VISES - Key Persons

Job Titles:

• Associate Professor
• RESEARCH ASSOCIATE

Job Titles:

• RESEARCH ASSOCIATE

Job Titles:

• Research Fellow

Qualifications BSc (Uni Melb), G Dip Ed (UNE), M Env Plan (Macquarie), PhD (VU) Professional experience Dr Symons specialises in quantitative economic analysis and modelling, including health and environmental economics. He is currently undertaking a project with the NHMRC Centre for Research Excellence: Driving Global Investment in Adolescent Health and the FIA Foundation, where he will be extending and developing his work on road safety interventions. This will build on previous work he has undertaken with the Australian Health Policy Collaboration for the ACT government regarding the economic benefits of active transport infrastructure. He is also working with the Fred Hollows Foundation on the multi-generational economic benefits of cataract surgery and an investment case for HPV vaccinations for the UNFPA in Vietnam. Dr Symons periodically works for the West of Melbourne Economic Development Alliance (WOMEDA). As part of this role, he has been developing proposals for a Waste and Recycling Research Centre at the VU Werribee campus in collaboration with the state government, industry groups and VU. He has also developed close links with the International Institute of Industrial Ecological Economics (IIIEE) at Lund University during an extended stay in 2018. These links include ongoing collaboration on waste and recycling research, massive open online courses, as well as supervising masters students in the field of green roof economics. Previously in the area of health economics, Dr Symons participated in a Lancet adolescent study (2017) for the UNFPA examining the costs and benefits in adolescent road transport safety in developing countries, involving modelling data on transport from 75 developing countries. He also participated as modeller in a 2019 UNICEF project estimating impact of investments in adolescent health and education in Burundi, and a 2018 UNFPA project on investing in adolescent health, education and gender for India and 4 Indian states. In environmental economics he has previously worked with: the City of Melbourne on their Greening Laneways and Economic Evaluation of Green Roofs, Walls and Facades project (2017) focusing on public economic benefits of the program; the Bushfire and Natural Hazard CRC (2014-17) creating an economic geography of a broad range of economic, social, health and environmental values, involving extensive data modelling to determine levels of vulnerability to bushfire and flood which has since been used as the basis for further work with the Victorian Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning to generate a detailed economic geography of vulnerability to fire and flood in Victoria and future changes due to climate change; and other projects modelling the benefits of bicycle infrastructure. Ward, J. and Symons, J. 2017, 'Optimising crop selection for small urban food gardens in dry climates', Horticulturae, vol. 3, no. 2, p. 33.

Job Titles:

• RESEARCH ASSOCIATE
• Senior Lecturer / La Trobe Business School, Department of Economics, La Trobe University

Job Titles:

• Associate Professor
• RESEARCH ASSOCIATE

Job Titles:

• RESEARCH ASSOCIATE
• Head of School of Humanities and Social Sciences / Deakin University

Job Titles:

• RESEARCH ASSOCIATE
• Senior Lecturer

Job Titles:

• RESEARCH ASSOCIATE
• Deputy Director for G20 Forum, Center for Climate Finance and Multilateral Policy / Fiscal Policy Agency / Ministry of Finance

Job Titles:

• Professor

Job Titles:

• Associate Professor of Finance

Job Titles:

• RESEARCH ASSOCIATE
• Professor of Accounting and Finance / Abu Dhabi University

Job Titles:

• RESEARCH ASSOCIATE
• Economics and Finance

Job Titles:

