Advisory Board
The UMSS Advisory Board is made up of Professors and staff at the University of Melbourne, as well as personalities in the wider Melbourne community who share our goals to advance science, reason and secular values on campus.
Professor Peter Singer
Peter Singer is the Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University, and laureate professor at the Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics (CAPPE), University of Melbourne. He specializes in applied ethics, approaching ethical issues from a secular preference utilitarian perspective. He has served, on two occasions, as chair of philosophy at Monash University, where he founded its Centre for Human Bioethics. In 2004, he was recognized as the Australian Humanist of the Year by the Council of Australian Humanist Societies. Outside academic circles, Singer is best known for his book Animal Liberation (1975), widely regarded as the touchstone of the animal liberation movement. Singer is one of the most prolific writers in philosophy, sometimes publishing several books a year as well as public engagement. Some of his books include: How Are We to Live? Ethics in an Age of Self-interest (1993), One World: The Ethics of Globalization (2002), The Way We Eat: Why Our Food Choices Matter (2006) & The Life You Can Save: Acting Now to End World Poverty (2009).
Dr Tamas Pataki
Tamas Pataki is an Honorary Fellow at the University of Melbourne and Deakin University. He has published widely on the philosophy of mind, psychoanalysis, moral philosophy, and aesthetics. He has written for The Australian, The Age, Australasian Journal of Philosophy, Metascience and Australian Book Review. His review essay, ‘Narcissism Incarnate’, in The Australian’s Review of Books (August 1999) won the Australasian Association of Philosophy Media Prize. Pataki’s latest book is the provocatively titled Against Religion(2007), focusing on the psychology of religious belief.
Dr John Long
Dr. John Long has since held research positions in the Geology Departments at the Australian National University, University of Western Australia, and the University of Tasmania. Between 1989-2004 he was Curator of Vertebrate Palaeontology at the Western Australian Museum in Perth. From October 2004 he has been Head of Science at Museum Victoria, Melbourne. He has published over 120 scientific papers, more than 80 popular science articles and some 25 books. His recent books include Swimming in Stone -The Amazing Gogo Fossils of the Kimberley (2006), The Evolution Revolution – Design Without Intelligence (with K.J. McNamara, 2007), and Feathered Dinosaurs –The Origin of Birds (2008). In 2001 he was the winner of the prestigious Eureka Prize for the Public Promotion of Science, and in 2003 he was awarded The Riversleigh Medal for excellence in promoting understanding of Australia’s prehistory. Dr Long is well known as a defender of evolution, having had experience debating creationists. He is currently writing The Irraitonalists: The Rise of Willful Ignorance.
Catherine Deveny
Catherine Deveny is a comedy writer, author, columnist and stand-up comedian whose television work includes Network 7’s Full Frontal, The Eric Bana Show, All Star Squares, GTV 9’s The Midday Show, IMT and Super Debate Series, ABC TV’s Good News Week, 7.30 Report and Backberner, SBS’s Mum’s The Word and Network 10’s Unreal TV, Rove Live, Skithouse and The Wedge. She has been a regular columnist for The Age newspaper over the last nine years and her work appears frequently in Australian and overseas publications. Catherine Deveny has also been named in the Top 100 Most Influential Melbournians by The Age (Melbourne) Magazine. She is the author of five books including It’s Not My Fault They Print Them (2007) and Say When (2008). Deveny is a prominent atheist and in 2009 presented a talk titled “My Conversion to Atheism” to the Melbourne Atheist Society.
Lyn Allison
Lyn Allison was a member of the Australian Senate from 1996 to 2008, representing the state of Victoria and was the last federal parliamentary leader of the Australian Democrats. During her time in the Senate she established a reputation as a strong advocate of church state separation, federal government funding for public schools and as an advocate for nuclear disarmament. On December 5, 2006, Allison introduced into the Senate a bill titled the Cluster Munitions (Prohibition) Bill 2006, which would prevent Australia from using, possessing and manufacturing cluster munitions. Senator Allison was also among a cross-party group of female parliamentarians who introduced legislation into parliament in 2006 which effectively legalised the supply of the abortion pill RU486. Allison was awarded Australian Humanist of the Year in 2008 by the Council of Australian Humanist Societies. She currently serves as President of Dying With Dignity Victoria, which lobbies for reform of euthanasia laws, and is a committee member of the Rationalist Society of Australia. Allison is an atheist who spoke first for the affirmative in a 2008 Australian Radio National debate “Would We Be Better Off Without Religion?”
Russell Blackford
Russell Blackford is an Australian writer and editor. His formal qualifications include first class honours degrees in both Arts (University of Newcastle) and Law (University of Melbourne), and separate Ph.Ds in English literature (University of Newcastle) and philosophy (Monash University). His publications include novels, short stories, academic monographs, and numerous book chapters and peer-reviewed journal articles on topics within his areas of expertise. His philosophical interests include bioethics, philosophy of law, and philosophy of religion. Russell is a Fellow of the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies, and editor-in-chief of The Journal of Evolution and Technology. He is co-editor, with Udo Schuklenk, of 50 Voices of Disbelief: Why We Are Atheists (Wiley-Blackwell, 2009).
Simon Taylor
Simon Taylor is a professional illusionist based in Melbourne. After completing his psychology studies at the University of Melbourne in 2009, he has continued to produce sold-out magic shows throughout Melbourne, as well doing corporate work with his performances both locally and interstate. His first solo stage show Illusination, sponsored by the Victorian Skeptics, played at the Guild Theatre to enthusiastic audiences. With a strong psychological basis, he uses his shows to promote a love for science and knowledge to illustrate the brain’s capacity to be fooled. His performances demonstrate how recognising illusory phenomena on an individual or social scale better equips us with the ability to make critical decisions.
Ian Robinson
Ian Robinson is the is current President of the Rationalist Society of Australia and immediate past Chairman of the Rationalist Association of Australia. He has been Editor of Farrago, MUM, National U, Chalkface and the Australian Rationalist, and written many articles and books. His fantasy story The Crypt of Fleeting Hope(1996) was short-listed for the 1996 Aurealis Awards. Ian has represented UMSS in debates and forums with the Christian Union on topics including “The Origin of the Universe” and “Is Faith Irrational?”
Dr John L. Perkins
Dr John Perkins is an economist at the National Institute of Economic and Industry Research. His interests include global models of world trade and income, with particular application to income distribution, trade policy, resource depletion and global warming issues. His expertise is in statistical analysis, mathematical modelling and software development. He has qualifications from universities in Melbourne and London, is a member of the Humanist Society of Victoria, the Rationalist Society of Australia, the Australian Skeptics, and is a Public Relations Team Member of the Atheist Foundation of Australia. Dr John Perkins is a founding member and President of the Secular Party of Australia. He is also a regular contributor to The Australian Humanist, Australian Atheist and Australian Rationalist journals.