I was appointed Professor of Systems at the Open University in 1994. I am the third person to hold the established Chair in Systems since the founding of the Systems Department in 1970. Others to hold the chair were John Beishon and Derek Pugh.

Prior to 1994 I held academic posts at the University of Sydney (School of Crop Sciences), the University of Western Sydney (Hawkesbury) and the University of Queensland (where I completed my PhD). For a short period I was employed by the NSW Soil Conservation Service.

I grew up in rural NSW and come from a farming background. I was fortunate to be able to do the fieldwork for my PhD in Bali, Indonesia.

My research interests and contributions are covered in another link - they can be summarised as a concern for understanding and effecting social learning through systems practices in situations of complexity and uncertainty. A summary term is 'systems praxiology' - praxiology is that field of study concerned with understanding effective action. My research has been submitted to the Development Studies Unit of Assessment in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise.

In my academic career I have been associated with an exciting range of educational models. These range from traditional, disciplinary-based didactic lecturing to innovative learner-centred and experiential models (at Hawkesbury) and now supported open learning delivered using a range of media. Based on this experience I have formed strong views (and published) on the adequacy or inadequacy of many recent HE innovations (e.g. the UK e-university) on both theoretical and practical grounds - for example see Ison 1999 (pdf, 162K)