Professor Barber has had over 25 years in senior executive roles in Australian universities and the Commonwealth Scientific & Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO). He was Vice Chancellor and President of Flinders University (South Australia) 2008-14.  Prior to joining Flinders he spent five years in CSIRO serving sequentially as Executive Director, Science Planning and as Group Executive Information, Manufacturing and Minerals. He has been a Council member and Secretary Science Policy at the Australian Academy of Science (AAS) and continues to be an active contributor to Australia’s science and innovation policy. He currently chairs the Program Steering Committee for the Securing Australia’s Future (SAF) project of the Australian Council of Learned Academies (ACOLA) (www.acola.org.au/index.php/projects/securing-australia-s-future). Educated at the University of New South Wales and Cornell University where he obtained his PhD, Professor Barber was elected a Fellow of the AAS in 1992 for his work in statistical mechanics particularly the theory of phase transitions.