Steering Board
The Steering Board comprises of representatives from key stakeholders of the Centre.
Professor Alastair Sloan
Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research Collaboration), University of Melbourne
Alastair Sloan is Professor of Tissue Engineering and Dental Biology and the current Pro Vice Chancellor, Research Collaboration at the University of Melbourne. Prior to taking up his appointment as PVC he was Head of School of Melbourne Dental School from January 2020 through to September 2024.
A bioscientist and bioengineer, he obtained his BSc from the University of Wales, UK and his PhD from The University of Birmingham, UK. He began his tenured academic career at the University of Birmingham prior to joining School of Dentistry, Cardiff University in 2005 where he established the Mineralised Tissue Group. He was Head of the Department of Oral and Biomedical Sciences at the School of Dentistry and also served as Director of International and latterly Director of Research.
Between 2015-2017 he was Director of the Cardiff Institute for Tissue Engineering and Repair (CITER) and in 2017 was appointed Dean of the School of Dentistry at Cardiff University, a post which he held until his relocation to The University of Melbourne. He is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology (FRSB) and member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
An active educator, Alastair has designed and led courses for undergraduate and postgraduate coursework programmes and is the Chief Examiner for the Primary Basic Sciences examinations of the Royal Australasian College of Dental Surgeons (RACDS). As a researcher he has been awarded in excess of AUD$11M of external grant funding, published over 100 peer reviewed papers and sits on numerous research funding panels in Australia and the EU. He was appointed as Chair of the Australian and New Zealand Council for the Care of Animals in Research and Teaching (ANZCCART) in 2023 and is the current Vice-President of the International Association for Dental Research (IADR) Australia and New Zealand Division.
In 2021 his research career was acknowledged with the award of an Ad Eundem Fellowship of the Faculty of Dentistry, Royal College of Surgeons Ireland (FFDRCSI) and the IADR Distinguished Scientist Award, The Isaac Schour Memorial Award.
Professor Chris Pakes
Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Industry Engagement), La Trobe University
Chris is the inaugural Pro Vice-Chancellor (Graduate and Global Research), overseeing the La Trobe Graduate Research School and international research portfolio, and Professor of Physics.
He has previously held the position of Dean of Graduate Studies, and Associate Dean (Research) in the Faculty of Science, Technology and Engineering at La Trobe.
Chris' research focuses on engineering diamond surfaces for quantum electronics, including the development of devices for spin transport and quantum computation.
He leads the Diamond Research Group that uses a combination of synchrotron spectroscopy, scanning tunneling microscopy, device fabrication and magnetotransport.
Brett Millington
Chief Executive Officer, SuniTAFE
Born and raised in Mildura, Brett has over 20 years’ experience at an executive level in the economic development and utilities industries, and is the current CEO of the Sunraysia Institute of TAFE.
As an inaugural Board member of Mildura Regional Development (MRD) following its formation in 2017 Brett was appointed CEO in 2019. Prior to this, he spent several years as the Program Director for Intelligent Water Networks, the research and collaboration partnership supporting the Victorian Water corporations in their pursuit of innovation.
Educated with a Bachelor of Science with honours from the University of Melbourne initially, Brett also holds post Graduate qualifications in Business Administration from the University of Queensland and the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Professor Angus Webb
Professor in Hydrology and Water Resources, University of Melbourne
MRIC Director
Angus Webb is a Professor in the Water, Agriculture and Environment Program of the Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology at the University of Melbourne. He has been passionate about natural environments as long as he can remember and originally completed a PhD in marine ecology before switching to freshwater systems. His research centres on the study and restoration of large-scale environmental problems in freshwater systems.
Angus is one of Australia’s leading experts in the monitoring, evaluation, and adaptive management of environmental monitoring data, concentrating on environmental flows, where he has been an innovator for more than 15 years. He is centrally involved in the monitoring, evaluation and adaptive management of environmental water delivered under the Australian government’s Murray-Darling Basin Plan, leading the program for the Goulburn River, Victoria since 2014.
He has served on the Board of Directors for the international Society for Freshwater Science and was recently elected as the Vice-President of the Australian Freshwater Science Society. Angus’ 2017 book, Water for the Environment (Elsevier, 2017) brought together 59 authors from around the world to create the first book that covers the entire environmental water management cycle. He is also a co-author of the 2019 book, Environmental flow assessment: methods and applications (Wiley), and has edited two journal special issues on the science and adaptive management of environmental flows (Environmental Management 2018, Freshwater Biology 2018). He has 189 peer-reviewed publications in the international literature, comprising 3 books, 105 journal papers, 10 book chapters, 38 conference proceedings papers, and 33 technical reports.
Professor Ashley Franks
Pro-Vice Chancellor (Research Capability), La Trobe University
MRIC Co-director
Professor Ashley Franks is the Co-Director of MRIC, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research Capability) and Director of the Securing Food, Water and Environment Research Focus Area at La Trobe University. He has extensive research management experience having served as the School of Life Science’s Research Director and the Academic Coordinator of Research For the College of Science, Health and Engineering. As an Applied Environmental Microbiologist, his has research interests in soils, plant-microbe interactions and sustainability.
Wayne Ketchen
General Manager of Education Delivery, SuniTAFE
MRIC Co-director
Wayne Ketchen holds a Bachelor of Architecture with honours from Deakin University and has more than 20 years’ experience in design and construction positions both in Australia and overseas, specialising in environmentally sustainable and passive design principles, and project management.
Wayne has also worked in the TAFE sector for 15 years, previously in the roles of Head of Centre: Design and Construction, Acting Director of Education, Acting Enterprise Manager, Constructing Futures and Program Manager: Advanced Design and Building beginning his career as a teacher.
Wayne is currently employed at SuniTAFE as General Manager of Education Delivery, having recently moved to Mildura from his hometown of Ocean Grove to commence the role.
Leonie Burrows OAM
Chair, MRIC Strategic Advisory Panel
Leonie Burrows is the inaugural Chair of the Strategic Advisory Panel. Leonie is a Mildura based professional manager and consultant. She is currently Chair of Murray Primary Health Network, Chair of the Loddon Mallee Regional Development Australia Board and Chair of the One Basin CRC Regional Advisory Committee (Mildura) and a member of the Mallee Regional Partnership.
Leonie has 25 years’ experience in Local Government, including time as CEO at Mildura Rural City Council. She has also held CEO positions at:
- Australian Tablegrape Growers Association
- Australian Citrus Industry
- Buloke Shire
- SuniTAFE
Previous roles include Chair of Sunraysia Community Health, Chair of SuniTAFE, Chair of the Victorian TAFE Association, Chair of Lower Murray Water Corporation, Chair of the Mildura Transport and Logistics Cluster and involvement in numerous other community organisations. For four (4) years she was also the Executive Officer of the Alliance of Councils for Rail Freight Development.