• Principal Research Fellow

Qualifications BEcon (Hons), Sydney; PhD (Econ) Victoria Univ. Professional experience Dr. Kim Sweeny is Principal Research Fellow at VISES, specialising in the strategic analysis, assessment and development of new technology and innovation. Mr Sweeny is heavily involved in the Institute's Pharmaceutical Industry Project, being responsible in particular for the analysis of Australian and international pharmaceutical markets. He has produced reports on, among other topics, the operations of the PBS and pricing and usage outcomes, comparisons of Australian and international pharmaceutical usage and pricing, and the Australian pharmaceutical supply chain. He has presented his findings at various national and international fora. In addition he has undertaken consultancy studies of various aspects of the PBS for pharmaceutical industry clients. He was a lead author on the report on Small Scale Technologies for the Victorian Government and the report on Economic Benefits of the Research Program of the Proposed CRC for Interconnected Knowledge Communities (CRCIKC). From 1993-2000 Dr. Sweeny was General Manager, Service Industries of the Strategic Industry Research Foundation Ltd (SIRF), a company established by the Victoria Government to develop and manage technology related products. He won, managed and delivered numerous consultancy projects including 3 benchmarking studies, covering biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, diagnostics, medical equipment and clinical trials, for Invest Australia (an arm of the Australian Government) in 1995, 1997, and 2000. In 1995 and 2000 he undertook studies for Invest Australia on criteria used by multinational companies in deciding where to locate new R&D investments. Around 30 multinational companies were interviewed and asked to rank the importance of 22 selection criteria, such as costs, availability of skilled personnel, scientific research base, proximity to markets/customers, quality of life, cost of living, taxation regimes, economic and political stability etc. In 1996 he carried out a study of the benefits of pharmaceutical company R&D for the Australian Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association. This study demonstrated substantial returns from pharmaceutical R&D and included interviews with 25 pharmaceutical companies. While at SIRF he was instrumental in establishing the Cooperative Research Centre for Microtechnology - a new technology alliance of research organisations, companies and State and Commonwealth Governments undertaking research in micro and nanotechnologies. Industries covered by the CRC include defence, communications, automotive, biotechnology and sport. In 2001 he carried out an assessment of the business case for a new microelectronics design business for the CRC. Nguyen Trang, Sweeny, K., Thach Tran, Luchters, S., Hipgrave, D.B., Hanieh, S. Tuan Tran, Ha Tran, Biggs, B.A. and Fisher, J. 2019, 'Protocol for an economic evaluation alongside a cluster randomised controlled trial: Cost-effectiveness of Learning Clubs, a multicomponent intervention to improve women's health and infant's health and development in Vietnam', BMJ Open vol. 9, 031721. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2019-031721. Zhang, Y., Liu, F., Pu, L., Qin, J., & Sweeny, K. 2018, ‘Effectiveness prediction of community-based hypertension management in China: An analysis based on risk prediction models', Chinese General Practice, vol. 21, no. 17, pp. 2082-2087. Sweeny, K. 2009, ‘The impact of copayments and safety nets on PBS expenditure', Australian Health Review, vol.

Job Titles:

• RESEARCH ASSOCIATE

Job Titles:

• Collaborative Research Fellow

Professional experience Celeste is a transdisciplinary researcher who produces high impact, end user focused research. She undertakes collaborative research with industry, community and government stakeholders to develop solutions that can be applied in end-user decision-making contexts. Her methodology of 'working from the inside out' uses systemic assessments and embeds research into decision-making systems. Co-design and linking research to ongoing training and learning in policy and practice, are central to this process. Since joining Victoria University in 2012, Celeste has been awarded funding by and led research for: Bushfire Natural Hazards CRC (BNHCRC), City of Melbourne, Victorian Centre of Climate Change Adaptation Research (VCCCAR), Department of Environment Water Land and Planning (Vic), Department of Transport (Vic) (DoT), and Rail Manufacturing CRC (RMCRC). She is currently research lead for BNHCRC (Diversity and Inclusion: Building Strength and Capability project) and DoT/RMCRC (Reimagining the Workforce project). Her work has been used by practitioners, trainers and researchers in the public and private sector in Australia and overseas. It has also been featured in state and federal government policy. Celeste has created a number of award winning research posters and advised government on climate change communication and practice and end-user research. Since 2012, Celeste has led and co-authored numerous articles, papers and reports. She was also a contributing author to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Working Group II Fifth Assessment Report Chapter - Foundations of Decision Making. She has been invited to present her work for key institutions and communities. Highlights include: Oxford University, State and Federal Government, the City of Melbourne, and the EU funded Impressions Project. Celeste's career spans the educational, arts, public and private sector. Formerly, she was an executive officer for the Western Alliance of Greenhouse Action, a stakeholder coordinator for VCCCAR, a consultant for local government and a quality officer at BAE Systems. She also has over 30 years experience as a communications professional and as a producer and practitioner in the arts. She has served on a number of committees including the Research Advisory Committee for the Australian Institute of Financial Studies (2014-18) and board member of Platform Youth Theatre (2009-11).

