PhD title: Bombing for Biodiversity: Integrating the Military Training and Environmental Values of Military Training Areas
Rick’s PhD looked at a better way to manage military training areas (MTAs). He used his unique experience and in depth knowledge of environmental management to develop a MTA management model that will increase training utility, reduce costs associated with training area management and increase environmental protection. The model is also applicable to sectors such as forestry and agriculture.
Rick has been employed by the Department of Defence since 2005. He has been involved in the environmental management of the Defence Estate, developing the department’s policies and approaches on biodiversity, heritage, biosecurity, bushfire and erosion.
Zentelis R and Lindenmayer D (2014) ‘Conservation: Manage military land for the environment’, Nature, 516, Article 7530.
Zentelis R and Lindenmayer D (2015) ‘Bombing for Biodiversity—Enhancing Conservation Values of Military Training Areas’, Conservation Letters, 8(4):299-305.
Zentelis R (2017) Bombing for Biodiversity: Integrating the Military Training and Environmental Values of Military Training Areas [PhD Thesis], The Australian National University, Canberra
Zentelis R, Lindenmayer D, Roberts J and Dovers S (2017) ‘Principles for integrated environmental management of military training areas’,.Land Use Policy, 63:186-195.
Zentelis R, Lindenmayer D, Roberts J and Dover S (2018) ‘Towards integrated management of Australia’s ecologically significant military training areas’, Australasian Journal of Environmental Management, 25(2):193-211.
Zentelis R, Hubbard P, Lindenmayer D, Roberts D and Dovers S (2020) ‘More bang for your buck: Managing the military training and environmental values of military training areas’, Environmental and Sustainability Indicators, 8, Article 100053.
Sir Roland Wilson Scholarship
Graduated
2016
Dr
Michael
McKenzie
Attorney-General’s Department
The Australian National University
PhD title: Rethinking International Cooperation: Crime, Policy and Politics in Australia-Indonesia Relations
Michael’s PhD research examined the conditions that promote criminal justice cooperation between Australia and Indonesia. His book based on the research is Common Enemies: Crime, Policy, and Politics in Australia-Indonesia Relations (OUP, 2018).
After completing his PhD, Michael served as Counsellor (Legal) at the Australian Embassy in Jakarta (2016-2018) and Minister-Counsellor (Legal) at the Australian High Commission in Port Moresby (2019-2021). He is currently on secondment to the Australian Federal Police as a strategic adviser in Pacific Asia Command. He is also a Visiting Fellow at the ANU School of Regulation and Global Governance (RegNet).
Connery D, Sambhi N snd McKenzie M (2014) A Return on Investment: The Future of Police Cooperation between Australia and Indonesia, Australian Strategic Policy Institute, Canberra.
Connery D, McKenzie M and Sambh N (2014), Partners Against Crime: A Short History of the AFP-POLRI Relationship, Australian Strategic Policy Institute, Canberra.
McKenzie M (2016) Rethinking International Cooperation: Crime, Policy and Politics in Australia-Indonesia Relations [PhD Thesis], The Australian National University, Canberra.
McKenzie M (2018) Common Enemies: Crime, Policy, and Politics in Australia-Indonesia Relations, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
McKenzie M (2018) ‘A Common Enemy: Police Cooperation Between Australia and Indonesia’, in Lindsey T and McRae D (eds), Strangers Next Door? Indonesia and Australia in the Asian Century, Hart Publishing, Oxford.
McKenzie M (2019) ‘Securitising transnational crime: the political drivers of police cooperation between Australia and Indonesia’ Policing and Society, 29(3):333-348.
McKenzie M (2020) Between Politics and Policy: International Cooperation Beyond COVID-19, E-International Relations, https://www.e-ir.info/2020/06/04/between-politics-and-policy-international-cooperation-beyond-covid-19/.
Sir Roland Wilson Scholarship
Graduated
2017
Dr
Nerida
Hunter
Department of Education
The Australian National University
PhD title: Geodemographic and life course perspectives of population ageing in Australia: informing the policy response to population ageing
Nerida began her training in demography in 2010 at the university of California and subsequently joined ANU to complete her PhD as a Sir Roland Wilson scholar. Her PhD undertook applied demographic research of Australia’s aged and ageing population. She examined the size, structure and characteristics of the aged population across 328 regions of Australia, looking at; healthy life and working life expectancies; lifespan and life course disparity; and projections of growth and settlement of the aged population through to 2031. She was also a student affiliate of the Centre of Excellence in Population Ageing Research.
