Charles Sturt University (CSU) has appointed Australia’s first professor of public ethics with a commitment to help invigorate intellectual debate in Australia.

 

A distinguished Australian public intellectual, Dr Clive Hamilton, has taken up the newly created Vice-Chancellor’s Chair at CSU.

 

CSU recently established the position in order to strengthen the University’s contribution to Australia’s intellectual life and the development of public policy.

 

Dr Hamilton has been appointed Professor of Public Ethics at the Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics (CAPPE), a joint centre of Charles Sturt University, the Australian National University (ANU) and the University of Melbourne. The Australia Research Council-funded CAPPE is the largest collection of applied philosophers in the world. Dr Hamilton will be based in Canberra.

 

CSU Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor Ian Goulter, said, “It is essential that universities contribute to public life not only through research but also through leadership in public discussion and debate.  Dr Hamilton is an ideal person to promote links between research and discussion of important public policy and social issues.”

 

An economist by training, Dr Hamilton has contributed to public debates on climate change policy, overconsumption, welfare policy and the effects of commercialisation.

 

Dr Hamilton was the founder and Executive Director of The Australia Institute, a leading think tank, from 1993-2008 and a Director of The Climate Institute (Australia) from 2005-2008. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts and has held visiting appointments at the ANU, University of Sydney and the University of Cambridge.