Presenters

Course Presenters are professionals from industry, science and education. They are highly regarded mentors who cultivate strong ties between water science, policy and practice.

ICE WaRM extends its thanks and appreciation to the growing group of presenters who share their knowledge and experience generously, on top of their normal work responsibilities.

Course Presenters include:
click on names below for photos and brief summaries

Brief summaries of Course Presenters :

Kane Aldridge, The University of Adelaide
Kane Aldridge Research Fellow at The University of Adelaide. Kane is a limnologist with a broad interest in the biogeochemistry, primary productivity, algal/macrophyte ecology and the ecological functioning of stream, lake and estuarine ecosystems. Kane’s research focuses on human-impacts upon natural inland water ecosystems and providing tools for better management of these systems. Much of Kane’s research has been done in the Murray-Darling Basin, in particular the Lower Lakes and Coorong. Additional projects have included nutrient dynamics in the Lower River Murray, Lake George and Lake Bonney (South-East); foodweb response to flow in the Murray-Darling Basin; ecological benefits of environmental flows provisions in Chowilla Floodplain and rivers of the Mount Lofty Ranges; fish-kills in the Patawalonga Lake; and aquatic plant community structure of wetlands in the South-East of South Australia.

Don Armstrong, AGWT and Lisdon Associates
Don is a consultant Hydrogeologist, and up to 1993 was Head of the Groundwater and Engineering Geology Branch of the South Australian Department of Mines and Energy. He has worked in both academia (University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana and Institute of Advanced Education Toowoomba, Qld) and industry (Gold and Copper mining in Africa and Mineral exploration on WA). A former President of the International Mine Water Association Don’s interests include Groundwater Resource Evaluation and modeling as well as the interaction between various forms of mining and the ambient groundwater. He organized and lectured at the A.M.F. Australian Groundwater Schools in 1984 and 1987 and has been involved in short courses in Mine Dewatering and Numerical Modelling.

James Ball, University of Technology Sydney
James Ball is an academic in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Technology Sydney.  His primary research interest is in the development and application of catchment modelling systems and particularly in urban environments.  Prior to joining UTS, Professor Ball obtained experience at a number of Universities, Consulting Organisations, and in a Government Authority.  He is a member of the IAHR Council, a corresponding member of the IAHR and IWA Joint Committee on Urban Drainage, a past member of the IAHR/IWA/IAHS Committee on Hydroinformatics, and a co-opted member of Engineers Australia’s National Committee on Water Engineering.  He is also a member of the editorial boards for the Urban Water Journal and the Journal of Hydroinformatics and an Associate Editor for Water Science and Technology.  James has been appointed by Engineers Australia as the Technical Editor responsible for the current revision to Australian Rainfall and Runoff.

Steve Barnett, SA Dept for Environment, Water & Natural Resources
Steve is Principal Hydrogeologist with the Science, Monitoring and Information Division of the SA Dept for Environment, Water & Natural Resources. He has been involved with the investigation, monitoring, assessment and management of groundwater in SA for the past 30 years. He is a past President of the Australian branch of the International Association of Hydrogeologists.

Bob Bennett, Qld DNRM
Bob has been involved in water management for around twenty years. Starting out at with NSW Agriculture working on salinity and hydrology projects Bob’s experience was valuable in the NSW Water Reform team working with the Namoi, Gwydir and Border Rivers catchments. Later Bob was involved in the development and implementation of the NSW Native Vegetation Act 2003 and supporting legislation, before moving into the development of licensing and compliance strategies for the NSW Office of Water. Bob took up the role of Principal Policy Officer, Demand, Efficiency and Substitution with the Queensland Water Commission before joining the Department of Natural Resources and Mines. Bob’s recent major projects include groundwater management in the Burdekin area and water resource planning in the Atherton Tablelands.

Gary Bickford, Nestis Consulting
Gary is a water industry professional with 30 years experience working in both urban and rural water management. He has developed integrated water management plans for major urban areas as well as establishing river management programs in the Murray-Darling Basin. Gary has worked with government agencies at Federal, State and local government levels and with senior state and federal politicians.

Don Blackmore, former Chief Executive of Murray Darling Basin Commission
Don's experience in water and natural resources management spans nearly 40 years. He was the Chief Executive of the Murray Darling Basin Commission for 15 years until he retired in March 2004. He was Deputy Chair of Land and Water Australia for 9 years during the 1990s and has worked with a range of research funding and provider groups over the years. He was a Commissioner on the World Commission on Dams, an independent group established by over 50 international agencies and companies to review the development effectiveness of large dams for which a report was presented to the international community represented by Nelson Mandela. In 2004, he was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for his service to the environment. Dr Blackmore has provided advice to the World Bank regarding the management of large river basins and has recently worked on the Eastern Nile, Indus, Mekong and Brahamaputra Rivers.  He currently chairs both the CRC for EWater and the Advisory Council for the CSIRO Flagship Program 'Water for a Healthy Country' and sits on a number of other boards.

Justin Brookes, The University of Adelaide
A/Prof Justin Brookes, Director Water Research Centre, Adelaide University. Justin has broad research interests in limnology and water treatment with a primary focus on coupling between hydrodynamics, biology and water quality contaminants such as cyanobacteria and pathogens. He is a founding member of the management committee of the IWA Specialist Group on Lake and Reservoir Management and member of the Steering Committee for the Global Lakes Ecological Observatory Network.

Stuart Brown, Parsons Brinckerhoff
Stuart is a Principal Hydrogeologist with Parsons Brinckerhoff. He has 20 years’ experience in a range of hydrogeological, geological, and environmental projects in Australia, New Zealand and the UK. His experience includes groundwater resource evaluation, environmental assessments, mine and construction dewatering, borefield design and development, geothermal feasibility studies, and remote community water supply. Stuart has extensive experience in mine hydrogeology, having conducted environmental impact assessments, dewatering and water supply investigations and numerical modelling for mines and coal seam gas operations throughout Australia. Prior to 2003, Stuart was a research geologist at the University of Western Australia where he worked on several industry-funded projects investigating the geological evolution of prospective mineralised terranes in Western Australia.

Jeff Camkin, Centre for Excellence for Ecohydrology, Uni of WA
Jeff holds tertiary qualifications in science and natural resources law, and has worked in urban and rural water, irrigation, fisheries and other natural resources research, management, policy and governance for the last 20 years. Jeff is Professor (Water Resource Management) at the University of Western Australia's Centre of Excellence for Ecohydrology, Visiting Professor at the National Laboratory of Civil Engineering in Lisbon, Portugal, a Research Associate with the UNESCO International Centre for Coastal Ecohydrology and Coordinator of the UNESCO HELP program in Australia.
Robert Carr, eWater CRC
Robert is an Executive Manager of eWater Ltd with specialist skills in Hydrologic and Hydraulic Modeling. Robert has lived and worked in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand and North America. Robert is the recipient of several major awards including Iowa State’s Research Excellence prize, and was awarded a Churchill Fellowship in 1990 to investigate Drainage and Salinity modelling systems in Europe and Israel. Robert's fields of special competence include hydraulic investigations and design, hydrologic assessment, flood estimation and contaminant transport investigations. His has extensive experience in managing urban, riverine, estuarine, and groundwater data collection and modelling projects. Robert was formerly President of the USA arm of DHI Water and Environment and director Australia, New Zealand and Canada.

Shahadat Chowdhury, NSW Office of Water
Shahadat joined the public service of NSW in 1992. His modelling expertise spans from water allocation, water savings, climate, environmental flow and irrigation demand to flood hydraulics. His work assisted programs such as the Living Murray, Water for Rivers and Sustaining the Basin. He contributed towards the development of various water sharing plans, floodplain management plans and catchment action plans in NSW. Shahadat is an engineering hydrologist with a Ph D in hydro climatology from UNSW. He is also a casual lecturer and a reviewer of a number of professional journals.

