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Members

The key role of the Management Board is to set the strategic vision and direction for the Goyder Institute and to monitor its implementation and outcomes. It also reviews and approves annual research programs and budgets, and oversees the effective delivery of the research programs.

The Board comprises an Independent Chair, the Director of the Goyder Institute, and a representative from each partner organisation: SA Department for Environment and Water (representing State Government), CSIRO, Flinders University, the University of Adelaide and the University of South Australia.

Jody Swirepik appointed new Chair of the Goyder Institute for Water Research

Jody Swirepik

Management Board Chair, Goyder Institute for Water Research

Jody Swirepik appointed new Chair of the Goyder Institute for Water Research

Jody Swirepik

Management Board Chair, Goyder Institute for Water Research

Ms Swirepik holds a wealth of experience in the water sector and natural resources management, working with a broad range of stakeholders including First Nations peoples, government agencies and communities.
Since March 2021, Jody was the Director of National Parks within the Department for Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. Between 2018-2021, Jody was appointed the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder before moving into her last position. Prior to this, Jody spent three years as Executive General Manager of the Clean Energy Regulator working on carbon farming and emissions reductions. In her earlier career, Jody worked for the NSW EPA and the ACT Government before joining the Murray-Darling Basin Commission and subsequently the Murray-Darling Basin Authority (MDBA). Jody spent three years as General Manager of The Living Murray Initiative before becoming Executive Director Environmental Management in the MDBA.

Professor Okke Batelaan

Professor, Flinders University

Professor, Flinders University

Professor Okke Batelaan is a graduate of the Free University of Amsterdam, Netherlands (MSc – Hydrogeology) and of the Free University Brussels, Belgium (PhD – Engineering). He worked for more than 20 years at the Free University Brussels and also led the hydrogeology group at the KU Leuven, Belgium since 2006. He was chairman of the Interuniversity Programme in Water Resources Engineering.

Since 2012 Okke Batelaan is Strategic Professor in Hydrogeology at Flinders University. Okke has broad experience in teaching groundwater hydrology, groundwater modelling, GIS and remote sensing for hydrological applications. He was supervisor of more than 140 MSc and 25 PhD students. He has extensive research experience and a publication record in shallow groundwater hydrology and modeling, recharge-discharge estimation and modeling, urban hydrology and distributed modelling, ecohydrology and impacts of land use and climate change on groundwater systems. He coordinated and participated in a large number of projects in Europe, Africa, South America, Asia and Australia. He is editor-in-chief of Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies and of MDPI-Hydrology.

Dan Jordan

A/Executive Director, Water and River Murray, Department for Environment and Water (DEW)

A/Executive Director, Water and River Murray, Department for Environment and Water (DEW)

Dan Jordan is the A/Executive Director, Water and River Murray, Department for Environment and Water (DEW). Dan is also the Basin Officials Committee Alternate Member for South Australia.

Dr Carmel Pollino

Research Director, Water Security, CSIRO

Research Director, Water Security, CSIRO

Dr Carmel Pollino is a Research Director for the Water Security Program in CSIRO Environment. She has 20 years of experience working on water issues in Australia and throughout Asia. Carmel has degrees in science and environmental law and works across the science and policy interface. Significant areas of research in Environmental Flows, Hydrology, Ecology and Integrated River Basin Planning. Carmel is the lead and also a contributor to global working groups on water and has published widely in this domain.

Ben Van den Akker

Dr Ben Van Den Akker

Enterprise Fellow in Environmental Chemistry

Ben Van den Akker

Enterprise Fellow in Environmental Chemistry

Dr Ben van den Akker completed his Bachelor of Environmental Health, honours, and PhD degrees at Flinders University. Since 2007 he has pursued a hybrid research career within both academia and industry. He joined UniSA in 2023 as an Enterprise Fellow within STEM. With expertise in environmental health and microbiology, his research focuses on enhancing the performance and sustainability of engineered water and wastewater treatment systems to capture the full value of water. He also has an interest in health aspects of water quality, which includes the use of microbial risk assessment principles in the regulation and management of urban water systems. Ben is passionate about collaborative research with industry and government and through these partnerships he has acquired practical experience in the implementation of research outcomes.

Professor Bronwyn Gillanders

Head of School of Biological Sciences, The University of Adelaide

Head of School of Biological Sciences, The University of Adelaide

Professor Bronwyn Gillanders is the Head of School of Biological Sciences at the University of Adelaide. Prof Gillanders completed her BSc at the University of Canterbury, MSc at the University of Otago and her PhD at the University of Sydney. She has a research background in environmental science focused predominantly on freshwater and marine ecology.

