Her Excellency the Honourable Barbara Baker AC - Tasmania’s 29th Governor

Tasmania’s 29th Governor, Her Excellency the Honourable Barbara Baker AC, was sworn to Office at Government House on Wednesday 16 June 2021. On 14 June 2021 Her Excellency was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) for her eminent service to the people of Tasmania through leading contributions to the law, to the judiciary and to the administration of justice, particularly in the area of family law, to professional legal organisations, and as a mentor and role model for young women.

Her Excellency retired as a judge of the Federal Circuit Court of Australia on 31 January 2021 after becoming the first Tasmanian woman to be appointed as a Federal Magistrate in 2008. Prior to her appointment as Governor, she practised as a barrister at Burbury Chambers.

Prior to her appointment to the Federal Magistrates Court, Her Excellency worked as a legal practitioner for over 23 years ultimately specialising in family law and relationship matters. Her Excellency was one of the first lawyers to join the Tasmanian Bar, practising exclusively in family law.

Her Excellency graduated from the University of Tasmania with a combined Arts/Law degree in 1980. She was admitted to the Supreme Court of Tasmania in 1983. After working as a solicitor at Simmons Wolfhagen and then as a Legal Officer at the Office of the Solicitor General of Tasmania, she joined the law firm of Murdoch Clarke, becoming the first female partner in 1993.

Her Excellency is married to Distinguished Emeritus Professor Don Chalmers AO FAAL FAHMS, has two daughters and is grandmother to three grandsons. She enjoys reading, the Arts, walking her two border collies and spending time with family and friends.

Mr Long Zhou - (Melbourne/Tasmania) Consul-General for the People's Republic of China.

1992-1993 Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Officer, Department of International Organisations and Conferences.

1993-1996 Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Officer and Attaché, Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in the Kingdom of Netherlands.

1996-1997 Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Attaché, Department of International Organisations and Conferences.

1997-2001 Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Attaché and Third Secretary and Deputy Director, Department of Arms Control.

2001-2003 Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Second Secretary and First Secretary, Permanent Mission of the People’s Republic of China to the United Nations Office at Geneva and other International Organizations in Switzerland.

2003-2004 Ministry of Foreign Affairs: First Secretary, Department of Arms Control.

2004-2007 Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Director, Department of Arms Control.

2007-2009 Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Counsellor, Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago.

2009-2011 Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Counsellor, Permanent Mission of the People’s Republic of China to the United Nations.

2011-2014 Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Counsellor, Department of International Organisations and Conferences.

2014-2016 Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Deputy Director, Foreign Affairs Office of Chongqing Municipal People’s Government.

2014-2016 Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Deputy Director General, Department of Arms Control.

2019 - Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Consul-General of the People’s Republic of China in Melbourne.

Mr Peter Cai - Chief Executive Officer of the National Foundation for Australia-China Relations

Mr Peter Cai is the CEO of the National Foundation for Australia-China Relations. Mr Cai has extensive experience in business, media, academia and government, including as Group Chief Advisor and General Manager for strategic relations at Virgin Australia, Research Fellow at the Lowy Institute for International Policy, as a journalist with The Australian, The Age and Sydney Morning Herald and at the Australian Treasury Foreign Investment Review Board Secretariat. He has also served as a committee member of the Australia-China Business Council (NSW).

Mr Cai has a master's degree from Oxford University (history) and holds undergraduate degrees in international studies and Asian studies from The University of Adelaide.

Professor Jane Golley - Economics Professor at The Australian National University

Professor Jane Golley is an economist in the Arndt-Corden Department of Economics at the Crawford School of Public Policy at The Australian National University (ANU).

Her research focuses on the Chinese economy, often through an interdisciplinary lens, including the economic geography of China’s industrial development, the economic impacts of demographic change and, most recently, China’s growing geoeconomic capabilities and the impact of its bilateral political relations on its patterns of trade.