Neil Coles, Centre for Excellence for Ecohydrology, Uni of WA
Neil graduated from James Cook Uni in 1986, with a BSc in Geology and Hydrology, and completed a PhD in Catchment Hydrology at the Uni of WA in 1993. He recently completed an executive MBA (2008) through the Melbourne Business School, Uni of Melbourne. For the last 10 years he has been a Senior Research Scientist with the Dept of Agriculture and Food WA. Professor Coles has over twenty years of research, teaching and practical experience in the agricultural, water resources and mining industry in the UK, Queensland and Western Australia. He was elected as Chairman of the State Hydrology and Water Resources Panel for 2009, and is a Member of the Advisory Committee for the Purity of Water and serves on a number of other government panels and industry advisory boards. Dr Neil Coles was recently appointed as the Project Director of the Centre of Excellence for Eco-hydrology, Uni of WA and is now focused on the initiation and development of new projects and research links at the Centre.

David Cook, Australian Water Quality Centre
David is a Senior Research Officer in the Water Treatment and Distribution Team at the Australian Water Quality Centre based in Adelaide. In his role at the AWQC, David has been investigating water quality issues associated drinking water treatment processes and distribution systems since 1997, working collaboratively with water authorities across the nation. Current research activities include: investigating the occurrence of nitrification in chloraminated distribution systems, impact of blending desalinated seawater into existing distribution systems and the use of surrogates to predict disinfection by-product formation. David has presented research outcomes at national and international conferences.

Ian Cordery, Univerity of New South Wales
Ian is a Visiting Fellow in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of New South Wales where he specialises in teaching engineering hydrology and irrigation. He is the author of several chapters of the 1987 and 1998 “Australian Rainfall and Runoff“. Ian’s research areas include; hydrology in engineering design, drought, economics in hydrological design and the economics of hydrometric data collection. Ian is a consultant to World Meteorological Organisation for review of UNDP aid project on flood forecasting, and to UNDP project on data collection and analysis. Ian is also a Member of International Hydrological Program (UNESCO) Working Party on “Coping with Water Scarcity”.

Paul Dalby, In Fusion Consulting
Paul is a leading innovator in connecting science, policy and community together to drive innovation in improved management of water, natural resources and agriculture. He is an experienced practitioner and presenter and currently the Living Laboratories Manager where he is working with multiple research organisations, State agencies and industry to develop collaborative research opportunities. Paul is also a Director on the Board of a number of companies, all of which profit from improving the environment.
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Paul de Sa, Sydney Water
Paul is a Senior Analyst in Sydney Water's Servicing and Asset Strategy group. He has 15 years experience in planning water systems, solving operational problems and coordinating infrastructure projects. Previously he assisted the Desalination Plant project team integrate its new supply into the existing potable water system. He is responsible for delivery servicing strategies for Sydney’s water supply and is currently supporting the development of growth servicing strategies for Sydney’s drinking water systems.
Peter Dillion, CSIRO
As a CSIRO Research Scientist, Dr Dillon has led research on managed aquifer recharge with stormwater and reclaimed water for over a decade. Dr Dillon has 25 years' research experience in surface water - groundwater interaction, groundwater quality protection from diffuse and point sources and agricultural water reuse. He was Director of the Centre for Groundwater Studies during its formative years, and coordinated the Australian Water Conservation and Reuse Research Program. Dr Dillon has undertaken research projects in all Australian states and led international research projects on management of aquifer recharge. He is the founding Chairman of the International Association of Hydrogeologists (IAH) Commission on Management of Aquifer Recharge.

Ed Donohue, Department of Environment & Resource Management
Ed grew up on a dry land dairy farm on the eastern Darling Downs.  After graduating with an Agricultural Engineering Degree from the University of Southern Queensland in 1971 he joined the then Irrigation and Water Supply Commission. Since that time he has worked for the Queensland government department responsible for the management of the water resources of the State.  Ed has been involved in the investigation, design, operation and maintenance of irrigation, drainage and water supply schemes and the planning and management of the water resources of Queensland. After 8 years as the Department’s District Manager in charge of the Burdekin Irrigation Area he returned to Central Queensland in 1997. From 1997 – 2009 as the department’s Regional Manager, Water Services he was involved with the development and implementation of the seven Water Resource Plans and Resource Operations Plans in the Central West Region as well as the Central Queensland Regional Water Supply Strategy. Since 2009 a particular focus of Ed’s work has been involved with the management of water quality issues in the Fitzroy catchment.

John Doyle, Geosensing
John Doyle has worked principally in the Southern Coalfield as a geologist within the BHP operations. He has extensive experience in underground and exploration geology. In recent years his work has led him to develop techniques and competencies relating to the placement of instrumentation in deep exploration boreholes. Concurrently he has developed skills in the grout closure of exploration boreholes, particularly those bores with instrumentation. John was employed for the majority of his professional life by BHP but in more recent years he is a Director of Geosensing Solutions and now provides geological, instrumentation and grouting services to the mining companies of the Southern Coalfield.

Peter Dundon, Dundon Consulting
Peter has over 30 years experience as a groundwater specialist, completing a range of consulting and project management assignments for Mining, Manufacturing, Construction and Government clients, and International Aid Agencies. His clients have been mainly from the mining industry. His mining industry experience includes development of water supplies, design and installation of dewatering and depressurisation schemes for both open cut and underground mines, investigation and solution of groundwater and soil contamination problems, preparation of environmental impact assessment reports, and some specialised services such as solution mining, effluent disposal and artificial recharge of groundwater.
Andrew Durick, AGE Consultants
Andrew is a Senior Groundwater Hydrologist for AGE who specialises in numerical groundwater modelling. He has a Masters of Applied Science in Mathematics from the QUT, achieved through research into nonlinearities in MODFLOW. He also has experince using MODFLOW SURFACT, MODHMS and FEFLOW. Andrew has over 12 years experience in groundwater conceptualisation and numerical modelling, focusing on impact studies from mine and infrastructure development, water allocation and dewatering situations. He joined AGE in 2006 after almost 11 years with the Queensland Department of Natural Resources and Water where he was involved in the technical review and assessment of dewatering impact models in relation to the granting of water licences.

Peter Evans, Origin Energy
Peter is a hydrogeologist & environmental scientist.  Prior to joining the Australian Pacific LNG Project (APLNG) he had over 25 years experience in roles in government & consulting engineering.  His key project experience includes the Burdekin River Irrigation area, Alice Springs to Darwin Railway, feasibility work for recycled water irrigation, groundwater assessments for major sand mass aquifers, drought contingency urban water supplies, mine water supply assessments and more recently coal seam gas hydrology.

Rob Freeman, National Water Commission
As a former senior executive in the Queensland, South Australian and Australian governments, Rob Freeman has a strong and diverse background in public policy, natural resource management and public service. He served as Deputy Director-General of the Queensland Department of Natural Resources and Mines (1998–2002), Chief Executive of the South Australian Department of Water, Land and Biodiversity Conservation (2002–2008), and Chief Executive and member of the Murray-Darling Basin Authority (2008-2011). Rob Freeman has chaired national natural resource management committees and was a commissioner and Deputy President of the former Murray–Darling Basin Commission. He is an acknowledged national expert in water resource planning.

Lindsay Furness, Worley Parsons
Lindsay is a Principal Hydrogeologist with over 30 years’ experience. His key competencies include mine dewatering studies for coal including groundwater modelling to minimise impact of groundwater inflows, oil shale and gold for numerous mines in New South Wales, Queensland, and South Australia. He has extensive experience in project design, management, monitoring and reporting, hazardous waste and environmental assessment. Lindsay has extensive experience in water supplies, water resource management, and groundwater salinity studies for a variety of residential, commercial, agricultural, and industrial developments around the world. Lindsay has executed and managed projects in countries including China, PNG, Tonga, Thailand, Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, Kiribati, Mongolia, East Timor, Malaysia and Australia.

Winton Gale, SCT
Winton is the Managing Director of SCT Operations Pty Ltd, a mining consulting and research group. Winton has established an international reputation as a leader in the development, introduction and application of advanced strata control design techniques and rock bolting technology for underground coal mines, with a proven capability to effectively adapt the technology to various international mining environments. Dr Gale has more than 20 years experience in the international underground coal mining industry. He has a strong background in geomechanics research and development and this experience has been expanded into the field of commercial consulting. He has been personally involved in the development and introduction of leading underground coal mining technology and has an extensive international experience in the application and transfer of the technology throughout a wide range of mining environments. Winton has worked in Australia, Indonesia, India, China, Japan, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Canada, USA, South Africa and Mexico.

