Academy of Social Sciences in Australia

Ms Liza Balmer

Manager, Mai Wiru Policy Officer, Child Nutrition Program, NPY Women's Council

Liza Balmer is the Deputy Coordinator of the Ngaanyatjarra Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Women's Council, a major provider of human services in the remote tri-state region of the NT, SA and WA. Liza has worked for the council for more than 15 years beginning with her foundation work on the award winning Child Nutrition Program. Liza was also a founding member of the small group established to develop the Mai Wiru Stores Policy in 1998 and later contributed to the Mai Wiru Food and Nutrition Handbook. Liza also represents the Council on various Boards and committees, she is currently the Chairperson for the NT Family and Children Services Advisory Council. Liza is a Registered Nurse with a Masters of Public Health.

Dr Lia Bryant

Portfolio Leader Research Education, School of Psychology, Social Work and Social Policy, University of South Australia

Lia Bryant is a sociologist at the University of South Australia whose work focuses on rural societies and in particular the gendering of places and identities. She has researched embodied work relations and examined questions of intimacy and rural sexualities. Dr Bryant has pursued questions of equity and diversity in rural communities focusing on gender and its intersections with key social categories like class and ageing. She is also interested in methodologies and has written about the gendering of space using memory work, photography and diaries. She recently published a book co-authored with Barbara Pini - Gender and Rurality, (2011) Routledge, NY and has published in range of journals, for example, Journal of Rural Studies, Outskirts, Australian Feminist Studies, Sociologia Ruralis, International Journal of Qualitative Methods and Human Relations.

Professor Hugh Campbell

Chair in Sociology and Head of Department, Department of Sociology, Gender and Social Work, University of Otago, New Zealand and Senior Researcher, Centre for the Study of Agriculture, Food and Environment, New Zealand

Professor Hugh Campbell is Chair of Sociology and Head of the Dept of Sociology, Gender and Social Work at the University of Otago. He was also the Director of the Centre for the Study of Agriculture, Food and Environment (CSAFE) from 2000 to 2010.

Since 1995, Hugh has had a leadership role in two large government-funded research projects. From 1995-2002 he was the Programme Leader of a FRST-funded programme: Greening Food: Social and Industry Dynamics. This programme examined the social and economic dimensions of developing sustainable agriculture in New Zealand. Specifically, the programme examined the development of organic production and Integrated Pest Management systems by food export organisations like Zespri and ENZA. This provided a strong research base for Hugh's subsequent interest in food auditing, new governance structures in food chains, environmental auditing and the necessity to shift New Zealand food exporting from 'quantities to qualities'.

Since 2003, Hugh has been co-leading the social research objective in the FRST-funded ARGOS Programme. This programme is considered to be the largest current study of 'farm-scale' sustainability in the world. Working with the kiwifruit, dairy and sheep/beef sectors, the ARGOS programme has brought together 30 researchers from Otago and Lincoln Universities and the Agribusiness Group in Christchurch. It is undertaking a long term study of social, economic and environmental dynamics on a group of over 100 farms and orchards in New Zealand.

Apart from his work in leading research programmes, Hugh has also published research findings on the social dynamics of rural New Zealand, food systems and agriculture. He has edited two books and published in the international journals Sociologia Ruralis, Rural Sociology, Agriculture and Human Values, Journal of Rural Studies and the International Journal of Sociology of Agriculture and Food.

Dr Dana Cordell

Research Principal, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology, Sydney

Dr Dana Cordell is a Research Principal at the Institute for Sustainable Futures at the University of Technology Sydney. She has 10 years of sustainability research experience leading and undertaking interdisciplinary sustainable water, sanitation and waste management projects. In 2008 she co-founded the Global Phosphorus Research Initiative (GPRI) and public website www.phosphorusfutures.net with colleagues in Sweden and Australia, as an outcome of her doctoral research on the 'Sustainability implications of global phosphorus scarcity for food security', which she undertook jointly at the Institute for Sustainable Futures and Linköping University's Department for Water and Environmental Studies in Sweden. The GPRI has since expanded to represent five leading research institutes across Europe, Australia and North America. In addition to facilitating transdisciplinary research on global phosphorus security, the GPRI aims to facilitate networking and provide accessible information to multiple stakeholders, including policy makers, industry, other scientists and the public regarding the physical and institutional dimensions of global phosphate scarcity and potential solutions.