She has served as President of the Chinese Economic Society of Australia (2010-2012) and the Chinese Studies Association of Australia (2020-2021).

She is currently an Executive Member of the Australia-China Business Council (ACT) and an Advisory Board member for the Australia-China Relations Institute at the University of Technology, Sydney.

Professor James Chin - Professor of Asian Studies at the University of Tasmania

James Chin is Professor of Asian Studies at the University of Tasmania. He was inaugural Director of the Asia Institute Tasmania, University of Tasmania. He is an expert on the governance issues in Southeast Asia, especially Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore. He also works on island states in the South Pacific.

Professor Chin is also a Council Member, Australian Institute of International Affairs in Tasmania. He was previously Senior Visiting Research Fellow, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS) in Singapore; a Salzburg Global Freeman Fellow and ASEAN-Australian Fellow (Lowy).

Professor James Laurenceson - Director of the Australia-China Relations Institute at the University of Technology Sydney

Professor James Laurenceson is Director of the Australia-China Relations Institute at the University of Technology Sydney. He has previously held appointments at the University of Queensland (Australia), Shandong University (China) and Shimonoseki City University (Japan). His academic research has been published in leading scholarly journals including China Economic Review and China Economic Journal. Professor Laurenceson also provides regular commentary on contemporary developments in China’s economy and the Australia-China economic relationship. His opinion pieces have appeared in Australian Financial Review, The Australian, Sydney Morning Herald, South China Morning Post, amongst many others.

Professor Rory Medcalf - Head of the National Security College (NSC) at the Australian National University

Professor Rory Medcalf has been Head of the National Security College (NSC) at the Australian National University since January 2015. He has led the expansion of the College into policy engagement and futures analysis, as well as education, executive development and research, repositioning the College as 'more than a think tank'. His professional background involves three decades of experience across diplomacy, intelligence analysis, think tanks, academia and journalism, including as founding Director of the International Security Program at the Lowy Institute from 2007 to 2015.

In government, Professor Medcalf worked as a senior strategic analyst with the then Office of National Assessments (now the Office of National Intelligence), Canberra’s peak intelligence analysis agency. He was also an Australian diplomat, with wide experience including a posting to New Delhi, a secondment to the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, truce monitoring after the civil conflict in Bougainville and policy development on Asian security institutions. He has contributed to three landmark reports on nuclear arms control: the 1996 Canberra Commission, 1999 Tokyo Forum and 2009 International Commission on Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament. His earlier work in journalism was commended in Australia’s leading media awards, the Walkleys, in 1991.

Professor Medcalf has been prominent in developing Australia’s relations with India. He has been recognised as a thought leader internationally for his work on the Indo-Pacific concept of the Asian strategic environment, as articulated in his 2020 book Contest for the Indo-Pacific (released internationally as Indo-Pacific Empire). Professor Medcalf was a member of the expert panel providing independent advice on the Australian Government’s 2016 Defence White Paper. He is chief investigator in a 2018-2021 research project funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York, examining the risks to nuclear stability from new submarine-detection technologies. He is also chief investigator in a 2019-2021 research project funded by the Australian Department of Defence , titled 'Made for Multipolarity: Operationalising an Indo-Pacific strategy in the Indian Ocean'.

He is a member of the editorial boards of Asia Policy and the Australian Journal of International Affairs. He has been a Nonresident Senior Fellow in Foreign Policy with the Brookings Institution in Washington DC and retains affiliations as a Nonresident Fellow with the Lowy Institute and the Seapower Centre of the Royal Australian Navy. His is a member of the Board of the National Foundation for Australia-China Relations and the ASEAN Regional Forum Register of Experts and Eminent Persons.

Adjunct Professor Tony Press - Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies at the University of Tasmania

Dr Tony Press is an Adjunct Professor at the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS), and the Australian Antarctic Program Partnership, at the University of Tasmania. He was formerly the CEO of the Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre (ACE CRC) from 2009 to 2014.