Ted Gardner, Central Queensland University
Ted is currently a research fellow for Central Queensland University. He is a former Principal Research Scientist in the Integrated Urban Water Systems group where he lead, with Dr Ashok Sharma, Urban Water Security Research Alliance funded projects into decentralised technologies, and storm water harvesting and reuse in south-east Queensland. Ted was also Principal Scientist with the Queensland Department of Environment and Resource Management, leading the Urban Water Cycle group at the Environment and Resource Sciences Division. He has had 40 years experience in the area of edaphology, irrigation and catchment hydrology/salinity, effluent reuse, and urban water sustainability. His special skill is systems thinking which he has applied to the urban water cycle over the last 15 years.
 George Gates, NSW Office of Water
George is currently Director of Water Management Implementation in the NSW Office of Water, responsible for surface and groundwater management. George has worked mostly for government in his 40 years as a hydrogeologist. He has extensive experience in groundwater exploration and management. He has been writing groundwater policy for the NSW government for the last ten years, a period of significant water reform. George’s special interests are protecting groundwater from pollution, conjunctive  groundwater/surface water  management and setting sustainable diversion limits.

Lindsay Gilbert, Gilbert and Associates
Lindsay is a surface water hydrologist and water resources engineer with some 25 years experience in mine hydrology and mine water management.  He worked for a regulatory authority and several large consulting companies before heading his own specialist consulting company.  His experience covers mining and mineral processing operation through Australia and South East Asia including coal mining projects in the Southern Coalfield, the Hunter and Gloucester Valleys and the Gunnedah Basin in NSW and the Moreton and Bowen Basins in Queensland.  He has appeared before a number of planning inquires and presented expert evidence on mining issues in the Land and Environment Court (NSW) and the Planning and Environment Court (Qld).

Graham Green, SA Dept of Environment, Water & Natural Resources
Graham is a Senior Hydrogeologist with the Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources in South Australia. Graham has worked for the Department since 2006 and manages the Groundwater Modelling and Climate Change group within the Department’s science division. He has worked extensively on studies of fractured rock aquifer hydrogeology in the Mount Lofty Ranges, surface/groundwater interactions in the Great Artesian Basin, and the modelling of climate change impacts on groundwater recharge throughout South Australia. Graham graduated from Flinders University in 2002 and completed his PhD in 2010, studying the effects of varying irrigation, land use and water quality scenarios on water and solute accessions to unconfined aquifers.
Ben Hall, City of Onkaparinga
Ben is currently the Team Leader Water Business for the City of Onkaparinga, South Australia. Ben has worked in Local Government for 12 years, initially as a Landscape Architect and more recently as a Program Leader for the City of Onkaparinga. Through this role he has successfully project managed and delivered the City of Onkaparinga’s $215M Water Proofing the South initiative receiving a variety of industry acknowledgements along the way. With project work nearing completion, in his current role Ben now leads the team responsible for the ongoing operation and management of the City of Onkaparinga’s Water Business supplying alternative water to a variety of users within the local government area.

Rohan Hamden, SA Dept for Environment, Water & Natural Resources
Rohan is the Director of Sustainability and Industry Partnerships in the Sustainability and Climate Change team of the Department of the Environment, Water and Natural Resources. He is responsible for working with community and industry groups to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change. His main focus is on the implementation of South Australia’s Climate Change Adaptation Framework. Rohan is also responsible for the development of sector agreements with industry and community bodies. Rohan’s previous roles were in senior positions in water resources management, land management and emergency management.

David Harriss, NSW Office of Water
David is the Commissioner of the NSW Office of Water that now forms part of the NSW Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water. David is responsible for the overall management of the State’s surface water and groundwater resources. Previously David was Deputy Director General, Water Management of the NSW Department of Water and Energy. From 1996 and 2006 he was Regional Director in the Murray and then Murray-Murrumbidgee region for over ten years. David was the NSW Deputy Commissioner to the Murray-Darling Basin Commission from 1997 – 2008 and is currently represents NSW on the Basin Officials Committee implementing the Murray-Darling Basin Agreements. David has 15 years experience in leading water planning and negotiations on the sharing of water resources at the inter-state and national level.

Paul Harvey, Leda Consulting
Paul has more than 30 years experience in water resources policy development, primarily with State water agencies and more recently as a private consultant.  He has Widespread experience and knowledge in the development and implementation of policies and strategies for groundwater and surface water management, sharing and allocation of resources and for environmental protection. His extensive involvement in major water resources and natural resources management programs include; the Murray-Darling Basin Initiative, the Mount Lofty Ranges Catchment Program (as Program Leader) and the South East Groundwater Quality Management Program. Paul has a B Sc and a Master of Environmental Studies from the University of Adelaide with a thesis entitled ‘Water Quality Management in the South East of South Australia’.

Greg Hausler, Hausler Hydrology
Greg is a civil engineer/hydrologist with over 40 years’ experience in the investigation, hydrologic/hydraulic design, modelling and impact assessment of water engineering related projects. He managed the Surface Water Hydrology Group of the former Queensland Water Resources Commission, which undertook hydrologic investigation and design of water supply projects. More recently he has worked for engineering consultancies employed as Principal Surface Water and Hydraulics Engineer. Projects have included environmental impact assessments, water resources assessments, and hydrologic and hydraulic modelling for design flood estimation. Currently he is self-employed, working on a part-time basis.

Colin Hazel, Groundwater Consultant- QLD
Colin has almost 50 years of experience in water engineering. He is a former Chairman of the Water Resources Management Committee, the Groundwater Committee and the Great Artesian Basin Steering Committee of the Australian Water Resources Council (AWRC). His strengths are in analytical modelling of groundwater resources, pumping test analysis, groundwater hydraulics, groundwater investigation and assessment, managed aquifer recharge, conjunctive use, water resources data collection, and water quality assessment and management. Colin helped prepare the first AWRC Groundwater School which was held in Adelaide in 1965 and was principal lecturer at the AWRC Groundwater Schools in 1973, 1975 and 1978. His lectures were consolidated into a document “Groundwater Hydraulics”, a document which has been used in the groundwater industry since 1973. Since his retirement he has been involved in mentoring young engineers and hydrogeologists who are working in the groundwater industry.

Guna Hewa, School of Natural and Built Environments, UniSA
Guna is the Program Director in the SA Water Centre for Water Management and Reuse at the University of South Australia. Guna has special teaching interests in surface water (Flood and Low Flow) hydrology, Hydraulics and water resources systems modelling courses. She also teaches EPANET, HEC-RAS, RORB and DRAINS software packages as part of water engineering courses. Guna has a PhD in hydrology from The University of Melbourne and honors in Hydrology and Civil Eng from the National University of Ireland and The University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka respectively. Guna is also a member of the Institution of Engineers Australia, the Hydrological Society of South Australia and the Australian Water Association.
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John Higgins, Department of Climate Change & Energy Efficiency
Dr John Higgins is Acting Assistant Secretary, Domestic Adaptation Branch at the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency.  He has worked on climate change adaptation and science since 2004.  He holds a PhD in chemistry and an MA in social studies of science and technology.

Lionel Ho, SA Water
Lionel is a Senior Research Officer at SA Water Corporation, where he leads and is involved in a range of projects and consultancies. Lionel completed his PhD in 2004 from the University of South Australia and has 14 years experience in the water industry. He has expertise in areas including, water treatment, cyanobacteria and aquatic microbiology, and has authored over 100 publications in peer-reviewed journals, book chapters and conference publications. Lionel has won many awards and honours including the 2011 Michael Flynn Award for Best Paper at the Ozwater Conference, 2008 Australian Water Association (AWA) Research & Development Award and 2007 Best Paper in the AWA SA Regional Conference. Lionel is the Vice President and Chair of the AWA SA Branch Committee and sits on the Strategic Advisory Council of the Federal AWA. He also holds senior adjunct positions at the University of Adelaide and University of South Australia.

