Our people
- Board of Directors
- Staff
- Program leaders
The Hon Robert Hill AC
Chair
The Hon Robert Hill AC is independent Chairman of CRC for Low Carbon Living, Chair of the CRC’s Nominations Committee, and member of the Research Advisory Committee.
He is a former Australian Senator and Minister for the Environment. He was Australian Ambassador to the United Nations and is Past President of United Nations Association of Australia. Upon returning to Australia he was Chancellor of the University of Adelaide. His long-standing interest in sustainability led to him serving as Chairman of the Australian Carbon Trust Ltd. (later to become Low Carbon Australia Ltd.). He is Asia Pacific Board member of The Nature Conservancy and Chair of NSW Biodiversity Conservation Trust.
Robert holds a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws from the University of Adelaide, Doctor of Laws (honoris causa) from the University of Adelaide and a Master of Laws from the University of London. He practiced previously as a Barrister and Solicitor.
Sandy Hollway AO
Deputy Chair
Mr. Sandy Hollway AO is independent Deputy Chairman of CRC for Low Carbon Living, and is Chair of the CRC’s Audit & Risk Committee.
He has had a long-standing involvement in research and innovation, including as CEO of the Australian Department of Industry, Science and Technology, the Department of Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs, and as a member of the Boards of CSIRO, ANSTO and Austrade.
Currently chairman of several committees, and adviser to business and government. Sandy was formerly Chief of Staff to Prime Minister Bob Hawke and Deputy Secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. He has worked extensively overseas as a diplomat, a special envoy and an adviser on major events. He was Chief Executive of the Organising Committee for the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, and was awarded the Order of Australia in 2001.
Ms Megan Antcliff
Director – Government/Other Sector
Ms. Megan Antcliff was elected as a Government Sector Director of CRCLCL at the 2014 AGM.
Following a career in private practice, Megan joined South Australia State Government in 2012 to deliver the $250M Tonsley Redevelopment - Australia’s first Innovation District and was Director responsible for this project until she took up the position of Director with Investment Attraction South Australia, the state’s principal agency for foreign direct investment, in January 2016. She is now Deputy Chief Executive at Department of Trade, Tourism and Investment for South Australia. She is an architect with 15 years’ experience in commercial development across the disciplines of urban design, landscape and built form and a current member of South Australia’s inaugural Capital City Design Review Panel.
Professor Matthew Cuthbertson
Director – Research Sector
Professor Matthew Cuthbertson (FTSE, FAICD, FAIM, FRACI) was elected as a Research Sector Director at the AGM held in November 2016. In early 2016 Matthew moved to Swinburne University to the new role of PVC Development, Innovation and Commercialisation. He also serves on the boards of the Victorian Clean Technology Fund Pty Ltd and Swinburne Ventures Ltd, and previous board roles with ARRB (Road Research) Group Ltd, GroundProbe Pty Ltd, The Substation Centre for Arts and Culture, the CRC Association and the CRC for Polymers. Prof Cuthbertson was previously Deputy PVC Research and Innovation, in the College of Science Engineering and Health at RMIT University; CEO of the CRC for Advanced Automotive Technology; CEO of the CRC for Sensor Signal and Information Processing (CSSIP) and Vice President R&D for optical lens-maker SOLA international. Prof Cuthbertson was awarded a Centenary of Federation Medal for his contribution to applied research and technological innovation in Australia and has postgraduate qualifications in both science and intellectual property law. His early career was spent in advanced materials research with CSIRO and in various business and technical development roles with ICI Australia.
Professor Dennis Else
Director – Industry Sector
Dr Dennis Else was first elected as an Industry Sector Director in October 2012, and re-elected to the position at the November 2016 AGM. He is Chair of the Research Advisory Committee.
He is Executive Director Sustainability, Safety and Health at Multiplex Australasia, where he is a strong advocate for the synergies between sustainability, productivity and quality to create innovative and inspiring homes and workplaces.
Prior to joining Brookfield Multiplex, Dennis was Chair of the Australian National Occupational Health and Safety Commission. He was Professor of Occupational Health and Safety, and formerly Dean of Engineering and Science, and Pro Vice-Chancellor responsible for organisational development and change at the University of Ballarat. In 2003, Dennis received the Australian Centenary Medal for National OHS Strategy Development, a Worksafe Victoria Award for Outstanding Leadership and Contribution to OHS, and the NSCA Ian Chisholm Award for Distinguished Service to OHS.
Ken Maher
Additional Director
Professor Ken Maher is an Additional Director of the CRC for Low Carbon Living, with a strategic leadership role with the CRCLCL’s Industry Network.
