills at the University of Canberra, and lectured in business communication.
Brian McRae has expertise is urban environments, particularly and passionately in relation to water. His core strength is facilitating complex interactions involving business, community, political and technical interests.
As the Australian Water Association’s Technical Director and Chief Policy Officer from 1998 to 2003, Brian developed a range of communication initiatives, such as their successful weekly email news. His local government experience includes establishing a Catchment Management Team for Warringah Council, in Sydney’s Northern Beaches, and involvement in a range of local and regional water management issues over a seven-year span at the City of Los Angeles Bureau of Engineering. His unique career includes employment as a Reservoir Biologist/Diver for Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.
Brian holds a Masters degree in Environmental Planning and Policy and a Bachelors degree in Biology and Natural History. He is currently studying law and keeping his feet wet as a freelance consultant.
Professor Wayne Meyer received degrees from the University of Adelaide and the Waite Agricultural Research Institute, before employment at Texas A&M University and the Water Research Commission of South Africa.
Wayne joined CSIRO, in Griffith, New South Wales, in late 1980. In 1994 he was appointed to the Foundation Chair
in Irrigation at Charles Sturt University and continued in this position, jointly with CSIRO Water Resources, until 1997. He remains an honorary Adjunct Professor at Charles Sturt University. Currently he is a Chief Research Scientist and Business Director in CSIRO Land and Water. His research has focused on measurement and estimation of crop water use, and on the interaction between irrigation practice, shallow water tables and salinity. He continues to have involvement with Australian and international irrigation research and education. He is a foundation member of the National Irrigation Science Network and was the Interim CEO of the CRC for Irrigation Futures from May 2002 until August 2003.
Dr James Bradfield Moody is currently the CEO of Space and Environment Technologies, an engineering and investment firm. He works with major engineering companies and the spatial information sector, focusing on effective data use for environmental outcomes. He was formerly the Managing Director of Natural Resource Intelligence, a publicly listed Environmental Spatial Information company.
In the last five years James has been heavily involved with the United Nations, and from 2000 to 2002 was co-chair and Australian representative of the 40 strong youth advisory council to the UN Environment Program (UNEP). James was also a member of the Science and Technology delegation to the UN World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002, is a member and executive secretary of the taskforce on Science and Technology for the Millennium Development Goals and was invited to attend the World Economic Forum as a Global Leader of Tomorrow in 2003.
Paul J Perkins is an adjunct professor in the Centre for Resources and Environment Studies (CRES) at the Australian National University where he continues his long contribution to public sector utility reform and industry leadership of the emerging sustainable development movement. He recently retired as CEO of ACTEW Corporation. The Corporation is a unique government-owned holding company controlling the ACT’s water and sewerage operations and its share in ActewAGL, Australia’s first public-private multi-utility partnership.
Paul has held senior board positions in more than a dozen companies and numerous government and industry boards, committees and taskforces. He is presently Chairman of the Australian Science Festival Ltd; the National Environmental Education Council; and the Barton Group, the national CEO alliance responsible for leading implementation of the Environment Industry Action Agenda. He previously served on several national task forces on environmental competitiveness, export development and critical infrastructure. He is adviser to three governments and is an Honorary Ambassador for Canberra.
Dr John Williams was raised on a grazing property on the southern tablelands of New South Wales, graduated from the University of Sydney, then conducted research in Canada, USA and the South Pacific, before joining CSIRO in Townsville, where he spent 16 years working on hydrology, salinity and soil erosion in the semi-arid tropics. He was appointed Deputy Chief of CSIRO Land and Water at its inception in 1997 and Chief in September 2001.
Dr Williams has published extensively on the nature of agriculture as part of the natural ecosystem; was appointed by the New South Wales Premier in 1999 and 2001 as the auditor for the Sydney Water Supply Catchments; co-led the LWRRDC/CSIRO Program Redesign of Agriculture for the Australian Landscape; coordinated the CSIRO Multi-Divisional Program Dryland Farming Systems for Catchment Care; represented CSIRO in the coordination of the National Dryland Salinity Program; prepared material for the Prime Minister’s Science, Engineering and Innovation Council on several occasions; and played an influential role in the National Land & Water Resources Audit. He is a member of the Wentworth Group, a group of eleven independent scientists who have influenced the national debate and contributed to new policies on water and landscape management.
Presently he is Chair of the Water Action Council for the Global Research Alliance which brings together strategic thinking on water resources management from nine of the world leading research organisations including CSIRO, Australia; CSIR, South Africa; CSIR, India; Battelle, USA; and Fraunhofer, Germany. He is a member of the governing board for the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research.
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