From 1998-2008 Dr Press was the Director of the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD). He chaired the Antarctic Treaty’s Committee for Environmental Protection (CEP) from 2002 to 2006; was Australia’s representative to the CEP and Alternative Representative to Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meetings from 1999 to 2008; and Australia’s Commissioner to the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources from 1998 to 2008.

Dr Press provided the Australian Government with the 20 Year Australian Antarctic Strategic Plan in 2014. Dr Press is well known nationally and internationally for his work in Antarctic and Southern Ocean policy and science, and for his work on climate change.

Dr Press is appointed as the Chair of the Tasmanian Government’s Antarctic Gateway Advisory Committee (TAG). He is the Chair of the Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes (CLEX) Advisory Board, and Director and Company Secretary of the Antarctic Science Foundation Ltd.

Ms Mengzhu Zhang - Researcher at Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies at the University of Tasmania

Mengzhu’s PhD research focuses on the development of China’s Antarctic science program and its engagement in the Antarctic Treaty System (ATS). In addition to her research on China's Antarctic program, she has published several articles on popular Antarctic topics, such as plastic pollution and COVID-19. Mengzhu hopes to make use of her bilingual advantage to promote better mutual understanding and trust between China and other countries on Antarctic issues. Mengzhu holds a Bachelor of Marine Science from the Ocean University of China and a Bachelor of Marine and Antarctic Science with Honours (Physical Oceanography) from University of Tasmania.

Mr Mark Bowles - Deputy Secretary, Business and Jobs Department of State Growth Tasmania

Mark Bowles is the Deputy Secretary, Business and Jobs, with the Department of State Growth. Among his responsibilities are oversight of services to the Trade, Small Business, Business Finance, Science and Technology, and Advanced Manufacturing & Defence Industries portfolios. During 2020 he was assigned as the principal economic advisor to the Premier’s Economic and Social Recovery Advisory Council established in response to COVID-19.

In 2019, he served as Interim CEO of Brand Tasmania, Australia’s first statutory place branding authority. As a former Executive Director Trade and International Relations, he led several Tasmanian trade and investment missions across the Asia Pacific region.

Mark has had an extensive career as an economist, strategic marketer and business manager. He previously held senior positions with the Tasmanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Department of Treasury and Finance and KPMG. He holds a Bachelor of Economics and Master of Commerce, is a Graduate Member of the Institute of Company Directors and is a qualified vocational trainer.

Mr Jason Yat-Sen Li - Member for Strathfield in the New South Wales State Parliament

Jason is currently the Member for Strathfield in the New South Wales State Parliament. Before Parliament, Jason was Chairman of investment firm Vantage Asia and Managing Director of corporate advisory firm YSA.

Jason is also a Pro-Chancellor of the University of Sydney, Fellow of the University of Sydney Senate and Chair of the University’s Risk and Audit Committee. He is also a director of student accommodation company Belong Here, Chair of Refugee Talent, a director of Asialink and a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum. He was a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on China, a non-executive director of the George Institute for Global Health, an Eisenhower Fellow and a Governing Member of the Smith Family.

He has also been a Director of the Sydney Institute, the National Centre for Volunteering, the Asia Australia Institute and Youth Chair of the NSW Ethnic Communities Council. Jason was a National Committee Member of the Australian Republic Movement and a member of the Yes Committee for the Australian Republic Referendum in 1999.

Jason has an Arts-Law degree from the University of Sydney and a Masters of Law from New York University, where he was Australia’s Hauser Global Scholar. He was formerly Head of Sustainability and Head of China Strategy for Insurance Australia Group. His work on road safety in China won the China PR Association Silver Medal for Best Campaign in 2005. Jason has also worked as an international lawyer for the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, and as a commercial lawyer for Corrs Chambers Westgarth in Sydney.

