Chronica - Acta Horticulturae

paid to Dr. Damiano at the recent IHC in Korea
for his leadership of the Commission in previous
years. The Vice Chair of this Commission is Dr.
Maurizio Lambardi of Italy.
Rod Drew is at the
School of Biomolecular
and Biomedical Science
at Griffith University in
Brisbane, Australia. He
has a keen interest in
both horticulture and
biotechnology and is
active in research, teaching
and service in
Roderick Drew these disciplines. At
Griffith University he is
Program convenor for
Masters of Science in Biotechnology and undergraduate
Honours program and teaches Plant
Biotechnology to undergraduate and Masters
students. His major research interests involve
tropical fruits and he is best known for his
research on papaya. He pioneered plant tissue
culture research in Australia and was awarded
the Graham Gregory Medal for excellence in
research in Horticulture in Australia in 1999. He
is actively involved with ISHS where he has been
Vice-Chair of the Commission Biotechnology
for the last 8 years. He has organised international
symposia in Australia and represented
Australia at ISHS Executive Committee and
Council meetings. He will be President of the
XXIXth IHC (Brisbane, 2014).
PETER P. OPPENHEIM
Peter P.
Oppenheim
At the recent Congress
of the Society the ISHS
Council confirmed Dr.
Peter Oppenheim as the
new Chair of the
Commission Economics
and Management. Dr.
Nico de Groot, who
retired as Chairperson
of the Commission in
August, was thanked
for the many contributions
made during his term of office. Oppenheim
will be assisted in this position by Dr. Peter
Batt, also of Australia.
Dr. Oppenheim is currently an Associate
Professor of Strategic Management and
Marketing at Deakin Business School, Deakin
University, Melbourne, Australia. Prior to his
current appointment, he was Senior Lecturer in
Horticultural Business Management at the
University of Melbourne (Burnley Campus) and
Lecturer in Horticultural Management at
Massey University, New Zealand. He has a particular
interest in mathematical modelling. In his
PhD research he was able to incorporate various
emotional dimensions of importance to consumers
and model consumer choice of cut flowers
within a discrete choice framework.
Peter has varied research interests, which
include: choice modelling and the application of
choice modelling to estimate the value of parks
and gardens, in particular Botanical Gardens. He
is also interested in optimisation and has been
involved in modelling the multiple objectives of
horticultural firms by integrating production
and marketing functions within a goal-programming
framework. He is author of several
books including the widely used text book
“Marketing Research: An Applied Orientation”,
which is now in its third edition. His consultancy
projects have included perceptual mapping
and choice-based conjoint analyses for both
product and service providers and retailers.
Dr. Oppenheim also has considerable interest in
practical horticulture having produced
strawberries and cut flowers on a commercial
basis in the past. He was President of the
Victorian Strawberry Growers Association for
many years as well as being the founding
Chairman of the Victorian Strawberry Industry
Development Committee - A Statutory
Committee of the State Government of
Victoria. This Committee continues as the body
responsible for the collection and management
of industry levies that are subsequently used for
industry research and promotion.
ERROL HEWETT
Professor Errol Hewett
has been confirmed as
the new Chair of the
ISHS Commission Education
and Training following
the good work
undertaken by Professor
Geoff Dixon who
had filled this role since
1998. The Vice Chair of
Errol Hewett
this Commission is Dr.
David Aldous of
Australia.
Dr. Hewett is Professor Emeritus of Horticultural
Science within the Institute of Food, Nutrition
and Human Health at Massey University,
Auckland, New Zealand. Trained as a plant physiologist
at the University of Canterbury and the
University College of Wales, and specializing in
postharvest physiology and technology, he
worked for the former DSIR before moving to
Massey University in 1986. He is a Past
President and Honorary Fellow of the New
Zealand Society of Horticultural Science. He
was on the Editorial Board of Scientia
Horticulturae for 12 years and Postharvest
Biology and Technology for 10 years. He is currently
on the Editorial Board of the New
Zealand Journal of Crop and Horticultural
Science, International Journal of Postharvest
Technology and Innovation, and Horticulture,
Environment and Biotechnology.
Dr. Hewett has taught classes in postharvest
physiology to senior students and also introductory
horticultural botany to first year students.
He has supervised about 18 PhD candidates
and several Masters and postgraduate diploma
theses. He is Deputy Chair of the Doctoral
Research Committee at Massey University that
manages the PhD programme for more than
800 PhD students as well as Chair of the
Graduate Student Advisory Committee and the
International Student Advisory Committee at
Massey University.
Hewett was on the Scientific Committee of
three ISHS Kiwifruit symposia including chairing
the meeting in New Zealand in 1991. He was
co-convener of ISHS Postharvest symposia at
IHCs in Toronto and Seoul. He is a member of
the Management Committee of the
International Tropical and Subtropical Fruit
Network (TFNet) based in Malaysia. He is actively
involved with the fruit industry in New
Zealand developing a manual of best practice
for the stone fruit industry, and is an invited
member of several review panels for the kiwifruit
industry as it seeks to continuously
improve fruit quality.
YVES DESJARDINS
The ISHS Council
recently appointed Dr.
Yves Desjardins as Chair
of the ISHS Commission
Fruits and Vegetables
for Health. Dr.
Desjardins is the first
Chair of this new
Commission established
to provide a forum for
Yves Desjardins the growing number of
scientists involved in
research on the health
properties of fruits and vegetables. Good
leadership of this Commission will be assured
with the involvement of two Vice-Chairs, Dr.
Bhimu Patil (USA) and Dr. Amiot-Carlin (France).
Dr. Desjardins is a plant physiologist specialized
in whole plant physiology, tissue culture and
small fruit production. He has served as Director
of the Horticultural Research Center at Laval
University (Québec City), Chair of the Scientific
Program Task Force during the 26th
International Horticultural Congress in Toronto
in 2002, and President of the Canadian Society
for Horticultural Sciences from 2002 to 2004.
Desjardins has directed several PhD students
and numerous R&D projects in horticulture. He
is the author of many scientific and technical
papers dealing with tissue culture and vegetable
and fruit physiology and participated to the
writing of many books on the physiology and
acclimatization of tissue cultured plants.
He was convener of the First International
Symposium on Health Effects of Fruit and
Vegetables (FAVHEALTH 2005) and co-convener
of the Second Conference on Acclimatization
of Tissue Cultured Plants. He has also served as
an independent expert for the FAO (Food and
Agriculture Organization, United Nations) in the
area of fruits and vegetables and health, and on
ISHS • 10