He is an architect and HASSELL Fellow, and a leader in Australia’s built environment field, advising both governments and the private sector. Ken is a Life Fellow of the Australian Institute of Architects, a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects, a Honorary Member of the American Institute of Architects, and a Fellow of the Green Building Council of Australia.
Ken is currently President of Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council (ASBEC), Chair of the City of Sydney’s Design Advisory Panel, member of the Sydney Opera House Eminent Architects Panel, a board member of Landcom and the ACT City Renewal Authority. He was a founding board member of the Green Building Council of Australia, Chair of the NSW Board of Architectural Education, board member and immediate past President of the Australian Institute of Architects.
He is Honorary Professor of Practice in the Faculty of Built Environment at the University of New South Wales and holds postgraduate qualifications in architecture, landscape architecture and environmental studies. He was awarded the Institute of Architects Gold Medal in 2009 and the Australian Award for Landscape Architecture in 2010.
Meg McDonald
Additional Director
Ms McDonald joined the Board of the CRC for Low Carbon Living as an Additional Director in September 2016.
She is on the Board of the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), an independent agency investing in projects and initiatives to diversify Australia’s energy mix by accelerating the commercialisation and improving the competitiveness of renewable energy solutions in Australia.
Ms McDonald was previously COO of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC); CEO of Low Carbon Australia Limited (LCAL); and held senior positions with Alcoa, a global resources and metals manufacturing corporation.
Prior to this, Meg’s career in the Australian Public Service included successfully working across a range of portfolios in policy development and delivery in challenging and complex policy environments, in domestic economic and international arenas culminated in several senior diplomatic roles, including Deputy Ambassador, Australian Embassy in Washington D.C, Australia’s Ambassador for the Environment, and Assistant Secretary, Environment and Antarctic Branch, DFAT, responsible for Australia’s international environment treaty negotiations, and the Antarctic treaties.
Kriston Symons
Director – Industry Sector
Mr. Kriston Symons was elected as an Industry Sector Director at the Company AGM in November 2016.
Kriston Symons is the AECOM End Market Director of Buildings and Places based in Melbourne, responsible for driving forward our Practices and Sectors in Australia and New Zealand, as well as encouraging collaboration between all parts of AECOM’s business and sharing broad market intelligence on clients’ needs.
Kriston sits on the Executive Committee of the AECOM Australia and New Zealand business and is involved in high level strategic direction of the business as well as operational elements. Kriston has been driving forward the digital and data strategy, corporate social and environmental responsibility as well as program’s around fostering research, innovation, ideas generation and commercialisation.
He is a Chartered Engineering Executive and Fellow of the Institute of Engineers Australia.
Kate Wilson
Director – Government/Other Sector
Dr. Kate Wilson, was first elected as a Government Sector Director in October 2012, and re-elected to the position at the November 2016 AGM. She is a member of the Nominations Committee and the Research Advisory Committee.
Kate is Executive Director of the Science Division at the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH), which works to protect and conserve the NSW environment, including its built heritage. She is responsible for the overarching OEH Knowledge Strategy to underpin policy and programs, and for delivery of technical analysis, expert advice and research to support OEH, the NSW Environment Protection Authority and external government customers and clients. Kate was previously Director of the Wealth from Oceans Flagship at CSIRO. Her background is in molecular biology and biotechnology and their application to agriculture and aquaculture. She was co-founder of the Centre for the Application of Molecular Biology to International Agriculture (Canberra) and research leader in tropical aquaculture at the Australian Institute of Marine Science. She has a doctorate from Harvard University and a Bachelor of Arts with First Class Honours from Cambridge University.
Scientia Professor Deo Prasad AO
Chief Executive Officer
E d.prasad@unsw.edu.au
T +61 2 9385 4868
F +61 2 9385 6735
Scientia Professor Dr Deo Prasad is an international authority on sustainable buildings and cities and among the leading advocates for sustainability in Australia. Deo won the 2006 Royal Australian Institute of Architect’s National Education Award for contribution to ‘sustainability education, research and design’. In 2004 he won the NSW State Government’s individual GreenGlobe Award for ‘showing leadership and commitment to the supply of renewable energy’. He has also won the Federal Government’s national award for ‘outstanding contribution to energy related research’. He is a regular contributor to debate in this area in local and international media. Deo sits on numerous Boards and Committees in this field in Australia and abroad.
Deo has been Director of the UNSW Centre for a Sustainable Built Environment (SOLARCH), which has been Australia’s leading research group in sustainable buildings for the 20 years. He has been teaching sustainability courses within the Faculty of the Built Environment at UNSW. He introduced the faculty’s Masters in Built Environment (sustainable development) program and has been its director since. Deo has published in excess of 280 key publications in this field and graduated 30 PhDs as supervisor.
