Coal Transition Seminar Series: Growing Resilient Coal Regions? The Gippsland Smart Specialisation Strategy
To end its debilitating ‘climate wars’, Australia needs policies that deliver jobs and prosperity for communities in coal regions that are struggling in the transition to a zero-carbon economy. As examples from overseas (e.g. the Ruhr area in Germany) show, regional industrial diversification is possible but not easy. It builds on local skills, capabilities and entrepreneurship but is often stifled by a political appetite for quick wins and visible results. In the wake of the Hazelwood closure, the Latrobe Valley Authority is pioneering an entirely new approach to regional development, that is sensitive to local opportunities and challenges. As an Australia first, the Gippsland Smart Specialisation Strategy is trialling and testing place-based development for smart, inclusive and sustainable growth.
This seminar is the second in a series of Energy Transition Hub hosted events on issues related to coal transition.
Coal transition seminar Lars Leo.pdf
Director at the LH Martin Institute, Professor Leo Goedegebuure is active in the field of higher education policy research and management. Prior to his move to Australia in 2005 (University of New England, Centre for Higher Education Management and Policy), Leo was Executive Director of the Center for Higher Education Policy Studies (CHEPS), at the University of Twente, Netherlands, Europe's largest research centre in this field.
Leo's research interests are in the areas of governance and management, both at the systems and institutional level, system dynamics including large scale restructuring policies, university-industry relationships, and institutional mergers. Most of his work has a comparative focus, both within and outside of Europe, which has resulted in a strong international network. He is an auditor for the Hong Kong Quality Assurance Council and has been a member and rapporteur for the OECD tertiary education review of New Zealand. He has worked as an expert on governance and management in Central and Eastern Europe, the Russian Federation, Africa, South East Asia and South America on projects initiated by the European Commission, the World Bank and UNESCO.
During the period 1997-1999, Leo spent a 3-year term in institutional administration as deputy to the Rector Magnificus at the University of Twente, the Netherlands, with primary responsibility for the teaching & learning portfolio. In this capacity he restructured the university's education programs. This experience not only furthered his overall management skills, it also equipped him with the project management skills to successfully direct complex institutional change processes.
Over his career, Leo has published some 15 books (both monographs and edited volumes) and over 100 articles, book chapters and papers on higher education policy, mergers, quality assessment, evaluation research, differentiation, system dynamics, engineering education, institutional management and comparative research.