Nerida worked in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (PM&C) from 2006 to 2015 on a wide range of social policy issues. After completing the Sir Roland Wilson Scholarship, Nerida rejoined the Australian Public Service and advanced to the Senior Executive Service. Since 2016 she has worked in the Department of Social Services, Treasury and Department of Education.
Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences
Australian National University
PhD title: Water property rights in rivers with large dams
Neal’s research focused on the design of water markets, particularly market mechanisms for managing major water storages. Recently, Neal’s PhD research was used to inform the ACCC Murray Darling Basin water market inquiry. Neal’s PhD also explored the application of machine learning techniques to economics.
Since returning to the APS, Neal has led several major projects at ABARES, including the development of new economic models of Australian farms and water markets, drawing on techniques developed as part of his thesis. At ABARES, Neal has produced a range of research on agricultural policy issues including the effects of drought and climate change on Australian farms, and water policy in the Murray-Darling Basin. Neal writes regularly on these issues in The Conversation.
Visit Neal's websiteto learn more about him and his research.
Hughes N, Hafi A and Goesch T 2(009), 'Urban water management: optimal price and investment policy under climate variability', Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, 53(2):175-192.
Hughes N and Goesch T (2009), Management of irrigation water storages: carryover rights and capacity sharing, Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences, Canberra.
Hughes N and Goesch T (2009), Capacity sharing in the St George and Macintyre Brook irrigation schemes in southern Queensland, Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences, Canberra.
Hughes N (10-12 February 2010), ‘Defining property rights to water in complex regulated river systems: generalising the capacity sharing concept’, AARES Conference (54th), Adelaide, Australian Agricultural & Resource Economics Society.
Hughes N, Lawson K, Davidson A, Jackson T and Sheng Y (2011), Productivity pathways: Climate adjusted production frontiers for the Australian broadacre cropping industry, Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences, Canberra.
Hughes N (9-11 February 2011), 'Estimating irrigation farm production functions using ABARES irrigation survey data’, AARES Conference (55th), Melbourne, Australian Agricultural & Resource Economics Society.
Hughes N, Gibbs C, Dahl A, Tregeagle D and Sanders O (2013), Storage rights and water allocation arrangements in the Murray-Darling Basin, Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences, Canberra.
Hughes N (2014) ‘Applying reinforcement learning to economic problems’. ANU Crawford PhD Conference, Canberra, The Australian National University.
Hughes N (12 August 2014), ‘Water storage rights: decentralising reservoir operation’ [conference presentation], 77th International Atlantic Economic Conference, Madrid, International Atlantic Economic Society.
Hughes N (14 November 2014) ‘Applying reinforcement learning to economic problems’ [conference presentation], ANU Crawford PhD Conference, The Australian National University, Canberra.
Hughes N (2015) Water property rights in rivers with large dams [PhD Thesis], The Australian National University, Canberra.
Hughes N, Gupta M and Rathakumar K (2016), Lessons from the water market: the southern Murray-Darling Basin water allocation market 2000-01 to 2015-16, Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences, Canberra.
Hughes N (3 February 2016) ‘Water property rights in rivers with large environmental water holders’ [conference presentation]. Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society 2016 Conference (60th), Canberra.
Hughes N, Lawson K and Valle H (2017) Farm performance and climate: climate adjusted productivity for broadacre cropping farms, Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences, Canberra.
Gupta M and Hughes N (2018) Future scenarios for the southern Murray-Darling Basin, Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences, Canberra.
Gupta M, Hughes N and Wakerman-Powell K (2018) A model of water trade and irrigation activity in the southern Murray-Darling Basin, Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences, Canberra.
Hughes N, Galeano D and Hattfield-Dodds (2019) The effects of drought and climate variability on Australian farms, Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences, Canberra.
Whittle L, Galeano D, Hughes N, Gupta M, Leg P, Westwood T, Jackson T and Hatfield-Dodds S (2020) Economic effects of water recovery in the Murray-Darling Basin [report], Australian Bureau of Agicutlureal and Recourse Economics and Sciences, Canberra.
Hughes N, Donoghoe M and Whittle L (2020) ‘Farm Level Effects of On-Farm Irrigation Infrastructure Programs in the Southern Murray–Darling Basin’. Australian Economic Review, 53(4):494-516.
Hughes N, Gupta M, Soh W, Boult C, Lawson K, Lu, M and Westwood T (2020) The Agricultural Data Integration Project, Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences, Canberra.
Hughes N and Gooday P (2021) Climate change impacts and adaptation on Australian farms [report], Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences, Canberra.