CRC FOR LOW CARBON LIVING LTD
Room 207, Level 2,
Tyree Energy Technologies Building
UNSW Sydney NSW 2052 Australia
Dr Mark Diesendorf
Education Program Leader
T +61 402 940 892
F +61 2 9385 5530
Mark Diesendorf is a sustainability researcher and educator whose principal focus is in energy systems. He joined the CRC as part-time Education Program Leader in April 2017. He is also Honorary Associate Professor in Environmental Humanities in the School of Humanities and Languages at UNSW Sydney. Previously, at various times, he was a Principal Research Scientist in Australia's national research organisation, CSIRO; Professor of Environmental Science and Founding Director of the Institute for Sustainable Futures at University of Technology Sydney; Director of Sustainability Centre Pty Ltd; and Associate Professor and Deputy Director of the former Institute of Environmental Studies at UNSW.
His principal research is on rapid mitigation of global climate change and, in particular, integrating renewable energy on a large scale into electricity supply-demand systems. He also researches the assessment of energy supply- and demand-side technologies (environmental, economic and social equity impacts), energy policy and ecological economics, including steady state economics. He is co-editor of Human Ecology, Human Economy: Ideas for an ecologically sustainable future (Allen & Unwin, 1997), and sole author of Greenhouse Solutions from Sustainable Energy (UNSW Press, 2007), Climate Action: A campaign manual for greenhouse solutions (UNSW Press, 2009), and Sustainable Energy Solutions for Climate Change (Routledge-Earthscan and UNSW Press, 2014).
CRC FOR LOW CARBON LIVING LTD
Room 201, Level 2,
Tyree Energy Technologies Building
UNSW Sydney NSW 2052 Australia
Ross Flemons
Accountant
E r.flemons@unsw.edu.au
T +61 2 9385 6419
F +61 2 9385 5530
Ross Flemons joined the CRC for Low Carbon Living in 2012. He is CPA qualified and performs the financial and accounting roles at the CRCLCL. Ross brings with him vast experience from his work at research organisations including a previous CRC.
CRC FOR LOW CARBON LIVING LTD
Room 202, Level 2,
Tyree Energy Technologies Building
UNSW Sydney NSW 2052 Australia
Paul Hopkins
Business Manager and Company Secretary
E p.hopkins@unsw.edu.au
T +61 2 9385 6317
F +61 2 9385 5530
Paul Hopkins was appointed to the role of Business Manager for the CRC for Low Carbon Living in July 2012, with overall responsibility for financial management, contracts, and business process development for the newly established CRC.
Paul previously worked as a business consultant, which involved working at all levels within client organisations to bring about real and sustainable change, with tangible improvements in business performance and customer service levels through process redesign. Paul has applied this experience to his work in the CRC program, having supported a number of CRC funding bids, and undertaken operational and research management roles for several CRCs.
Paul graduated in production engineering and management from the University of Wales and subsequently completed a Master of Science degree in change management and information systems strategy from Warwick University in the UK. He has a broad base of business experience gained in engineering, automotive, aerospace and defence sectors, and also in the service sectors including health services, banking, electricity and water utilities.
CRC FOR LOW CARBON LIVING LTD
Room 205, Level 2,
Tyree Energy Technologies Building
UNSW Sydney NSW 2052 Australia
Christine Lee
Office Manager
E christine.lee@unsw.edu.au
T +61 2 9385 1574
F +61 2 9385 5530
Christine Lee brings a wealth of experience in tertiary education to the CRCLCL with a particular focus on customer service and financial administration. Prior to joining the CRCLCL, Christine spent a decade in various roles at the University of Auckland (NZ), most recently as a finance project coordinator.
CRC FOR LOW CARBON LIVING LTD
Room 206, Level 2,
Tyree Energy Technologies Building
UNSW Sydney NSW 2052 Australia
Fran Strachan
Communications Manager
E fran.strachan@unsw.edu.au
T +61 2 9385 5402
F +61 2 9385 5530
Fran trained as a journalist and has worked in media and communications in the higher education sector for 10 years, most recently with UNSW’s Built Environment faculty. She has worked across multiple media platforms including radio, TV, online and print publications in both Australia and New Zealand. Fran joined the CRCLCL team in November 2017.
