Rob Vertessy
Bureau of Meteorology
Rob Vertessy is Director and CEO of the Bureau of Meteorology, Australia’s national weather, climate and water information service. Prior to that, he was head of the Bureau’s Climate and Water Division, which includes responsibility for the National Climate Centre, the national flood forecasting and warning service, the agency’s new water information function, as well as a new initiative laying the foundations for a National Plan for Environmental Information. Rob commenced that role in 2007 after a 20year career as a research scientist at CSIRO. At CSIRO, Rob specialised in forest hydrology and catchment modelling and is widely published in those fields. Rob served as Chief Executive of the CRC for Catchment Hydrology (2002 – 2004) and Chief of CSIRO Land and Water (2004 2007). Between his CSIRO and Bureau appointments, Rob was seconded to the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet to advise on the establishment of a national water information strategy (2006). That strategy was ultimately taken up by the Australian Government in 2007 and is now being implemented by the Bureau.
Warwick McDonald
CSIRO Land and Water
Warwick McDonald leads the CSIRO’s Water Resource Management Program, which undertakes water resource assessments and forecasts to inform the sustainable management of Australia’s surface and groundwater resources. The Program develops risk-based cumulative impact assessment on water-dependent assets to support government and the resources sector. The Program is recognised internationally for leadership in interoperable environmental information systems. Prior to re-joining CSIRO, Warwick led the Environmental Information Services Branch of the Bureau of Meteorology, developing and implementing the National Plan for Environmental Information. From 2008 to 2011 he was Director of the Water Information Research and Development Alliance (WIRADA), which brings together CSIRO’s expertise in water and information sciences with the Bureau of Meteorology’s operational role in hydrologic analysis and prediction.
Mike Makin
Murray-Darling Basin Authority
Mike Makin is General manager Water Resource Planning with the Murray-Darling Basin Authority. He has been with the MDBA since 2005 and was worked across many of the major program areas including the Living Murray, reviewing and developing changes to the Murray-Darling Basin Agreement as well as developing and now implementing parts of the Basin Plan. In his current role he oversees a range of programs including Basin Plan Evaluation, Water Resource Planning Policy, Water Quality and SDL Adjustment. Mike is also the Authority’s Chief Information Officer.
Mike Roderick
Australian National University, Climate Change Institute
Michael Roderick holds a joint appointment as a Professor in the Research School of Earth Sciences and in the Research School of Biology, both at The Australian National University. He graduated with a degree in surveying in 1984 and subsequently worked as a surveyor across northern Australia until 1990. He then completed a PhD in satellite remote sensing and environmental modelling at Curtin University in 1994 and joined ANU as a Research Fellow in 1996. His current research revolves around water at scales from cells to the globe. He is also a Chief Investigator in the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science.
Andy Pitman
University of New South Wales, ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science
Andy Pitman is a Professor in climate science at the University of New South Wales. He is the Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science. He has broad interests extending across climate modeling, climate change, climate impacts and land cover change. He was a lead author on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 3rd and 4th assessment reports and he is a Review Editor of the 5th assessment report. He won the NSW Climate Scientist of the Year in 2010 and won both the Priestley Medal and the AMOS medal from the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society. He was appointed to the Australian Federal Government’s science advisory panel to the Climate Commission in 2011.
Helen Owens
Australian Government Department of Communications
Helen Owens is Assistant Secretary Data Policy in the Department of Communications. A graduate of Monash University with a Bachelor of Business, Helen joined the Department of Resources Energy and Tourism (RET) as the General Manager of the Office of Spatial Policy (OSP) in January 2012. In April 2014, the functions and people of the OSP were transferred to the Department of Communications in order to better align spatial policy with the digital productivity and e-government policy activities, forming the now Data Policy Branch. Prior to joining RET Helen spent eight years in the Department of Defence, and three of those years as the Director of the Office of the Capability Coordinator for Geospatial Information at the Defence Imagery and Geospatial Organisation. Before becoming involved in the spatial field Helen worked in human resource management, training, business and strategic planning, customer service, and marketing. She has previously held senior management roles in both the public and private sectors.
Brad Evans
Macquarie University, TERN e-Mast
Brad Evans is the Director of Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network Ecological Modelling and Scaling Infrastructure Facility. His research interests extend from observations of plants and ecosystems to modelling the land surface and the impacts of ecosystem condition and land cover change on Australia’s carbon and water cycles. He is a member of the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network Executive Advisory Committee and the Information and Infrastructure Development and Delivery Group. An advocate for open source and open science, he believes that open access to research infrastructure, i.e. the confluence of technology and science, provides the foundation for the next great scientific discoveries of our time.
Invited session speakers
Oscar Alves
Bureau of Meteorology - bio
Imtiaz Dharssi
Bureau of Meteorology - bio
Paul Dalby
In Fusion Consulting - bio
Beth Ebert
Bureau of Meteorology - bio
Ben Evans
National Computational Infrastructure
Mohsin Hafeez
Bureau of Meteorology
David Jones
Bureau of Meteorology - bio
Dmitri Kavetski
University of Adelaide - bio
Leo Lymburner
Geoscience Australia
Belinda Medlyn
Macquarie University - bio
Geoff Podger
CSIRO - bio
Ian Prosser
Bureau of Meteorology
Tim Pugh
Bureau of Meteorology – bio
Dongreyol Ryu
University of Melbourne – bio
Peter Stone
CSIRO - bio
Narendra Tuteja
Bureau of Meteorology
Eva van Gorsel
CSIRO