His Excellency Mr Graham Fletcher - Ambassador of Australia to the People’s Republic of China

Graham Fletcher has been Australia's Ambassador to China since August 2019. Prior to this appointment, Mr Fletcher was head of the North Asia Division in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) during 2008-10 and again from 2015. During 2014, he led the team that completed negotiation of the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement.

Mr Fletcher has served in the Australian Embassy to China on three previous occasions: as Third Secretary (1986-88), Counsellor (1997-2000) and Deputy Head of Mission (2004-08). He was also Deputy Head of Mission in the Australian Embassy in Washington (2011-13) and Deputy Consul-General in the Australian Consulate-General in Noumea (1992-94).

Mr Fletcher has a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) from the University of Sydney. He joined the then Department of Foreign Affairs in 1983. He is married with three children.

Dr Jorrit Gosens - Fellow at Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University

Jorrit Gosens has been researching Chinese energy policy and Chinese renewable energy industry formation for well over a decade, including for a PhD from the University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing. At the ANU, he has developed the most geographically detailed model of China’s coal sector. Jorrit directs the Strategic Research Spoke ‘Energy Transitions’ at the Australian Centre on China in the World, and is creator and editor of China Energy Portal, a website that provides translations of Chinese energy policy and statistics.

Associate Professor Fengshi Wu - University of New South Wales

Fengshi Wu is Associate Professor in Political Science and International Relations at the School of Social Sciences, University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney, Australia. She is a world leading scholar in environmental politics, state-society relations, and global governance with the empirical focus on China and Asia. She was a Visiting Fellow at the Harvard-Yenching Institute (2008-2009) and a Graduate Fellow of the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences (2004). Her academic works have appeared in China Journal, Environmental Politics, VOLUNTAS, China Quarterly, Global Environmental Politics, Journal of Environmental Policy and Planning, Journal of Contemporary China and International Studies Quarterly. She edited the book China’s Global Conquest for Resources (Routledge, 2017) on Chinese overseas investment in and acquisition of natural resources.

Currently, A/Prof. Wu is the inaugural Series Editor of Environment and Society in Asia, Amsterdam University Press, and a member the Executive Committee and the Board of the International Society for Third-Sector Research (ISTR).

A/Prof. Wu received her PhD in political science from the University of Maryland and BA (Hons) in international relations from Beijing University. Prior to UNSW, she held academic positions at the University of Melbourne, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, and the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Professor Xunpeng (Roc) Shi - Research Principal at Australia-China Research Institute

Prof. Xunpeng (Roc) Shi is Professor of Energy and Environmental Economics and Research Principal at the Australia-China Relations Institute, University of Technology Sydney, President of the International Society for Energy Transition Studies (ISETS), and a Council Member (President, 2016-2018) of the Chinese Economics Society Australia (CESA).

He has worked in the energy sector for more than 25 years in industry, government, research institutes in Australia, Brunei, China, Indonesia, and Singapore, and an international organisation. His research interests cover the full spectrum of energy, climate change and other environmental issues in economics, policy, and sustainable development, with regional focuses on Australia, China, ASEAN, and Northeast Asia.

He was listed as Australia's leading researcher in the field of Environmental Law and Policy, the top 2% of the world’s top scientists in the energy field, and the top 2% of authors in the world’s largest database of economists (RePEc).

He is an advisor to Global Gas Center (GGC), APEC Sustainable Energy Center (APSEC), and UN ESCAP and is frequently participating in the United Nations and other international policy debates.

He received LLM from the University of Dundee, MERE and PhD in Economics from the Australian National University.

Mr Colin Paterson - State Manager Tasmania at Fortescue Future Industries

Colin has been involved in multi-million-dollar infrastructure project development and execution for over 40 years with the last two or more decades dedicated to renewable energy development, construction and operation in the wind, solar and biomass sectors. With a long held belief that H2 is the obvious next generation fuel, Colin joined Fortescue Future Industries to develop, build and operate the first wave of industrial scale Green Hydrogen and Green Ammonia plants to decarbonise the world in it’s fight to combat climate change. He has a Civil Engineering degree with post grad Mechanical & Electrical engineering qualifications.

