Prof. Chris Daniels

Chris Daniels is Professor of Urban Ecology, Division of Information Technology, Engineering and Environment at the University of South Australia. He is Head of the Discipline of Geospatial and Environmental Management, one of 4 Disciplines in the School of Natural and Built Environments in the Division of ITEE at UniSA. He is also Director of the Barbara Hardy Centre for Sustainable Urban Environments which is a major research centre located primarily in the School of Natural and Built Environments, but with members from other Divisions and from the wider environmental community. He facilitates and conducts research into the relationship between humans and the communities we build and the natural environment.

Chris was educated at the University of Adelaide and the University of New England. Chris has held academic positions at the University of California, Flinders University and the University of Adelaide before accepting the chair of Urban Ecology at UniSA. He is a prolific publisher, with 8 books and over 120 scientific publications. He teaches undergraduate and postgraduate zoology and supervises a large number of research students each year. He holds honorary positions at ZoosSA and the SA Museum. Chris has always had an abiding interest in reptiles, particularly lizards, and is a passionate communicator to the general community, about science and the environment. Chris has a regular session on 891 ABC Radio. He won the premiers science award for communication and education in 2007. In 2005 Chris, with Catherine Tait edited the Book Adelaide Nature of a City: Ecology which won the Whitley Award, in 2006 and which received a High Commendation from the Planning Institute of Australia in 2008. The current book, Adelaide Water of a City is the second in this series.

 
Natasha Stott Despoja

Natasha Stott Despoja is a former Senator for South Australia (1995-2008) and former Leader of the Australian Democrats. She is the youngest woman ever to enter the Australian Federal Parliament.
She held the positions of Australian Democrats Leader and Deputy Leader and is the longest serving Democrat Senator in the party’s history.
Natasha has made a contribution to a wide range of policy debates including as a spokesperson on higher education, science and biotechnology, Attorney-General’s, privacy, women, work and family. During her political career she also introduced Private Member’s Bills on issues including paid maternity leave, the Republic, genetic privacy and stem cells, and captioning.

Natasha is an Honorary Visiting Research Fellow at The University of Adelaide. She writes a column for The Adelaide Advertiser, The Business Spectator, has a regular ABC radio segment and does freelance writing and speeches.

She is a Director of beyondblue, the Burnet Institute, the South Australian Museum and is a member of the Advertising Standards Board.

Natasha lives in Adelaide with husband Ian and their two children Conrad and Cordelia.

Rob Ewart

Rob Ewart is a pioneer of Local Government Leisure Services and is a Frank Stewart Award recipient.

He was one of the original Victorian Municipal Recreation Officers; starting with the City of Dandenong in 1975.  An advocate of presenting “leisure” in its broadest context Rob has obtained great satisfaction from assisting Local Government to expand it services from just providing sports facilities for young males to offering opportunities for broad and accessible community participation across the full spectrum of active & passive recreation, arts & crafts, community development, parks & open space and heritage, tourism & visitor services.

With a strong belief in the value of networking Rob was one of the founders of the organisation that was a predecessor of Parks & Leisure Australia.  He proposed the establishment of the Frank Stewart Award to recognise the contribution of individuals to the development of the profession.  He also hoped that the Award, named for the first Federal Minister for Recreation, could be used as a device for encouraging the Hawke & Keating Labor Governments to continue the excellent work started by the Whitlam Government and subsequently discarded by the Fraser Liberals. 

A drastic change in his private life some years ago left Rob struggling with his emotions and this developed into what was later identified as depression.  After working through the process, receiving treatment and developing coping strategies, Rob now characterises his situation as being “affected by depression rather than suffering from it.”  He is keen to support the initiatives of “beyond blue” to assist both those with depression and to better inform their colleagues, families and friends.

Rob now considers himself to be “semi-retired” and has been undertaking short term project work with Councils and agencies.  Rock’n’Roll dancing has become one his significant interests.  As well as dancing socially on a regular basis Rob is the Treasurer and Public Relations Officer of the Victoria Rock’n’Roll Dance Association.  He also acts as the Master of Ceremonies for dance championships.

Duncan Murray

Duncan Murray is a Senior Lecturer, Sport and Recreation Management, in the School of Management at the University of South Australia. He is founding member of the Centre for Tourism and Leisure Management, which incorporates the CERM Performance Indicators project. His research focuses on participation and involvement in fitness and exercise, service quality in sport and recreation settings, physical appearance and consumer behaviour and generational theory as applied to recreation and leisure. He has published over 20 journal articles as well as numerous refereed conference papers and is internationally recognised for his work in consumer research in sport and recreation.

Duncan’s recent work has included a focus on reconceptualising the future and how leisure patterns may be seen as reflective of wider generational and social cycles. He is particularly interested in how leisure provision over the next 20 years may not necessarily be informed by the last 20 years.

Chris West

Chris is currently CEO of Zoos SA, Professor of Zoology at Adelaide University, and Professor of Biodiversity Conservation at Flinders University. He qualified as a vet nearly 25 years ago and has worked in academia, the corporate world (as a General Manager in an international Pharmaceutical company) and was previously Zoological Director at London Zoo.  He describes himself as a conservationist and environmentalist but also a pragmatist, consensus seeker and optimist. Widely traveled, he is fascinated by all cultures, perhaps because he spent his early years in West Africa. Africa remains in his blood, along with malaria. He has also spent some time in uniform - army uniform - learning about how to stay alive in tight spots; something that has never been tested in real life …luckily.

 

Chris is adapting to an Australian way of life and getting used to the idea that national teams can win.