Chancellor W, Hughes N, Zhao S, Soh W, Valle H and Boult C (2021) ‘Controlling for the effects of climate on total factor productivity: A case study of Australian farms’, Food policy, 102, Article 102091.
Hughes N, Gupta M, Whittle L, Boult C and Westwood T (2021) A model of spatial and inter-temporal water trade in the southern Murray-Darling Basin [Working paper], Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences, Canberra.
Hughes N, Soh W, Boult C and Lawson K (2022) ‘Defining drought from the perspective of Australian farmers’ Climate Risk Management, 35, Article 100420.
Hughes N, Lu, M, Soh W, Lawson K (2022) ‘Modelling the effects of climate change on the profitability of Australian farms’, Climatic Change, 172, Article 12.
Hughes N, Soh W, Lawson K and Lu M (2022) ‘Improving the performance of micro-simulation models with machine learning: The case of Australian farms’, Economic Modeling, 115, Article 105957.
Hughes N, Gupta M, Whittle L and Westwood T (2023), 'An Economic Model of Spatial and Temporal Water Trade in the Australian Southern Murray-Darling Basin', Water Resources Research, 59(4), Article e2022WR032559.
Visit Neal's website for a full list of his publications.
PhD title: Three essays on the US business cycle, expectations formation and model comparison
Angelia was one of the 2012 Sir Roland Wilson Scholars. She researched business cycles and economic fluctuations, with a particular focus on comparing conclusions based on different economic models. She examined the role of particular structural shocks during the 2001 US slowdown and Great Recession, and whether the assumption of rational expectations or adaptive learning in a large macroeconomic model for the US economy provides a better model fit. Angelia's thesis also proposes a new econometric method for computing a model selection criterion that is rarely used in applied work given its computational burden.
Angelia returned to the Australian Treasury in 2015 after submitting her thesis. She held positions as the Principal Adviser (Forecasting) in the Macroeconomic Conditions Division, Head of the Macroeconomic Conditions Division, and Head of the Macroeconomic Analysis and Policy Division. She also served as an Alternate Executive Director on the Board of the International Monetary Fund in Washington DC, where she represented the Asia and Pacific Constituency. Angelia has also worked as Australia’s G20 Sherpa and Head of the Multilateral Economic Engagement Division in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. She is currently the Deputy Secretary of the Macroeconomic Group in the Australian Treasury.
Grant A (2015) Three essays on the US business cycle, expectations formation and model comparison [PhD Thesis], The Australian National University, Canberra.
Chan J C and Grant A (2016) ‘Modeling energy price dynamics: GARCH versus stochastic volatility’, Energy economics, 54:182-189.
Chan J C and Grant A (2016) ‘On the Observed-Data Deviance Information Criterion for Volatility Modeling’. Journal of Financial Econometrics, 14(4):772-802.
Chan J C and Grant A (2016) ‘Fast computation of the deviance information criterion for latent variable models’. Computational Statistics and Data Analysis, 100:847-859.
Grant A and Chan J C (2017) ‘Bayesian Model Comparison for Trend-Cycle Decompositions of Output’. Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, 49(2-3):525-552.
Grant A (2017) ‘The Early Millennium Slowdown: Replicating the Peersman (2005) Results’. Journal of Applied Econometrics, 32(1):218-233.
Grant A and Chan J C (2017) ‘Reconciling output gaps: Unobserved components model and Hodrick–Prescott filter’, Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, 75:114-121.
Grant A (2018), ‘The Great Recession and Okun’s Law’. Economic Modelling, 69:291-300.
Sir Roland Wilson Scholarship
Graduated
2016
Dr
Suzanne
Akila
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
The Australian National University
PhD title: Participation and the Protection of Citizens Abroad in International Law
Suzanne’s PhD examined how state and non-state actors participate in the protection of citizens abroad and why. It included in-depth studies of Australia, Germany and Mexico’s consular and protection frameworks and practice.
Suzanne is a Director in the International Legal Practice Group in the Legal Division of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. She has led the International Law Section, the International Law Advising and Treaties Section and the Sea Law and Antarctica Section. Suzanne was named Woman Lawyer of the Year for Government by the ACT Women Lawyers Association in 2018. She is a Visiting Government Fellow at the University of Melbourne Law School and has taught international law at ANU. She completed her LLM specialising in public international law at University College London and her LLB at the University of Western Australia.
Akila S, Cavenagh J, Mackay E, Smyth K (2010) ‘Australian Legislation Concerning Matters of International Law 2008’ The Australian Year Book of International Law: 273-306.
