Our people

David Campbell

Senior Associate

David's advisory work involves effective ways to work with uncertainty in planning investment strategy, developing and adapting company and public policy, and managing strategy design and roll-out where there are complex trade-offs across competing interests.

About David

David brings experience in environmental and industry economics and policy, infrastructure strategy, natural resource management including water, fisheries and land management, research and innovation and public health. He also brings experience in the application of approaches to strategy planning, policy analysis and investment assessment that embed real options principles and appropriate accounting for the value of flexibility in strategy processes.

Major projects led by David include:

  • Advisory work relating to appropriate whole-of-system strategies for managing drought and flood risks in urban water systems, including risks linked to climate trends and climate policy, and interactions between water resource management and electricity capacity, reliability and markets; work done across many water systems, including Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, SE Queensland and the Murray-Darling Basin
  • Advisory work for several jurisdictions on appropriate methods for planning major transport and other network infrastructure systems in the light of changing technologies (driverless vehicles, electric cars, light rail systems) and work and leisure patterns (telecommuting, ‘peak cars’ prospects); transport and urban planning clients in Sydney, Melbourne and New Zealand
  • Long-term role advising on Australia’s bid to host the Square Kilometre Array radio telescope in Australia and on appropriate investment strategy since the siting decision, including strategy advice and business cases and analogous work in relation to investment strategy for optical and infrared astronomy and a range of other large research infrastructure projects
  • Major reviews of whole-of-CSIRO impact and value as inputs to the last three 4-yearly funding rounds
  • Strategy advice on research and innovation investments relating to climate change mitigation and adaptation, including in relation to carbon capture and storage, methane abatement in agriculture, adaptation of urban and rural land use patterns to deal with climate change and water interceptions

David was one of the founders of ACIL Tasman, one of the two predecessor firms of ACIL Allen Consulting, and brings over 30 years’ experience as a senior advisor to public and private organisations, especially in areas involving complex trade-offs across competing interests and uncertainty linked into the state of the available science.