Stephen Summerhayes
Utilisation and Impact Manager
E s.summerhayes@unsw.edu.au
T +61 2 9385 0394
F +61 2 9385 5530
Stephen is qualified in law, science and international studies. He also holds vocational qualifications in management and project management. He has practised as a lawyer in Australia and England, including as the principal of his own legal firm. Stephen’s international studies took him to Latin America for two years learning and working for community organisations in Ecuador and Guatemala.
Upon returning to Australia he managed projects and programs for a regional organisation of councils (ROC) addressing coastal management. Most recently, he was the executive officer of a ROC advancing sustainable catchment management.
CRC FOR LOW CARBON LIVING LTD
Room 203, Level 2,
Tyree Energy Technologies Building
UNSW Sydney NSW 2052 Australia
Stewart Wallace
Research Projects Coordinator
T +61 2 9385 6458
F +61 2 9385 5530
Stewart joined the CRCLCL in mid-2017 as Research Projects Coordinator. Stewart has worked for the past decade in the higher education sector, most recently for 2 years as Senior Project Manager – IT Infrastructure at the Australian Urban Research Infrastructure Network (AURIN) at the University of Melbourne. Prior to that, Stewart was project manager for the Dictionary of Sydney, an ARC-Linkage project in the digital humanities based at the University of Sydney. Before universities, Stewart worked for 10 years at the City of Sydney Council in a variety of IT-related positions, most recently as Applications Manager. A varied career with computer vendors, human resource management and as a factory supervisor preceded Stewart’s time with the Council.
Stewart holds a Masters of Environmental Management from UNSW, an MBA from the AGSM and a Masters in Architecture/Urban Design - focusing on urban information services - from the University of Sydney.
CRC FOR LOW CARBON LIVING LTD
Room 203, Level 2,
Tyree Energy Technologies Building
UNSW Sydney NSW 2052 Australia
Professor Peter Newton
Research Leader ‘Low Carbon Precincts’
T +61 3 9214 4769
Dr Peter Newton is a Research Professor in Sustainable Urbanism at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne. His research is focused on pathways capable of achieving a sustainability transition for cities and their residents. They include technological innovation in urban infrastructure (Transitions: Pathways Towards Sustainable Urban Development, Springer, 2008), innovation in urban planning and design (Technology, Design and Process Innovation in the Built Environment, Taylor & Francis, 2009; Towards a New Model for Housing Regeneration in the Greyfields, AHURI, 2011) and in understanding household consumption behaviour (Urban Consumption, CSIRO Publishing, 2011). Before joining Swinburne in 2007 he was Chief Research Scientist at CSIRO.
His research on low carbon living includes studies on zero carbon housing (Pathways to Decarbonising the Housing Sector: A Scenario Approach, Building Research and Information, 2011, 39, 34-50) quantifying the significance of alternative urban forms for energy use in cities (The Energy and Carbon Footprints of Urban Housing and Transport: Current Trends and Future Prospects, in R.Tomlinson (ed), 2012, The Unintended City, CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne); a study identifying the determinants of household energy use (The Determinants of Urban Resource Consumption, Environment and Behaviour, 2012, 44(1) 107-135); and an ARC Discovery project on the green economy.
Swinburne University of Technology
EW (Engineering West) Building
PO Box 218 Hawthorn 3122
Melbourne VIC Australia
Associate Professor Alistair Sproul
Program Leader ‘Integrated Building Systems’
E a.sproul@unsw.edu.au
T +61 2 9385 4039
Dr Alistair Sproul is an Associate Professor within the School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering at UNSW. He has worked in the area of photovoltaic and energy efficiency research and R&D since 1985 in a range of positions with various companies (BP Solar, Pacific Solar) and research institutions (UNSW, Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems, Freiburg, Germany). His current research interests are in the area of PV/energy systems for low energy buildings and highly efficient water/air systems. Associate Professor Sproul is a Program Leader (Integrated Building Systems) with the “Low Carbon Living” Cooperative Research Centre.
Level 3
Tyree Energy Technologies Building
School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering
UNSW Sydney NSW 2052 Australia
Dr Stephen White
Program Leader ‘Engaged Communities’
E mailto:Stephen.D.White@csiro.au
T +61 2 4960 6070
F +61 2 4960 6021
Stephen leads the Energy for Buildings research in CSIRO, developing decision support tools and gathering data for energy efficiency policy-makers. He has oversight over rating software and appliance check testing laboratories to support Australian energy efficiency regulation, and he has led national and international technology road-mapping tasks. He is a Member of the Expert Reference Group for the “National Building Energy Standard Setting, Assessment and Rating Framework” and a Leader in the International Energy Agency Task48 “Quality Assurance and Support Measures for Solar Cooling”
PO Box 330
Newcastle NSW 2300 Australia