Job Titles:

• Research Information Coordinator

Qualifications BEc, Univ. del Pacifico (Lima, Peru); Grad. Dip. Info. Man., Univ. Ballarat Professional experience Margarita Kumnick joined CSES (now VISES) in 1993, where she is Research Information Coordinator. Her skills and interest lie in the field of information management. At VISES, she manages the information and data requirements of the Institute's research projects ensuring they are met in a timely manner. She actively participates in all the Institute's research projects and consultancy arrangements, assisting in specifying the nature and type of information and data required, and managing the resources to make certain they are fully available and shared by all team members. She also coordinates the Institute's publication program, including research reports, journal articles, working papers and all other internally produced documents. She assists in the proofreading, preparation, and publication of the final outcomes (hardcopy or electronic). She manages and maintains the Institue's website. After completing a Graduate Diploma of Information Management at the University of Ballarat in 1992, she was Reference Librarian at both Deakin University Library (Geelong Campus) and the Australian Catholic University Library (Ballarat Campus) (1992-1993). She was awarded the Thomas H. Woodrow Memorial Trust Award 1992, given annually to the most outstanding student of information management in Victoria.

Job Titles:

• Research Analyst
• Consultant to TradeData International
• Research Fellow

Qualifications BA (Hons), Bombay University; BA, La Trobe University Professional experience Neelam Maharaj has been research analyst at the Victoria Institute of Strategic Economic Studies at Victoria University since 2003. She has participated in various health projects in the last years, particularly on research on child marriage, interpersonal, intimate partner and gender violence. She is co-author of two papers, one on investing in adolescent health (The Lancet 2017) and another on investing in interventions to reduce child marriage (Journal of Adolescent Health 2019). She was part of a team conducting research on estimating the costs of investment for adolescents in Burundi (funded by UNICEF) and on the elimination of child marriage and intimate partner violence in the developing world as part of a United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) effort for ending child early and enforced marriage by 2030 (funded by UNFPA). She is currently co-investigator on research estimating the costs of investing in education for Syrian adolescents (funded by UNICEF). Previously Neelam, was Consultant to TradeData International (1997-July 2002), mainly coordinating and administering research projects and preparing reports analysing trade trends for clients. Before this she was Consultant (July 1991-January 2001) and Senior Analyst at IBIS Business Information (June 1989-July 2001) where she was responsible for analysing and monitoring up to 80 industries including: Textile Clothing and Footwear, Wood, Paper & Pulp, Printing & Publishing, Medical & Scientific Equipment Manufacturing, Appliances, Electric Equipment, Sign and Light Manufacturing and a variety of other manufacturing and wholesaling industries. From 1987-1989 she also worked as Senior Consultant to NIEIR (1987-1989) and Senior Policy Coordinator at the Australian Chambers of Manufacturers.