Richard Hopkins, ICE WaRM
Richard is the Chief Executive of the International Centre of Excellence in Water Resources Management (ICE WaRM). ICE WaRM is an Australian Government initiative, a collaborative centre with five founding universities and many other partners, providing a national focus and international gateway for Australian expertise in education, training and research in water resources management. Richard has a 30-year career in water management in more than 20 countries in Europe, Africa, Middle East, Latin America, East and South-East Asia. Before taking up this role with ICE WaRM he was with the World Bank, Washington, and based in Jakarta for more than five years. He was formerly an executive of a large consulting company, and worked as a specialist in water management with governments, development agencies and the private sector.

Trevor Jacobs, Water Consultant
Trevor recently retired from the position Senior Director River Operations, Murray-Darling Basin Authority, with over 40 years experience in management of the River Murray System. His qualifications are BEng (Hons) from the University of Adelaide and MEngSc from the University of New South Wales. His career started in South Australia with the Engineering and Water Supply Department, moving to Canberra with the River Murray Commission, the Murray-Darling Basin Commission and the Murray-Darling Basin Authority. He has been responsible for controlling and managing the River Murray System to meet multiple objectives across multiple jurisdictions. Trevor was also Project Manager of the Living Murray initiative which achieved agreement on 500 GL of environmental water. Most recently he has contributed to change management associated with unprecedented drought, environmental water management and flood control. He also serves on the Climate Change Committee of the International Committee on Large Dams.
 
Anne Jensen, University of Adelaide
Anne is an environmental consultant with extensive experience in natural resources management particularly relating to water issues and the environment. She is a visiting Scientist to the new Water Research Centre at the University of Adelaide. Previously Anne was CEO of WetlandCare Australia, a not-for-profit conservation company which has coordinated multiple wetland projects in South Australia, New South Wales and Queensland.  She has strong international networks in wetland and natural resource management through involvement with Ramsar, UNESCO, Ducks Unlimited, and government agencies in the UK, USA, Canada and Denmark.

Andrew Johnson, SA Dept for Environment, Water & Natural Resources
Andrew has over 35 years’ experience in natural resource and environmental management working in environmental impact assessment, soil conservation and land management, landcare, dryland salinity and more recently water policy and legislative reform. He has considerable experience in national policy development having chaired a range of national working groups on matters such as Environmental Management Systems in Agriculture, Community Engagement and Indigenous Capacity Building. He is currently the Executive Director of the Major Projects Division within DEWNR. He is the past-President of the Border Groundwaters Advisory Committee. Andrew was awarded a Public Service Medal by the Governor-General for service to the environment and natural resources management on Australia Day 2012 as part of the Australian Honours and Awards System.

Gary Jones, eWater CRC
Gary is the Chief Executive of eWater Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) and of eWater Limited, and a Director of eWater Innovation Pty. Ltd, eWater’s customer support arm. Professor Jones is also Chairman of the International Riverfoundation (IRF), a charitable organisation dedicated to the restoration and protection of the world’s rivers. The IRF awards annually the Thiess International Riverprize, the most valauable water award in the world. Gary has extensive experience in real-world environment and water management. During 2003-4, he chaired the Living Murray Scientific Reference Panel for the Murray-Darling Basin Commission, which supported the provision of 500 gigalitres of environmental water to the River Murray system, the largest single environmental water decision in Australia’s history.  He remains a trusted advisor to Commonwealth and State governments across Australia on matters related to water science and the environment.

Jaya Kandasamy, University of Technology Sydney
Jaya is a specialist in computational hydraulics and well known for the HEC-RAS courses presented around Australia and overseas over the last 13 years. He has considerable experience in a wide range of hydraulic models and has published in leading international journals. Prior to joining UTS he was employed in the NSW Government for a period of 14 years most recently in the Department of Natural Resources, his principal activity involved providing the department with high level technical modelling capability in support of the departments programs.
Ben Kele, Midell Water
Ben is the Director of Midell Water and completing his PhD at Central Queensland University. Ben lectures in ICEWaRM Master’s program; teaching the core course Global Water Systems II: The Engineered Water Cycle. His research has focused on the management of sodium adsorption ratio (SAR) and salinity in water treatment. He has developed, patented and successfully commercialised two treatment technologies. Through Midell Water Ben is involved in the design, construction, and operation of treatment facilities and reuse schemes. Ben has been actively researching the reduction of SAR, salinity, and other contaminants of concern in Associated Water with a number of Coal Seam Gas companies. Ben has a Bachelor of Applied Science and has completed his Master’s by research in Decentralised Wastewater Treatment.

Jim Kelly, Arris
Jim is Director of Arris Pty Ltd, a group with a unique mix of science, agriculture, communications education and training, specialising in the beneficial and sustainable management of wastewater in the environment. He is seen as a leader in the use of recycled water producing a wide range of publications to assist in the sustainable use of this resource. A key feature of Jim’s work has been in the research and assessment of recycled water irrigation and large scale agriculture projects. Undertaking triple bottom-line assessments including; baseline studies, land capability and environmental risk assessments, compliance and regulatory reporting for a wide range of agricultural, water and mining industry projects.

Greg Laves, Griffith University
Greg is the Deputy Program Leader of the Smart Water Research Centre’s Integrated Urban Water Management Program.  Greg has been involved in climate change and water research since 2007, as coordinator of research and teaching at the Sunshine Coast University’s Climate Change, Coasts and Catchment Unit. It was also during this time that he undertook a Master’s Program in Climate Change Adaptation, becoming one of the first in the world to gain formal qualifications in the field of climate change. Greg has led numerous research programs examining the impacts of climate change on the natural and built environments. He has a particular interest and expertise in adaptation in the urban water sector. He is currently undertaking a PhD at Griffith University where he is examining  the resilience of urban water policies to changing social and climatic conditions.

Charles Lawrence, University of Melbourne
Charles is an Honorary Senior Fellow and Senior Lecturer in hydrogeology, Melbourne Uni. He gained a doctorate in 1972 at Melbourne Uni. Charles initially worked for the Groundwater Section of the Victorian Geological Survey, and for a decade spanning the 1970’s and 1980’s was head of the Groundwater Section. He was the inaugural vice-president of the Australian Chapter of the International Association of Hydrogeologists (IAH). His international experience spans Latin America, Asia and the Middle East. Charles headed the United Nations Low-Latitude Desert Project, was the Technical Director of UNDP project of the Norte Grande of Chile. Charles is a millennium member of IAH, and a member of the Geological Society of Australia and the Royal Society of Victoria. Dr Lawrence’s special interests are groundwater education, resource evaluation and management, groundwater contamination and control of salinity in the Murray Basin.
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Ross Law, Sydney Water
Ross has over 40 years service with Sydney Water, working in a variety of customer-focused roles. For the past 15 years, he has been an integral part of Sydney Water's education tours program. He currently conduct tours at 11 of Sydney Water's sites, including water filtration and wastewater treatment plants for a wide range of audiences. 

Tony Laws, Water Consultant- WA
Tony Laws has been involved in the water industry for more than 45 years and has worked extensively throughout Australia.  He worked for more than 4 years in Darwin working on several groundwater investigations, 3 years in Canberra working on both groundwater investigations and engineering and urban geology projects, and 3 years in Sydney as a groundwater consultant, involved in projects in Queensland, NSW, Victoria and South Australia. In 1977 he moved to Western Australia to join the Geological Survey, becoming Assistant Director in 1995. Tony represented the Geological Survey and the Department of Water on the Board of the Centre for Groundwater Studies, and was actively involved in the CGS Groundwater Schools and other International training programs. Tony retired in 2007, but has retained a strong involvement in education since then.

