About Us

Dianne McGrath, Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) student in Environmental Engineering, RMIT University
Research Student

Dianne is the Director of the sustainability and business consultancy, Food for Thought Consulting Australia. Dianne has vast experience in project management, marketing and government organisations in her time with the Australian Energy Regulator (AER), Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism (DRET) and GlaxoSmithKline. While at AER, Dianne developed an electricity consumption benchmark as well as the website Energy Made Easy. Her work at DRET also involved the drafting of sections of the National Long Term Tourism Strategy and developing a new Commonwealth law. Her work experience is balanced through holding positions on the Boards of 3000acres, and the Open Food Network.  Dianne has won global awards for marketing and web development.

Qualifications:

• Grad Dip, Sustainable Practice, RMIT University
• Grad Dip, Environmental Management, Flinders University
• Grad Dip, Marketing, University of Technology Sydney
• B.Ed (Sec Mathematics & Literature), Deakin University

Edmund Horan, Program Director, Master Sustainable Practice, School of Civil, Environmental & Chemical Engineering, RMIT University
Primary Supervisor

Edmund Horan is a Civil Engineer with post graduate qualifications in management and transport. As a certified Local Government Engineer, he has extensive experience in the planning, design and construction of municipal infrastructure and the associated resource planning. Edmund has played a leading role in strategic planning for local government advocating at national and state level. He has extensive experience in community consultation, in meeting local community needs and implementing change. He consults to all tiers of government and private industry. As Program Director of the Master of Sustainable Practice Program at RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia, he has developed the unique Program bringing together professionals from all disciplines keen to put sustainability principles into practice. He has researched many issues in sustainability presenting results at international conferences in Europe, Asia and USA. He has published on many topics and holds awards from peak organizations for innovation in various fields.

Edmund has designed and delivered intensive courses on sustainable infrastructure in Paris, Dubai, Berlin and Hong Kong.

Qualifications:

• Local Government Engineer, Local Government Board, Melbourne
• Master of Engineering. Sc., Monash University
• Grad Dip. Environmental Management, Deakin University
• Dip. Civil Engineering, RMIT University

Selected publications

Dave Mercer, Associate Professor, School of Global, Urban & Social Studies, RMIT University
Secondary Supervisor

Dave’s main research interests are in the areas of natural resource management and environmental policy and politics at the local, national and international scales. He also has extensive consultancy experience for state, commonwealth and local governments in Australia, and in July 2002 was appointed to the five-person Victorian Environmental Assessment Council (VEAC). This body was established by the Bracks Government to give independent advice to the Minister for Environment on the management of public lands and waters. In 2004 Dave was one of the judges on the panel adjudicating the ‘Celebrating Melbourne Awards’.

Dave is also part of a research team carrying out a landmark study of peri-urban regions in two Australian states, Victoria and Queensland. This project Change and Continuity in Peri-Urban Australia investigated the nature and extent of contemporary peri-urban regions in Australia, identified future patterns of socio-economic and environment change in peri-urban landscapes, and also developed scenarios for future land use and management based on ‘business-as-usual’, interventionist and deregulated options. ‘Change and Continuity in Peri-Urban Australia’ is a collaborative project between RMIT University and Griffith University, Brisbane, and was funded by Land and Water Australia. Four major monographs were produced from this project in 2007 and 2008.

In 2012 Dave was elected a Senior Fellow by the World Leisure Academy for his contributions to leisure research both in Australia and internationally

Qualifications

• PhD Monash University
• Dip. Education, Cambridge University
• BA (Hons), Cambridge University

Selected publications

• Domestic residential garden food production in Melbourne, Australia: A fine-grained analysis and pilot study (Co-authored with Zainil Zainuddin), Australian Geographer 45(4) 2014: 465-484.
• Food waste in Australia: the freegan response (Co-authored with Ferne Edwards). The Sociological Review 60: S2, 2013: 174-191. Reprinted in (Eds), Evans, Campbell and Murcott, Waste Matters: New Perspectives on Food and Society. Routledge, London, 2013.
• Meals in metropolis: Mapping the urban foodscape in Melbourne, Australia (with Ferne Edwards), Local Environment, 15(2) 2010: 153-167.
• Sustainability science partnerships: A view from the Antipodes. Geographical Research 47(4),2009: 362-367.
• Squandering the future – climate change, policy failure and the water crisis in Australia (Co-authored with M.Buxton and L.Christesen), Futures 39, 2007: 272-287.
• Gleaning from gluttony: An Australian youth sub-culture confronts the ethics of waste. Australian Geographer 38(3), 2007: 279-296. Reprinted in: (Eds), P. Williams-Forson and C.Counihan: Taking Food Public: Redefining Foodways in a Changing World. Routledge, New York, 2012.
• Sustainable water systems and household behaviour (with Joe Hurley). In (Ed) Anitra Nelson, Steering Sustainability in an Urbanising World: Policy, Practice and Performance. Ashgate, London, 2007: 111-124.
• Ecologically sustainable development in a ‘quarry economy’: One step forward, two steps back (with Peter Marden), Geographical Research 44(2), 2006: 183-203.
• Australia’s Mandatory Renewable Energy Target (MRET): An assessment (with Anthony Kent), Energy Policy 34(9) 2006: 1046-1062.

Tara Crowley, Bachelor of Science (in progress), RMIT University,
Research Assistant

Tara is a volunteer at Port Phillip Ecocentre, tutors in English, mathematics, chemistry and the sciences, and works as a bookkeeper for not-for-profit and sustainable enterprises. Tara is experienced in project management, managing organisational web and social media activity, professional writing, customer relationship management, and office management. In her previous roles, Tara developed paper-free office systems, written and managed eNewsletter services, maintained and updated existing websites as well as establishing new websites, and assisted in implementing efficient bookkeeping systems and practices. Tara is very passionate about sustainability and the environment, and believes that individual action can have a significant impact.