We are pleased to announce that Professor Peter Newton has been appointed Interim Director of AURIN until a new director is selected, following the departure of Professor Stuart Barr on 13 June 2022.
Peter has a distinguished research career in the built environment, including 20 years as Chief Research Scientist at CSIRO and the last 15 years as Research Professor in the Centre for Urban Transitions at Swinburne University of Technology. Over this period he has also held senior leadership positions in the CRC for Construction Innovation, Telstra’s Centre of Expertise in Geographic Information Systems and Analysis and the CRC for Low Carbon Living and has led major research projects for the CRC for Spatial Information, the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute and the Australian Research Council. He has been Chief Investigator of research grants totalling over $8 million. His most recent role was as lead CI in developing an ARC-funded national collaborative research network linking five leading urban research laboratories located in Australia’s four largest capital cities.
Peter has also had a longstanding connection with AURIN, initially as Chair of its Technical Committee overseeing the 10 Lens Projects (2011-2013) and subsequently as a member of the Board (2013-2020). Internationally, Peter has been part of several international networks, including membership of the Board of the International Council for Research and Innovation in Building and Construction; UN ESCAP Expert Group Meetings on Green Growth and research review panels in the European Union, USA, and NZ. He is the author or editor of more than 25 books on cities, planning and sustainability, most recently: Migration and Urban Transitions in Australia, 2022; Greening the Greyfields: New Models for Regenerating the Middle Suburbs of Low-Density Cities, 2022; Decarbonising the Built Environment. Charting the Transition, 2019.
In 2014 he was elected Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia. Following his retirement from Swinburne University in January 2022 he was conferred the title of Emeritus Professor in recognition of his research leadership, scholarship, publication and communication.
We look forward to benefitting from Peter’s expertise and guidance over the coming months. .