NCCARF Board

 

 

The operations of NCCARF are overseen by the NCCARF Board. The ten members of the Board are drawn from Federal and State government, business and community, as well as the NCCARF partnership and Director. Its role, as set out in the Board Charter, is to guide NCCARF through its current Operational Phase.

The Board members comprise a cross-section of influential decision-makers representing local, state and federal governments, business and research.

The board provides a responsive, flexible and independent governance structure to ensure NCCARF generates the information decision makers most need, and delivers it in the most effective manner.

 

The NCCARF Board is:
 

  

 

NCCARF Board Member biographies

Ian Carruthers - Chair
Ian recently retired as Division Head in the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency after 40 years in the Australian Public Service. He played key roles in negotiating the UN Climate Change Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol, and their implementation rules; in setting up Australia’s ability to measure emissions of greenhouse gases in all sectors (a notable case being the world-leading National Carbon Accounting System for the land sectors); in communication on climate change; and in framing national climate change response strategies, in concert with the States, Territories and local governments through COAG.

Chris Cocklin
Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Research and Innovation, James Cook University 
Chris is a member of the Queensland Premier’s Advisory Council on Climate Change. He is a Director of the Reef and Rainforest Research Centre Ltd and has served as a Director of Greening Australia (Vic) Ltd and the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute. Professor Cocklin is a member of the International Scientific Advisory Council of the Great Barrier Reef Foundation and a member of the Steering Committee of the Great Barrier Reef & Torres Strait Hub of the National Environmental Research Program. In 2004 he was appointed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) as a Lead Author of the Fourth Assessment Report.

Allan Jones
Chief Development Officer, Energy and Climate Change, City of Sydney.
Prior to his appointment Allan was Chief Executive Officer of the London Climate Change Agency and prior to that Woking Borough Council’s Director of Thameswey Ltd. During his time at Woking, Allan reduced CO2 emission by 77.5% from 1990 levels to 2004 and undertook work on energy efficiency, tri-generation, renewable gases from waste, alternative fuels for transport and renewable energy.

Amanda McCluskey
Head of Sustainability and Responsible Investment Colonial First State Global Asset Management 
Amanda focuses on developing and delivering Colonial First State Global Asset Management’s strategy on sustainability and climate change issues. She works closely with investment teams across all asset classes to build in a consideration of ESG issues and identify new investment opportunities and engages the investment community more broadly to increase the awareness of the risks and opportunities for long term investors. Amanda is the founding Deputy Chair of the Investor Group on Climate Change, is on the Boards of the Great Barrier Reef Foundation and the United Nations Environment Program Finance Initiative. Previously Amanda was at Portfolio Partners as Investment Manager Sustainability and has also worked at BT Financial Group as Manager Investment Governance. Amanda has worked extensively in the development and implementation of sustainability and governance strategies, frameworks and reporting, and the United Nations’ Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI).
Amanda holds a Bachelor of Economics with Honours in International Relations and was one of the first Australians to participate in the Al Gore Climate Leadership Program. In 2010 Amanda was named an AFR BOSS Young Executive of the Year and in 2009 was named one of Sydney’s most influential people.
 
Jean Palutikof
Director, National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility
Jean took up the role in October 2008, having previously managed the production of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fourth Assessment Report for Working Group II (Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability), while based at the UK Met Office. Prior to joining the Met Office, she was a Professor in the School of Environmental Sciences, and Director of the Climatic Research Unit, at the University of East Anglia, UK, where she worked from 1979 to 2004.

Ned Pankhurst
Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research) and Provost (Gold Coast), Griffith University
Ned has served as Pro Vice Chancellor (Science, Environment, Engineering and Technology) at Griffith University and prior to that at James Cook University. His research interests lie in the area of the biology of fishes includingthe reproductive physiology and endocrinology of fishes; broodstock management and induced spawning of fishes in aquaculture; and the effects of climate change on fish reproduction.

Jim Piper
Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research), Macquarie University
After completing his PhD in Atomic Physics at Otago University, Jim worked as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Laser Physics at Oxford University before joining Macquarie University in 1975. He was Director of the Australian Research Council Special Research Centre for Lasers and Applications and Dean of Information and Communications before taking up his current position. He has substantial experience with the Australian Research Council, including Research Training and Careers, and National and International Cooperation Committees. He is inventor or co-inventor of 12 awarded patents, and has had substantial experience in commercialisation of research-derived IP including by way of licensing and start-up companies.

Harinder Sidhu
Acting Deputy Secretary of the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, and First Assistant Secretary, Adaptation, Science and Communications Division.
Harinder is responsible for developing and implementing a strategic approach to climate change adaptation issues and coordinating climate change science activities, and for delivery of Department-wide communications and public affairs activities. Previous to this position she was the Chief Adviser in the International Division where she was responsible for the development and management of Australia’s international climate change policy, analysis, negotiation strategy and bilateral relationship development. Prior to joining the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, Harinder was Assistant Director- General in the Office of National Assessments and senior economic and held defence adviser positions in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.

Greg Withers
Assistant Director-General of the Office of Climate Change, Queensland
Greg has 25 years experience in public policy research, development and implementation. He leads the Queensland Government’s response to climate change, including coordination of actions to reduce the State’s carbon footprint and prepare individuals, communities and business for the impacts of climate change. Greg coordinates Queensland’s contribution to the national climate change agenda, management of the
Queensland Climate Change Fund, operation of the Premier’s Council on Climate Change, and the $196 million strategy ClimateQ: Toward a greener Queensland. He has represented the Queensland Government on the COAG Climate Change and Water Working Group and is a member of the National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility Management Committee and the Urban Research Program of Griffith University.

Stephanie Ziersch
Executive Director of the Sustainability and Climate Change Division of the South Australian Government.
Stephanie is responsible for leading climate change policy development in South Australia. Over the past four years she has led the development of state adaptation policy and has had a strong involvement in adaptation policy development nationally. Stephanie leads work to reduce the State’s greenhouse gas emissions in areas such as energy efficiency, community-based mitigation programs and behaviour change initiatives. She supports the Premier of South Australia in his role as Chair of the States and Regions Network, an international alliance of regional governments taking action on climate change, and has worked in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme on climate change projects in Timor-Leste. Stephanie is a qualified legal practitioner with a Masters in International Law and International Relations.

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