Robyn Alders, AO, bsc (vet) Hons I, BVSc Hons I, Dip Vet Clin Studies, PhD
Robyn Alders AO is a Senior Consulting Fellow with the Chatham House Global Health Program, an Honorary Professor with the Development Policy Centre with the Australian National and a grazier on the NSW Southern Tablelands.
She has worked in sub-Saharan Africa, SE Asia and Oceania for over 30 years. Robyn is also Chair of the Kyeema Foundation and the Upper Lachlan Branch of the NSW Farmers’ Association. Her current research and development interests include national and international sustainable food and nutrition security/systems, One/Planetary Health, gender equity and Science Communication.
Justin Borevitz
Justin Borevitz grew up on an experimental farm in California. He his undergrad at UC and Wollongong and PhD / postdoc at UC San Diego/Salk. He was AProf at Univesity of Chicago. He has been at t he ANU since 2012 where he is researching landscape regeneration technologies for Food Ecosystem and Climate Security.
Wolfram Buss
Dr Wolfram Buss is a researcher at the Australian National University working on land-based carbon sequestration techniques and how to maximise their potential in agricultural systems. He obtained his PhD from the UK Biochar Research Centre at the University of Edinburgh in 2016. His research combines biology, soil science and agriculture with environmental sciences, environmental chemistry, and engineering. Since finishing his PhD, he has worked as a post-doc at the University of Edinburgh, CSIRO and ANU.
Dr Nicole Chalmer
Nicole Chalmer gained a Bachelor of Science and Graduate Diploma in Agribusiness before going farming for 30 years. With her family she helped regenerate a badly degraded property Coronet Hill at Esperance, using ecological principles that included perennial pastures for cattle production.
Approximately 500ha (including a 100ha wetland/lake) of their 2400 ha farm has been fenced as native bush mosaics.Experiencing the acceleration of ongoing market fluctuations, incorrect media perceptions of cattle production and Government interference became a concern.
A deep discontent concerning the social-ecological sustainability of modern farming led to her completing an eco-environmental history PhD, analysing sustainability of food production systems, from the deep past, colonialism and present.
Nicola Chirlian
Nicola Chirlian is a beef cattle farmer from “Tallawang” Willow Tree on the Liverpool Plains NSW, using regenerative agricultural strategies since 2001. She is the current Chair of Upper Mooki Landcare Inc, member of Save Our Soils Liverpool Plains and a Board member of Lock the Gate. Nicola was a founding member of the North West Alliance a decade ago which continues as an effective network of over 30 groups fighting coal and gas projects in the region. She has been instrumental in a range of actions to protect her beloved Liverpool Plains, and especially the koala population, from coal and gas mining.
Julian Cribb, FRSA, FTSE
Julian is an author and science writer who has covered agriculture and food issues for more than half a century. His latest book, Food or War (CUP 2019) looks at why modern food systems are unsustainable, why and how they must change. Nowadays his main focus is on the survival of human civilization and our species in the face of a growing existential emergency comprising ten megathreats. Food is just one of them.
Ian Dunlop
Ian Dunlop is a Member of The Club of Rome, and Advisory Board Chair of the Australian Breakthrough National Centre for Climate Restoration. He was formerly an oil, gas and coal industry executive, with wide experience in energy resources, infrastructure, and international business. He chaired the Australian Coal Association in 1987-88 and the development of the first Australian national emissions trading proposal in 1998-2000. From 1997-2001 he was CEO of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Matthew Evans
Matthew Evans is a food writer, farmer, television broadcaster and chef. Based in Southern Tasmania, Matthew lives and works on Fat Pig Farm, a mixed holding where he tends a garden, makes cider, fattens the namesake pigs and tries to entice milk from two full cream dairy cows.
His has presented six series of Gourmet Farmer on SBS, and two documentaries, For The Love of Meat, and What’s The Catch. Matthew is the author of over a dozen books on food, including the authoritative ethical meat manifesto On Eating Meat, and his latest cookbook The Commons. He’s an advocate for open, fair, accountable food and farming systems, and has pushed for honest labelling so we can all enjoy sustainable seafood.
His latest book SOIL is a hymn to the remarkable, and underappreciated bit of Earth that gifts us life. It’s a swashbuckling tale of soil that arms us all with the knowledge and respect to care about its health.
John Feehan OAM
John worked on the CSIRO dung beetle program for 28 years till 1991. Subsequently, he set up SOILCAM Pty Ltd, to continue the harvesting and re-distribution of dung beetle species according to their climatic and geographic limits using CLIMEX. Since 1993, SOILCAM has promoted the agricultural and environmental benefits of dung beetles and relocated 6,500 plus colonies (19 different species) within Australia.
John is a recognised and respected expert in his field, being awarded an OAM for his contribution to Australian agriculture in 1997. John has supplied dung beetles and breeding information to overseas universities for research. He has lodged more than 1,000 specimens of dung beetles in ANIC and CSIRO for future reference.
