Dr Andrew Johnson

Dr Andrew Johnson: Group Executive, Environment

Dr Andrew Johnson is a leader of environment and sustainability-related research at CSIRO.

• 14 December 2010 | Updated 14 October 2011

• Current activities 
• Background   
• Academic qualifications 
• Achievements

Current activities

Dr Andrew Johnson is Group Executive for the Environment and a member of the CSIRO Executive Team.

Dr Johnson is also a Director of the:

• Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation
• Reef and Rainforest Research Ltd. 

He is a member of the Advisory Board for CSIRO PUBLISHING as well as a number of joint ventures in the climate and sustainable landscapes domains.

Dr Johnson is also a member of the Northern Australian Land and Water Taskforce.

Background

Dr Johnson is a past Chief of CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems, and more recently Acting Executive Director – Strategic Change Programs.

He joined CSIRO as a research scientist in 1992, based at the Davies laboratory in Townsville, in north Queensland.

Dr Johnson has made significant contributions to industry and the wider community in rural and regional Australia.

He was appointed:

• leader of CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystem’s (CSE) Resource Futures Program in 2001
• Chief of the Sustainable Ecosystem Division in 2003.

Academic qualifications

Dr Johnson has been awarded a:

• Bachelor of Agricultural Science with Honours majoring in Land Resource Management from the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland in 1988
• Doctor of Philosophy, majoring in Natural Resource Planning and Management/Natural Resource Economics, also from the University of Queensland in 1992
• Master of Public Administration from the John F Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA in 2001
• Graduate Diploma, Australian Institute of Company Directors in 2004.

He is also an Alumni of the Cranlana Programme at the Curtin University of Technology, Western Australia.

Achievements

Dr Johnson has made significant contributions to industry and the wider community in rural and regional Australia.

Dr Johnson’s expertise has been recognised in the form of:

• frequent requests from government, industry and community for expert input on natural resource use and planning issues
• invitations to present keynote papers at national and international conferences
• representation of Australia at international environmental planning and management forums
• commissioning approximately A$50 million of new research and development funding in the last decade.

In 2003 Dr Johnson was a member of an Expert Committee reporting to the Queensland State Premier on water quality and its management in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park.

Dr Johnson has received many awards including:

• Rotary Foundation, International Ambassadorial Scholar to Harvard University, USA
• Sir Frances Nicklin Scholarship in Agriculture
• Australian Society of Soil Science Student Prize
• Rural Press Ltd. Essay Prizes in Natural Resource Management.

Find out more about our work with the Environment.