Andrew Smith - Co-owner and orchardist at Willie Smith Apple Cider Farm

The Smith family is synonymous with southern Tasmania – and apples. Andrew Smith’s great grandfather William first planted apple trees at his Grove property, just outside the town of Huonville, William Smith planted his first apple tree in 1888 and his great-grandson Andrew Smith is Willie Smith's current co-owner and orchardist.

Andrew founded Australia’s first certified organic cidery, Willie Smith’s Cider Makers, which is all about authentic cider showcasing the apples Andrew grows. Willie Smith’s direction is inspired by the cider making process of Northern France and is matured in oak vats to deliver a distinctive farmhouse style (or in the case of some special-release ciders, in barrels that have been used for whisky maturation). All products are made without the use of synthetic chemicals, fertilisers or genetically modified organisms and with a focus on sustainable practices.

Mr David Bellamy

David was born and raised at Coonamble, New South Wales on a mixed sheep, cattle and grain growing farm. His great great grandfather was William Franklin Whitney, an original partner in the transport business, “Cobb & Co”.

David completed his HSC at the Kings School in Parramatta; he completed Business, Typing and Secretarial studies in Sydney before attending Marcus Oldham College in Geelong where he studied Farm & Business Management at the same time as studying a Bachelor of Commerce at Deakin University.

David has held farm management positions in TAS, VIC, NSW. In 1991 he became a rural financial counsellor and later went on to run his own accountancy practice known as ‘Lewis Vowell & Bellamy’, which operated out of five locations in NSW -Cooma, Adaminaby, Jindabyne, Harden and Sydney.

David, with his wife Dooley, established a chain of ‘Australian Complexions’ beauty therapy clinics and retail concept stores similar to “The Body Shop”.

In 1996 the Tasmanian State Government employed David as a Project Manager – Business Development. He was responsible for the facilitation of new business ventures within TAS. Clients included Australian Merino Spinners, Ansett, Centrelink and Westpac Call Centres and the Shandong Ruyi purchase of the Tasmanian Merino top marking plant in Launceston. He was also the State Governments “Company Doctor” representative to assess and assist big business during times of financial hardship.

Along with the lifestyle move from NSW to Tasmania in 1996 was the purchase of a traditional 300 acre Tasmanian vegetable growing farm. This became the original “Bellamy’s Organic Farm”.

In 2000, after a number of years planning, ‘Bellamy’s Organic Farms Tasmania’ had been born. As Managing Director/CEO David developed a multi-tiered food production and distribution business, launching Australia’s first range of certified organic baby food, “Bellamy’s Organic”, onto supermarket shelves.

Approximately $9.3 million was raised over three fundraisings with $4 million coming from the banking sector, $3.8 million from private equity and $1.5 million from various government grants.

“Bellamy’s Organic” was listed on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) in 2014 selling one hundred million shares for $1.00 each. At its peak the shares reached $18.30 giving a company capitalization of $1.83 Billion. The company was an Australian “Top 200” on the ASX. Bellamy’s Organic was sold to a Chinese dairy company, Mengniu Dairy in 2019 for $1.52 Billion.

More recently, in 2015 David joined a fledgling Telecommunications company in Brisbane called OPENetworks. In less than five years as General Manager, David fully funded its growth and sold it to the publicly listed Uniti Group (UWL) for $27.5 million. OPENetworks became a Strategic Infrastructure Provider (SIP) in Australia and built, maintained and managed efficient and cost effective superfast fibre networks across Australia.

Ms Stephanie Jack - Asian Australian actor, writer & singer

Stephanie Jack is an Asian Australian actor, writer, and vocalist based in nipaluna/Hobart. She completed an M.F.A. Acting at Harvard's American Repertory Theater Institute, including a semester at the Moscow Art Theatre School.

