Speakers

Speakers

Speakers

Josefina MAESTU

Coordinator, UN-Water Decade Programme on Advocacy and Communication (UNW-DPAC), Director, United Nations Office to Support the International Decade for Action ‘Water for Life’ 2005-2015.

Josefina Maestu was appointed as Director of the programme in September 2009. Prior to her appointment, Ms. Maestu served as senior advisor to the Minister of Environment of Spain and she represented Spain in the Environmental Committee of the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), the Mediterranean Commission on Sustainable Development, and backstopped the Spanish EU Presidency. For 5 years she was a Director of a UK based economics and environment research consultancy. With an academic background in economics and planning, she has an extended professional career in the field of water whiles working in international relations, national civil servant positions and international advisor consultancies. She has coordinated the preparation of the economic analysis of River Basin Management Plans for implementation of the Water Framework Directive in Spain and has formed part of the EU coordination groups on water economics. Prior to this, she was Secretary-General of the Mediterranean Water Network for several years, and has been technical adviser to the European Commission and UN system organizations, including the World Bank.

Prof Sakkie PRETORIUS

Professor Sakkie Pretorius is Deputy Vice Chancellor: Research at Macquarie University in Sydney. He is internationally recognised as a pioneer in molecular microbiology and biotechnology, and the translation of research outcomes to industry. Sakkie began his career in South Africa. At Stellenbosch University, he established a reputation for innovation and was appointed Professor of Microbiology in 1993. In the US and Europe, Sakkie also established a reputation for excellence: he conducted research into molecular yeast genetics at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York and at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen, Germany, and became a part-time professor at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium. In 2003, Sakkie relocated to Adelaide with his family to become Director of Research at the Australian Wine Research Institute (AWRI). He was also appointed Affiliate Professor in the School of Agriculture, Food and Wine at the University of Adelaide. In 2004, he became Managing Director of the AWRI. In 2011, he was appointed Deputy Vic-Chancellor and Vice-President : Research and Innovation at the University of South Australia - a position which he held until the middle of 2013 before he took up his current role as Deputy Vice Chancellor: Research at Macquarie University in Sydney. Professor Pretorius has published more than 200 peer-reviewed research papers and book chapters (current Scopus H-index of 42) and presented at 550 conferences (many as an invited keynote speaker) and research seminars.

Prof Luis SALVADOR-CARULLA

Luis Salvador-Carulla is professor of Disability and Mental Health at the Faculty of Health Sciences (University of Sydney). His field of interest is support decision systems and policy in long-term care, disability and mental health, and Intellectual Developmental Disorders. He is honour member of the World Psychiatry Association and Secretary of the WPA section “Classification, Diagnostic assessment and Nomenclature”. Dr Salvador-Carulla has intensively participated in the development of international networks in the fields mentioned above, person centred medicine, healthy ageing, and bridging and knowledge transfer between disability and ageing. He has been advisor to the Government of Catalonia (Spain), the Spanish Ministry of Health, the European Commission (EC) and the World Health Organisation (WHO). He coordinated the European Commission project eDESDE-LTC for the development of a European coding system for long term care, and he participates in the ‘REFINEMENT’ project aimed at analysing financing, quality and effectiveness of mental health systems in Europe. He has successfully secured competitive grants over the last years. He chaired the WHO working group on the classification of intellectual disabilities at chapter V of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11). He received the Leon Eisenberg Award of the Harvard Medical School in 2012. He is the secretary general of the Instituto Cervantes Academic Forum (Cátedra Instituto Cervantes).

Chris MAXWORTHY

Australian Association for Maritime History, Maritime History, Department Member. Expert on the early colonial maritime history of Australia and the Pacific Ocean region, from the planning of European settlement at ‘Botany Bay’, the Nootka Sound confrontation and the consequent Anglo-Spanish convention, Napoleonic War, and Latin American independence.

Isabel COIXET

Spanish film director. She is one of the most prolific film directors of contemporary Spain, having directed seven feature-length films since the beginning of her film career in 1988, in addition to documentary films, shorts and commercials. Her films follow a departure from traditional national cinema of Spain, and help to “untangle films from their national context, clearing the path for thinking about national film from different perspectives.” The recurring themes of “emotions, feelings and existential conflict” coupled with her distinct visual style secure the “multifaceted (she directs, writes, produces and acts)” filmmaker's status as a “catalan auteur”.

Jennifer TURPIN

Jennifer Turpin is a public artist with 25 years experience creating kinetic installations engaging water, wind and light as sculptural media at the interface of art, science, nature and the built environment. Many of the artworks, created with colleague Michaelie Crawford, are integrated into environmental restoration projects. Activated by nature’s elemental energies, the artworks are rhythmic, responsive and transformative ‘performances’ in the everyday life of the city. Puzzling, playful, mesmerising or contemplative, they make visible the invisible and highlight the elemental energies of nature so often taken for granted.