Associate Professor Jane Dixon

National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, The Australian National University

Jane Dixon is Senior Fellow at the National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, Australian National University. Her research takes place at the intersection of sociology and public health, and focuses on transformations within national food systems. One of her books is The Changing Chicken: chooks, cooks and culinary culture. The research for this paper draws on 2 Australian Research Council grants: 'The Weight of Modernity' and 'From Seedling to Supermarket'. She is particularly interested in studying the processes by which supermarkets position them selves as powerful social institutions.

Ms Kirsten Grace

General Manager of Mai Wiru Regional Stores Council Aboriginal Corporation.

Kirsten Grace works with Community owned and governed stores on the APY Lands in the far north west of South Australia to improve Food Security. Kirsten has 11 years of work experience in Human Resources and 4 years in Indigenous community development including managing a regional program in Indigenous Arts, and being involved in the development and start-up of Nyinkka Nyunyu Art and Culture Centre in Tennant Creek. Kirsten has a Bachelor of Business Management and Post Graduate Diploma in Psychology.

Professor Peter Langridge

Drector and CEO, Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics (ACPFG), University of Adelaide

Professor Peter Langridge was awarded a PhD in 1980 from ANU. Joining the University of Adelaide in 1984, he became a Professor in 1996 and from 1998 to 2003 was the Research Director of the CRC for Molecular Plant Breeding.

In 2003, he became the Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics, a major research Centre based in Adelaide, which has so far raised over $100 million in research funding. ACPFG works to create cereal varieties more resistant to drought and saline soils.

He has supervised over 50 PhD students and published well over 200 peer reviewed scientific publications in his field. He is on the editorial panels of three journals and is Editor-in-Chief for Agronomy. Peter is very active in the international research sector; he has made major contributions in the gene technology area. He sits on several international boards and advisory groups

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Peter served on the Scientific Advisory Panel for the CGIAR Generation Challenge program and has worked closely with this program to establish breeding programs in India and China to enhance drought tolerance in local varieties.

In 2010, Peter chaired the Prime Minister's Science, Engineering and Innovation Council Expert working group on "Australia and food security in a changing world".

Professor Stewart Lockie

Head, School of Sociology, Research School of Social Sciences, College of Arts and Social Sciences, The Australian National University

Stewart Lockie is Professor and Head of the School of Sociology at The Australian National University, Co-convenor of the National Institute for Rural and Regional Australia and President of the International Sociological Association's Research Committee on Environment and Society. Prof Lockie's research addresses environmental governance, sustainable agriculture, food security, natural resource management and social impact assessment. Recent publications include Agriculture, Biodiversity and Markets: Agroecology and Livelihoods in Comparative Perspective (Earthscan, 2010).

Dr Christina Pollard

School of Public Health, Curtin University, Western Australia

Dr Christina Pollard has worked for government to improve nutrition through health promotion for about 30 years. She's developed, implemented and evaluated public health interventions at national, state and local levels. Best known for the high profile 'Go for 2&5' fruit and vegetable social marketing campaign, she has worked extensively in policy and strategy development and in food regulation. She is a 'pracademic' - recognising the need for translating research into policy and practice, she recently was awarded a five year Healthway Research Into Practice Grant on Food law, policy and communications to improve public health.

Dr Pollard has a particular interest in improving nutrition for population groups who are vulnerable to poor nutrition due to their social, environmental or economic circumstances. Dr Pollard is co-convenor of the Public Health Association of Australia's Food and Nutrition Special Interest Group working with members to stir the advocacy pot to improve public health through better nutrition.

