Dr. Tony Gregson

Tony Gregson is a chemist with PhD and DSc degrees from the University of Melbourne. From 1971 until 1973 he held an ICI post-doctoral research fellowship at the Inorganic Chemistry Laboratory and St Edmund Hall, Oxford. He then worked at the Atomic Energy Research Establishment at Harwell, UK, before returning to Australia to a lectureship in chemistry at the University of New England in 1974. During 1979 he was Visiting Professor of Chemistry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In 1981 he resigned as Associate Professor of Chemistry and returned to his family farm (2200 ha) in western Victoria where he now grows wheat, barley, canola, a variety of pulses such as lentils, faba beans, and chick peas, and wool.

Since returning to the farm he has been a member of numerous organizations, for example: inaugural member of the Barley Research Council (86 – 90), inaugural board member of the CSIRO (86 – 95), inaugural board member of the Grains Research and Development Corporation (90 – 96), board member of the Rural Finance Corporation of Victoria (91 – 01), board member of the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (93 – 98), Chairman of Dunlena Pty Ltd, a joint venture company between CSIRO and DuPont (94 – 96), Chairman of the CRC for Plant Science (95 – 98), Chairman of the Molecular Plant Breeding CRC (96 – 11), Commissioner, Rural City of Horsham (1995 - 1997), member of the Board of Trustees of CIMMYT (96 – 02), member (02 – 09) and Chairman (05-09) of Bioversity International based in Rome (formerly the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute) as well as a member of the CGIAR Alliance Board (05 – 09) and a member of the CGIAR Genetic Resources Policy Committee (05 – 09).

Currently he is Chairman of Plant Health Australia, Chairman of the Melbourne University School of Botany Foundation, Chairman of the Victorian Committee of the Crawford Fund and a member of the Board of Governors of the Crawford Fund, a Director of Rural Industries Skill Training based in Hamilton, Victoria and an Adjunct Professor of the University of Ballarat.

He was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering in 2003 and appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in 2009.

Professor Adrienne Clarke AC

Laureate Professor, School of Botany

Professor Clarke is Laureate Professor in the School of Botany at The University of Melbourne and Chancellor of La Trobe University. She is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, Foreign Associate of the National Academy of Sciences (USA) and Foreign Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a Fellow of Janet Clarke Hall in Melbourne. She served as President of the International Society for Plant Molecular Biology (1997-1998). Professor Clarke was appointed as an inaugural Fellow (2007) of the American Society of Plant Biologists. Her work as a scientist is in the field of genetic engineering of plants and the chemistry of gums and exudates.

She served as Chairman of the CSIRO Board (1991-1996), Lieutenant Governor of Victoria (1997-2000), Ambassador for Biotechnology for Victoria (2001-2004) and has served on many government committees.

Professor Clarke recently retired as a Director of Hexima Limited, a company that focuses on agricultural biotechnology. She has also served as a Director on a number of public companies including Alcoa of Australia Limited (1993-96), Woolworths Limited (1994-2007), WMC Limited (1996-2005) and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Limited (2002-2008). She also serves on various scientific advisory boards including the Australian Research Centre for Urban Ecology (ARCUE) (2004- ).

Associate Professor John King AM

Neurologist

Dr John King is a Senior Neurologist at the Royal Melbourne Hospital. He is currently a member of the Board of Directors, Inner and Eastern Health Care Network.

Dr King is also a past President of the Australian Association of Neurologists, and past Chairman of the Senior Medical Staff, Royal Melbourne Hospital.

Dr Jan Schapper

Honorary Senior Fellow, External Member