Guest Speaker Prof Allan Curtis.Born and raised in Orbost, East Gippsland in Victoria, Allan was directly involved in farming, fishing and forestry before leaving Gippsland to attend Melbourne University. From an early age he was aware of the issues facing rural communities dependent on natural resources. After completing his undergraduate degree, Allan moved to North East Victoria, teaching geography and politics to country high school students. His interest in natural resource management led to a long term involvement in landcare and catchment management, including initiating the first secondary education landcare program in Australia, which was awarded the Greening Australia/ ABC TV National Tree Care Award in 1990. Allan has represented North East Victoria as a Ministerial appointee to the Murray Darling Basin Ministerial Council’s Community Advisory Council, and served on the North East Catchment Management Board for five years.  Allan’s  research examines the social dimensions of regional natural resource management. He has specific expertise in the role of local organisations in rural development; understanding rural landholder adoption of conservation practices; the policy and institutional arrangements supporting catchment management; and in the evaluation of natural resource management programs. Allan has authored/co-authored in excess of 250 academic publications. He has gained in excess of $6.7 million in research grants, including $5.2 million over the past 10 years. He has been awarded Australian Research Council funding through the SPIRT and Large Grant programs and has been successful through the general calls by the Rural Industries R&D Corporations, including RIRDC and LWA. He currently leads the social research in the ARC National Centre for Groundwater Research and Training, the Landscape Logic CERF hub and in the CRC for Future Farm Industries.