Stuart B Hill
is an ecologist, researching soil fauna, insect pests and agroecology; he also practiced as a psychotherapist. In 1995 he was appointed Foundation Chair of Social Ecology at Western Sydney University, where he taught Social Ecology, Research Methodology, Transformative Learning, and Sustainability, Leadership and Change. He was appointed Emeritus in 2013
His PhD (1969) was a ground-breaking whole ecosystem study of community and energy relationships. At McGill University (1969-95) he was responsible for zoology; in 1974 he established Ecological Agriculture Projects, a resource centre for sustainable agriculture (www.eap.mcgill.ca/; see also: https://stuartbhill.com/).
He has over 350 publications, including six books;in 2021, Social Ecology and Education: Transforming Worldviews and Practices (with David Wright; Routledge).
Tony Hill
Tony teaches Holistic Management in NSW and is an accredited professional with the Savory Institute. With a background in economics, policy making, regional development, ecology and biodiversity, he has worked for government and consulted on design applications for Cooperative Research Centres.
Tony chairs the Australian Holistic Management Co-operative, has been a member of the Upper Shoalhaven Landcare Council, and is an accredited teacher of the NSW TAFE Holistic Management Diploma. He is the founder of the Land to Market Australia project incorporating Ecological Outcome Verification.
Sally Hunter
Sally Hunter has been fighting against inappropriate coal and gas mining for at least a decade. Having personally experienced the impacts of coal seam gas mining on her parents’ property in Queensland, she was motivated to ensure locals understood the true implications of accepting this industry when she settled with her family on a grass fed beef cattle farm near Narrabri in NSW. This farm sits within 50km of four coal mines, with more planned for the region.
She is passionate about the future of rural communities and when she is not working for Lock the Gate she is creating new renewable energy opportunities for the region through the social enterprise that she helped to found, Geni.Energy.
Walter Jehne, Regenerate Earth Ltd
Walter is a soil microbiologist with extensive experience in Forest, Agriculture and Soil research in CSIRO and in industry innovation the systems redesign at strategic and policy levels.
Since retirement he has joined innovative farmers in Australia and globally to refine natural solutions to our Soils, Hydrology, Climate, Food and ecological imperatives so as to Regenerate Earth and thereby our sustained future.
Charles Massy, BSc, PhD, OAM
Charles Massy (BSc. Zoology; Human Ecology – ANU, 1976) has farmed on the Monaro for over40 years, where he developed the innovative Merino sheep stud ‘Severn Park’.
In 2012 he completed a PhD in Human Ecology at ANU, examining innovation in farming. He was awarded an OAM for services to research and innovation in the wool industry, and has served on national and international wool boards. He has authored several books, including in 2017 (with 15 reprints) Call of the Reed Warbler: A New Agriculture – a New Earth.
In late 2021 he has a children’s book being published, on the endangered Monaro Earless Dragon.
Gavin Mudd
Gavin Mudd is a globally recognised scholar on the environmental impacts and sustainability of mining, with his research renowned for building big data sets to assess declining ore grades, increasing mine wastes, global mineral resources (including critical minerals), mining methods, rehabilitation, sustainability metrics and life cycle assessment.
He has worked with communities across Australia and in various parts of the world, along with collaborations with Yale, Columbia and many others.
Jane N O’Sullivan
Jane O’Sullivan is a former senior researcher at the University of Queensland’s School of Agriculture and Food Sciences, where she led research projects on agricultural intensification of subsistence crops in the Pacific and Vietnam. She subsequently turned attention to the demographic pressures on food security, economic development and environmental sustainability.
She has published on the economic impacts of population growth, population ageing, population projections and demographic impacts on climate change. She is an executive member of Sustainable Population Australia, an associate of The Overpopulation Project and on the Expert Advisory Board of Population Matters (UK).
Will Steffen
Will Steffen is an Earth System scientist. He is a Councilor on the publicly-funded Climate Council of Australia that delivers independent expert information about climate change. He is also an Emeritus Professor at the Australian National University (ANU); Canberra, a Senior Fellow at the Stockholm Resilience Centre, Sweden; and a member of the Anthropocene Working Group.
From 1998 to mid-2004, Steffen was Executive Director of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programmed, based in Stockholm. His research interests span a broad range within Earth System science, with an emphasis on sustainability and climate change.
Guy Webb
Guy draws on a strong background in agronomy, and a deep understanding of the scientific principles of soil health, microbiology and sustainable land management. He has been the driving force behind the organisation for a number of years and has brought together a cohesive and committed team to work towards SoilCQuest’s vision.
Penelope Wensley
Former Governor of Queensland and distinguished Australian diplomat, the Honourable Penelope Wensley AC, has a long-held interest and substantial experience in natural resource management and sustainable development matters.
Ms Wensley was a key contributor to the negotiation of several landmark international treaties to address environmental challenges though the United Nations in her roles as Australian Ambassador for the Environment from 1992 to 1996, as Ambassador to the UN, Geneva 1993-96 and Ambassador to the UN, New York, 1997-2001.
Ms Wensley brings to the position of National Soils Advocate substantial expertise in public policy development, strategy development and implementation, communication and negotiation, and community and stakeholder engagement.