Presenters

Grace Mang, General Manager, Murray-Darling Basin Authority
Grace Mang is a water lawyer and worked in river basin management for more than two decades. She has worked with non-for profits and governments to promote stronger relationships and multi-sector dialogues to support the sustainable management of rivers around the world. Grace is a General Manager leading strategy and integration of Australia's Murray-Darling Basin Authority's first 10 yearly review of the Basin Plan and is responsible for key policy reports, government relations, regulatory design projects and program management. Previously, Grace Mang has worked as International Rivers’ Director of Programs and oversaw its China Program from Beijing - China, served as an advisor in the Australian Prime Minister's Department and in the Equity Capital Markets practice at HSF Kramer. She has an economics and law degree (with honours) from the University of Sydney and lives in a small farm outside of Canberra, Australia.


Mike Young, Professor Emeritus, School of Economics and Public Policy, University of Adelaide
Mike Young is Professor Emeritus in Water and Environmental Policy at the University of Adelaide, was the Founding Executive Director of its Environment Institute, is a fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia and is a Distinguished Fellow of the Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society. Mike is a specialist in water policy reform and his research led to the unbundling of Australia’s water licences and the resultant development of an efficient trading system and the Australian Government decision to transfer responsibility for the administration of the Murray Darling Basin’s water resources to an independent expertise-based authority. He played a key role in establishing Australia’s National Land and Water Resources Audit. Mike has held the Gough Whitlam and Malcom Fraser Chair at Harvard University, has served on Global Water Partnership's Technical Committee and the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Water Security. He was a founding member of the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists. In 2006, Mike was awarded Australia’s premier water research prize – the Land and Water Australia Eureka Award for Water Research. He has played a critical role in the consideration of options for the Murray Darling Basin. Prior to joining the University of Adelaide, Mike spent 30 years with CSIRO where, amongst other things, he established their Policy and Economic Research Unit. In 2003, Mike was awarded a Centenary Medal “for outstanding service through environmental economics”. His full curriculum vitae lists over 240 publications.