Eulogy:
Phillip J. Wallis
5th March
1982 – 2nd February 2018
I feel immensely privileged to have been invited by Phil to
deliver this eulogy. Unlike other
eulogies I delivered for my parents whom I also loved this is my first
experience of having discussed possible content in advance. The conversation
with Phil was for me a heart-wrenching experience. But true to form Phil was
strong in the circumstances – considerate and concerned for me through my
tears. My aim today is to leave you with a stronger
sense of Phil the professional. Much of
the detail of his professional life is in the document available when you entered. I invite you to read this when you can and as
you do to marvel at how much Phil achieved in the 10 years of his post-PhD
professional life. It is indeed
impressive and stands as a legacy worthy of celebration. At the end Phil felt comfortable within
himself with what he had achieved, though it would be better to reframe his
contributions in terms of what he contributed to us, his colleagues and friends,
and society more generally.
Phil began his academic life at the
interface of geography and chemistry. He
graduated with first-class honours and won a prestigious scholarship to
continue at Monash for his PhD in the emerging field of green chemistry. But he had interdisciplinary and then
transdisciplinary tendencies. His
interdisciplinary interests began within UNIWATER, a Monash- Melbourne Uni
collaboration, and later in the Systemic Governance Research Program at Monash. It was in these two programs that our
collaboration began.
Phil was open to the complexity and
uncertainty of the world around him and felt that research that acted at the
interface of the social and natural sciences was important for long term sustainability. This led him to do pioneering research with
people – collaborative research, systemic co-inquiry or co-design. He became
known for his expertise in process design in research and stakeholder
engagement and for his excellent facilitator skills. This was a brave turn to make in a world
where disciplinary focus is more readily rewarded. Writing last year Phil justifiably claimed
‘expertise in many facets of sustainability research with a proven track record
in communicating results by seminar and publication’.
Phil’s academic work has been cited by about 400 people, mostly since 2013. In other words his research has had a
significant international and national impact which will continue for some time
to come. In one of his most recent
papers a self-description is that of ‘an applied, transdisciplinary researcher
and natural resource management practitioner’.
When Phil and I talked about this
eulogy and our decade-long collaboration two particular experiences came to the
fore in our reflections. For Phil it was
a visit we made together to Canberra in November 2014. We first attended a
Peter Cullen Trust seminar and dinner. We listened to John Hewson deliver an
enlightening after-dinner talk. John
argued that investors were ignoring the growing risk of fossil fuel
investments, and [that] portfolios [were] highly skewed towards oil, coal and
petrol stocks rather than being balanced with commodities carrying less
long-term risk.’ We both admired Hewson for his commitment to the divestment movement. The following day we had meetings at the National Water Commission
and the Murray Darling Basin Authority or MDBA as we called it. At the latter we mounted arguments to allow
our earlier research conducted within the MDBA to be published. Despite our
arguments they denied permission and continue to do so. Our research spoke truth to power; if taken
on-board the results may well have avoided the current series of systemic failings in governance of the Murray Darling Basin.
Why was this experience significant to Phil? Well he was very
proud to have been made a fellow of the Peter Cullen Trust. The regard with
which he is held within this network is testimony not only to his quiet
leadership skills, his behind the scenes facilitation, but also for his integrity
and the understanding he has gained, and helped to develop, of the complex
policy and practice issues that confront water, river, climate change,
biodiversity, food security and natural resource governance in Australia and
beyond. It was also a visit in which we
were in the thick of it doing our best to make research relevant to policy and
practice.
For my own part the memory that
surfaced was of hiking with Phil and John Colvin in the Turgela Gorge in the beautiful Drakensburgs in Sth Africa. Both Phil and I wrote blog-posts about
the experience. Phil wrote:
“Just recently a book chapter project came to fruition……The
book had its genesis in the 2012 International Conference on Fresh Water
Governance for Sustainable Development, held in Drakensberg, South Africa. This
conference was memorable for me as I had the opportunity to collaborate with
Derick du Toit, Sharon Pollard, Harry Biggs, John Colvin, and Ray Ison in
preparing an interactive special session on systemic governance. The conference was also a good chance to see
the amazing landscapes of the Drakensberg region, including a hike up Tugela
Gorge.’
What Phil did not write, perhaps in
deference to concerns Beth or his mother may have held, was encounteringmassive lightning storms – the night following our walk in the midst of a storm
the hotel management would not let us walk the 100 metres or so back from
dinner to our bungalow. Why we asked? The answer: because one of their clients
had been killed by lightening some months before.
As Phil would have done when charged
with undertaking a project – even a eulogy – I have sought to give voice to
others, to value multiple partial perspectives as to how Phil was experienced
in his professional life. The Phil that
emerges from this albeit limited selection is:
(i)
Phil
the mapper out of ideas, the planner, synthesiser, systems diagram user, who
could sit quietly in meetings and at a critical stage offer his model, diagram
or synthesis that ‘wowed’ those present! “Starting out not really
knowing where we were going to go, Phil would be there with whiteboard pens in
hand, and pretty soon the discussions would take off, ideas would flow and
bounce around, the inspiration would come, and the maps would grow and spread
out. “
(ii)
Phil
the calm and unassuming leader - always able to bring people along with him.
