We are delighted to announce that Professor Pascal Perez has been appointed as AURIN’s new director from November 14, 2022. To ensure a smooth transition, Professor Peter Newton, who has been the interim director for the last two and a half months, will continue in the role until November 11, 2022.
Pascal, a leader in participatory modelling of complex socio-technical systems, has more than 30 years of senior management experience. Most recently Pascal served as director of the SMART Infrastructure Facility at the University of Wollongong, where he oversaw research in infrastructure-related fields such as water and energy efficiency, future transport and mobility, smart cities and communities, as well as infrastructure systems engineering and logistics. Prior to this, he served as team leader at CSIRO and has over a decade of strategic development and plan execution of various multi-million dollar projects.
Pascal is a fellow of the Royal Society of New South Wales. His appointment as the director won’t be the first time he has had some official engagement with AURIN, as between 2021 and 2022 he became the Chair and member of the Scientific Advisory Committee.
“As a National and NCRIS-funded facility, AURIN has a mandate to provide cutting edge eResearch capabilities and data for Australian researchers and analysts in order to contribute to more sustainable, resilient, productive and liveable cities. With the support of the AURIN Board and the Scientific Advisory Committee, I intend to strengthen partnerships with relevant national scientific institutions as well as key academic, government and industry entities to help deliver on national research priorities, as well as the future National Digital Research Infrastructure,” says Pascal.
Pascal’s appointment comes at a critical period to ensure AURIN can respond to the fast-changing needs of our core audiences and partners. His experience will help consolidate and build on our strong track record of being a trusted hub of high-value datasets and tools for urban research and policy development in Australia.
AURIN is an NCRIS-funded national network of researchers and data providers across the academic, government, and private sectors for those specialising in urban, regional, and social issues. By providing eResearch capabilities, such as analytical and mapping tools, as well as thousands of multidisciplinary spatialised datasets, AURIN enables high-value research that positively impact the lives of Australia.
We look forward to welcoming Pascal to the AURIN team.