Monday, July 13, 2009: Unremarkable, Liveable, Sustainable Systems
Professor Timothy F H Allen, University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA
Timothy Allen is President of the ISSS. He is Professor of Botany at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. His degrees are from the University College North Wales in 1964 – 1968. After two years at the University of Ife, Nigeria, he joined the faculty at the University of Wisconsin in 1970. He has been applying notions of complex systems and hierarchy theory to ecology for thirty five years. His first book, Hierarchy: perspectives for ecological complexity, Chicago Press, 1982, established hierarchy theory and scaling in ecology. His four other hierarchy theoretic books either specialize in ecosystem analysis, or broaden across all types of ecology and beyond to the life and social sciences in general. He has published over 60 scholarly works in journals on plant community data analysis, agricultural systems, issues of scale, sustainability and narrative in complexity theory. His latest work is a book with J. Tainter and T. Hoekstra, is Supply side sustainability, CUP, 2003. It enters the emerging field of economic ecology, and identifies that we must manage the whole ecosystem that makes resources renewable, not natural resources themselves. His present research push is a general theory of switches in resource quality for ecology and society.
Graeme Taylor, Best Futures, Brisbane, Australia
Graeme Taylor is the coordinator of BEST Futures (www.bestfutures.org) a project using evolutionary systems theory to model societal change, analyse global problems and develop viable solutions. He is the author of Evolution's Edge: The Coming Collapse and Transformation of Our World, which won the Independent Publisher's 2009 Gold Medal for the book "most likely to save the planet". Graeme is also an Adjunct Reader with the School of Integrative Systems, University of Queensland; an Adviser to the 2010 World Peace Festival; an Honorary Research Adviser to the Australian Peace and Conflict Centre; and a PhD Candidate at the Griffith School of Environment in Brisbane.
Robert Kerr
Robert Kerr was appointed as a Commissioner of the Victorian Competition and Efficiency Commission in 2004, responsible for conducting public inquiries and regulation reviews, most recently into ‘Liveability’. He is currently presiding on an inquiry into shared facilities. He served many years as a senior executive with the Australian Government, in the Treasury portfolio, advising on foreign investment, overseas borrowing and structural reform, as well as serving in Tokyo. From 1996 to 2004 he was head of the staff of the Productivity Commission. He is a graduate of Cambridge University and the Royal College of Defence Studies.
Dr Jacqui de Chazal, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
Jacqueline de Chazal began as an ecologist however a hyper-enthusiasm for the indisputability and gravity of multiple perspectives has led to unremitting ventures into most other areas including philosophy, ecological economics and politics. This appears to well suit her core business, being the development of conceptual models and practical methods for working with multiple and shifting perspectives on assessments of change in socio-ecological systems. Jacqui has contributed to the 2007 Working Group II Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability, the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change (IPCC), the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA), lived and worked in Australia, France, Belgium, England and Africa, has considerable experience in community engagement in environmental management and has collaborated with engineers in philosophy underpinning multi-disciplinary problem solving.
Professor Martin Burd, Monash University, Victoria, Australia
Assoc. Professor Martin Burd received his B.Sc. and M.S. from the University of Wisconsin and Ph.D. from Princeton University, and is currently an Associate Professor at Monash University in Melbourne. His research interests include a variety of topics in behavioural evolution, and he is currently studying the evolutionary basis of economic decision making in humans and other animals, and the dynamics of panic behaviour in large crowds and pedestrian traffic behaviour using ant colonies as model systems.
Professor Richard Bawden, Michigan State University and Open University
Until his recent retirement from four decades in academia, Richard Bawden was a Visiting Distinguished University Professor at Michigan State University (MSU). Prior to going to the USA in 2000, he had had a long career at Hawkesbury Agricultural College thence the University of Western Sydney (UWS) as Dean of Agriculture and Rural Development and Professor of Systemic Development. He is currently a Director and Fellow of the Systemic Development Institute based in Sydney Australia, an Emeritus Professor of UWS, and an Adjunct Professor at MSU..
Tuesday, July 14, 2009: Systemic Interventions
Facilitated by Drs Alexander and Kathia Laszlo
UQ Vice Chancellor Professor Paul Greenfield AO, BE(Hons), PhD NSW, BEcon Qld., FTSE, FIEAust, FIChemEng, FAICD, MAIChE
Professor Greenfield was appointed Vice Chancellor from 1 January 2008 and was Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor from 2002 to 31 December 2007. Previously he was Deputy Vice-Chancellor (2001), Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) (1997-2000), Executive Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, Physical Sciences and Architecture and Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Physical Sciences and Engineering). Professor Greenfield has extensive experience as a Board Director and has consulted and worked widely with industry. His interests lie in biotechnology, environmental management and R&D management and commercialisation. He is currently Chair of the Scientific Advisory Group of the South East Queensland Healthy Waterways Partnership. He is also Chair of the Riversymposium Strategic Planning Committee, the Thiess International Riverprize Committee and the International Water Centre.