Leon Leach, DSITIA
Leon is the Principal Project Officer, Science Delivery for the Queensland Department of Science, Information Technology, Innovation and the Arts (DSITIA).  Leon been involved professionally for  over 41 years in the water management arena, with vast practical and operational experience in all aspects of groundwater including  drilling investigation, conceptualisation, pump test analyses, modelling, groundwater-surface water interaction, recharge,  and regional assessments, through to  implementation of water management plans.  He has worked and lived in most locations throughout QLD, initially as a Cadet, as an hydrologist and then as Operational Manager.   He is presently involved in overseeing the state wide delivery of groundwater related science for DSITIA relating to the Great Artesian Basin, Water Resources Plans, coal seam gas and other major mining projects.  He is also often called upon as an expert witness.   Leon has been a lecturer at groundwater schools since 1992 and is the principal author of the lecture notes on Groundwater Hydraulics. 

Rod Lehmann, Water Strategies
Rod is a Director of Water Strategies Pty Ltd a company that he set up in 2007 to provide consulting services to local and state government and private industry in the water and wastewater area.  Rod is also a Director on the Healthy Waterways Board and is a Past Federal President of the Australian Water Association.  Rod has over forty years experience working for consultants and water authorities in Australia and overseas in water and wastewater engineering. In recent years Rod has provided inputs to planning and procurement phases for a range of water and wastewater projects in Queensland.  He has extensive experience in water recycling for both potable and non-potable purposes and was involved in a number of significant water recycling initiatives in Australia (eg Wide Bay Water, Lockyer Valley and Darling Downs, Toowoomba, ACTEW, and South Caboolture).

Yvette Lewis, SCT
Yvette is an Engineering Geologist at Strata Control Technology based in Wollongong. She has been consulting to the underground coal industry for nearly 10 years and has been involved in numerous hydro-geological and geotechnical investigations over that time. Yvette’s hydrological investigations have involved acquisition of field data, analysis and interpretation using the latest field techniques, and interpretation of results using 2D and 3D analysis software. Yvette has been involved in key hydrological projects in the Bowen Basin, Liverpool Plains, Hunter Valley and Southern Coalfield. Yvette has also presented a paper on using Helium as a tool to measure overburden conductivity above longwall panels.

Terry Lucke, University of the Sunshine Coast
Terry is a senior lecturer in Civil Engineering at the University of the Sunshine Coast in Queensland.  Previously, he was the Program Director in the SA Water Centre for Water Management and Reuse at the University of South Australia, where he also did is phd research investigating the role of aeration in siphonic roof systems. Terry has over 10 years experience in the water industry.

Darryl Lloyd, Sydney Water
Darryl has twenty years experience in urban water. His economics and business management background led him to roles in capital works planning, business planning, marketing and product development. He spent a year in Fiji as a management consultant setting up the Fiji Water Corporation. Darryl currently leads Sydney Water’s Recycled Water Development team, informing recycling strategy and developing recycling projects.

Peter Makris, Lucas
Peter is Technical Manager Water Treatment & Membrane Technology, AJ Lucas. Peter has a background in developing and delivering innovative solutions in the area of waste and process water in both the industrial and water authority markets. He has over 24 years experience in the water industry, with the last 9 years focused on membrane and ion exchange technologies. He is currently focused on; developing an innovative integrated water disposal solution for the CSG industry, introducing into Australia the latest MBR technology from China, and providing technical and commercial support to Major Projects such as Perth Desal 2 (A$1.0B) and Mundaring WTP (A$200M).
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Neil Manewell, AGE Consultants
Neil has over 5 years’ experience as a groundwater modeller/hydrogeologist, working on coal, iron ore, and gold projects in both Australia and overseas. Neil’s experience has concentrated on groundwater modelling studies and monitoring bore installation programs to support environmental approvals for the resource sector. His skills include: Groundwater modelling using MODFLOW, SURFACT, MODHMS, NWT; Parameter optimisation (PEST); Exposure to uncertainty analysis; FORTRAN programing; designing monitoring networks to collect groundwater level and water quality data; field investigations including drilling supervision, installation of water level monitoring equipment and sampling for major ion chemistry and environmental isotopes; interpretation of water level and quality data; developing conceptual models of groundwater regimes; preparing technical reports for Environmental Assessments and Audits.

Russell Martin, Australian Groundwater Technologies
Russell has over 25 years experience as a Geologist and Hydrogeologist, specializing in petrophysicsfor reservoir characterisation and groundwater resource assessment, development and management. He has extensive management and consulting experience in Australia, and is recognised nationally and internationally as a technical specialist in the area of managed aquifer recharge (MAR). Russell has extensive experience in the areas of hydrological assessments of regional and local groundwater systems. During his time as Manager of the Groundwater Group at the Department of Water Land and Biodiversity Conservation (DWLBC) he held numerous committee positions that included the National Groundwater Committee, the Murray Darling Basin Groundwater Technical Committee and Chairman of the State Aquifer Storage and Recovery Coordinating Committee.

Tony Marszalek, Gilbert and Associates
Tony has built up 25 years’ experience in projects relating to water resources, mining and civil and environmental engineering. His experience has included planning, design, cost estimation and construction supervision of dams, water supplies and hydraulic structures, water resource evaluation/feasibility planning, water and sediment control management design and planning, water quality and environmental studies, the design and operation of meteorological, hydrographic and water quality monitoring networks, computer modelling of ground and surface water resources/supplies and study of groundwater recharge systems. He has participated in the production of several environmental impact statements (EIS)/environmental assessments (EA) and subsequent environmental hearings. Mr Marszalek has experience throughout Australia, South-East Asia and The Pacific.

Henry McCarthy, AGE Consultants
Henry has 3 years’ experience as a consultant in the groundwater industry within Australia. Henry’s experience has concentrated on managing groundwater studies to support environmental approvals for the resource sector. His skills include: designing monitoring networks to collect groundwater level and water quality data; field investigations including drilling supervision, installation of water level monitoring equipment and sampling for major ion chemistry and environmental isotopes; interpretation of water level and quality data; supervision and analysis of pumping tests; developing conceptual models of groundwater regimes; preparing technical reports for Environmental Assessments and Audits. 

Jenifer McKay, University of South Australia
Professor McKay has researched, taught, consulted on water resource management and law issues throughout Australia and in India and the USA and is a part time Commissioner of the SA Environment, Resources and Development Court.  In 2008, she worked on the United Nations Expo 2008, and held a senior Fulbright at Berkeley. She has a BA Hons (Melbourne), LLB Adelaide, PhD (Melbourne) and Diploma in Human Rights Law from an American University in 2009. Her future research will be on groundwater laws and policies for the National Centre of Excellence for Groundwater Research and Training and human rights in relation to water.

Wendy McLean, OTEK
Wendy has over 10 years’ experience in hydrogeology, with a particular focus on the use of hydrogeochemical, environmental isotope and applied tracer techniques. She is currently a Principal Hydrogeologist with OTEK. Wendy has been involved in many projects investigating water quality, groundwater contamination, salinity, coal seam gas development, longwall mining and other mining related hydrogeological issues, groundwater-surface water linkages and water resource supply. She is currently involved in an ARC Linkage Project, trialling novel isotopic methods for assessing aquifer and surface water linkages and several Compound Specific Isotope Analysis (CSIA) studies relating to groundwater contamination and Coal Seam Gas. Wendy is also involved in a number of projects investigating water quality and groundwater dependent ecosystems for coal mining and CSG development.

Lisa Mensforth, SA Dept for Environment, Water & Natural Resources
Lisa is the Deputy Director Science for the SA Department for Environment, Water and Natural Resources. Lisa has been in the water management field for seventeen years, working initially in planning and policy and more recently in science leadership. She is responsible for ensuring that science is undertaken to support state-wide water policy and planning through effective partnerships across government and the research sector.

Noel Merrick, Heritage Computing
Noel is a highly regarded industry consulting professional who also has a long and eminent background in research, lecturing and mentoring PhD and Masters students. Noel is a groundwater modeller, hydrogeologist and geophysicist with 40 years professional experience in groundwater management issues and policies. He retired in 2009 as Associate Professor at the University of Technology, Sydney, where he was Director of the National Centre for Groundwater Management. He is past Vice President of the International Association of Hydrogeologists, and recently finished a term as Associate Editor of the leading international Hydrogeology Journal. Noel has engaged in research projects with the Aquaculture, Rice, Cotton and Contaminant Cooperative Research Centres (CRCs). As a consultant, he has undertaken many model-based environmental impact studies for major infrastructure, resource and mining projects. Currently, Noel is a modelling advisor to the Commonwealth government and to four State governments.

