Ian Lowe

Professor Ian Lowe is Emeritus Professor of Science, Technology and Society at Griffith University in Queensland and President of the Australian Conservation Foundation. He holds a Bachelor of Science from the University of NSW with a doctorate in physics from the University of York, UK.

His research interests are energy use in industrialised countries, energy policy options, science and technology policy, large-scale environmental issues and sustainable development.

Professor Lowe chaired the advisory council that produced the first national report on the state of the environment in 1996 and he was named Australian Humanist of the Year in 1988.

In 2000, he received the Queensland Premier’s Millennium Award for Excellence in Science and the Prime Minister’s Environmental Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement. In 2001 Professor Lowe was made an Officer of the Order of Australia for services to science and technology, especially in the area of environmental studies.

Professor Lowe has been a referee for the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change and was a member of the Australian delegation to the 1999 UNESCO World Conference on Science.

He is the author or co-author of ten Open University books, eight other books, more than 50 book chapters and over 500 other publications or conference papers. He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, Vice-President of the Queensland Academy of the Arts and Sciences, and sits on the board of Major Brisbane Festivals Pty Ltd.