Job Titles:

• Administration Officer

Job Titles:

• Adjunct Professor

Job Titles:

• Director, Victoria Energy Policy Centre

Job Titles:

• Director

Rasmussen, B., Sweeny, K., Maharaj, N. and Welsh, A. 2018, Our Health Our Wealth: The Impact of Ill Health on Retirement Savings in Australian, Report to The McKell Institute, VISES, Victoria University, Melbourne, August. Rasmussen, B., Pensabene, T., Pyke, J., Maharaj, N. and Welsh, A. 2016, The Economic Impact of Cultural Diversity, Report to the Department of Premier and Cabinet Victoria, VISES, Victoria University, Melbourne. Professor Rasmussen is Director of VISES having joined in 1998. His work has focussed on innovation, business models, business strategy and industry development issues; and also encompassed health economics, regional economics, and economic development. His most recent work has been on estimating the economic returns to investment in health, for WHO and UNFPA, APEC Life Sciences Innovation Forum (LSIF) and the APEC Business Advisory Council. He led work on the recent UNFPA adolescent project on evaluating interventions to reduce child marriage and intimate partner violence. Other multi-country evaluation studies have estimated the benefit-cost ratios for interventions to treat disease and health conditions for children and mothers, those with mental health issues and for a range of interventions to improve the well-being of adolescents. In addition to his joint authorship of a paper published in The Lancet (Sheehan et al. 2017), he has an article Journal of Adolescent Health (2019) on evaluating interventions to reduce child marriage. He has also conducted research for the United States Chamber of Commerce on health and productivity. This work has estimated the economic cost of absenteeism, presenteeism and early retirement for about 18 countries as part of its Global Health Initiative. Currently the research is being conducted for China. He completed a health study on The Creation and Capture of Value in Biopharmaceuticals which is being published as a book by Edward Elgar (2009). He was elected Co-Chair (Academic) of the APEC Life Sciences Innovation Forum in August 2017, where he leads the work on persuading Ministers and Ministries of Finance in the APEC region to more actively engage in developing innovative ways of financing health. Prof. Rasmussen has had a career spanning the senior levels of both the public and private sectors. He was Deputy Director of CSES until 2011. In Government he has held a number of senior positions, most significantly as Assistant Director General, Finance in the Department of Management and Budget of the State of Victoria. The position was one of five or six that reported to the Director-General (head) of the Department. A major focus of the position was to improve the management of the Government's financial assets and liabilities. This entailed the development of policies that were central to the State's financial strategies. During this period he become a board member of a number of government bodies including Deputy Chairman, VicFin, the government's international borrowing arm and the National Mortgage Market Corporation. He also played a major role in a wide range of official publications, including budget papers, strategy documents and industry and financial analyses. He spent seven years at the ANZ Bank, one of Australia's big four banks and a company with substantial activities in Europe and Asia. In the ANZ he held various senior business strategy roles, most notably as Chief Manager, Retail Strategy in the Retail Bank and Chief Manager, Development of the Private Bank. In these and other roles he was intimately involved in the development of the Bank's strategic response to the massive technological and organisational changes which took place in banking through the 1990s. He was also responsible for a wide range of business and industry analyses and strategic planning reports. Bertram, M.Y., Sweeny, K., Lauer, J.A., Chisholm, D., Sheehan, P., Rasmussen, B., Upreti, S.R., Dixit, L.P., George, K. and Deane, S. 2018, ‘ Investing in non-communicable diseases: An estimation of the return on investment for prevention and treatment services', Lancet, vol. 391, no. 10134, pp. 2071-2078. Chisholm, D., Sweeny, K., Sheehan, P., Rasmussen, B., Smit, F., Cuijpers, P. and Saxena, S. 2016, ‘Scaling-up treatment of depression and anxiety: A global return on investment analysis', Lancet Psychiatry, vol. 3, no. 5, pp. 415-424. Sweeny, K. and Rasmussen, B. 2019, Evaluation of the WorkWell Program: Initial Report, Report to the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), VISES, Victoria University, Melbourne. Sheehan, P., Rasmussen, B. and Sweeny, K. 2015, Building the Foundations of Sustainable Development: A Global Investment Case for Investing in the Capabilities of Adolescents, Report for the UNFPA Project UNFPAUSA/14/037 Investment in Improving Health, Education and other Outcomes for Adolescents, VISES, Victoria University, Melbourne, December. Rasmussen, B., Sweeny, K. and Sheehan, P. 2016, Health and the Economy: The Impact of Wellness on Workforce Productivity in Global Markets, Report to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Global Initiative on Health and Economy, Washington, DC, April, 28 pp. Sheehan, P., Rasmussen, B. and Sweeny, K. 2014, The Impact of Health on Worker Attendance and Productivity in the APEC Region, Final Report to the APEC Business Advisory Council, VISES, Melbourne, July, 45 pp. Sheehan, P., Sweeny, K., Rasmussen, B. and World Health Organization (WHO) 2012, Investing in Maternal, Newborn and Child Health: Analysis of the Costs, Benefits and Returns, Report on Study Prepared for the LSIF APEC High-Level Meeting on Health and the Economy, St Petersburg, 27 June 2012. Sheehan, P., Rasmussen, B., Sweeny, K., Grewal, B., Ahmed, A. and Maharaj, N. 2008, Investing in the Future: An Assessment of the Returns to Investment in Health Innovation, Framework Paper prepared for the Life Science and Innovation Forum (LSIF) VI, Lima, Peru, 14-15 August.

