Michael Barber | |
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| Born | 30 April 1947  |
| Alma mater | |
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| Academic career | |
| Fields | Statistical mechanics, materials science, computational mathematics |
| Institutions | |
| Doctoral advisor | Michael Fisher |
| Doctoral students | Murray Batchelor, Peter George Hornby |
Michael Newton Barber AO FAA (born 30 April 1947) is a mathematician, physicist and academic. He was Vice Chancellor of Flinders University in South Australia from 2008 until 2014.
Barber studied at the University of New South Wales, where he received the University Medal in applied mathematics and graduated with first class honours. He received a PhD from Cornell University in the USA in theoretical physics in 1972. He is best known for the scaling theory of finite size effects at phase transitions, which he introduced together with Michael Fisher.
Barber worked at the Australian National University and University of New South Wales as an academic in the 1970s and 1980s. in 1990, he was appointed Dean of the Faculty of Science at the ANU.
He assumed his first office-bearing position as Pro Vice Chancellor (Research) at the University of Western Australia in 1994 and held the position until 2002. That year, Barber was appointed Executive Director, Science Planning at the CSIRO. In 2006, he was appointed Group Executive, Information, Manufacturing and Minerals. He held this position until his appointment as Vice-Chancellor at Flinders University in 2008—a position he held until December 2014. During his time as Vice Chancellor he worked "to enhance the University’s contribution to the ‘new South Australia’ with its strong defence and resources sectors." [1] In 2008 he stated: "The University is already more engaged with the defence and resource industries than many people recognise but we need to further strengthen the science and technology base at Flinders so that the University is better positioned to grasp more of the opportunities in the new South Australia. We need to work through this in a planned and deliberate way to find appropriate strategies to address it." [2]
In 2012, Barber was a member of the South Australian State Advisory Council of the Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA). [3]
That same year, Barber's salary for his position as Vice Chancellor of Flinders University became a controversial topic. The Advertiser revealed that he would receive between $710,000 and $719,999 in 2012. In 2010 his salary had been $545,000. A spokesperson from Flinders University stated that his remuneration was "in line" with industry standards. [4]
Throughout his career, Barber has acted as an advisor on science and research matters to government and industry in Australia and overseas. [1] [5]
Barber was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 1992. He served as the organisation's Secretary, Science Policy from 2001 until 2005. [1] In 2001 he was awarded the Centenary Medal "for service to Australian society through university administration and scientific research". [6] In 2009 he was elected a Fellow of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM). [7]
In 2018 Barber was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for "distinguished service to higher education administration, and in the field of mathematical physics, particularly statistical mechanics, as an academic and researcher, and through contributions to science policy reform". [8]
Barber's father was noted Australian botanist and geneticist Horace Barber FAA FRS . [9] [10]
Flinders University is a public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia, with a footprint extending across 11 locations in South Australia and the Northern Territory. Founded in 1966, it was named in honour of British navigator Matthew Flinders, who explored and surveyed the Australian and South Australian coastline in the early 19th century.
Barry Owen Jones,, is an Australian polymath, writer, teacher, lawyer, social activist, quiz champion and former politician. He campaigned against the death penalty throughout the 1960s, particularly against the execution of Ronald Ryan. He is on the National Trust's list of Australian Living Treasures.
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Sir Keith Burnett, CBE, FRS FLSW FINSTP is a British physicist and President Elect of the Institute of Physics. He is Chair of the Nuffield Foundation — an independent charitable trust with a mission to advance educational opportunity and social well-being, founding Chair of the Academic Council the Schmidt Science Fellows, and a member of the Board of international education providers Study Group.
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Tanya Mary Monro is an Australian physicist known for her work in photonics. She has been Australia's Chief Defence Scientist since 8 March 2019. Prior to that she was the Deputy Vice Chancellor, Research and Innovation (DVCR&I) at the University of South Australia. She was awarded the ARC Georgina Sweet Australian Laureate Fellowship in 2013. She was the inaugural director of the Institute for Photonics & Advanced Sensing (IPAS). Monro has remained an adjunct professor of physics at the University of Adelaide following her departure from the institution. In 2020 she was awarded the title of Emeritus Professor at the University of South Australia.
Thomas Edwin Calma,, is an Aboriginal Australian human rights and social justice campaigner, and 2023 senior Australian of the Year. He was the sixth chancellor of the University of Canberra (2014-2023), after two years as deputy chancellor. Calma was the second Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person to hold the position of chancellor of any Australian university.
Ian Geoffrey Gould is a former Chancellor of the University of South Australia (2008–2015) and former Managing Director (Australia) of Rio Tinto Group. Gould is considered to be one of South Australia's most influential people.
Peter Bordier Høj is a Danish-Australian academic and Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of Adelaide. Peter Høj is one of the longest serving Australian Vice-Chancellors having served for 17 years across three universities. He has previously served as Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of Queensland and the University of South Australia. Educated at the University of Copenhagen, Høj completed a Bachelor of Science where he majored in biochemistry and chemistry, a Master of Science in biochemistry and genetics and a Doctor of Philosophy in Photosynthesis. He has worked in Denmark and Australia as a researcher and published multiple scientific articles. Høj has also served on a number of different company boards in a variety of roles, including current roles on the boards of CSIRO, Wine Australia and of the Australian Cancer Research Foundation. In 2017 he was elected chair of the Group of Eight, a lobby group that represents Australia’s research-intensive universities. He was the vice-chancellor of the University of Queensland from 2012-2020.
Professor Colin J. Stirling is a university executive and academic. He lives in Adelaide, South Australia, where he has held the position of Vice Chancellor of Flinders University since 2015.
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Marcello Costa was an Italian-born Australian medical researcher, academic, and public health advocate. He specialized in the structure and functions of the enteric nervous system. He taught in Turin, Melbourne, and Helsinki before moving to Adelaide in 1975 where he was a foundation lecturer at the Flinders Medical School, building the new discipline of neuroscience at the college. He worked at Flinders University, where he held the title of Matthew Flinders Distinguished Professor of Neurophysiology in the Department of Physiology from 2013 until his retirement in 2021.
Horace Newton Barber FAA FRS was an Australian botanist and geneticist, Foundation Professor of Botany at the University of Tasmania (1947–1963) and Foundation Professor of Botany at the University of New South Wales (1964–1971).
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