Wayne Meyer, The University of Adelaide
Wayne is an Irrigation, Crop and Resource Management Scientist. He has lead research in irrigation scheduling systems and developed a range of experimental facilities for studying crop response at both the 'wet' and 'dry' end of the irrigation cycle. In recent times his work has included; sustainable farming systems, precision agriculture techniques and modelling natural resource management systems. Prof Meyer was previously Deputy Chief and Business Director for CSIRO Land and Water, Chief Scientist and Interim CEO of the CRC Irrigation Futures and instigated the Lower Murray Landscape Futures (LMLF) project. Wayne is now Chair of Natural Resource Science at Adelaide University. Prof Meyer has developed systems wide research programs that explore the management options for improving agricultural productivity while conserving and restoring natural ecosystems.

Hugh Middlemis, RPS Aquaterra
Hugh is Senior Principal at RPS Aquaterra in Adelaide, responsible for leadership in groundwater modelling.  Hugh is a civil engineer with a masters degree in hydrology and hydrogeology and more than 30 years Australian and international experience. He is one of Australia’s leading groundwater modelling specialists, with more than 20 years in that field.  His specialist interest is stream-aquifer interactions, floodplain processes and irrigation and related salinity management.  He has managed development of flow and solute transport models for several highly developed catchments in south-eastern Australia that have survived the rigours of independent review. Hugh is principal author of the MDBC Groundwater Flow Modelling Guidelines, was awarded a Churchill Fellowship in 2004 to benchmark guidelines against international best practice, and is currently on the NWC steering committee to update the guidance.

Ken Mills, SCT
Ken has 32 years experience as a geotechnical engineer working in the field of rock mechanics associated with underground coal mines. He has wide experience in geotechnical research and consulting work, in Australia and internationally. Ken has specialised in measurement and monitoring of subsidence behavior and stress changes around longwall panels, and measurement and control of the ground movements within the overburden strata including interaction with groundwater. His work has included collaboration with CSIRO in pioneering the use of hydraulic fracturing to pre-condition and control overburden caving behavior. Ken has worked at Strata Control Technology since 1990 as a senior geotechnical engineer and is a director of the operating company SCT Operations Pty Ltd. He has been a board member of the Mine Subsidence Technological Society since 1997 and also assisted the setup of Eastern Australian Ground Control Group to provide a forum for exchange of geotechnical experience across mine sites in Eastern Australia.
Daryl Nielsen,CSIRO
Daryl is a senior research scientist with CSIRO based at the Murray-Darling Freshwater Research Centre. Daryl has worked on a variety of projects investigating the ecology of lowland rivers and their associated floodplains and wetlands with a emphasis on how dormant propagules of aquatic plants and invertebrates confer resilience to ephemeral systems. Dr Daryl Nielsen’s current activities include examination of the impacts of secondary salinisation on dormant eggs and seeds of aquatic organisms. This research has shown that increasing salinisation of freshwater will have an impact on the emergence of aquatic animals and plants, which will reduce the amount of food resources and habitat within aquatic ecosystems.

Vanessa O'Keefe, Consultant
Vanessa has been intimately involved in water policy and planning for 17 years, both in practice as a former senior manager in the (now) NSW Office of Water, and as an independent consultant for the past 7 years. Vanessa held positions as Groundwater Manager, and as Manager Water Planning and Management during the development of the initial 36 water sharing plans in NSW. She was closely involved in the development of the NSW State Groundwater policies, the NSW Water Management Act 2000, and the NSW contribution to the development of the NWI. Since leaving the public sector she has provided advice to Governments in Australia and the Asia-Pacific region on water legislation, governance, and entitlement and management frameworks, for both surface water and groundwater.

Rod Oliver, CSIRO
Rod is Research Program Leader of the Catchment Biogeochemistry and Aquatic Ecology Program in CSIRO Land and Water and an Associate Professor at Adelaide University. He is an aquatic ecologist with 25 years research experience focused on river and lake biology and water quality. He has led major projects for the Murray-Darling Basin Commission, Land & Water Australia, the Cooperative Research Centre for Freshwater Ecology and CSIRO’s Water for a Healthy Country Flagship. Recent studies address issues associated with identifying the quantity and supply of environmental water to support sustainable aquatic ecosystems within the Murray Darling Basin.

Alex O'Mara, NSW Department of Trade and Investment
Alex is the Manager of Natural Resources Law in the NSW Department of Trade and Investment. She leads a team of lawyers in providing legal services in the areas of water, marine parks, catchment management and land use planning. Prior to her current role, she was Manager of Legislation and Implementation at the NSW Office of Water. Alex has a Masters in Administrative Law and Policy from the University of Sydney. She has worked in both the public and private sectors, specialising in environmental and public law. Alex is an expert in water law and policy. She is responsible for delivering key water reform projects, providing advice to government on key legal issues and negotiating intergovernmental agreements. Alex has been involved in many of the key issues in water management in the past 5 years, including developing a new framework for water shepherding in NSW, the aquifer inteference policy, rolling out water sharing plans across NSW and advising the NSW government on the Murray Darling Basin Plan.

Rob O'Neill, NSW Office of Water
Rob is the Director, Water Policy and Planning for the NSW Office of Water (NOW) within the NSW Government. Rob has been in the water management field for 23yrs, working initially in hydrology and river basin modelling and more recently in leading NSW water policy and planning. He is responsible for delivering state-wide water policy, including the upcoming Aquifer Interference Regulation, water sharing plans across NSW and co-ordinates NOW’s assessment of the water-related impacts of major projects including coal mines and coal seam gas projects.

Jaques Ostrowski, Sydney Water
Jaques is a water treatment technical specialist with 5 years of experience at Sydney Water, primarily focusing on water quality and optimisation of treatment processes. Recently he has been seconded as the Program Coordinator of the Smart Utility Program to drive innovation and business excellence across the organisation, through an increased alignment of Business Intelligence with business processes. As a past chairman he also sits on the executive committee for the NSW Australian Water Association Young Water Professionals (AWA YWPs) to help engage, represent, service, and inspire young professionals in the water industry. Jaques is an advocate for the next generation of water professionals and firmly believes that through leveraging their novel, innovative, and creative ideas that the water industry will evolve to meet a smarter, and brighter tomorrow.

Sanjeev Pandey, Queensland Water Commission
Sanjeev is a hydrogeologist with nearly 17 years of public and private sectors experience in groundwater resource management in Australia and southern Africa. He is currently the Director of Projects at the Queensland Water Commission’s Coal Seam Gas water unit and is leading the development of first cumulative groundwater impact assessment and reporting for the Surat and Southern Bowen basins. In his previous role at Qld DERM, Sanjeev was intimately involved in the development of strategic policy, legislation and implementation framework for the management of groundwater impacts from proposed extraction of Coal Seam Gas water in Queensland. Sanjeev also lead development of a number of groundwater management related policy initiatives to support water resource planning framework in Queensland. He particularly played a lead role in the management of the Great Artesian Basin (GAB) including development of the GAB Water Resource Plan (WRP) and Resource Operations Plan (ROP) in 2006.
Steve Perrens, Evans & Peck
Steve is and environmental engineer with over 40 years experience in consulting and applied research related to water resource assessment, engineering hydrology, pollution control and natural resource management. In particular, Steve has extensive experience in surface water management, erosion control and pollution control for mines and quarries. Steve’s consulting experience in mine water management covers most states in Australia and projects in Indonesia and PNG, with particular emphasis on coal mines. Steve is the author of over 80 technical publications in journals and conference proceedings.  He has provided specialist advice to all levels of government as well as a range of international agencies and has served as a panel member for the NSW Planning Assessment Commission. He has also prepared and given expert evidence to the NSW District Court, Supreme Court, Land & Environment Court and Commissions of Inquiry.