Job Titles:

• Director

Qualifications BEc (Hons)(La Trobe), MEc (La Trobe), MPA (Harvard), PhD (Vict Univ)

Job Titles:

• Research Director

Qualifications BSc, Univ. of Melbourne; MA (Hons), Univ. of Melbourne; D. Phil (Oxon), Oxford University Professional experience Professor Peter Sheehan was Founding Director of CSES from 1993-2011. He has made a substantial contribution to the field of studies of the global knowledge economy, and of its Australian and international ramifications, since 1994. He has also contributed to both the analysis of new technologies and their application in Australia, and to policy and commercial developments related to the commercialisation of such technologies in Australia, over two decades. From 1987 to the late 1990s he was actively involved, as Chairman or Director, in a number of technology-based companies, many of which he was instrumental in establishing during his time in government. For example, from 1987 to 1993 he was a Director AMRAD Ltd (Australian Medical Research and Development Consortium) a company with a diversified ownership established to commercialise Australian medical research. In 1988 AMRAD entered into a joint venture with Merck, Sharpe and Dohme to establish a 50/50 joint venture, AMRAD Pharmaceuticals. Other examples include his role as founding Chairman of Vistel Ltd (Victorian Government Telecommunications Initiative)(1987-92), of the Australian Computing and Communications Institute (1988-99) and of the Strategic Industry Research Foundation (1988-93). From August 2003 to August 2017, he was Academic Co-Chair, APEC Life Sciences Innovation Forum (LSIF). The Group is chaired by the Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand. Dr Fikry Isaac, CMO Wellnes and Prevention, J&J is Industry Co-Chair. The establishment of the Group is an initiative of President Fox of Mexico. LSIF is strongly supported by health, economic and research agencies of the 21 APEC economies and industry. Professional appointments Research Director, Centre for Strategic Economic Studies, Victoria University, Melbourne (2012 to present) Founding Director, Centre for Strategic Economic Studies, Victoria University, Melbourne, (May 1993-2011). Senior Associate, Department of Economics, University of Melbourne, (1990-present) Director General, Department of Management and Budget, Victorian Government, (October 1982-April 1990) Sheehan, P., Cheng, E., English, A. and Sun, F. 2014, ‘China's response to the air pollution shock', Nature Climate Change, vol. 4, pp. 306-309. Sheehan, P. and Gregory, R.G. 2013, ‘The resources boom and economic policy in the long run', Australian Economic Review, vol. Rasmussen, B., Sweeny, K. and Sheehan, P. 2016, Health and the Economy: The Impact of Wellness on Workforce Productivity in Global Markets, Report to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Global Initiative on Health and Economy, Washington, DC, April. Sheehan, P. and the Hon John Brumby 2012, Evaluation Report: Establishment of the United States Studies Centre, Report to the American Australian Association (AAA), Sydney. Houghton, J., Rasmussen, B. and Sheehan, S.; with Oppenheim, C., Morris, A., Creaser, C., Greenwood, H., Summers, M. and Gourlay, A. 2009, Economic Implications of Alternative Scholarly Publishing Models: Exploring the Costs and Benefits, JISC EI-ASPM Project, Report to the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) (UK), CSES and Loughborough University, January. Sheehan, P., Rasmussen, B., Sweeny, K., Grewal, B., Ahmed, A. and Maharaj, N. 2008, ‘Investing in the Future: An Assessment of the Returns to Investment in Health Innovation', Framework Paper prepared for the APEC Life Science and Innovation Forum (LSIF) VI, Lima, Peru, 14-15 August. Sheehan, P., Grewal, B., Shovan, R. Vicziany, M., Grinceri, S. and Malhotra, P. 2006, Building on the Western Australian Boom: The Drivers and Shapers of India's Economic Development in the 21st Century, Final Report to the Western Australian Technology Industry Advisory Council (TIAC), Centre for Strategic Economic Studies, Victoria University, Melbourne. Sheehan, P., English, A., Grewal, B., Sweeny, K. and Jolly, R. 2010, More Sustainable Energy Use in China: Economic Structure and the Application of New Technologies, Final Report to Department of Climate Change, CSES, Victoria University, Melbourne.

