Peter Abelson (B.A. Oxford University, M.Sc., London School of Economics, Ph.D. London University.) 

Peter was Professor of Economics, Macquarie University, 2001-06; Visiting Fellow, Sydney University, 2006-12.  From 1993 to 2006, he was National Secretary of ESA. Since 2006, Peter has been an ongoing part-time economic advisor to NSW Treasury. From 2012 to 2017, he was first popularly elected Mayor of Mosman Council. Peter has been long-time Director of Applied Economics P/L and is currently Hon Professor, Macquarie University, lecturing in cost-benefit analysis, and a Visiting Fellow at Crawford School, ANU.

Gigi Foster is a Professor with the School of Economics at the University of New South Wales and a Senior Scholar at Brownstone Institute. Formally educated at Yale University (BA in Ethics, Politics, and Economics) and the University of Maryland (PhD in Economics), she works in diverse fields including education, social influence, corruption, lab experiments, time use, behavioural economics, and Australian policy. Her research contributions regularly inform public debates and appear in both specialised and cross-disciplinary outlets (e.g., Quantitative Economics, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, Journal of Population Economics, Journal of Economic Psychology, Human Relations). Her teaching, featuring strategic innovation and integration with research, was awarded a 2017 Australian Awards for University Teaching (AAUT) Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning. Named 2019 Young Economist of the Year by the Economic Society of Australia, Professor Foster has filled numerous roles of service to the profession and engages heavily on economic matters with the Australian community as one of Australia’s leading economics communicators.

Samuel Miller is the Principal Economist for NSW Farmers, and has held roles for various consultancies and the NSw Government. He has undertaken extensive economic impact, program evaluation and business case development work on behalf of Government and non-Government clients throughout NSW and Australia. His areas of expertise include regional economic development, the economics of water, and natural and built environments. In 2022 Sam began development of the Random Uncertainty Benefit / Cost Simulator (RUBICS) program - an open-source Cost-Benefit Analysis tool to enable replicable and transparent Monte Carlo and distributional analysis. Sam studied Resource Economics at the University of Sydney, and holds a Graduate Diploma of Professional Practice (Economics and Geography) from the University of New England (UNE). He has recently completed his Masters of Economics at UNE where he researched the application of Monte Carlo methods to Cost-Benefit Analysis in the context of natural disasters.

Fiona Watts is a Senior Economist at NSW Treasury in the Markets and Regulation Division, where she provides advice on competition and regulatory policy issues. Fiona has worked on a range of issues including skills, the future of work, housing, and early childhood education and care. Prior to joining NSW Treasury, Fiona worked for the Commonwealth Bank of Australia in risk and product management and then for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office at the UK Mission to the WTO, UN and Other International Organisations in Geneva. Fiona holds a Bachelor of Economics / Bachelor of Finance from the Australian National University and a Master of Local Economic Development from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Dr Le (Lyla) Zhang is an Associate Professor at Macquarie Business School. She specialises in utilising experimental economics methods and behavioural insights to study human decision-making. She also serves as the Associate Director of the Macquarie Business School Experimental Economics Laboratory and Chair of the Women in Economics Network (NSW).  

Andrea Chareunsy is a Senior Lecturer at Macquarie University (Sydney), in the Department of Economics. She is an applied microeconomist with a multidisciplinary approach, focusing on the equity of renewable energy transition, natural capital and biodiversity management, and the diffusion and adoption of sustainable technologies. Andrea has extensive experience in economic curriculum development from foundation undergraduate courses to capstone and research postgraduate courses. She also leads the curriculum development and management at postgraduate course level for more than four years and is a recipient of the highly esteemed Macquarie University Vice Chancellor’s 2022 Educational Leaders Award.      