Ian Prosser, CSIRO
Dr Ian Prosser is the Science Director for the Water for a Healthy Country Flagship Program in CSIRO.  The Program has over 300 research staff working across Australia to improve management of water resources for urban, rural and environmental uses.  Ian has 20 years research experience on catchment hydrology and water quality, and is the editor and author of CSIRO’s recently published book Water: Science and Solutions for Australia. Dr Prosser’s research interests include: catchment hydrology and science for regional catchment management and large scale sediment transport and river geomorphology. Ian holds the following qualifications a Bachelor of Science with Honours in Physical geography from the University of New South Wales and a Doctor of Philosophy in Geomorphology, from the Australian National University.

John Radcliffe, CSIRO
John is an Honorary Research Fellow in CSIRO, Member of National Centre for Groundwater Research and Training (NCGRT), Advisory Board, a former Commissioner of the National Water Commission, Council Member of Adelaide Uni, Chairman of the Commonwealth Dept of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry “Eminent Scientists Group” and a Board Member of Earthwatch Australia. John has previous roles as; Deputy Chief Executive of CSIRO, the SA Director-General of Agriculture, Chairman of the SA Centre for Natural Resources Management and was Chair of the Board of the SA Research and Development Institute. From 1985 to 1992, John was involved with establishing the Murray Darling Basin Commission in its present form, being an SA Deputy Commissioner 1985-90, and SA Commissioner from 1991-3. John has a Centenary of Federation Medal 2003 - for his service to Australian society in environmental science and technology, a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) 2001- for his contribution to natural resource management and a Order of Australia Medal (OAM) 1987 - for his personal contribution to the development of museums in SA.

Jody Redfern, Sydney Water
Jody has over 30 years’ experience in the water industry with a focus on finance, benefits management and business improvement. He has previously reengineered finance and Shared Service functions and managed a range of organisational transformational projects.  In his current role of Business Improvement Manager he co-ordinates cross organisational improvement programs, is implementing a business process model and is deploying an innovation strategy for the business.

John Ross, AGL Energy
John is Manager Hydrogeology with the Upstream Gas Division of AGL Energy.  He has more than 35 years experience in hydrogeology and he joined AGL in 2010 after spending more than 12 years with consultants PPK – Parsons Brinckerhoff in many water resource and contaminated site project roles. Between 2005 and 2010 John worked with Sydney Catchment Authority to manage and deliver the NSW Government’s groundwater investigation and borefield development projects for emergency drought water supplies for Sydney under the Metropolitan Water Plan. At AGL he is currently managing a variety of high-profile groundwater investigations to assist coal seam gas developments in the Hunter and at Gloucester. These range from basin-wide studies to complex drilling and monitoring programs, and produced water management projects. He also provides strategic advice to AGL on water policy, and is responsible for water regulatory negotiations and associated compliance reporting. 

Django Seccombe, Sydney Water
Django is an environmental engineer out of Newcastle University, with 7 years professional experience across the water industry. His experience ranges from hydraulic modelling and process design to strategy development across water and wastewater services. Django began his career in the water branch of NSW Department of Public Works before moving to the Black and Veatch UK  to work on projects with Thames Water and Anglian Water. On his return from the UK, he joined Sydney Water where he is currently involved in sustainability and strategic planning. Much of his recent work has been in influencing infrastructure decisions through provision of good data, decision support processes and technical tools.
Mark Siebentritt, ICE WaRM
An ecologist by trade, Mark`s PhD was undertaken at the University of Adelaide looking at the influence of wetting and drying on wetland plants across the River Murray in south-eastern Australia. Prior to working as CEO of the Waterfind Environment Fund (2007-2008) he worked in a number of positions at the Murray-Darling Basin Commission including as a river operator and in the position of Senior Manager, Environmental Delivery where he coordinated the development of policy, planning, monitoring and reporting arrangements for The Living Murray. Mark was also a lead author in the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2001 to 2005), assessing the consequences of ecosystem change for human well-being.  

Larry Sirmans, MDB Energy
Larry has in excess of 20 years of worldwide industry experience in industrial process and high value project delivery. He has worked and consulted in a diverse range of industries including: steel, automotive, packaging, mining, oil & gas, and Biofuels. Larry has successfully completed projects in Australia, North America, South America, Africa, Europe and Asia. Larry began his career as a field Engineer with a division of the Verson group based in Chicago Illinois. From there he progressed to larger scale project management for various entities such as the ISCOR group in South Africa, Bao Shan Steel China, BHP/BLUESCOPE Steel, BMA, General Motors, VISY and TYCO to name a few. Larry's educational and professional qualifications include A Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering (Automated Systems Engineering). Additionally Larry is a project management professional with the Project Management Institute.

Steve Short, Ecoengineers
Steve is an industrial chemist, geochemist and hydrogeologist with 40 years experience in industrial and mining process water and hydrometallurgical treatment and groundwater investigations and management. Steve worked as a senior research scientist in isotope geochemistry for 11 years at the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), completing a PhD on the geochemistry and hydrogeology of un-mined uranium ore bodies. Steve founded the consultancy Ecoengineers in 1999 and has provided services to many projects around the world, often as an expert subconsultant to major Australian engineering consultancies such as SKM, SMEC, Hatch and the Cardno Group. Steve has also helped pioneer many large, MAR schemes in the western US. He has provided consulting services to BHP Billiton, Gujarat NRE and Xstrata in relation to coal mining in the NSW Hunter Valley and Southern coalfields. Steve is the author or co-author of over 60 peer reviewed papers and book chapters, numerous conference presentations and over 250 major consultancy reports.
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Claire Stephenson, AGE Consultants
Claire Stephenson is a hydrogeologist with a BSc and BFor and has 6 years’ experience in the consulting industry. Claire has been with AGE for the last 3 years, working and developing skills that include: developing conceptual models of groundwater regimes; groundwater modelling using MODFLOW SURFACT; preparing technical reports that meet the requirements of all stakeholders including the client, regulators and landholders; designing monitoring networks to collect groundwater level and water quality data; field investigations including drilling supervision, installation of water level monitoring equipment and sampling (level and quality); interpretation of water level and quality data; preparing technical reports for Environmental Assessments, annual reviews, REFs and Audits; project management.

Daryl Stevens, ATURA
Daryl has worked extensively for the National Environmental Protection Council as Coordinator and Scientific Services for the Environmental Risk component of the Australian Guidelines for Water Recycling. Has also consulted extensively in developing land suitability assessments and environmental management plans for a range of rural and urban reuse schemes. Dr Stevens specialises in risk assessments using a range of modelling techniques. He has also led research projects in the runoff and lateral movement in soils of stormwater from micro-catchments. Dr Stevens has an excellent track record on the management and delivery of integrated research outcomes for Atura and with his previous employers: Arris Pty Ltd, University of Adelaide and CSIRO Land and Water. He has extensive research and project management experience including the management of several large research projects integrated across industry, government authorities and research sectors.
 
Greg Tarrant, Metropolitan Coal- Peabody Energy
Greg has been the Technical Services Manager at Metropolitan Mine since mid 2006 following 20 years consulting in underground coal mining geomechanics. Greg’s first task at Metropolitan Mine was to investigate methods to restore surface flows to a stream impacted by longwall subsidence. In 2008/2009 Greg was heavily involved in the NSW Part3A Approval process and has been responsible for coordinating the scientific investigations required to support Metropolitan’s future proposed mining within the Woronora Dam Notification Area.  The proposed mining intersects the fields of mining, geology, surface hydrology, groundwater hydrology, geomechanics and most significantly, politics. Greg has also played a key role in the development of a method to emplace coal mine rejects underground.  The technology that was proven in 2011 with obvious environmental and community benefits may also lead to methods of subsidence reduction.

