Keynote & Invited Speakers

Brenda Howard
Centre For Ecology and Hydrology
Lancaster Environment Centre, United Kingdom

Brenda Howard is a radioecologist studying environmental radioactivity. She is currently a member of the Committee on Medical Aspects of Radiation in the Environment (COMARE) and leads the participation of CEH in the Strategy for Allied radioecology (STAR) network. She has chaired Working groups on modelling and transfer of radionuclides to wildlife under the IAEA EMRAS I and II programmes and was awarded an MBE for her radioecological work in 2002.

Her career spanning thirty years as a radioecologist at CEH has focused on understanding factors affecting radionuclide behaviour in the terrestrial environment, radiation protection of the environment and the development and application of countermeasures and remediation strategies. After the Chernobyl accident she co-ordinated seven EU framework projects and participated in many others. Recently, she has been assisting Japanese colleagues in responding to the contamination of livestock after the Fukushima Dai-ichi accident.

Brenda has currently published more than 130 refereed papers and 20 books. The latter include special issues of journals and contributions to various IAEA documents, notably the chapters on transfer to domestic animals in both TRS 364 and 472 and the environment section of Chernobyl forum report. She recently lead the preparation of a TRS on transfer to wildlife, and co-edited a TRS on remediation.

Pamela Sykes
Flinders University & Medical Centre
South Australia, Australia

Prof Sykes obtained her PhD in somatic cell genetics at the University of Adelaide. She then undertook a post-doctoral position at the University of Oklahoma, USA on bacterial gene cloning before returning to Adelaide to the Flinders University to study residual disease in childhood leukaemia. She joined the Pathology Service at Flinders Medical Centre, becoming the Department Head of Genetics and Molecular Pathology in 2004, and is a Founding Fellow of the Faculty of Science in the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia. Her current research is focussed on studying the protective role of low dose ionising radiation, which has been largely funded by the United States Department of Energy Low Dose Radiation Program. Prof Sykes was appointed as Professor, Preventive Cancer Biology in the Flinders Centre for Cancer Prevention and Control in 2011. She has collaborative low dose radio-biology projects in Canada, USA, UK and Italy. Current appointments include membership on state and national committees for radiation protection and she is an Associate Editor for the journal Radiation Research.

Pat Kenny
RANET Officer
IAEA Incident and Emergency Centre

Pat Kenny is the Response and Assistance Network (RANET) Officer with the IAEA Incident and Emergency Centre (IEC). Pat joined the IAEA in 2010 with over 20 years experience in the areas of operational health physics and emergency preparedness and response.

For 18 years, Pat worked with the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) where he was the Leader of the Operational Health Physics group, responsible for providing operational health physics services to ANSTO’s nuclear facilities. Pat also was the leader of the health physics team responsible for hot commissioning of the OPAL research reactor and Neutron Beam Instrumentation.

In 2008 and 2009 Pat worked for International Safety Research Inc. in Canada. During that time he was the project manager for the Medical Emergency Treatment for Exposures to Radiation (METER) project, which was designed to improve the preparedness of medical first responders and first receivers to respond following a radiological or nuclear accident.

In 2010 Pat joined the IAEA as the Emergency Response Training Officer where he developed and conducted training, drills and exercises for IAEA personnel to ensure they were prepared to respond to radiological and nuclear incidents and emergencies in accordance with the IAEA’s responsibilities under the Emergency Conventions. Pat played an active role in the IEC’s response to the accident at TEPCO’s Fukushima Daiichi NPP as one of the Emergency Response Manager’s and Technical Team Leaders.

In July 2011 Pat commenced the role of the RANET Officer. RANET is the operational mechanism that has been created to implement the Convention on Assistance in the Case of a Nuclear Accident or Radiological Emergency.

Boyce Worthley Oration – Dr Ronald Rosen

 After graduating MSc in physics from the University of New Zealand, Ronald Rosen began his professional career at the National Radiation Laboratory in Christchurch. In 1961 he joined the University of New South Wales, Sydney, as Radiation Protection Officer. Later he became Head of the University’s Safety Unit. Following postgraduate study in nuclear engineering, he was awarded a PhD for an investigation into a safety aspect of nuclear reactors. In 1986 he was appointed a foundation senior lecturer in the University’s School of Safety Science. Although he officially retired some years ago, the School retained his services as an Honorary Visiting Fellow until 2010.

After returning from a visit to England in 1973, he was instrumental in founding the Australasian Radiation Protection Society. He was elected as its Foundation President, and has served the Society in a variety of roles .He was the Convenor of the 1988 IRPA7 Congress in Sydney, and co-ordinated the unique IRPA-IAEA-ICRP event.

In1975 he was appointed the Advisor on radiation safety to the Ranger Uranium Environmental Inquiry, and subsequently was a Temporary Inspector who reviewed occupational health and safety procedures at the Ranger Jabiru mine. He served on the NSW Ministerial Radiation Advisory Council for nine years, and served on a radiation committee of Standards Australia. He was a visiting lecturer at the Australian School of Nuclear Technology and a Course Director in the Asia Pacific Institute of Nuclear Studies, and Honorary Radiation Officer at Prince of Wales Hospital.