About

Dr Mark Diesendorf BSc (Hons) PhD teaches, researches and consults in the interdisciplinary fields of sustainable energy, energy policy, sustainable urban transport, theory of sustainability, ecological economics, and practical processes by which government, business and other organisations can achieve ecologically sustainable and socially just development.

Prior to joining the Institute of Environmental Studies, UNSW Australia, in 2004 he was a Principal Research Scientist in CSIRO in the 1980s, senior lecturer in Human Ecology at the Australian National University (1994-1996), then Professor of Environmental Science and Founding Director of the Institute for Sustainable Futures at the University of Technology Sydney (1996-2001), and then Director of the private consultancy Sustainability Centre Pty Ltd (2001-2007).

He has collaborated with and consulted for a wide range of organisations including AusAID, Australian Conservation Foundation, Greenpeace Australia Pacific, Hydrocool Pty Ltd, Minister for Minerals & Energy (Western Australia), StateRail (NSW), Sustainable Energy Development Authority of New South Wales, Sustainable Energy Authority of Victoria, WWF Australia, and various municipal and local governments in Australia and China.

Based on his belief that science, technology and economics should serve the community at large, he has been at various times secretary of the Society for Social Responsibility in Science (Canberra), co-founder and vice-president of the Sustainable Energy Industries Council of Australia, co-founder and president of the original Australasian Wind Energy Association, president of the Australia New Zealand Society for Ecological Economics (ANZSEE) and vice-president of Appropriate Technology for Community and Environment (APACE).

He is co-editor of the interdisciplinary book Human Ecology, Human Economy: Ideas for an Ecologically Sustainable Future (1997) and author of Greenhouse Solutions with Sustainable Energy(2007) and Climate Action: A Campaign Manual for Greenhouse Solutions (2009), both published by UNSW Press. His latest book, Sustainable Energy Solutions for Climate Change, was published by UNSW Press, Sydney, and Routledge-Earthscan, London, in 2014.

IEST5001: Frameworks for Environmental Management.
The introductory, interdisciplinary, core course for the MEM degree.

IEST6911: Managing Greenhouse Gas Emissions

IEST7300: Environmental Management – Physical Science Fundamentals.
One of the Fundamental Knowledge courses of the MEM.

• Ecologically sustainable and socially just futures for Australia and the world. Creating visions of those futures and developing feasible strategies for the transition process.
• Climate Mitigation
• Sustainable energy and sustainable urban transportation: technology assessment (environmental, social and economic), policies and strategies for implementation.
• Economic systems that don’t require growth in the use of materials, energy and land.

Mark’s PhD students, present and recent past, are: Alice Bergonia, Laurence Delina (submitted thesis Feb. 2015), Ben Elliston (awarded PhD 2014), Emi Gui, Jacqueline Hicks (awarded PhD 2013), Sara Bahareh Howard, Franziska Mey, Sarah Niklas and William Woodward (awarded PhD 2015).