ÐÓ°ÉÖ±²¥

When: Thursday 21 August 2025, 5:00 - 6:30pm
Where: Braggs Lecture Theatre, Braggs Building, ÐÓ°ÉÖ±²¥ of Adelaide, North Terrace

Alison Reeve is the Energy and Climate Change Program Director at Grattan Institute. She has two decades of experience in climate change, clean energy policy, and technology, in the private, public, academic, and not-for-profit sectors.

Alison was previously the General Manager of Project Delivery at the ÐÓ°ÉÖ±²¥n Renewable Energy Agency and a Visiting Fellow at the ÐÓ°ÉÖ±²¥n National ÐÓ°ÉÖ±²¥. She led development of ÐÓ°ÉÖ±²¥â€™s National Hydrogen Strategy in 2019, as well as Commonwealth policy for offshore wind, energy innovation, energy efficiency, and structural adjustment.

Alison has a Bachelor of Engineering from the ÐÓ°ÉÖ±²¥ of Queensland and a Masters of Public Policy with distinction from the ÐÓ°ÉÖ±²¥n National ÐÓ°ÉÖ±²¥.

Susan has worked in the ÐÓ°ÉÖ±²¥n renewable energy and broader sustainability sectors for more than three decades. She is a Director of the South ÐÓ°ÉÖ±²¥n Environment Protection Authority (EPA), Chair of the Additive Manufacturing CRC, a member of the SA Premier's Climate Change Council, and a former Director of The ÐÓ°ÉÖ±²¥n Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA).Ìý

Susan works with industry, research organisations and governments to build relationships and foster collaboration on shared goals. She develops pathways for reaching agreed outcomes from differing perspectives, informed by a deep understanding of the political environment and how governments seek and develop a national interest view. She has previously held the roles of inaugural CEO of the ÐÓ°ÉÖ±²¥n Geothermal Energy Association (AGEA), and of the Renewable Energy Generators of ÐÓ°ÉÖ±²¥ (REGA).

Prior to 2002, she was the Climate Change and Energy Advisor to former Federal Environment Minister Robert Hill and the Member for Kingston in the Federal Parliament.

Gus Nathan is a Professor in Mechanical Engineering at the ÐÓ°ÉÖ±²¥ of Adelaide, a Fellow of the Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, the Combustion Institute and Engineers ÐÓ°ÉÖ±²¥, a recipient of a Discovery Outstanding Researcher Award from the ÐÓ°ÉÖ±²¥n Research Council and an ATSE KH Sutherland medallist. He was the bid leader for, and is now the Research Director of, the national $215m Heavy Industry Low-carbon Transition Cooperative Research Centre, the HILT CRC. Overall, he has led the development of six technology platforms, three of which are in ongoing commercial use and include the flame for Sydney Olympic Relay Torch, while three are currently being upscaled to decarbonise heavy industry.

His work in hydrogen includes the development of a novel methane pyrolysis platform in partnership with 1414 Degrees and a low NOx hydrogen combustion industrial burner with FCT. He has developed two novel concentrating solar thermal technologies to TRL-4 and contributed to understanding of the viability of the direct use of concentrated solar thermal energy for industrial process heat. He has published more than 300 papers in international journals, 250 in peer reviewed conferences, 50 commissioned reports and 13 patents.

Melissa is a Professor and ARC Future Fellow, Human Geography and Coordinator, FAME Sustainability Strategy. Her research investigates the connection between people and the environment and she focusus on how to engage communities to be part of environmental decision making, particularly in the context of climate change and biodiversity protection. She has worked with Indigenous, ports, local government and fishing communities on a range of projects. These projects have examined how conflict, social and cultural values, knowledge, social learning and perceptions affect how people become involved in or help drive environmental sustainability.

Her most recent work explores how different communities can adapt to climate change. This has included developing adaptation strategies for Indigenous peoples, looking at how urban areas can be ‘greened’ and the ways in which fisheries can be made more resilient and responsive to climate threats and she isÌýcurrently working on an ARC Future Fellowship that investigates how different knowledges can work together to address biodiversity and climate change impacts.

Peter is Professor, and Executive Director of the Institute for International Trade in the School of Economics and Public Policy, The ÐÓ°ÉÖ±²¥ of Adelaide, ÐÓ°ÉÖ±²¥. He also directs the Jean Monnet Centre on Trade and Environment.

He is a board member of the ÐÓ°ÉÖ±²¥n Services Roundtable; a Director of the Board of Trustees of the International Chamber of Commerce’s Research Foundation; non-resident senior fellow of the Brussels-based European Centre for International Political Economy; and Associated Researcher at the German Institute of Development and Sustainability.

The Memorial Luxton Lecture is presented by the Centre for Energy Technology and the Institute for Sustainability,ÌýEnergy and Resources in honour of Professor Russell Escourt 'Sam' Luxton, FTS, FIEAust, FAIE, FRSAMC, FRSA (1933-2013).

Professor Luxton was a truly remarkable person, who made significant contributions to the national energy direction in recommending the establishment of the National Energy Research, Development & Demonstration Council (NERDDC), a precursor to the ÐÓ°ÉÖ±²¥n Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA). He was also a national leader in the engineering and education professions, through his roles as Professor and Head of the ÐÓ°ÉÖ±²¥ of Adelaide’s School of Mechanical Engineering and a champion for progress along the path to a cleanerÌýenergy future through the twin pillars of innovativeÌýtechnology development and policy initiatives.