Her performance highlights include acting alongside Essie Davis and Marta Dusseldorp in Archipelago Productions’ The Maids; playing the Queen in the N.Y. Times’ Critics’ Pick musical The Light Princess; and performing vignettes from Uncle Vanya at Melikhovo, Chekhov’s former country estate. In 2021, Stephanie was the Tasmanian Theatre Company’s Associate Artist, and a core member of MONA’s Faro Ensemble. She was recently cast in a new Tassie television series, Amazon’s Deadloch.

As a writer, Stephanie has contributed to Forty South, Peril Magazine, Mixed Asian Media, and Doyenne. From 2019-2020 she produced a vlog called Mixed Up, documenting her move to Shanghai to study Mandarin and Kung Fu. She is developing a solo show about multiracial fluidity (working title Mixed Feelings) with the support of a Regional Arts Fund Fellowship and Arts Tasmania.

Mr Chen Ping - Artist

Chen Ping, born and schooled in China, including at the prestigious Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Painting) from the School of Art, University of Tasmania. His work is held in numerous important private collections around the world, as well as local institutional gallery collections. Chen is a regular exhibitor at international art fairs, most notably the Personal Structures exhibition, part of the Venice Biennale in 2013 and again in 2017. In 2014 his Unseen Mountain was the official gift of the Tasmanian Government to Chinese President Xi Jinping and Madame Peng Liyuan.

Chen maintains traditional Chinese cultural values while exploring concepts from a contemporary Western perspective. His exceptional academic understanding of drawing informs his coherent and synesthetic paintings, where the broad strokes of colour of landscapes and the thin lines of peaks, ranges and old Chinese characters are composed to produce a dialectic.

Underpinning all of Chen's works are his meditations on life and the frailty of the human condition.

Mr Xiaoping Zhou - Artist

Zhou Xiaoping is a Melbourne-based artist and curator, born and educated in China. Since 1988 he has been actively engaged with Aboriginal communities in Arnhem Land and the Kimberley.

He has created a unique artistic style by incorporating his new Aboriginal experiences into the traditional Chinese classic painting that he had learnt in China. Chinese and Aboriginal arts and cultures meet in his artworks, generating a new aesthetic while telling his story in Australia.

In the past 30 years, he has made extraordinary achievements in regards to Australia-China cultural exchanges. Xiaoping's collaboration with the late Jimmy Pike resulted in the first exhibition of Aboriginal artwork at Hefei Jiuliumi Art Museum, Hefei, China, in 1996, which was then held at the National Gallery of China in 1999. His project “Trepang: China and the Story of Macassan--Aboriginal Trade” exhibited at both The Capital Museum in Beijing and the Melbourne Museum in 2011.

The international award-winning documentary film “Ochre and Ink” about his story was broadcast on ABC1 Australia, in 2012.

He is currently leading a research exhibition project on Aboriginal and Chinese art.

Ms Yin Cao - Curator of Chinese Art at Art Gallery of New South Wales

Yin Cao has been the Curator of Chinese Art at AGNSW since August 2011. Prior to that she was the Deputy Director at the Arthur M. Sackler Museum of Art and Archaeology at Peking University, Beijing, China, and a researcher at the University Museum of the National University of Singapore.

Trained as an archaeologist at Peking University and Harvard University, she has participated in several archaeological excavations both in China and Israel. She received museum management training at the Smithsonian Institution and the Freer/Sackler Gallery in Washington, DC. She has curated several exhibitions including: the inaugural exhibition at the Arthur M. Sackler Museum of Art and Archaeology at Peking University (1993); “A Silk Road Saga-the sarcophagus of Yu Hong” (2013), and “Tang: treasures from the Silk Road capital” (2016), “Heaven and earth in Chinese art: treasures from the National Palace Museum, Taipei” (2019), and“ The way we eat” (2021). She has edited and written catalogues for these exhibitions. She is on the Board of the Museum of Chinese in Australia.

