One of Australia's leading authorities in natural resource management has joined Charles Darwin University as Director of one of its flagship research institutes.
Andrew Campbell has just taken up the position of Director of the Research Institute for Environment and Livelihoods (RIEL).
Mr Campbell said he was excited about the prospects of the new institute.
“Bringing together the research strengths of the former School of Environmental Research and the School of Environment and Life Sciences is extremely exciting,” he said.
“With the development of RIEL, we will be able to further extend the university’s recognised strengths in integrated environmental, social and economic research, tailored for the needs of the tropical and desert landscapes of northern Australia.”
Mr Campbell said the university’s geographic location meant it was at “the pointy end” of the challenge of reconciling extraordinary development pressures and economic opportunities, with unique and irreplaceable natural and cultural landscapes.
“I’m sure that through REIL, we’ll be able to make a real difference with high quality science that provides useful knowledge for the communities, industries and resource managers of Northern and Central Australia,” he said.
“I’m also keen to build on the excellent partnerships CDU has developed with other research institutions in the region.”
Formerly the Managing Director of Triple Helix Consulting, a consultancy working at the interface between science and policy across climate, water, energy, food and biodiversity, Mr Campbell has been at the cutting edge of natural resource management in Australia for 25 years.
He has played influential roles in policy as a senior executive in the Australian Government, and in research management as the CEO of Land and Water Australia from 2000-2006. In that role, Mr Campbell was instrumental in the early establishment of the Tropical Rivers and Coastal Knowledge (TRaCK) initiative. He was also a key player in the development of Landcare in Australia in the early 1990s, as Australia’s first National Landcare Facilitator and as one of the architects of the $340 million Decade of Landcare proposal announced by Prime Minister Hawke in 1989.
Mr Campbell chairs the Board of the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network, is a Visiting Fellow at the Fenner School of Environment and Society at the Australian National University, a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, and a Director of the Future Farm Industries CRC. He also retains a long-distance involvement with his family farm near the Grampians in western Victoria, where his family has farmed since the 1860s.