Jennifer is a recipient of a Churchill Travelling Fellowship. For this she will research ancient and contemporary cultures that have developed a ‘culture of care’ in relation to water. She will explore how some societies deliver(ed) environmentally sustainable outcomes through attitudes to conserving, protecting, revering and reusing water. She hopes to discover how art and design today can best bring the poetics and beauty of such water initiatives to people’s attention.

Prof Mary O’KANE

Professor Mary O'Kane was appointed NSW Chief Scientist & Engineer on 23 October 2008. She is also a company director and Executive Chairman of Mary O'Kane & Associates Pty Ltd, a Sydney-based consulting practice specialising in innovation and major reviews, and a company director.

Born in central Queensland, Professor O'Kane is an expert in automatic speech recognition. She has been a member of a number of high-level committees, including the Australian Research Council and the panel for the Federal Government's Review of the National Innovation System. She has chaired major reviews of the Australian Bureau of Meteorology and the Co-operative Research Centres Program.

Professor O'Kane was Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of Adelaide from 1996 to 2001. She was Chair of the Australian Centre for Renewable Energy from 2010 to 2012. She is a former member of the Australian Research Council, the Co-operative Research Centres Committee, the board of FH Faulding & Co Ltd and the board of the CSIRO. She is a Fellow of the Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering and an Honorary Fellow of Engineers, Australia.

Bradley MOGGRIDGE

Brad is employed by NSW Office of Water as the Program Manager Aboriginal Water Initiative which is the only dedicated Aboriginal water unit in Australia. Previously was with CSIRO Land and Water as the only Indigenous Water Research Specialist. Brad is a member of Department of the Environments - Indigenous Water Advisory Committee and former member of the NWC's - First Peoples’ Water Engagement Council, a Member of AIATSIS and also the JSC for the review of the National Water Quality Management Strategy (NWQMS). He is also a judge for the Australian RiverPrize and the River Management Young Achievers Award. He has significant networks in the water and environmental area, Government and ongoing relationships with the broader Aboriginal community.

Simon LEIVA

Simon Leiva is the Cooks River Alliance (CRA) Environmental Engineer. He specialises in  Water and Wastewater Industry, with a keen interest in water sensitive urban design (WSUD), having worked on a wide range of projects both in Chile and Australia.

Simon has worked for small and large enterprises, in the private and public sector. In these companies he has undertaken both management as well as technical roles with multidisciplinary teams. Before starting work with the CRA, Simon worked as the Technical Department Manager of Atlantis Corporation Pty Ltd. The types of projects that he has been a part of include: water efficiency; WSUD; and on-site supervision during construction and operation of novel stormwater treatment systems to improve water quality outcomes.

Peter BREW

Peter is a technology strategist and businessman and is currently consulting to the Australian office of Adasa Sistemas, a Spanish water and environmental engineering company. Prior to this he was General Manager for Europe for Australian water technology company Rubicon Water. Peter has travelled widely inspecting and advising on irrigation modernisation in Australia, Spain, Morocco, Egypt, India, China, USA, France, Italy, Chile and Mexico. In 2013 he presented at the XVII National Congress of Irrigation in Mexico.

Peter holds an honours degree in Computer Science from the University of Sydney and has held a number of senior executive positions with global technology companies, including Associate Vice President at US stock market NASDAQ, Stockholm based OMX group of stock markets, Computershare, GEC Marconi and Alcatel.

Stephen SUMMERHAYES

Stephen is the Cooks River Alliance (CRA) Project Manager.

He is a solicitor of 20 years’ standing, admitted to practise in both England and Australia. In 2003 he established his own legal firm to support undergraduate studies in Environmental Science and International studies and, thereafter, a postgraduate Master of Environmental Science by research. Before starting work with the CRA he worked as the Manager of Projects and Programs at the Sydney Coastal Councils Group. Before that, he spent two years in Latin America studying and working for community organisations in Ecuador and Guatemala. To enhance his service delivery he has undertaken a Diploma of Project Management, Advanced Diploma of Management and a Cert IV in Training and Assessment. He tutors adult literacy and numeracy and teaches philosophical ethics to primary school children.

Dr Álvaro ROURA LABIAGA

Álvaro is a marine ecologist working with zooplankton trophic links, biological oceanography, biodiversity and parasite-host relationships. He did his PhD in the Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas de Vigo (IIM-CSIC) in 2013, about the ecology of planktonic stages of cephalopods in coastal upwelling ecosystems. He is currently doing a two-year postdoc at La Trobe University, with a "Barrié de la Maza" Postdoctoral Fellowship and RFA funds from La Trobe. His research is centred in the diet and microbiome of Octopus vulgaris larvae during their planktonic stage in order to apply this knowledge to captive studies.