Dr Pippa Dickson - Director at Asialink Arts

As the Director of Asialink Arts at Asialink, Dr Pippa Dickson is committed to facilitating true partnership and cooperation between Australia and Asia in the arts and creative industry sectors. Pippa has extensive arts leadership experience both nationally and internationally. In addition to positions as the Director of the National Association for Visual Artists (NAVA) and Co-Chair of the National Craft Initiative, Pippa founded Design Island for Arts Tasmania and is the founding CEO of the Glenorchy Art & Sculpture Park.

Pippa has raised over $10 million for national and international art commissions and architectural projects, and worked as a project manager and consultant in the private and public sectors for more than 15 years. Outside Australia, her achievements include an International Advisor to the Cheongju International Craft Biennale (South Korea) 2017 and 2019 and mentorship at the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority (Hong Kong) with former CEO Michael Lynch, AO OBE in 2015.

Pippa holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Western Australia, a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Hons) and a Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Tasmania.

Professor Jing Han - Australia-China Institute for Arts and Culture at the Western Sydney University

Jing received her PhD in English literature from the University of Sydney in 1995. She joined SBS TV Australia in 1996 and had been the Chief Subtitler and Head of the SBS Subtitling Department till 2019. Over the last 23 years, Jing has subtitled over 300 Chinese films including Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Lust, Caution, Hero, Not One Less, Let the Bullet Fly, 1942, Mr Six, Ash Is the Purest White, Still Life etc and was the leading subtitler of the Chinese TV show If You Are The One, the longest showing non-English series in Australia.

Professor Han is the Director of Institute for Australia and Chinese Arts and Culture (IAC) at Western Sydney University. IAC focuses on promoting and showcasing centuries-old and emerging Chinese arts and culture in China, Australia and around the world, including a new generation of artists and writers of Chinese heritage. She has also been a key faculty member at School of Humanities and Communication Arts, teaching at its flagship Translation and Interpreting program. Professor Han is also a literary translator who was the English translator of a modern Chinese classic Educated Youth by multi-award winning author Ye Xin and her Chinese translation of the Miles Franklin Award winning novel Too Much Lip by Melissa Lucashenko has just been published by China Writers Publishing House.

Jing is a leading expert in translating Chinese culture, intercultural communication, audiovisual translation and media accessibility and has been invited to give lectures at over 30 universities in mainland China, Taiwan, Europe and Australia. She is highly regarded for her significant and original contributions to the practice and teaching in the field. Jing is also known for her strong leadership and intercultural competence.

Professor Nathan Bindoff - Professor Physical Oceanography at the University of Tasmania

Nathan is physical oceanographer, specializing in ocean climate and the earth’s climate system, with a focus on understanding the causes of change in the oceans. He was the coordinating lead author for the ocean chapter’s in the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change ocean in the IPCC Fourth, Fifth Assessment Reports and Special Reports on Oceans (SROCC). Nathan and colleagues documented some of the first evidence for changes in the oceans in the Indian, North Pacific, South Pacific and Southern Ocean’s and the first evidence of changes in the Earths hydrological cycle from ocean salinity. His most recent work is on documenting the decline in oxygen content of the oceans and dynamics of the Southern Ocean. He also led the award winning climate futures program and its impacts of climate change on Australian climate, in particular, on extreme temperatures, rainfall, runoff, agriculture and ecosystems. He has published more than 140 peer reviewed papers and more than 50 reports.

Dr Yuan Peng - Research Fellow at The Australian National University

Dr. Yuan Peng is a Research Fellow with ANU Grand Challenge of Zero-Carbon Energy for the Asia-Pacific. Her research interests are in urban sustainability/lowcarbon transition, and urban climate and energy governance. She is leading several ongoing research projects on exploring the mechanisms to promote electric vehicle (EV) adoption in EV capital cities such as Shanghai, and understanding the role of cities in incubating nascent hydrogen-energy industries for sustainability transition in China.

