Dr Ian Chessell, Independent Chair

Formerly Australia’s Chief Defence Scientist and South Australia's Chief Scientist, Dr Chessell is the Chair of the Goyder Institute Management Board. He also holds the position of Adjunct Professor in Systems Engineering with the University of South Australia, where he undertakes independent research and consulting projects. 

Dr Chessell’s long and significant career in the Defence Science and Technology Organisation was recognised with the 2003 Centenary Medal for Services to Defence Science. He served as a member of the Prime Minister’s Science Engineering and Innovation Council between 2001 and 2003 – the same year he was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering. 

Dr Chessell chaired both the Commonwealth Government’s review of National ICT Australia in 2005 and its review of the Anglo-Australian Telescope in 2006.

Prof David Day, DVC (Research), Flinders University

David Day gained his PhD University of Adelaide, in plant biochemistry, in 1975. After two postdoctoral fellowships in the USA at the University of Illinois and UCLA, in 1978 he was awarded aQueen Elizabeth II Fellowship to work at the CSIRO Division of Plant Industry, Canberra. He subsequently became a Research Fellow in the Research School of Biological Sciences at the Australian National University. After brief working interludes in France and the Netherlands, David returned to Australia in 1985 and joined the Botany Department at ANU, before moving to the School of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, becoming a Professor in 1995. While at ANU, he was Head of School for two years, convenor of the Graduate Program in Plant Sciences, the Manager of Education and Communication in the CRC for Plant Science, and the Deputy Dean of Science. During this period he also served on the biologicalsciences panel of the Australian Research Council. David moved to the University of Western Australia in 1999 to take up the Chair of Biochemistry. In 2005 he was appointed Dean of Science at the University of Sydney and later became Executive Dean, Faculties of Science, Agriculture and Natural Resources, and Veterinary Science. At the end of 2009 David took up the post of Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research) at Flinders University of South Australia.

http://www.flinders.edu.au/about/governance/university-officers/deputy-vice-chancellor-research.cfm

Mr Tim Goodes, Deputy Chief Executive, DEWNR

Tim has formal qualifications in Nursing, Social Administration and a Masters Degree in Public Policy and Management.

His work background includes 7 years in the community sector and the last 17 years in the South Australian Government working across a number of agencies in service delivery, policy, management and leadership roles.  Following 12 years in the Justice portfolio, in Courts and the Attorney-General’s Department, Tim spent time as the Executive Director of Services Division in the Department of the Premier and Cabinet, before moving to the Department of Water Land and Biodiversity in 2009.  Following Machinery of Government changes in 2010, he was appointed as the Deputy Chief Executive.

Mr Jim Hallion, Chief Executive, DP&C

Jim Hallion is Chief Executive of the Department of the Premier and Cabinet (DPC).  The department delivers specialist policy advice to the Premier and Ministers, supports the Cabinet process and provides direction and leadership to the South Australian Public Service.  He is currently a member of the Infrastructure Australia Council.  Jim was awarded a Bachelor of Engineering from the University of Adelaide and a Graduate Diploma in Applied Finance and Investment from the Financial Services Institute of Australasia.  He is a Fellow of the Institute of Engineers and a Fellow of the Financial Services Institute of Australasia.

Prof Bob Hill, Executive Dean, Faculty of Science, University of Adelaide

Prof. Hill is a graduate of the University of Adelaide. He completed his Ph.D. on Tertiary plant macrofossils in 1981, and his D.Sc. on the interaction between climate change and the evolution of the living Australian vegetation in 1997. In 1979 he accepted a position as Tutor in Botany at James Cook University, and in 1980 he was offered a lecturing position in the Department of Botany at the University of Tasmania. He remained at the University of Tasmania until 1999, after being promoted to Professor in 1993. He was Head of the School of Plant Science for 6 years prior to his departure, and was awarded Professor Emeritus status by the University of Tasmania Council in 2000. In 1999 he returned to the University of Adelaide as an Australian Research Council (ARC) Senior Research Fellow, in 2001 he was appointed Head of Science at the South Australian Museum and in 2003 became Head of the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences. He was appointed to his current position of Executive Dean, Faculty of Sciences in September 2006.

