iENFORCE2018

Biodata of Professor Lex Brown

Professor Lex Brown served as Dean, Faculty of Environmental Sciences at Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia from 2003 to 2006. Born and educated in Australia, he received a Bachelor of Engineering (Civil, Hons) in 1968, a Master of Urban Studies in 1975 and a PhD in 1979 from The University of Queensland. Prof. Brown was also the Head of the Australian School of Environmental Studies 1989-1994 and then Foundation Head of the School of Environmental Planning, innovatively training urban and regional planners within an environmental faculty, both at Griffith University.

Professor Brown's work has transcended traditional academic boundaries and has been dynamic. Prof. Brown describes himself as an environmental planner, neither an environmental scientist, nor conventional planner, but always working at the interface in the environmental field between the biophysical and social sciences and planning. His research and teaching have covered such areas as transport planning, environmental impact assessment and strategic environmental assessment, human response to environmental pollutants, environmental acoustics, environmental noise and soundscapes, land use planning, international development planning including environmental assessment of policies and plans and project environmental appraisal.

He has authored some hundred research publications from this work. With his international reputation in environmental planning and management, he has been consultant or adviser to a wide range of international organisations (WHO, UNDP, UNEP, IUCN, EU, UNESCO), various governments in Asia- Pacific, Europe and Southern Africa (Australia, Bhutan, China, Pakistan, The Netherlands, Thailand, South Africa, Indonesia, Philippines, Lesotho, Papua New Guinea, etc.), and private organizations. He has managed three major Australian international aid linkage programs with each of South Africa, Zimbabwe and Bhutan. He also worked for several years with the forerunner of the Environmental Protection Department in Hong Kong in the early 1980s.

Professor Brown has been Editor (Asia Pacific) of the Journal of Environmental Planning and Management for a decade and sits on the editorial board of other international journals. Currently, Professor Brown serves as visiting Professor to Tongi University, Shanghai, at the UNEP supported Institute of Environment for Sustainable Development. He has recently been a European Union Erasmus Mundus Scholar, MESPOM Program, Department of Environment, University of the Aegean, in Greece, and has previously held visiting professorships at Bodenkultur University, Vienna (2003), The University of Cape Town, South Africa (1993), and in the Institute of Sound and Vibration Research, University of Southampton (1985). He is a member of professional associations including the Australian Acoustical Society, the Planning Institute of Australia, the Environment Institute of Australia and the International Association of Impact Assessment. In recognition of his experience, Professor Brown has been invited to serve as member of the International Advisory Committee, Centre for Strategic Environmental Assessment of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and as a member of an International Standards Organisation committee. Over the years, Professor Brown has been external examiner to fourteen universities, and a reviewer for 23 different international journals. To date, Professor Brown has supervised 27 research higher degree and honours students including 10 Ph.Ds. In recognition of his academic work and professional activities, Professor Brown has been awarded the national Excellence in Acoustics Award (1994), by the Australian Acoustical Society; the Director's Prize of the Australian Road Research Board (1990); Outstanding Paper Award, (1999) by the Eastern Asia Society for Transportation Studies and the Planning Institute of Australia Queensland Award for Excellence in Planning.