Productivity Growth Program Director, Grattan Institute Jim Minifie directs the Grattan Institute's Productivity Growth Program, which is focused on policy reforms to drive Australian living standards. His team is currently focused on structural change in the Australian economy. Prior to joining Grattan in June 2012, Jim spent 13 years at the Boston Consulting Group, including seven years as Chief Economist for Australia and New Zealand. There he was responsible for leading the firm's thinking on economic challenges – including the global financial crisis, the resources boom and climate change – and their implications for Australian policymakers and corporate leaders. His clients included governments in Australia, Asia and the Middle East and firms in media, online marketplaces, financial services, agriculture, industrial goods, logistics, retail, and resources and commodities. Examples of his work include: Public policy and public economics: • Policy development: growth policy; development policies for middle income economies; foreign investment policy; • Policy assessment and cost-benefit analysis: assessment of industry development policies and transport infrastructure; climate change policy; energy asset privatisation; low-emissions energy finance; • Market and contract design: water markets; vocational education market design, energy infrastructure selection and finance design. Private sector strategy development: • Regulatory strategy: health insurance, resources, transport infrastructure, airlines; • Policy impact assessment and response development: trade policy, tax, R&D; • Pricing and contract design: media & marketplaces, finance, commodity exports; • Financial structuring and funding: cooperatives, financial crisis response in banking; • Governance reviews: cooperatives, vocational education, resource management; • Sustainability strategy development: retailing, resources. Jim has a PhD in applied economics from Stanford University and honours and masters degrees in economics from the University of Melbourne. His research focused on contracts, incentives, and taxation.
Lecturer in Finance, University of Technology Sydney Deborah Cotton has worked as a lecturer at UTS since 1992. Prior to that she worked in stockbroking in Sydney doing both research and client advising. Currently Deborah has a PhD in Applied Finance and Actuarial Studies from Macquarie University with the thesis topic Efficacy of emissions trading schemes in Australia. Deborah is the Deputy Head of the Finance Discipline Group in the Faculty of Business. Her current research is in climate change, sustainable finance and impact investing.
Space Plasma Physicist, Queen Mary University of London Dr Martin Archer is a Space Physicist at Queen Mary University of London (and Imperial College London). Martin became a published scientist whilst still an undergraduate, working on the Cluster space mission. It is this work which has inspired his PhD research on structures and waves in the Earth’s magnetosphere. In addition to his research, Martin is determined to come up with fresh perspectives on how to communicate his love of science, especially to young audiences, and has worked on a number of exciting and unique projects including his DJ Physics shows, the Droppin’ Science Podcast, WiiJing and appearances at numerous science festivals and schools. You’ll regularly see Martin on television both in the UK and internationally discussing the latest physics news, explaining scientific concepts and championing the importance of engaging the public with science. In addition to this Martin has featured on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme, the Guardian Science Weekly podcast and has written numerous science pieces and been profiled by a number of publications including The Guardian, The Times and MSN.
Post-doctoral Research Fellow, Columbia University I am a postdoctoral research fellow at the Earth Institute at Columbia University, working with the Center for Sustainable Urban Development. I use ethnography, focus groups, surveys, and experimental methods to examine the political conditions under which democratic activity and accountability develop in poor urban communities. I received my PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the department of political science in 2014. My dissertation received the 2014 African Politics Conference Group-Lynne Rienner Award for Best Dissertation in African Politics. My research has been funded by the Social Science Research Council, National Science Foundation, and the University of Wisconsin. I was a Research Associate at the Center for Democratic Development in Ghana in 2012. Prior to graduate school, I graduated with honors from Northwestern University and served as a Program Coordinator for the Illinois Education Foundation. During the academic year 2014-15, I was a Visiting Lecturer of Politics at Bates College. In 2016, I will be an Assistant Professor of Politics at University of San Francisco.
Associate Research Scholar, Center for Sustainable Urban Development, Columbia University Jacqueline Klopp is an Associate Research Scholar at the Center for Sustainable Urban Development at Columbia University and a Research Associate at the University of Nairobi Institute for Development Studies, Previously, she taught the politics of development at the School of International and Public Affairs for many years. A political scientist by training, her work focuses on the political processes around land-use, transportation, violence, displacement and planning in African cities. Klopp is the author of articles for Africa Today, African Studies Review, African Studies, Canadian Journal of African Studies, Comparative Politics, Forced Migration Review, Urban Forum, World Policy Review among others. Recently, she has been experimenting with creative urban mapping projects for both analysis and advocacy and is a founding member of the DigitalMatatus consortium which has produced the first open transit data and public transit map for Nairobi's quasi-formal "matatu" transit system. She helped start the blogs CairofromBelow and nairobiplanninginnovations.com to provide more grounded and open urban information to citizens. She is also a founder and Board member of the Internal Displacement Policy and Advocacy Center (IDPAC) based in Nakuru, Kenya. She is currently writing a book on the politics of planning in Nairobi. Klopp received her B.A. from Harvard University in Physics and her Ph.D. in Political Science from McGill University.
Professor, Department of Government, University of Essex My research interests involve examining the nature & significance of political participation, particularly electoral participation, & also in understanding the causes & effects of public opinion on politics.