Martha Shepherd, Galeru, Queensland, Australia
Following a 30-year career in the food industry in the USA and Australia—in particular Director of International Operations with Mrs. Fields Famous Brands which involved managing the company’s international franchise network in 37 countries as well as new product research and development--Martha founded Galeru with her partner David Haviland in 1997. Galeru produces a range of unique products using native Australian rainforest fruits grown on their property in the Sunshine Coast hinterland north of Brisbane. The trees were purpose grown as a high value niche crop, with the farm developed to be both environmentally sustainable and commercially viable. Martha’s work in developing a value chain model for sustainable use of small parcels of land earned her the inaugural National RIRDC Rural Women’s Award in 2006. She was appointed Innovator in Residence in 2007 by the Centre for Rural and Regional Innovation QLD, where her focus was innovation & sustainability in peri-urban agriculture. Martha was recently made an Honorary Senior Fellow of the University of the Sunshine Coast for her contributions to agriculture, and is a Director of Australian Native Food Industry Ltd, the peak industry body for native foods in Australia.
John Larcombe, Queensland State Planning and Infrastructure, Brisbane, Australia
John Larcombe has more than 30 years experience in economics, transport and infrastructure planning. He is Executive Director in the Planning Group of the Queensland Department of Infrastructure and Planning. He was responsible for developing the South East Queensland Infrastructure Plan and Program. He has a key role in the development of this process that ensures the delivery of key infrastructure to support the SEQ Regional Plan. John Larcombe was awarded a Churchill Fellowship to study mass transit systems in the USA and Canada. The main objective of the study tour was to investigate how transit systems have developed and are being developed to support the development of major cities. This issue is very topical in Australia as governments strive to deal with the transport issues resulting for urban growth.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009: Enhancing Governance with Systems Thinking and Practice
Hon. Steve Maharey, Vice Chancellor Massey University, New Zealand
Steve Maharey is the Vice-Chancellor of Massey University. Prior to this he was the fourth-ranked Minister in Government for nine years holding the positions of Minister of Education, Minister Responsible for the Education Review Office and the New Zealand Qualifications Authority, Minister of Research, Science and Technology, Minister Responsible for Crown Research Institutes, Minister of Broadcasting, Minister Responsible for Television New Zealand, Chair of the Cabinet Social Development Committee and Member of Parliament for Palmerston North from 1990 until 2008. Mr Maharey was responsible for the reforms of the tertiary education sector that began in 2003 and oversaw the establishment of the New Zealand’s Tertiary Education Commission. Prior to entering Parliament he was a senior lecturer in sociology. Earlier in his career he was a junior lecturer in business administration, and a lecturer in sociology. His academic interests include social policy, media, cultural studies, social change and politics. He is currently working on a book examining public policy responses to change in the 1980s, 90s and the 21st century.
Lynelle Briggs, Australian Public Commissioner, Canberra, Australia
Lynelle Briggs has been with the Australian Public Service for 29 years. Her career has involved time in the former Department of Social Security, the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, the Treasury and the then Department of Health and Aged Care. Lynelle also lived in Wellington NZ for two years in the late 1980s, while working with the New Zealand Treasury. During her career, Lynelle has covered most of the social policy field – social security, health and community services, external territories, employment and labour market support and veterans’ affairs. She has been closely involved in unemployment and retirement incomes policies, health care agreements, private health policy and health care delivery. She spent two years as a policy adviser to the Minister for Community Services in the mid-1980s, and found that her time in PM&C provided an excellent grounding in government. Lynelle joined the Department of Transport and Regional Services as Deputy Secretary in June 2001. She had responsibility for oversighting rail and road transport, territories, maritime, wider infrastructure policy such as AusLink, transport planning , local government and the portfolio’s budget and information technology. Achievements included the AusLink White Paper, the ARTC rail track lease with NSW and the Energy White Paper. In November 2004 Lynelle was appointed to the role of Australian Public Service Commissioner. Ms Briggs is responsible for the ethical and employment leadership of the Australian Public Service. She administers the Public Service Act, and provides a range of support services to the Australian Public Service. She is most well known for her annual State of the Service report.