Job Titles:

• Professorial Research Fellow

Qualifications BSc (Hons) Univ Melb; PhD, Univ Melb Professional experience Roger Jones is a Professorial Research Fellow at the Victoria Institute of Strategic Economic Studies (CSES) at Victoria University, joining VU in early 2009. Previously he worked for CSIRO for thirteen years to early 2009. Trained as a physical scientist, he now applies an interdisciplinary focus to understanding climate change risk, bridging science, economics and policy, particularly in developing methodologies for assessing adaptation and mitigation strategies for managing climate change risks. These have been used widely in Australia and internationally, contributing to the Australian Climate Change Adaptation Strategy, the United Nations Development Program Adaptation Policy Frameworks and a range of individual projects. He was a convening Lead Author on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's Working Group II Fourth Assessment Report Chapter on New Methods and Characterisations of the Future released in 2007. He is currently working on a range of adaptation projects and developing new methods for assessing mitigation policy with Professor Peter Sheehan of the CSES. Jones, R.N. 2012, 'Detecting and attributing non-linear anthropogenic regional warming in South-eastern Australia', Journal of Geophysical Research, 117, D04105, doi:10.1029/2011JD016328. Jones, R.N. 2011, 'The latest iteration of IPCC uncertainty guidance: An author perspective', Climatic Change, 108, 733-743. Austin, J., Zhang, L., Jones, R.N., Durack, P., Dawes, W. and Hairsine, P. 2010, 'Climate change impact on water and salt balances: An assessment of the impact of climate change on catchment salt and water balances in the Murray-Darling Basin, Australia', Climatic Change, 100, 607-631. Jones, R.N. and Yohe, G. 2008, 'Applying risk analytic techniques to the integrated assessment of climate policy benefits', Integrated Assessment, 8, 123-149. Kirono, D.G.C. and Jones, R.N. 2007, 'A bivariate test for detecting inhomogeneities in pan evaporation time-series', Australian Meteorological Magazine, 56, 93-103. Jones, R.N. 2008, 'Water resources', in Stokes, C.J. and Howden, S.M. (eds), Overview of Climate Change Adaptation in Australian Primary Industries: Impacts, Options and Priorities (9.5 MB), Report to National Climate Change Research Strategy for Primary Industries by the CSIRO Climate Adaptation National Research Flagship, CSIRO, Canberra, 273-305.

Job Titles:

• Professor