Akila S (2018) ‘Networks of protection’. In Cullen H, Harrington J and Renshaw C (eds), Experts, Networks and International Law, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Sir Roland Wilson Scholarship
Graduated
2023
Dr
Tristram
Sainsbury
Department of Industry, Science and Resources
The Australian National University
PhD title: Essays in Empirical Policy Evaluation: COVID-19 fiscal policy and the early release of superannuation
Tristram has worked in the Australian Treasury for close to a decade, alongside two years as Research Fellow and Project Director at the G20 Studies Centre at the Lowy Institute. His work has covered a range of tax, international economic and fiscal policy issues. He has worked at Crawford School on behalf of the Australian Treasury and been a visiting scholar at both the Kiel Institute for the World Economy in Germany and the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University.
Tristram’s research will investigate the impact of Australia’s tax and transfer system over people’s lifetimes. He will use cross‑government investments in administrative data to focus on the extent of smoothing and rich-poor redistribution.
PhD title: The mismatch between rhetoric and action - A study into the Commonwealth's role in redressing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander educational inequity
Claire is a Torres Strait Islander (Maluilgal from the western islands) who grew up on Badu Island. She has a Bachelor of Education from James Cook University and started her career as a primary school teacher. Motivated by the drive to improve the educational outcomes of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students on a large scale, she took up the opportunity to move to Canberra to work in the Australian Public Service (APS). Throughout her APS career, Claire has undertaken various leadership, policy, coordination and program management roles, across a range of agencies, including the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, the Australian Public Service Commission, the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet and the National Indigenous Australians Agency.
Education has been an area of significant focus throughout Claire’s career. She has worked predominantly on national Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education policy and managed a range of flagship government initiatives and programs aimed at improving education outcomes. She has a Master of Business Administration from the University of Canberra and recently completed her PhD at the Australian National University, under a Sir Roland Wilson Pat Turner scholarship. Claire’s thesis (currently under examination) focused on the Commonwealth’s role in redressing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander educational inequity.
Claire is a senior executive at the Commonwealth Department of Education and leads the Research Policy and Programs branch. Her branch aims to ensure that Australian researchers have access to cutting edge national research infrastructure and that the research system is meeting the current and future needs of research students and the research sector.
PhD title: Violence at work: reducing assault and abuse experienced by frontline staff in public service roles
Dr Steve Munns is currently the Assistant Commissioner, for the Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) Branch at the Australian Public Service Commission (APSC). He is a proud Gumbaynggirr/Bundjalung man currently living on Jagera country in Meanjin (Brisbane). His mob are from Grafton in the Northern Rivers area of NSW.
In his role, he is responsible for the First Nations Unit, the Diversity & Inclusion Strategies Team, Inclusion Policy Team and the Mental Health & Suicide Prevention Unit. Some of the current projects and initiatives being developed and managed in the D&I Branch are the SES100 initiative aimed at boosting First Nations employment across the APS; the Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) Employment Strategy; the APS Disability Employment Strategy; and the ADDRESS model for responding to psychosocial hazards.
Steve is a psychologist with his previous postgraduate studies having been in the areas of Cognitive Neuroscience, Forensic Psychology and Public Administration. His PhD research aimed to understand the nature, prevalence and severity of service user violence and aggression perpetrated against frontline Australian Public Service staff. He explored the issues associated with the risk of violence and aggression through understanding pre-incident factors, including staff and service user behaviour, as well as operational and physical environments. Steve’s research used a multi-phased mixed methods approach. He hopes the evidence-based outcomes of this research will provide insights that will lead to greater proactive risk mitigation policies, a reduction of service user violence and aggression but more importantly a decrease in physical and psychological injuries incurred by frontline public servants.
Conway L, Daffy L, Faulkner S, Lahn J, Munns S and Richardson G (2024) 'First nations First: First Nations public servants, the future of the Australian public service' Policy Quarterly 20(1): 30-29.
Sir Roland Wilson Scholarship
Graduated
2023
Dr
Tess
Evenstar
Attorney-General's Department
Australian National University
PhD title: Maternal employability, conditionality and the role of family services in the Australian social security system
Working at the Department of Social Services, Tess provided advice on children’s policy, family policy and programs, homelessness policy, family safety, gambling, welfare quarantining and financial wellbeing.
Tess’s research explores the concept of employability from the perspective of mothers in the social security system. She is also investigating mothers' views on the impacts of family services, such as playgroups and parenting programs. In her thesis, Tess argues many mothers build confidence and social connections through participation in family services which in turn increases their employability, both real and self-perceived.
The Sir Roland Wilson Foundation is a partnership between The Australian National University, Charles Darwin University and the Australian Public Service.
