Board
Chair - Professor Paul Greenfield, AC
Independent
Professor Greenfield has recently retired from the position of Vice-Chancellor of the University of Queensland. Previously he was Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor (2002-07), Deputy Vice-Chancellor (2001), Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) (1997-00) and Executive Dean of Engineering, Physical Sciences and Architecture. Professor Greenfield currently chairs the Scientific Advisory Committee overseeing the $5.2 million Moreton Bay and Brisbane River Wastewater Management Study (since 1994); the Waste Technical Working Group, Basel Convention (since 1995); and the Advisory Board of I.P. Australia (since 1999). He is a Director of several University companies and has consulted for national and international companies and government agencies in the fields of biotechnology, wastewater management, environmental management and project evaluation.
In the 2006 Australia Day Honours, Professor Greenfield was appointed as an Officer in the General Division of the Order of Australia (AO) for service to science and engineering, particularly through research in the areas of chemical engineering, biotechnology, wastewater and environmental management, and to the tertiary education sector. Professor Greenfield's research is recognised internationally for capacity to attract funding and significance of published output. He still supervises PhD students and he is credited with more than 180 journal publications, 120 conference publications, three patents and more than 20 invited international (keynote/plenary) addresses.
Professor Alan Lawson
University of Queensland
Professor Alan Lawson was appointed Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) at the University of Queensland in December 2011. He was previously Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research and International), Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research and Research Training), and Dean of the UQ Graduate School.
Professor Lawson has published widely in postcolonial theory and critical practice (especially in relation to “settler cultures”), national cultural policy in Australia and Canada, and Australian and Canadian fiction.
In addition to his positions at UQ, Professor Lawson has also been a visiting fellow at Universities in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Denmark, and South Africa. He has been an Editorial Board Member of 12 journals (incl. 3 e-journals), and held executive positions in 6 international scholarly associations and on 8 International Conference Committees. He has been academic consultant to a multimedia company, series editor for a US publisher, and a judge of 8 national literary awards. He was a foundation council member of the UQ Australian Studies Centre.
Professor Lawson is also a member of the National Centre for Excellence in Desalination Australia Board.
Professor Edwina Cornish
Monash University
Professor Edwina Cornish was appointed to the position of Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) at Monash University in February 2004. She was previously Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) and concurrently Professor of Biotechnology at the University of Adelaide.
Professor Cornish has a BSc (Hons) in Biochemistry and a PhD in Microbiology from the University of Melbourne. She played a key role in building one of Australia's first biotechnology companies, Florigene Limited. Under her leadership the company developed and successfully commercialised the world's first genetically modified flowers. She has been a member of the Board of the Australian Research Council and the South Australian Premier's Science and Research Council, and has served on the Prime Minister's Science and Engineering Council and the Victorian Government Science and Engineering Technology Taskforce. Professor Cornish is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering.
Professor Alistar Robertson
University of Western Australia
Professor Alistar Robertson joined UWA in 2003 as Dean of the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences. At the beginning of 2008, he was appointed Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research Initiatives). He is responsible for facilitating and managing strategic relationships with the Commonwealth science agencies, industry and State and Local agencies in the broad area of environmental research. He is working closely with the Faculties at UWA to increase research income, with a particular focus on ARC Linkage grants. With the Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research and Research Training), Alistar is also responsible for developing mentoring programs for early career research staff. He is Chair of the Associate Deans for Research Committee, a member of the University Senior Management Group and the University Planning and Budget Committee.
Before joining UWA, Alistar held research positions at Dalhousie University, Canada, CSIRO Marine Research Division, Australia, the Australian Institute of Marine Science and Charles Sturt University. Alistar’s research has focused on ecological processes in marine and freshwater systems, including trophodynamics, nutrient cycling, fish biology and vegetation dynamics in seagrass, mangrove, continental shelf and floodplain river habitats in tropical and temperate Australia, Canada, New Guinea and South-East Asia.
He has served as a member of several research and environmental management committees, including the Torres Strait Baseline Study Management Advisory Committee, the Water Quality Technical Advisory Panel with the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, the Murrumbidgee Catchment Management Committee and the Research Grants Committee and College of Experts of the Australian Research Council. He is a member of the Board of the Bushfire Cooperative Research Centre, the Western Australian Marine Science Institution, the International Water Centre and Agriculture Research Western Australia.
Greg Claydon
Department of Environment and Resource Management
Greg Claydon is the Executive Director of Strategic Water Initiatives with the Queensland Department of Environment and Resource Management and is responsible for development of statewide strategic water policy and legislation, Queensland’s contributions to national water policies and programs, all regional water supply strategies and water infrastructure planning outside South East Queensland, ground water policy and water trading policy.
From April 2002 to June 2006 Mr Claydon was the General Manager, Water Planning with the Queensland Department of Natural Resources and Mines. For the five years prior to that he was based in Toowoomba and was the Department’s Regional Director for South West Queensland. He has tertiary qualifications in agricultural engineering and has held positions in Brisbane, Toowoomba, Emerald, Ayr and St George in Queensland and in Canberra. He has work experience in New Zealand, Canada, USA, the Caribbean, Japan, Singapore and Turkey.
Mr Claydon was awarded a Public Service Medal (PSM) in the 2009 Australia Day Honours Awards for his work in natural resources management and water reform.
Professor Gary Jones
International RiverFoundation
Professor Gary Jones was appointed as Chair of the International RiverFoundation in 2011. He has been Chief Executive of the eWater Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) since its inception in 2005. Prior to that he was Chief Executive of the CRC for Freshwater Ecology, taking over from the late Peter Cullen when he retired in 2002. Gary also serves as a Director of eWater Innovation Pty Ltd and of the Peter Cullen Trust, and holds a Company Directors Course Diploma from the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
With a 20 year research career prior to turning his hand to science leadership, Gary published over 100 scientific papers on the management of rivers and reservoirs, in particular in the area of toxic algal bloom impacts and control.
He has worked and advised extensively on water science management issues in Australia and around the world. He also chaired the Living Murray Scientific Reference Panel that supported the provision of 500 GL of environmental water to the River Murray in 2004, at the time the largest single environmental water decision in Australia’s history.
Gary has been Chair of the ACT Chief Minister’s Water Supply Catchment Management Advisory Group, a Board member of the Murray-Darling Freshwater Research Centre, a member of the CSIRO Water for a Healthy Country National Advisory Council, a member of the Australian State of the Environment Committee, and a member of the Prime Minister’s Science, Engineering & Innovation Council Thematic Cluster Group on: Climate Change, Energy, Water and the Environment. He is currently a member of the NSW Natural Resources Commission Advisory Panel.
He remains a trusted adviser to Commonwealth and State governments across Australia on matters related to water science and the environment.
