Featured Speakers
Amanda McKenzie
CEO Climate Council
Amanda McKenzie is a leading Australian climate advocate and co-founder of the Climate Council, which she has led as CEO since 2013. Under her leadership, the Council has become a powerful and trusted voice on climate action driving campaigns to change public opinion and national and state policy. She previously co-founded the Australian Youth Climate Coalition and has advised numerous governments and corporations on climate and energy. Amanda’s governance experience includes founding Chair of the Centre for Australian Progress and director roles at Plan International. Named one of Westpac’s 100 Women of Influence, she holds an Honours degree in Law from Monash University and an Arts degree from the University of Melbourne.
David Bowman
ARC Laureate Fellow
Professor of Pyrogeography and Fire Science
Director of the Fire Centre, The University of Tasmania
Professor David Bowman is an Australian Research Council Laureate Fellow and the Director of the transdisciplinary Fire Centre at the University of Tasmania, where he holds a research chair in Pyrogeography and Fire Science. He is recognised as a thought leader in wildfire science and management publishing influential research in high-impact journals, providing policy advice to government, and serving as an expert media commentor. From 2019 to 2022 he was listed as a Clarivate highly cited cross-disciplinary Researcher. He has been privileged to have spent most of his life engaged with natural ecosystems both researching and recreating, including 25 years of research working with the Kune people in the ‘Stone Country’ of Western Arnhem Land. He is passionate about sharing his knowledge and experience to help mitigate the adverse environmental impacts of climate change amplified bushfires on human and non-human communities.
Robb Clifton
Director Field and Traverse Operations Australian Antarctic Division
Robb is the Director Field and Traverse Operations at the Australian Antarctic Division responsible for delivering these operations in Antarctica and the Southern Ocean as part of Australia’s Antarctic Program. Prior to this Robb was the Operations Manager and subsequently the Operations Planning Manager at AAD, responsible for planning and implementing Station, Field, Aviation and Shipping operations in Antarctica and the Southern Ocean.
Robb has deployed to Antarctica 15 times in a variety of roles. Prior to work with the AAD Robb was an officer in the Australian Defence Force including service in the Special Air Service Regiment as a Troop Commander. He was the Director Joint Operations and Plans with the ACT Emergency Services Authority and worked as a Senior Ranger with Queensland Parks and Wildlife, during which time he was incident controller for a number of bushfires.
Greg Lehman
Adjunct Professorial Research Fellow
University of Tasmania
Professor Greg Lehman is a Tasmanian art historian, curator, essayist and commentator on Indigenous identity and place, who is descended from the Trawulwuy people of north-east Tasmania. Greg is Adjunct Professorial Research Fellow at the University of Tasmania’s Institute of Indigenous Knowledges. His research spans Indigenous cultural values, land and fire management to representation of Indigenous people in colonial art.
In 2000, Greg convened the international symposium Native Solutions: Indigenous knowledge and today’s fire management. He continues to collaborate with the University of Tasmania’s Fire Centre Bushfire Research Hub.