One example was when he worked with a group of fellow early-career researchers
to write a collaborative paper about their experiences. It was Phil's ability
to connect with people in both an intellectual and personal way and lead a
group that really made it come together. All of his co-authors from this
experience have been in touch with me and offered similar reflections. One said: ‘he had a big effect on my career …
because he elevated my confidence and made me feel empowered at a time when I
was doubting myself a lot.’
(iii)
Phil
the great collaborator: supportive, patient, highly organised technologically
adept and generous. No matter what was happening he seemed to be able to take
it in his stride.
(iv)
Phil
the 'doer' - he put in the effort to turn ideas into reality and he did it
through quiet thoughtful leadership and gentle guidance rather than an
overbearing personality as is the case with a lot of ambitious people who get
things done but fail to pay attention to fostering inclusive relationships. He
was organised, meticulous in his research and kind in his dealings with people.
(v)
Phil
the fantastic facilitator, inspirational in demonstrating a collaborative way
of working together.
(vi)
Phil
the unflappable …..in the face of we older CSIRO scientists’ cynicism about
social learning through online collaborative platforms he helped lead us to
wrest some science out of our apathy.’
(vii)
Phil
the humourist.’ It was very subtle but always present. Like how he wrote that
book chapter called 'a nexus of nexuses', he was kind of having fun with the
whole thing but not making a big deal out of it’.
(viii)
Phil
the ever positive - smiling and always looking for better ways of doing things.
(ix)
Phil
the initiator and facilitator of good conversations: ‘he rounded up our team
and whisked us off in search of some good coffee on campus and there we sat
talking all things sometimes political, sometimes about what we were reading
for pleasure, the ethics of food, and what our fellow colleagues were up to in
the water governance space’
(x)
Phil
the attentive supervisor, supporter and advisor always happy to discuss;
caring, compassionate and
consistent;
(xi)
Phil
the technology pioneer and enabler: ‘Phil emailed a certain professor that a
number of references were available on the cloud. To a distracted busy person
who only half read the email, the idea of references on freshwater being in the
cloud made sense in a weird sort of way
that did not have much to do with computing. After acknowledging mystification
Phil patiently explained but sent all the files on email instead.’
(xii)
Phil
the exemplar of doing systemic thinking as an everyday practice - as a way of
shaping your thoughts as a web of ideas and views, which spurs you on to make
further connections that helps you think in a more inclusive way’
(xiii)
Phil
the work-life-balance manager – assiduous in his concerns for equity with his
partner Beth, for the efficacy of their parenting team and his commitments to
Archer and Hugo;
(xiv)
Phil
- the loss to us all – ‘so much potential yet unused to make a difference. And a beautiful spirit and intellect lost
when so many that are bad and destructive go on and on.’
Phil would not have liked the fuss. But at this moment all of these facets of Phil, as well as others not yet said, deserve a public saying and acknowledgment.
Let me finish by saying that in my experience Phil Wallis was an easy man to love. When I say this I do not mean a Hollywood, romantic, version of love but the type of love that arises when we treat others, including nature with legitimacy. Phil was an easy man to love because he made it so easy to reciprocate the legitimacy, the love, he granted each of us when we worked, collaborated, talked, facilitated, traveled, wrote, speculated and laughed together. There was no humbug about Phil. He was the real deal. In our final conversation he counseled me to go on asking challenging questions. This is an invitation I extend to you all on Phil’s behalf because we each contribute to the world that Archer, Hugo and others will inherit. Phil did more than his fair share; we owe it to him to continue his legacy.
Ray
Ison
8th
February 2018
With contributions from:
Lee Godden
|
Naomi Rubenstein
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Irene Kelly
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S. Davidson
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Nikki Reichelt
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Patricia Geraghty
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Ian Morgans
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Chris Blackmore
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Ben Iaquinto
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Monika Farnbach
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Helen Corney
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Kevin Collins
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Moragh Mackay
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James Patterson
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Ross Colliver
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Sharon Pollard
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Jana Paschen
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Brian Coffey
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Catherine Allan
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Derick du Toit
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Katherine Daniell
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Laura Mumaw
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Harry Biggs
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John Colvin
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Yongping Wei
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Anna Lukasiewicz
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Jocelyn Davies
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Ashley Sparrow
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Jasmyn Lynch
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Liz Gachenga
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Tony McLeod
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Jason Alexandra
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Nadine Gaskell
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Robyn Holder
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Nicky Ison
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Cathy Humphreys
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With Phil and John Colvin on a walk out from Montusi Mountain Lodge, the Drakensburgs, South Africa in 2012.
