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Derek is an Adjunct Professor in the Swinburne Institute of Social Research. Within the Institute, Derek sits in the Digital Society Flagship.

Derek is chairing the 2015 Names Policy Panel of auDA, the .au Domain Administration Pty Ltd. The role of the panel is to review current Australian domain name policies. Derek also chaired the first domain name policy panel in 2015 – the panel developed the basis for current policies – and has chaired many policy panels since then.

In the domain name sphere, Derek is also the Universities Australia representative on eDAC, the representative committee which deals with policy relating to the .edu.au second level domain. Derek is the chair of eDAC, which has recently completed a full-scale review of edu.au policies.

Since 2014, Derek has been a member of the team working on a research project funded by the Office of Learning and Teaching, the Open Education Licensing project. The project is led by Robin Wright, Copyright Manager at Swinburne University of Technology, and is being undertaken by Swinburne University of Technology and the University of Tasmania.

Derek has an extensive background in copyright, including the role of University Copyright Officer at Swinburne from 2000-2014. He has been the chair of the Australian Digital Alliance since 2008, and a board member before that. The ADA is Australia’s peak body arguing for balanced copyright law, and representing copyright users and innovators in a digital world. See www.digital.org.au Derek also continues to be a member of Swinburne’s copyright team.

Derek is also an Associate at SHP (Sue Hodges Productions Pty Ltd). SHP is one of Australia’s leading heritage interpretation businesses. We bring ideas and stories to life in a range of immersive environments and provide the planning that underpins all successful heritage projects.

Derek works from time to time as a consultant in areas where he has experience and can add value – copyright, the domain name industry, aspects of IT, library and information services, and more.

He is a fellow of the Australian Library and Information Association (FALIA) and a member of the Australian Computer Society (MACS).

Experience

  • 2015–present
    Adjunct Professor, Swinburne University
  • 2013–2015
    Chief Information Officer, Swinburne University
  • 2000–2013
    Director, Information Resources, Swinburne University
  • 1993–1999
    Deputy State Librarian, State Library of Victoria

Education

  • 1985 
    Monash University, Master of Librarianship
  • 1975 
    RMIT University, Graduate Diploma of Librarianship
  • 1973 
    Melbourne College of Divinity, Bachelor of Divinity (Honours)
  • 1968 
    University of Melbourne, Bachelor of Arts (Honours)

Professional Memberships

  • Fellow of the Australian Library and Information Association
  • Member of the Australian Computer Society

Honours

Order of Australia (OAM)