Keynote Speakers
Professor Nicholas Hanley
Chair in Environmental and One Health Economics (Ecology & Environmental Change) - University of Glasgow Professor Nicholas Hanley joined the University of Glasgow in December 2017, having previously held chairs at the universities of Stirling, Edinburgh and St Andrews. He is an environmental economist who mainly works on the application of economic methods (including behavioural economics) to biodiversity conservation, one health problems, and measures of sustainability. He is also interested in choice modelling and cost-benefit analysis, marine and coastal systems; and the design of Payment for Ecosystem Service schemes. Professor Hanley is an Associate Editor of Resource and Energy Economics, and an Editor of Ecological Economics (photo and text courtesy University of Glasgow). 
Ross Kingwell, PhD
Chief economist, Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (WA) Ross Kingwell is a respected agricultural economist; the author of more than 145 journal articles and book chapters, and more than 320 conference papers and policy reports. He is a professor in the School of Agriculture and Environment at the University of Western Australia, former chief economist in the Australian Export Grains Innovation Centre, and now chief economist in the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development. Ross has chaired the Australian Farm Institute’s (AFI) research advisory committee and been a co-editor of the Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics (AJARE). He is a former president and now distinguished fellow of the Australasian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society and the 2024 winner of the Seed of Light award from the Grains R&D Corporation. 
Professor Natalie Stoeckl
Professor of Economics in the College of Business and Economics, University of Tasmania Natalie Stoeckl is a Professor of Economics at the University of Tasmania, Australia, having also spent many years at James Cook University, the CSIRO and the University of Canberra. She has an established track record of collaborative transdisciplinary research that focuses primarily on economic aspects of sustainable development and of environmental/natural resource management in regional and remote areas. She has a particular interest in ecosystem services and non-market valuation. Natalie has a deep respect for different knowledges and ‘ways of knowing’ – irrespective of whether that knowledge has been gained through formal education systems, traditional knowledge systems and/or through lived experience. Most of her work is empirical, undertaken in both terrestrial and marine contexts, and most aims to find rigorous ways of blending ideas from diverse groups/people to generate new insights for challenging problems. |
Professor Katrin Rehdanz, Department of Economics – Kiel University
Katrin Rehdanz is Professor of Economics at Kiel University, Germany. She has a strong background in environmental and energy economics. Her research focuses on environmental valuation with links to climate and biodiversity economics. Since her PhD, she has enjoyed collaborating with colleagues from different disciplines, which is reflected in her publication record, e.g. linking biological and climate research with economic research. She is Associate Editor of Energy Economics and Ecological Economics and has held several other positions. Recently, she was appointed by the German Federal Minister for the Environment to the Scientific Advisory Council for Natural Climate Protection. 
Professor Wendy Umberger, PhD
Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) Professor Wendy Umberger is the CEO of ACIAR, a statutory agency that operates as part of Australia's foreign affairs and trade portfolio. She is directly responsible to the Minister for Foreign Affairs and manages the administrative and financial affairs of ACIAR and its staff. Professor Umberger is an Honorary Professorial Fellow in the School of Agriculture and Food at the University of Melbourne. She has worked on food system issues across the Indo-Pacific region and led interdisciplinary value chain research projects in Asia, Australia, North America, the Pacific Islands and South Africa. Her research has explored opportunities for smallholder agricultural households to produce high-value (horticulture, dairy, beef) food products and adopt new technology to access modern food value chains. From 2013 to 2022, she founded and led the Centre for Global Food and Resources at the University of Adelaide, which engaged with policymakers and industry to make positive changes in agriculture, food, and resource systems. Professor Umberger has also served as President of Australia's Policy Advisory Council (for International Agricultural Research and Development) from 2020 to 2023 and was on the Board of Trustees of the International Crops Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) from 2015 to 2021. Professor Umberger is a Director of the International Association of Agricultural Economists, a board member of Food Bank SA, an Honorary Fellow of Food Standards Australia New Zealand, a Distinguished Fellow of the Australasian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society and served as an Independent Director of Grain Producers South Australia (GPSA) for six years. 
Dr. Paul Graham
Chief Economist Energy Business Unit, CSIRO Paul Graham is Chief Economist at CSIRO’s Energy business unit and has been working in the field of energy economics for 28 years. His most well-known work is the GenCost project which provides updates and projections on the cost of generation, storage and hydrogen technologies. More broadly, he is responsible for providing advice on the economic drivers and outcomes for the energy sector and leading projects of national significance in partnership with industry and government. 
Adam Fennessy PSM
Secretary of the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Adam Fennessy PSM is the Secretary of the Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF). Adam has over 25 years of public sector experience at state and federal levels. His former roles have included Secretary of the Victorian Department of Environment and Primary Industries, Secretary of the Victorian Department of Environment, Land, Water & Planning, the Victorian Public Sector Commissioner and Dean & CEO of the Australia and New Zealand School of Government (ANZSOG). Adam has worked in the private sector as a partner with global advisory firm Ernst & Young. |