Plenaries will be followed by a Cafe Style Interactive Plenary Session facilitated by ANZSYS (Australian and New Zealand Systems Group), coordinated by Professor Ray Ison (Open University, UK and Monash University, Australia)
Thursday, July 16, 2009: Systems Expressed in Everyday Life - Art, People, Tourism, Journalism
Christine Ballinger, Noosa Regional Gallery, Queensland, Australia
Christine is the Director of the Noosa Regional Gallery. She is currently a committee member for Visions Australia, judge for the Australian Business Arts Foundation, industry expert for Arts Queensland and Manager, Noosa Biosphere Cultural Board. Her previous positions and responsibilities include the Executive Director Craft Queensland, Chair Australia Craft and Design Organisations and Board member Craft Australia. Her M.A. (Research) QUT involved intellectual property and visual artists. Christine’s creative professional practice spanned 25 years and included solo exhibitions in the art of contemporary paper in Australia, Japan and Europe. Her consultancy practice includes cultural policy development and cluster dynamics in Queensland and the establishment of Indigenous creative businesses in Queensland and NSW.
Ben McMullen, Environmental Services Manager, Sunshine Coast Regional Council, Noosa, QLD, Australia
Ben McMullen is the Manager of Environmental Services at Sunshine Coast Regional Council. His academic background is in science and planning. Ben holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Griffith University in Australian Environmental Studies and a Graduate Diploma of Urban Regional Planning from Queensland University of Technology. Ben has 15 years work experience in the fields of environmental management and ecologically sustainable development. Ben has worked in a variety of roles in Local and State Government, including Natural Area Management, Community Education and Consultation, Fisheries Management and environmental auditing. In this role, Ben is also involved in promoting all of these activities with higher levels of government and the boarder community. Ben is a past winner of the Queensland Local Government Managers Association’s “Young Manager of the Year” award.
Professor Ockie Bosch, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
Professor Ockie Bosch is Head of the School of Integrative Systems at The University of Queensland, Australia; Chair of the International Committee for Systems Education (under auspices of ISSS and IFSR); member of the Noosa Biosphere Education and Research & Development Board; member of the Academic Board of his University; Vice-President Conferences and Membership of the International Society for the Systems Sciences and represents The University of Queensland in the Australian Universities Council for Environmental Deans and Directors. Professor Bosch specialises in the area of Systems Thinking for Sustainable Development; the application of systems theory in practice; the development of evolving information systems as mechanisms for knowledge dissemination and collaborative learning; and the development of processes for linking science with management and policy making. In his current role he leads and co-ordinates several initiatives for developing inter-disciplinary educational and research programmes. The educational programs focus especially on linking various fields of study (e.g. sustainable agicultural production systems, Food Safety and Security, Business, Resilient Communities, Systems Engineering and Natural Resource Management systems) to a systems core.
Professor Kambiz Maani, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
Kambiz Maani is the holder of UQ-Ag Research Chair in Systems Thinking and Practice at the University of Queensland. Professor Maani’s academic and consulting career spans over 25 years in the USA, Asia, Australasia, and South America. He is an internationally acknowledged expert in systems thinking, organizational learning and leadership. Kambiz has lectured internationally and has held visiting positions at a number of universities including MIT, London Business School, Boston University, Cornel and Helsinki School of Economics. He is the recipient of several research and publication awards from international academic journals. He has published widely and has consulted to numerous organisations in Australasia and around the world. He is co-author (with Professor Robert Cavana) of internationally acclaimed book: Systems thinking, Systems Dynamics - Managing Change and Complexity. The book, now in second edition, is used widely at universities and corporations around the world.
Michael Williams, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
Michael Williams (MPhil [Qual.] Griffith) is a member of the Gooreng Gooreng Aboriginal community from the country between Gladstone and Bundaberg in southeast Queensland. He has been involved in the broad area of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander affairs for over 30 years, including service on various boards and committees in community organisations and government bodies. For the past 20 years he has worked in the tertiary education sector, lecturing in mainstream history and, more particularly, involved with programs that provide support for Indigenous Australian students. He is Director of the University of Queensland’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Unit. He is formally trained in anthropology and history and his special academic interests include Indigenous language use, cross-cultural communication and methods that ensure that Indigenous intellectual traditions and ways of managing knowledge are understood on Indigenous terms and respected equally alongside other intellectual traditions. In this regard, more recently, he has been articulating these interests within the emerging field of Indigenous Knowledge. He has served on the Council and Research Committees of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander Studies in Canberra for most of the last 20 years where he has developed a broad understanding of research from many different academic disciplinary perspectives. His career in teaching and research at tertiary institutions has included serving on academic boards, faculty boards, equity committees and other working parties concerned with Indigenous and non-Indigenous student interests. Michael's career has taken him into interests beyond Indigenous affairs. He has served on the Board of the Special Broadcasting Services (SBS), a national television and radio broadcaster, specifically devoted to broadcasting material of particular interest to ethnic communities represented in Australia.