Dr Amgad ELMAHDI

Dr Elmahdi has more than 20 years' experience in hydrology and water management, including a decade working internationally (Egypt, Italy, Netherlands and Greece) on water resources assessment and management projects. Amgad has also been a CSIRO research scientist, working on groundwater and integrated water resources management and has authored and co-authored over 90 scientific publications. Amgad currently manages the Bureau's Water Resources Assessment Section, which delivers products across surface water, groundwater, urban and irrigation system, design rainfalls and the Australian Water Resources Assessment and continental hydrological modelling system.

Thomas BIEDERMANN

Thomas graduated with a Masters Degree in General Engineering from Ecole Centrale Marseille in 2009, with a specialization in Organic Chemistry / Biochemistry. He then joined the Office for Science and Technology of the Embassy of France in the USA as Deputy Attaché for Science and Technology. Based in Los Angeles, California, he monitored US research output and policy, and participated in the creation and strengthening of bilateral higher education and research partnerships between American and French universities and research institutions.

Following a period of travelling, he has joined the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs again in April 2015, as Deputy Scientific Attaché at the Embassy of France in Australia. In this role, he participates in the strengthening of bilateral links in Research and Innovation by animating initiatives such as the French Researchers in Australia Network (FRAN).

Dr Dimitri PERRIN

Dimitri Perrin is a Lecturer in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science School at Queensland University of Technology. Prior to joining QUT, he worked as a FPR Fellow in the Laboratory for Systems Biology (RIKEN, Japan) and as an IRCSET Marie-Curie Research Fellow with the Centre for Scientific Computing & Complex Systems Modelling (Dublin City University, Ireland) and the Department of Information Networking (Osaka University, Japan). His research interests are in the field of Complex Systems, in developing new approaches to facilitate the analysis, modelling and optimisation of biomedical and social systems. Dimitri Perrin holds a Master’s Degree (Diplôme d’Ingénieur) in Computer Engineering from ISIMA (Aubière, France), a M.Sc. in Computer Science from Université Blaise Pascal (Clermont-Ferrand, France), and received his Ph.D. in Computing from Dublin City University (Dublin, Ireland).

Helen O'NEIL

Helen O'Neil is Director of the British Council Australia, the United Kingdom’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities, and is a board member of Craft ACT.

She has worked as an arts manager and director across the creative sector, with a strong focus on building relationships and networks. She was Senior Adviser to the Australian Minister for the Arts, working on the national Creative Australia policy, and taught at the Australian Film Television and Radio School. She has been Executive Director of the Australian Major Performing Arts Group and the Council for the Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences; Chair of the Confederation of Australian International Arts Festivals; and a Director of the Film Finance Corporation. She originally trained as a journalist, working for the ABC, and later worked on digital and broadband TV, including the Foxtel start-up. She is also on the board of Currency House Inc.

Dr Sergio Leon-Saval

Sergio G. Leon-Saval was awarded his PhD by the University of Bath, UK, in 2006. In October 2007 he joined the Optical Fibre Technology Centre (OFTC) in Sydney, Australia. In 2009, he moved to the University of Sydney, Australia where he is currently part of the Institute of Photonics and Optical Science (IPOS) Executive Committee; Senior Member of the Sydney Institute for Astronomy (SIfA); a Faculty Member of the School of Physics; and Director of the Sydney Astrophotonics Instrumentation Laboratory (SAIL). Dr Leon-Saval has more than 12 years of experience in the research area of photonics, optical devices and astrophotonics. He is a reviewer and editor for several international technical programme committees (TPC); and a member of international organisations such a the Optical American Society, IEEE, and the Optical Australian Society.

Marian SCHOEN

Ms Marian Schoen was appointed as Executive Director of the University of Melbourne European Union Centre on Shared Complex Challenges in August 2014. She brings to the role high level executive management and stakeholder relations experience in the higher education sector having held positions as Deputy Director of the LH Martin Institute for Tertiary Education Leadership and Management, General Manager of the Melbourne School of Engineering, Executive Director of the Melbourne Law School, and as a member of Council of the University of Melbourne.

As Director of the Australia Centre Europe established by the Australian Group of Eight Universities in Berlin to foster collaboration with European universities, research organizations and networks, she represented Go8 institutions and established relationships with Australian, European government and European agencies and diplomatic representatives for trade, higher education and science.

Her extensive career in constitutional review and public administration has included a wide variety of roles and she is admitted as a barrister and solicitor of the High Court of Australia, and the Supreme Courts of Tasmania, New South Wales and Papua New Guinea.