Mr Scott Keyworth, Manager Research Adoption, WfHC Flagship, CSIRO

http://www.csiro.au/people/Scott.Keyworth.aspx

Prof Isak (Sakkie) Pretorius, DVC (Research & Innovation), University of South Australia

Internationally renowned microbiology and biotechnology researcher, Professor Isak (Sakkie) Pretorius, is the Deputy Vice Chancellor: Research and Innovation at the University of South Australia.

Fluent in five languages, Isak Pretorius was brought up on a small farm in South Africa. He qualified with a Bachelor of Science and Master of  Science in Agriculture from the University of the Orange Free State (now University of the Free State - UFS) before researching  for his PhD at UFS  and then in New York at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine under the renowned microbiologist, Julius Marmur.

Returning to South Africa, Prof Pretorius worked as a lecturer at his alma mater and then moved to the University of Stellenbosch as an Associate Professor, Professor and Head of the Department of Viticulture and Oenology. Winner of a prestigious Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship, Professor Pretorius spent a year at the Max Plank Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen.

He has previously been Managing Director of the Australian Wine Research Institute and Affiliate Professor at the University of Adelaide.

During his career he has supervised to completion 33 PhD students and 56 Master of Science students. In collaboration with colleagues and students he has filed six patents and published more than 150 peer reviewed research articles. He serves on the editorial boards of five international journals.

In his home country he was one of less than 20 researchers to receive the highest possible A ranking for his research by South Africa’s National Research Foundation  in 1995 and he is  a Fellow of the South African Academy of Science. His work has received more than 3700 citations.

Dr Bill Young, Director, WfHC Flagship, CSIRO

Bill Young is currently the Director of the Water for a Healthy Country Flagship.  He previously led the Murray-Darling Basin Water Assessment project for the Flagship after which he was seconded for 18 months to the MDBA as Director of Murray-Darling Basin Plan Modelling.  Dr Young has 12 years’ professional experience in river & catchment research, modelling & management & initially trained as an engineering hydrologist & undertook postgraduate studies in fluvial geomorphology.

His current role involves:

• Leading/managing major water research portfolios & inter-disciplinary water resources research to inform policy management
• Strategic development of water research portfolios including business development, engagement & negotiation with clients (government & industry), collaborators & stakeholders
• Conceiving, leading & delivering research to improve environmental water management, water resources planning & management & river condition assessment
• Communicating science with peers, collaborators, clients, stakeholders & the wider community
• Government advisory work & capacity building in Australia & internationally in
  • Climate change, environmental water, river hydrology/biochemistry/geomorphology/condition assessments, river basin management & integrated water resource management
  • Environmental modelling, software & decision support systems.

http://www.csiro.au/people/Bill.Young.aspx

Dr Tony Minns, Director, Goyder Institute

Tony Minns is Director of the Goyder Institute for Water Research. After graduating from the South Australian Institute of Technology in 1982, Tony moved abroad to pursue a career in “water” that has included computational hydraulics and hydroinformatics at IHE-Delft (Netherlands); ecohydraulics at the University of Idaho (USA); sustainable water resources engineering at UniSA (Australia); marine and coastal management at Delft Hydraulics (Netherlands); and hydraulic engineering at Deltares (Netherlands). Before returning to Australia earlier this year to take up his position at the Goyder Institute, Tony was Scientific Director of the Hydraulic Engineering Division at Deltares in the Netherlands, an applied research and expert consultancy institute in Delft. In this position he was also responsible for the management of a 40 Meuro per year ($55 M /yr)  water research programme to deliver science to underpin policy and decision-making for the Netherlands government and the Netherlands water industry. Email: director@goyderinstitute.org