Professor Elspeth Probyn FAHA FASSA

FAHA Professor of Gender and Cultural Studies, University of Sydney; Adjunct Research Professor, University of South Australia

Elspeth Probyn is the Professor of Gender & Cultural Studies at the University of Sydney, where she founded the department in the late 1990s. Until recently she was the Director of the Hawke Research Institute at the University of South Australia where she promoted a new program of research on Producing Regions, focused on the regional production of food and of community identity. Over the years her publications have been seminal in helping to establish several areas of research - from sexuality studies, embodiment to material cultural studies of food. Her current research, funded by an ARC project on 'Taste & Place: the transglobal production and consumption of food, examines alternative geographies of globalisation through food production. She is a newly elected Fellow of the Australian Academy of Social Sciences, and a longstanding Fellow of the Australian Academy of Humanities.

Mr Tony Webster

General Manager of Social and Economic Analysis at the Murray-Darling Basin Authority.

The MDBA is responsible for planning integrated management of the water resources of the Murray-Darling Basin. Tony leads the social and economic research program and related policy development, including in respect of water trade and markets in the Basin. He was previously senior adviser responsible for water policy in the Commonwealth Treasury, where he worked for 15 years in the areas of federal financial relations, revenue forecasting, and the formulation and analysis of transport, competition, financial, taxation and industry policies.

Convenors

Professor Mark Howden

Professor Mark Howden is a Chief Research Scientist with CSIRO Ecosystem Sciences, Canberra, Australia. He is also the Theme Leader of the 'Adaptive primary industries, enterprises and communities' theme in the CSIRO Climate Adaptation Flagship and is an Honorary Professor at Melbourne University, School of Land and Food. Mark's work has focussed on the impacts of climate on Australian ecosystems and urban systems dealing with amongst other things: the dynamics of grazed and cropped ecosystems, development of innovative and sustainable farming systems, biodiversity, energy systems and water use. He has also developed the national (NGGI) and international (IPCC/OECD) greenhouse gas inventories for the agricultural sector and assessed sustainable methods of reducing greenhouse emissions from agriculture. Mark has worked on climate change issues for over 22 years in partnership with farmers, farmer groups, catchment groups, industry bodies, agribusiness, urban utilities and various policy agencies. He has been a major contributor to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Second, Third, Fourth and Fifth Assessment reports, the IPCC Regional Impacts Report and the IPCC Special Report on 'Land use, land use change and forestry' that addressed issues of carbon sequestration and the Kyoto Protocol, sharing the 2007 Peace Prize with other IPCC participants and Al Gore.

Selected publications:

• Howden, S.M., Soussana, J.F., Tubiello, F.N., Chhetri, N., Dunlop, M., and Meinke, H.M. (2007) Adapting agriculture to climate change. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 104:19691-19696.
• Stokes, C.J. and Howden, S.M. (2010) Australian agriculture adapting to climate change. CSIRO Climate Change book. CSIRO Publishing.
• Nelson, R., Howden, S.M. and Stafford Smith M., 2008. Using adaptive governance to rethink the way science supports Australian drought policy. Environmental Science and Policy 11: 588-601.

Professor Geoffrey Lawrence FASSA

Geoffrey Lawrence in Professor of Sociology and Co-Leader of the Food Security Focal Area at the Global Change Institute at the University of Queensland. His interests span rural and regional governance, social aspects of the environment, agri-food studies and food security. Books include: Rural Governance (Routledge, 2008); Supermarkets and Agri-food Supply Chains (Edward Elgar, 2007); and Food Security, Nutrition and Sustainability (Earthscan, 2010, 2011).

Professor Elspeth Probyn FAHA FASSA

Elspeth Probyn is also a presenter and covered above

Professor Tim Rowse FASSA

Professor Tim Rowse is Professorial Fellow with the Centre for Citizenship and Public Policy. Although much of what he writes can best be described as History, his formal training has been in Government, Sociology and Anthropology. He has taught at Macquarie University, the Australian National University and Harvard University (where he held the Australian Studies chair in 2003-4), and he has held research appointments at the University of Sydney and the ANU. Since the early 1980s, his research has focused on the relationships between Indigenous and other Australians, in Central Australia (where he lived from 1989 to 1996) and in the national political sphere. In the 1990s, this and other interests led him to write two books about the life and works of Dr.H.C.Coombs.