Professor Moran joined Curtin University in 2016 as the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Research. He is responsible for the development and implementation of strategies, frameworks and activities to achieve the University’s strategic goals in research and IP commercialisation and Curtin’s Resources Technology and Critical Minerals Trailblazer funded by the federal government.
Professor Moran was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering in 2018 and appointed Chair of the Australian Research Council Advisory Committee in 2022.
Professor Moran Chaired the Universities Australia Committee of Deputy Vice-Chancellors, Research and has been a Board Member of five Cooperative Research Centres. In the International domain, he was Director of the International Mining for Development Centre and established an International Centre of Excellence for the mining industry in Chile.
Prior to joining Curtin, he was Director of the Sustainable Minerals Institute at the University of Queensland (UQ), from 2007-2016. He was Founding Director of the Centre for Coal Seam Gas (UQ) and the Centre for Water in the Minerals Industry (UQ). Across a 16-year career with CSIRO, Professor Moran held a range of leadership roles, including heading the team that developed the Water for a Healthy Country Flagship Program.
He holds a bachelor of Agricultural Sciences (with Honours) and a PhD from the University of Sydney and has a strong international and national reputation for his research and expertise in soil science (digital image processing), natural resources (spatial modelling and statistics) and water management. Professor Moran has published widely in scientific literature and the broader media.