Prior to her academic career, Dr. Yuan Peng had professional work experience as a policy consultant on climate policies in the local government and as a Business Development (BD) on urban low-carbon infrastructure solutions in Siemens China.

Mr Neil Wang - Chief Executive Officer at Foton Mobility

Kaiyuan (Neil) Wang, Experienced sales manager, CEO and team leader. 14 years’ experience in Australia's bus market. CEO of Foton Mobility. Distributor of Foton New Energy Vehicle, Winline DC Charger and SnowSource Electric AC (Vehicles) in Australia. New energy solution provider. Introduced EV city buses to Auckland, Brisbane, Canberra and Sydney. Importing hydrogen city buses, EV city buses and EV trucks to Australia.

Mr Chunhua Li - Manager Wind Assets at Hydro Tasmania

Mr Li brings extensive experience in the energy and renewable energy sectors globally. He is currently working for Hydro Tasmania as a senior energy specialist focusing on developing wind energy assets and managing the joint venture partnership with a leading Chinese energy business.

Previously, at Roaring 40s Renewables, he led the company’s successful entry and remarkable growth in the Chinese market. Roaring 40s developed and built a portfolio of wind assets through joint ventures with leading local energy businesses and became the largest foreign wind energy investor in China.

At the Tasmanian state government, he played an instrumental role in hosting the state visit of Chinese leaders, developing the state’s China engagement strategy, and organising trade events and missions to promote broader Tasmanian and China trade and investment cooperation.

At Goldwind Science and Technology, as the inaugural director of international business, he built up Goldwind’s international business unit and the global presence, and led the company’s initial global expansion.

Mr Simon Troman - Assistant Director Hydrogen Industry Development at Tasmanian State Government

Currently the Manager of the Hydrogen Industry Development Team with the Tasmanian government. Simon’s role is to implement the government’s plans to establish a domestic hydrogen industry, including heavy transport, marine applications, and industrial and agricultural applications.

Prior to joining the Tasmanian government Simon was Energy Sector Lead with the Bureau of Meteorology. The ESL role’s key responsibility was as the interface between the Bureau and the energy industry, particularly the Australian Energy Markey Operator. During his time with the Bureau Simon and the team developed several tools to assist the energy sector in strategic planning for asset investment.

Simon is probably best known in the renewable energy sector for his role as CEO of IT Power / ITP Renewables and Atratus Consulting. Simon established the Australian arm of ITP in 2006, quickly establishing the company as one of the most respected independent advisory firms in the renewable energy sector. After growing ITP to over 20 staff with a healthy pipeline of projects, Simon left ITP in 2018 and established Atratus Consulting.

Simon has over 30 years’ experience throughout the renewable energy sector, covering international aid and development, government, commercial, project management, and research roles. He was a founder and board member of several industry associations including the Smart Energy Council, Australian Ocean Energy Group, Australian PV Institute. Simon was an inaugural member of the ARENA Advisory panel, and an advisor for the ACT government’s ambitious renewable energy plans, including the first large scale reverse auction. Simon has a passion for using electrification as a tool to assist developing countries, and has worked on projects in southern Africa, India, Colombia and throughout the Pacific.

Simon was also a manager of the Federal Government’s $205M Renewable Remote Power Generation Program. Simon has privilege to have been involved in the management and deployment of several iconic projects, including the Cape Barren Island and Coral Bay wind / diesel hybrid systems, the Tokelau Renewable Energy Program (the “world’s first solar powered nation”), the solar installation on Australian Parliament House, the first solar powered water pumping systems used in the Kalahari Desert, and the National Arboretum off-grid solar / battery project.

Simon was the first project manager for the Majura Community Owned Solar farm, is currently an advisor to NASA and CSIRO on energy for their terrestrial tracking stations, and for something totally different an advisor to the Manilla eTrike program. Simon was born and grew up in regional Tasmania and regardless of where in the world he lived he always considered himself a Tasmanian.