ILWS - Institute of Land, Water and Society
Advisory Board
The Board's role is to provide strategic advice to the ILWS Director and Management Team including identifying emerging research opportunities and potential research partnerships and by linking science with policy.
Members of the ILWS Advisory Board for 2013
Professor John Williams Chair of the Board
ILWS Adjunct Professor; director John Williams Scientific Services Ltd. (former Commissioner, NSW Natural resources Commission),
John’s life work has been in the study of hydrology and the use of water in the landscape and farming, including land salinity. He is a member of the Wentworth group of Concerned Scientists which is creating a rational debate on Australia’s water resources. He was Chief of the Division of Land and Water, CSIRO when he retired in 2004 having served earlier at the CSIRO laboratories at Townsville in Queensland where, among other things, he studied the Great Artesian Basin and the transport of water from the Great Dividing Range into the outback of Queensland and New South Wales. He has also served as Chief Scientist and Chair of the New South Wales Department of Natural Resources’ Science and Information Board; and was a Commissioner with the NSW Natural Resources Commission.
Ms Cathy McGowan AO,
Rural consultant,
Cathy has been a member of the ILWS Advisory Board since its inception. She is the principal of Catherine McGowan Consulting which specialises in building capacity in individuals and communities in rural Australia and overseas. Cathy has a Masters degree in Applied Science in Agriculture and Rural Development. She has been working in the area of women in agriculture for over 20 years and regularly provides policy advice. In 2000 her work with the dairy industry was acknowledged with the Australasia Pacific Extension Network award for “Excellent in Extension”. She is the past President of the national organisation, Australian Women in Agriculture. As well as her work in Australia, she is currently working with farming women in PNG and India.
Dr David Godden, 
Faculty of Agriculture and Environment, University of Sydney,
David is an Adjunct Research Professor at Charles Sturt University, and Honorary Associate of the University of Sydney. Until his retirement in mid-2011, he was Manager of the Economics Services Section, NSW Office of Environment and Heritage in the Department of Premier and Cabinet. He managed the Department’s economic evaluation of environmental protection and on- and off-park conservation, and economic evaluation of intra- and inter-agency policy development. From 1990-2002, he was a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Agricultural Economics at the University of Sydney, and previously was a Senior Research Scientist (in agricultural economics) with the NSW agriculture department.
Ms Lorne Butt, Hons) (UTS), MBA (Charles Sturt), AIMM, MAICD
Ecological Sustainability Coordinator, TAFE NSW Western Institute;
Lorne is a Director, and Company Secretary, of the Institute for Sustainable Leadership Ltd. She is completing her Doctor of Philosophy in Management at Macquarie University’s Graduate School of Management (MGSM), and is researching the key factors impacting upon sustainability programs in universities in the Sydney basin and regions. Lorne holds a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Biology and Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Biological and Biomedical Sciences from the University of Technology, Sydney, specialising in urban landscape ecology. She has worked in the public, private and higher education sectors for over 12 years across the areas of corporate governance, strategic planning, project management, quality management and audit, risk management, sustainability, international education, and occupational health and safety.
Mr Paul Ryan,
Natural Resource Management Advisor, from Interface NRM; 
Paul is the principal of Interface NRM, an environmental consultancy that specialises in resilience thinking, strategic planning, adaptive governance and management. For the past five years Paul has been working with federal, state, regional agencies and local communities to incorporate resilience concepts into natural resource management and planning. An ecologist by training, Paul has previously worked with CSIRO and the Resilience Alliance, coordinating ecological and multi-disciplinary research. Prior to this he worked on-ground for state agencies and the Goulburn Broken Catchment Authority in Victoria where he was involved in the development and implementation of regional catchment strategies, programs and incentive schemes.
Ms Barbara Hull,
Chief Executive Officer, Regional Development Australia-Murray
As Chief Executive Officer of Regional Development Australia Murray, Barbara is actively focused on strategic planning, project delivery, community engagement and economic development initiatives. She has extensive operational experience demonstrated by virtue of the range of agribusiness, environmental and infrastructure projects successfully delivered throughout the Murray Region.
Professor Kathleen Bowmer,(BSc Hons, PhD Nott., MRACI, FAICD)
Institute adjunct research fellow,
Water policy advisor
Kath has qualifications in agricultural science and chemistry and is a fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. She has been employed by CSIRO (Deputy Chief CSIRO Water Resources, and Business Director CSIRO Land and Water); Charles Sturt University (Deputy Vice- Chancellor; more recently co-ordinating the subject water policy and management); Griffith University (Adjunct Professor and team member of the national water planning project); State Water Corporation (non-executive board member); and the Australian Research Council ( chair of the earth sciences panel). She also chaired the Murrumbidgee River Management Committee. Honours include the Australian Museum Pol Eureka Prize for Environmental Science.
and Ms Nikki Scott, Executive Officer to the group
Business Manager ILWS