James Tomlin, AGE Consultants
James is a Principal and Director of AGE Consultants. He has a BSc and MSc in Hydrogeology and Groundwater Management and 16 years’ experience in the consulting industry. Over the last 12 ½ years with AGE James has concentrated on managing groundwater studies to support environmental approvals and water supply projects for the resource and government sectors. His skills include: identifying key risks and data gaps for projects; designing cost effective field programs to collect essential data; developing conceptual models of groundwater regimes; assisting in development of numerical models; advising clients on legislative requirements relating to groundwater and preparing technical reports that meet the requirements of all stakeholders including the client, regulators and landholders.

Garry Tong, Computational Fluid Mechanics
Garry is Founder, Director and Principal Engineer of Computational Fluid Mechanics (CFM), a research consultancy which specializes in the development and application of state-of-the-art modelling in environmental hydrodynamics and geophysical fluid dynamics. Spring-boarding from almost 6 years of postgraduate training in Europe, Garry has been principal researcher for CFMs’ software development and engineering consultancies for over three decades, predominantly in the coastal zone. In recent years he has worked in catchment modelling using high resolution satellite imagery and GIS to enable CFM to offer services from catchment to coast. His current research is in the finite element modelling of mesoscale processes in the stratified ocean as part of the next generation of climate models. His professional interests are in fostering sound numerical modelling practice in all areas of computational fluid dynamics.

Simon Toze, CSIRO
Dr Simon Toze is a Principal Research Scientist with CSIRO Land and Water in the Urban and Industrial Water research theme. His current principal research focus is on the reuse of water in urban environments, in particular involving managed aquifer recharge and indirect potable reuse. A microbiologist by training, he has a range of research interests which include: studying the fate and behaviour of microbial pathogens in recycled and environmental water, the influence of groundwater micro-organisms on the biogeochemistry of aquifers and the development of rapid and accurate molecular based methods for the detection and enumeration of viable microbial pathogens in environmental water samples. Dr Toze has responsibility for the management and research direction of research projects with a combined value of more than A$6 million. He previously worked at the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, and the University of Illinois, USA. Dr Toze obtained his Doctorate in Microbiology from the University of Queensland in 1992.
Joanne Vanderzalm, CSIRO
Joanne is a Research Scientist within the CSIRO Water for a Healthy Country Flagship’s Sustainable Water Systems stream. Her research interests include geochemical processes associated with Managed Aquifer Recharge, including natural treatment during aquifer storage, metal mobilisation, and using environmental tracers to assess reaction processes. She contributed to geochemical aspects within the national guidelines for Managed Aquifer Recharge in 2009. Prior to joining CSIRO in 2003, Joanne worked in industrial and environmental chemistry for the State Electricity Commission of Victoria.

Arthur Waddington, MSEC
Arthur has worked for 49 years in his chosen profession as a Civil Engineer, including 11 years in Local Government, 3 years in the civil engineering contracting industry and 35 years as an engineering consultant. The last 33 years of his career have been associated with the mining industry and mine subsidence engineering. In 1996 Arthur began developing his own consultancy company called Mine Subsidence Engineering Consultants Pty Ltd in 2003. The company has successfully completed more than 500 studies into the impacts of mine subsidence on surface infrastructure and natural features. Arthur has also made presentations on mine subsidence impacts to a number of government Inquiries and has been responsible for the preparation of evidence on mine subsidence issues as an expert witness to the Supreme Court, the District Court, the Land and Environment Court and the Land and Resources Tribunal in Queensland. Arthur has also been responsible for major research projects, funded by ACARP grants and in 2009 received an ACARP Research Excellence Award.
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Todd Wallace, The University of Adelaide
Todd is a Research Fellow within the Water Research Centre at The University of Adelaide, with 14 years experience working in freshwater and marine environments. A key area of research interest is integrated, multi-disciplinary research on  the ecological processes that determine outcomes resulting from the use of environmental water. This involves furthering our understanding of the biogeochemical processes that need to occur for the condition of higher order trophic levels (e.g. fish, birds, vegetation) to improve, and the impacts that failure to manage for biogeochemical processes can have on ability to meet management objectives. Todd has been lead or co-author on more than 40 reports with a specific focus on environmental assessment and management of floodplain and aquatic environments within the Murray-Darling Basin.

Peter Waterman, University of the Sunshine Coast
Peter is a geographer-environmental planner with over 40 years professional experience working for governments, universities and the private sector. He has been actively engaged as a practitioner on adapting to changing climatic conditions since the late 1980’s. This has included: assessing the vulnerability of Naval Port infrastructure to sea level rise and related environmental changes from 1987- 2009; leading the National Coastal Vulnerability Project from 1992-97; being the Coordinator of Climate Change, Coasts and Catchments and leader of the postgraduate program in climate change adaptation at the University of the Sunshine Coast between 2002-2010; and a Member of the inaugural management team for the National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility from 2009-2011. His professional work has encompassed: statutory planning, intergovernmental relations, environmental research, public and environmental health and environmental management. Peter has carried out work in the fields of environmental impact assessment and climate change vulnerability and adaptation risk assessments throughout Australia and overseas.

John Williams, NSW Office of Water
John is a hydrogeologist with the NSW Office of Water (NOW) within the NSW Government. John has been in the groundwater assessment and project management field for 15 years, working in areas of groundwater vulnerability and availability mapping, aquifer risk assessments, licensing, water sharing, plan development and more recently in the identification and mapping of groundwater dependent ecosystems within the coastal aquifers of NSW. John is responsible for the groundwater technical assessment of major projects, predominantly coal mine and Coal Seam Gas activities within the Hunter Valley and Central Coast. Responsibilities as regional hydrogeologist include the production of technical reports that aid in delivering the State’s commitments under the National Water Initiative and NSW Water Management Act 2000.

Simon Williams, NSW Office of Water
Simon is the Environmental Water Manager for the NSW Office of Water. As a senior aquatic scientist with over 20 years experience. Simon has predominantly focussed on environmental water science and management in unregulated stream/rivers, the Snowy Mountains and the metropolitan waterways. Simon has led integrated hydro-ecological programs defining environmental water requirements, and research programs to measure the outcomes of environmental water allocation strategies. He has also been a member of NSW water management committees, the Shoalhaven Scientific Advisory Panel, the Snowy Water Technical Advisory Panel and Regional Panels in developing environmental water strategies.

Helen Wilson, Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency
Helen is the First Assistant Secretary- Adaptation Science and Communications Division, within the Australian Government Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency.  In this role Helen is responsible for the development of policy to address key market and regulatory barriers to adaptation.  Helen also held the position of Project Director to Professor Ross Garnaut during the update in 2011 to the Garnaut Climate Change Review.  Prior to joining the Department, Helen was the Manger of the Monetary and Fiscal Policy Unit at The Treasury and has held the position of Senior Economic Adviser within the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet.  Helen holds a degree in Economics and a Bachelor of Arts (political science major).  She began her career as a Treasury Analyst within investment bank NM Rothschild & Sons where she worked for seven years in both Sydney and London.

Mike Young, The University of Adelaide
Mike holds a Research Chair in Water Economics and Management at the University of Adelaide, was the Founding Executive Director of its Environment Institute, is a fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences and the Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society. A Member of the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists, in 2006, Mike Young was awarded Australia’s premiere water research prize – the Land and Water Australia Eureka Award for Water Research. He has completed leading preparation of a chapter on global water management for a UNEP report on Green Economies. Mike spent 30 years with CSIRO where amongst other things he established their Policy and Economic Research Unit with offices in Adelaide, Canberra and Perth. In 2003, Mike was awarded a Centenary Medal “for outstanding service through environmental economics”. In 2009, he was named South Australian of the Year in the Environment Category. His full curriculum vitae lists over 230 publications.  He has been Associate Editor of Ecological Economics and is a member of twelve editorial boards.

Bill Ziegler, NSW Dams Committee
Bill has over 25 years experience in the coal industry, holding senior positions in mining engineering within the public sector. As Secretary of the Mining Sub Committee for Dam Safety Committee (NSW Govt) and a committee member of Mining Subsidence Technology Society (MSTS), Bill is heavily involved in assessing mining impacts in the real world. Currently working as Manager of Mining Impacts with the Dam Safety Committee, Bill has been involved in the regulation of mining within NSW since April 2008.