Her research interests include integrated marine management; coastal carbon opportunities; multiple use activities and cumulative impact assessment; biology, ecology and fisheries of cephalopods; stocking and provenance of fish; plastics in the marine environment including in seafood; use of fish bones (and other calcified structures) for assessing ecological and environmental change. She has trained and mentored ~70 Honours and Higher Degree Research students and shaped the future of 1000s of students through her undergraduate teaching. She is passionate about encouraging capable women to enter and remain in science careers.

The Research Advisory Committee (RAC) assists the Director in the development of the Research and Development Plan of the Goyder Institute and ensures that research is of international quality in areas that will ensure that South Australia’s science is being most effectively deployed to manage the water issues facing South Australia. It may conduct periodic reviews of Goyder Institute research project activities and make recommendations about the direction, content and details of future activities.

The RAC is chaired by the Goyder Institute Director and comprises a research coordinator from each research partner, up to two representatives from agencies as determined by the State, a representative of SARDI, a representative of the Australian Water Quality Centre, and up to three specialists as agreed by the Management Board.

Professor Justin Brookes

Director, Water Research Centre, University of Adelaide

Director, Water Research Centre, University of Adelaide

Justin has broad research interests in limnology and water treatment with a primary focus on coupling between hydrodynamics, biology and water quality contaminants such as cyanobacteria and pathogens. He is a founding member of the management committee of the IWA Specialist Group on Lake and Reservoir Management and member of the Steering Committee for the Global Lakes Ecological Observatory Network .

Justin has a PhD and a Bachelor of Science degree with Honours from the University of Adelaide.

Professor Lin Crase

Dean of Programs (Accounting & Finance), UniSA

Dean of Programs (Accounting & Finance), UniSA

Professor Lin Crase is Professor of Economics and Dean of Programs (Accounting & Finance) at UniSA. He joined UniSA in February 2016 as Head of School of Commerce. Prior to commencing at UniSA, Lin was Professor and Director of the Centre for Water Policy and Management at La Trobe University.

Lin’s research has focused on applied economics in the context of water. He has analysed water markets and the property rights that attend them, water pricing and numerous applications of water policy. Whilst his expertise includes the Murray-Darling Basin in Australia, he has also worked on projects in south Asia, Japan and Europe. Lin has published over 100 journal articles, numerous book chapters, four books and a range of other papers and opinion pieces.

Dr Tanya Doody

Principal Research Scientist, CSIRO

Principal Research Scientist, CSIRO

Dr Tanya Doody is a Principal Research Scientist working on high impact spatial eco-hydrological projects within CSIRO’s Land and Water Business Unit. Dr Doody leads the Managing Water Ecosystems Group, based in Adelaide, Albury and Canberra and has significant experience in quantifying the water requirements of vegetation and at times, their impact on water resources. This involves ecophysiological field-based research to underpin remote sensing tools to scale regionally to improve our understanding of the effect of flood regimes on the health of water-dependent ecosystems on the Murray-Darling Basin floodplains. Additional research includes investigating the ecological response of vegetation to water availability and environmental water to inform integrated basin water planning and management.

Dr Paul Monis

Manager, Research Stakeholders and Planning, SA Water

Manager, Research Stakeholders and Planning, SA Water

Dr Paul Monis is a technical expert within SA Water’s Business Services group, which provides scientific expertise to support the delivery of water and wastewater services to SA Water’s customers. He has specialist expertise in the areas of biotechnology and microbiology, with almost 20 years’ experience applying DNA-based and other technologies to address water quality challenges posed by microorganisms, especially enteric pathogens. Dr Monis also holds title of Adjunct Associate Professor at Flinders University, the University of Adelaide and UniSA.

Peter Goonan

Environmental Science Branch, EPA

Environmental Science Branch, EPA

Peter Goonan is the Principal Aquatic Biologist in the Environmental Science Branch of the EPA. He has over 30 years’ experience monitoring the condition of aquatic ecosystems in SA and assessing the environmental effects caused by discharges, deposits and contaminants entering inland and coastal waters. He specialises in aquatic invertebrate identification and their responses to contaminants and water quality stressors. He also provides expert professional advice relating to water quality risks, regulation, policy, and strategic directions, and represents the EPA as an expert witness in court.

Dr Ilka Wallis

Senior Lecturer, Flinders University

Senior Lecturer, Flinders University

Dr Ilka Wallis is a hydrogeologist with areas of expertise in quantitative hydrogeology and geochemistry. Ilka focuses on the development of reactive geochemical transport models which integrate fundamental processes that are normally studied in isolation (hydrogeological, mineralogical, geochemical and biochemical).

Ilka is also an Adjunct Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Manitoba, Canada since 2017.

Chris Wright

Manager Water Science, DEW

Manager Water Science, DEW

Chris Wright holds significant experience in public sector senior leadership, having led policy, scientific and operational business units over the last twelve years in both State and Commonwealth government agencies. Chris has excellent experiences in leading policy and strategy formulation. He is skilled in building and maintaining networks across the public and private sectors to facilitate business delivery; leading and negotiating with others to achieve outcomes; and in bridging the science-policy gap, drawing on earlier roles in geospatial information systems (GIS) consulting. Chris’s formal qualifications include a Bachelor of Social Science, a Masters of Spatial Information Science and graduation from the AICD Company Directors course in 2019.