Richard Cox is currently Director Economic Strategy in NSW Treasury. With more than thirty five years experience as a public policy economist, Richard has worked on a wide range of issues including electricity industry reform, climate policy, fiscal strategy, tax policy, regulation and competition policy, housing policy, economic evaluation, industry policy, productivity, and commercial policy. Richard’s strong commitment to staff professional development and knowledge transfer is a major part of his current role. Richard is a longstanding member of the ESA, and would like to help the ESA build better bridges between the academic and the public policy economic community.

Dr Evelyn Lee is a health economist at Macquarie Business School. She completed her PhD in Health Economics from the University of New South Wales (UNSW Sydney). Her research interest is in economics of genomics. Her expertise is in simulation modelling to assess the impact - cost, and equity of different combinations of policies and interventions in a virtual world before they are applied to the real-world settings.

Dr Thomas Longden is a senior researcher at Western Sydney University's Urban Transformations Research Centre (UTRC). Thomas holds a PhD in environmental economics from the University of New South Wales (UNSW). Thomas’ research on energy, health, and applied econometrics has been published in leading international journals, including Nature Energy, Applied Energy, Health Economics, Climatic Change, Energy & Environmental Science, Energy, and Energy Policy.
He is a member of the ACT Climate Change Council, which advises the Minister for Water, Energy and Emissions Reduction on matters relating to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, building resilience and adapting to climate change. He was a Contributing Author on the AR5 WGIII Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report titled Mitigation of Climate Change. Before joining WSU, Thomas was based at the Australian National University, the University of Technology Sydney, Macquarie University, the University of Sydney and Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM) in Milan, Italy.

Paul Oslington is Professor of Economics and Theology at Alphacrucis College in Sydney. He was previously Associate Professor of Economics at University of New South Wales, and held visiting appointments at University of Oxford, University of British Columbia, and Princeton Theological Seminary and University. He works on international trade, labour markets and the history and philosophy of economics, and is an international leader in the emerging interdisciplinary field of economics and religion. Publication include books The Theory of International Trade and Unemployment (Elgar), Economics and Religion (Elgar), Adam Smith as Theologian (Routledge), Political Economy as Natural Theology (Routledge), Oxford Handbook of Christianity and Economics (OUP), an edition of Jacob Viner‘s The Customs Union Issue (OUP) as well as articles in Economic Record, Australian Economic Papers, Australian Economic Review, Economics Letters, World Economy, Review of International Economics, History of Economics Review, Journal of the History of Economic Thought and History of Political Economy.

Michael Potter is a Senior Policy Manager working at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia in the Payments Policy team. He has worked on numerous significant public policy issues, including financial services regulation, taxation (particularly taxation of investments, corporate tax, and the GST), water trading, the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, emissions trading and competition policy. He has previously worked as Policy Director, Economics, at the Financial Services Council and in similar roles at the National Farmers’ Federation (NFF) and the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI).

He also has nearly 10 years’ experience in the public service, including working at Treasury and the Parliamentary Budget Office. Michael holds a Bachelor of Economics (Honours) degree from Sydney University, and a Masters of Applied Economics degree from ANU.

Matthew Read is a Research Manager in the Economic Research Department at the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA). His recent research has focused on identifying and conducting inference about macroeconomic shocks using time series methods. His work has been published in high-impact journals, including the Review of Economics and Statistics, the Journal of Econometrics, the Journal of Business and Economic Statistics, and the Economic Record.

Matthew holds a PhD in Economics from University College London and a combined Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) and Bachelor of Science from the University of Sydney.

Robert Smith has been a member of the Economic Society of Australia for over 20 years and on the NSW council for eight. He is the Principal Consulting Economist at East Economics and has a background in management consulting, banking and finance, infrastructure and energy.  Robert’s experience covers economic evaluation, economic policy & regulation, market design, demand management, industry analysis, forecasting and performance improvement. He is passionate about using economics to find creative, efficient, and practical solutions described by clear and compelling narratives.  Robert’s other interests include technology and innovation, mentalism, ocean swimming and freediving.