Mark Diesendorf teaches Environmental Studies at the University of New South Wales, Australia. He was formerly Professor of Environmental Science at the University of Technology, Sydney and a principal research scientist with CSIRO where he was involved in early research on integrating wind power into electricity grids.
Diesendorf currently serves on the editorial boards of several international scholarly journals. His most recent book is Climate Action: a campaign manual for greenhouse solutions.
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Mark Diesendorf is the son of an engineer and a poet. His PhD research was focused on applied mathematics, but his postdoctoral research was on practical applications of mathematics and the natural sciences, including the analysis of ground and satellite data, mechanisms of insect smell and vision, and biological catalysts. From 1975 to 1985 he worked in the CSIRO Division of Mathematics, the Australian national research organization, on topics such as electricity grids and wind power.[1] For a few years around 1980 he was the Principal Research Scientist and leader of the Applied Mathematics group in CSIRO.[2] He has also been a Professor of Environmental Science at UTS and the Vice-President of the Australia New Zealand Society for Ecological Economics.
Since 2004, Diesendorf has been a Senior Lecturer in the Institute of Environmental Studies at the University of NSW. He teaches, researches and consults in the interdisciplinary fields of sustainable energy, sustainable urban transport, theory of sustainability, ecological economics, and practical processes by which government, business and other organisations can achieve ecologically sustainable and socially just development.[3]
Currently Dr Diesendorf serves on the editorial boards of several international scholarly journals.[3] Previously he was the Principal Research Scientist at the Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), a Based on his belief that science, technology and economics should serve the community at large, Dr Diesendorf has been at various times the Secretary of the Society for Social Responsibility in Science (Canberra), co-founder and Vice-President of the Sustainable Energy Industries Council of Australia, and co-founder and President of the Australasian Wind Energy Association.[3]
Mark Diesendorf has been one of the leading proponents calling for the ethical, scientific debate over public water fluoridation. Diesendorf has authored several papers, including a 1986 article entitled "The mystery of declining tooth decay" in the journal Nature, examining the need for a scientific re-evaluation of fluoridation and has highlighted some of the contrary evidence.[1][4]