Emeritus Professor Valerie A. Brown AO, BSc MEd PhD, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
Professor Brown is currently Visiting Fellow and Director of the Local Sustainability Project at the Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University. She works in collaborative action research with communities Australia-wide and overseas. Her research aim is to advance collective decision-making in moving towards a just and sustainable future. In 1999 Valerie was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia for policy, research and advocacy for sustainable development. In 2008 she was a participant in the suainability section of the Prime Minister's 2020 Summit. Her most recent books are Leonardo's Vision. A guide to collective thinking and action and an editor of Social Learning and Environmental Management.
Dr Ishwaran Natajaran, Director, Division of Ecological and Earth Sciences, UNESCO, Paris
Dr Ishwaran Natajaran is Sri Lankan and holds a BSc (Zoology) and MSc (Ecology) from the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka; and Ph.D. (Wildlife Biology and Management) from Michigan State University, USA. Thirty years of experience in teaching, research, wildlife/protected areas planning and management, multi-lateral environmental and biodiversity treaties, and co-ordination and management of international co-operation in environment and development. More than 25 publications in refereed journals; co-author of two edited volumes on ecology, biodiversity conservation and protected area management themes. Working in UNESCO since 1986, on programs and activities linked to ecological sciences and biodiversity conservation in co-operation with intergovernmental forums, national and international NGOs, funds and foundations, and private sector institutions. Work experience and achievements in negotiating significant technical and financial benefits, particularly for less developed countries, for biodiversity conservation, protected area management, ecological sciences research and capacity building.
The Division of Ecological and Earth Sciences of UNESCO is the focal point for all UNESCO relations on biodiversity. It oversees two of the many intergovernmental scientific programmes of UNESCO directly related to sustainable development; namely the Man and the Biosphere (MAB) and the International Geological Sciences (IGCP) Programmes. The Division promotes ecosystem, biodiversity and earth sciences and remote sensing applications for sustainable development. Capacity building in less developed countries, particularly strengthening ecological and earth sciences applications in sustainable use of biodiversity in Africa, is a major emphasis. The Division also advocates and supports the use of biosphere reserves designated under the MAB Programme as laboratories and learning sites for sustainable development. The implementation of the Madrid Action Plan (2008-2013) will emphasize the use of biosphere reserves as learning places for sustainable development to generate knowledge resources for the last five years (2010-2014) of the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (UNDESD).
Professor Michael Bromley, Professor of Journalism and Head of the School of Journalism and Communication at the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
Michael Bromley is professor of journalism and head of the School of Journalism and Communication at The University of Queensland. He was a daily newspaper journalist mainly in the UK for more than 20 years. He has since taught in the UK, the USA and Australia.
Professor Amareswar Galia, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
Born and educated in both south and north India including the prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, Professor Galla provides strategic cultural leadership in Australia and the Asia Pacific Region as the Professor of Museum Studies at the University of Queensland in Brisbane. (http://www.emsah.uq.edu.au) Until recently he was the Professor and Director of Sustainable Heritage Development, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, the Australian National University in Canberra. He is the Guest Curator of International Projects with the Vietnam National Department of Cultural Heritage; and Founding Convener of the Pacific Asia Observatory for Cultural Diversity in Sustainable Heritage Development in partnership with several bodies including UNESCO. (www.pacificasiaobservatory.org – web page under redevelopment) His recent work on the use of ecomuseology as a methodological tool for sustainable development and poverty alleviation has won him outstanding conservationist of the year award from the Vietnamese government in 2002 and the European Best in Heritage Award in 2008. He is also the Editor-in-Chief of three academic journals dealing with Sustainable Heritage Development: International Journal of the Inclusive Museum (www.museum-journal.com) Chicago/Melbourne; International Journal on Intangible Heritage (www.ijih.org) Seoul/Paris; International Journal on Environmental, Cultural, Economic and Social Sustainability (www.sustainability-journal.com) Chicago/Melbourne.
Friday, July 17, 2009: Systemic Interventions and ISSS2010
Drs Alexander and Kathia Laszlo
Professor John Herbohn, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
Dr Allenna Leonard, President ISSS 2009-2010, Complementary Set, Toronto, Canada
