Board Members

The Tom Farrell Institute Board

Bruce Petersen (Chair)

Bruce Petersen is the Environmental Services Manager for Port Stephens Council where he manages Council's regulatory and environmental resources sections.

Before joining Council, he was the Environmental Manager of Hunter Water Corporation where he was responsible for developing management systems, reporting mechanisms and relationships with external agencies and groups to help incorporate environmental management into mainstream business decisions.

Port Stephens Council website

 

 

Dr Cameron Archer

Dr Cameron Archer is the Principal of Tocal College and Director of the Tocal Agricultural Centre at Paterson. He is an agronomist by training and has been involved with the management and operation of the Tocal College and property for most of his career. Cameron has a Degree in Agriculture Science from the University of Sydney with educational degrees from the University of Newcastle.

Cameron has strong interests in environmental and local history as well as extensive experience in agricultural matters across the State. His current responsibilities involve the leadership of agricultural education and training throughout NSW with campuses based at Paterson in the Hunter Valley and Murrumbidgee Rural Studies Centre in the Riverina.

Cameron has written a large number of articles and publications associated with agriculture, the environment, local and agricultural history and education. He is currently undertaking doctoral studies in environmental history and ecosystem health.

Tocal College Website

 

Dr Joe Herbertson

Dr Joe Herbertson has over 30 years in industrial research and development and general management experience in Australia, England and Canada. He worked for many years with BHP, where he held the positions of General Manager of Research for BHP Steel and Director of the Central Research Laboratories in Newcastle. Since 2001, he has been an Executive Director of The Natural Step, a science-based non government organisation.

Joe initiated the Sustainable Resource Processing project that resulted in a new Corporate Research Centre being established to focus on mineral processing and metal production. It brings together major resource companies, leading research organisations, service companies and government. Joe is an Independent Director of the Corporate Research Centre and Chairman of the Industry Steering Committee.

He is a Conjoint Professor of Chemical Engineering at Newcastle University, where he is Co-Director of "The Crucible", which takes a fundamental approach to both metallurgy and sustainability issues and seeks to enhance the link between sustainability, business strategy, innovation and science.

Crucible Carbon website

 

Professor Allyson Holbrook

Professor Holbrook has a research background in Educational Assessment and Evaluation, the History and Futures of Education, the History of Youth Transition and Workplace Education and Studies in Higher Education. She has a long record of teaching research methods, with a particular emphasis on qualitative methods, and of supervising research students and mentoring research staff.

Faculty of Education website

 

 

Meredith Laing

Meredith Laing has been the Director of the Lower Hunter & Central Coast Regional Environment Management Strategy since June 1996. Her role is to ensure that local Government has appropriate assistance, support and resources to efficiently develop and implement coordinated, regional environmental management initiatives such as their Urban Water Cycle Management Program. Many aspects of this initiative have been emulated throughout NSW and in other states of Australia.

She is a member of the Australian Landcare Council's Coordinators and Facilitators Working group.

Hunter Councils Environment Divison website

 

Professor Fred Menk

Fred Menk is Professor of Physics and Deputy Head of the Faculty of Science and Information Technology. He has taught a wide range of topics in Physics, including energy production and consequences, and his main research interests are in space physics (in particular, causes and effects of space weather)and medical physics (radiation oncology and improving cancer treatment). He holds positions on national and international research bodies, has published over 100 journal publications and book chapters, attracted about $7M in competitive research funds, and supervised over 20 PhD students.

Fred is a strong advocate of improving the understanding, perception and practice of science. While our natural environment is the source of much of our economic wealth, discussions of environmental issues are often clouded by bias and dogma. It is vital that education and clear thinking are brought to play to provide long-term solutions. For example, the efficiency of thermal power stations is limited by the laws of thermodynamics to around 40%, which means a lot of energy is wasted. On the other hand, coal is relatively abundant. We need to find smart solutions.

Faculty of Science and IT website

 

Dr Wej Paradice

Doctor Wej Paradice is the Chair of the Hunter and Central River Catchments Management Authority.  He has served as the Director of Research and CEO of The Hunter Valley Research Foundation since 1986, successfully maintaining the Foundation's profile and reputation in international research circles and participating in projects with affiliated organisations in the United States. Wej also serves as Chairman of the Hunter River Salinity Trading Operations Committee and Hunter River Management Committee.

Wej has extensive research experience in economic, business and social issues and has a vision of achieving positive on-ground change and a devotion to innovation in natural resource management.

Hunter Valley Research Foundation website