Dr Alec Rolston, Director, Goyder Institute for Water Research

Dr Alec Rolston

Director

Dr Alec Rolston, Director, Goyder Institute for Water Research

Director

Alec Rolston joined the Institute in 2021 as Research Program Manager of the Goyder Institute’s research projects in the Healthy Coorong, Healthy Basin program. He has extensive experience in integrated water resource management, integrated catchment management, drinking water source protection and wetland ecology, conservation and management across Europe and Australia.

Alec holds a PhD from the National University of Ireland Maynooth and has worked with An Fóram Uisce|The Water Forum and the Dundalk Institute of Technology in Ireland as well as the MANTEL Innovative Training Network across Europe.

Alec spent his early career in Adelaide working with Flinders University through the Coorong, Lower Lakes and Murray Mouth (CLLMM) Ecology Research Cluster and within the Department for Environment and Water.
Email: director@goyderinstitute.org

Daniel Flaherty

Accountant

Accountant

Daniel Flaherty is the Accountant for the Goyder Institute for Water Research.

Daniel has extensive experience in higher education having worked in senior financial management roles at the University of South Australia, Flinders University and the University of Adelaide over the past 26 years. Daniel has also been a Board Director on a number of university related entities. Prior to that, Daniel has worked in a range of agencies in the Commonwealth and State Governments.

Daniel is a Fellow of CPA Australia and has a Bachelor of Economics from the University of Adelaide.

Jane French, Goyder Institute CLLMM Research Centre Manager

Jane French

CLLMM Research Centre Manager

Jane French, Goyder Institute CLLMM Research Centre Manager

CLLMM Research Centre Manager

Jane French is the CLLMM Research Centre Manager, based in Goolwa, South Australia. Jane is a talented, results-focused leader with a proven record in business analytics and systems development. She is deeply passionate about developing strong professional relationships to drive best practice in partnership with highly motivated practitioners to create a high-performance culture. With qualifications in Communications, Training and Assessment and International and Community Development, Jane has worked in the Not-for-Profit sector for many years, primarily within Community Centres at Management Level, and more recently with one of Australia’s largest NFP organisations. Jane has also served on a number of Boards in the NFP sector. Previous to that Jane has lectured at TAFE, teaching Communications. Growing up on a multi-generational family farm in the south-east of SA, but now living in Goolwa, Jane is a passionate community member and volunteers on committees for local sporting clubs that her children are engaged with.
Email: jane.french@goyderinstitute.org

Dr Nick Whiterod, Goyder Institute CLLMM Research Centre Science Program Manager

Dr Nick Whiterod

CLLMM Research Centre Science Program Manager

Dr Nick Whiterod, Goyder Institute CLLMM Research Centre Science Program Manager

CLLMM Research Centre Science Program Manager

Dr Nick Whiterod is the CLLMM Research Centre Science Program Manager based in Goolwa, South Australia. Nick is an ecologist with more than two decades experience, working broadly conserving and researching freshwater species and ecosystems across South Australia and Australia. He has conducted several successful reintroduction projects, contributed to the national listing of more than 50 freshwater fish and crayfish, and actively worked to understand and conserve freshwater fish across Australia, including in the Mt Lofty Ranges and the Coorong, Lower Lakes and Murray Mouth region. Nick was a 2018 Churchill Fellow and recently received the 2023 Unsung Hero of South Australian Science.
Email: nick.whiterod@goyderinstitute.org

Dr Tiffany Nay

CLLMM Research Centre Communications and Engagement Coordinator

CLLMM Research Centre Communications and Engagement Coordinator

Dr Tiffany Nay is the Communications and Engagement Coordinator at the CLLMM Research Centre based in Goolwa, South Australia. Tiffany has an academic background with a PhD in fish physiology from James Cook University. For the past 2 years, she has worked in managing wetland ecosystems throughout the CLLMM region. Throughout both roles, Tiffany focused on creating innovative science communication materials and engaging public outreach for communities. She is excited to join the CLLMM Research Centre.

Email: tiffany.nay@goyderinstitute.org

Fiona Adamson

Research Program Manager (Seconded)

Fiona Adamson

Research Program Manager (Seconded)

Fiona has joined the Goyder Institute on secondment from Institute partner Flinders University where she has been providing administrative and strategic support for the past twelve years in her role as Centre Manager of the National Centre for Groundwater Research and Training. She has actively cultivated a strong network of contacts in the water industry over this time. Fiona has qualifications in Project Administration, Management and Leadership.
Email: fiona.adamson@goyderinstitute.org

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