Colin Butler

For other people named Colin Butler, see Colin Butler (disambiguation).

Professor Colin David Butler is a co-founder of the non-governmental organization BODHI (Benevolent Organisation for Development, Health and Insight), which has autonomous branches in the United States and Australia. Butler has been Professor of Public Health at the University of Canberra, since 2012.[1] He is also Visiting Fellow at the National Centre for Epidemiology & Population Health at Australian National University,[2] and a former Senior Research Fellow in global health at the School of Health and Social Development at Deakin University.

Butler studies the intersection of sustainability, globalization, and health. His main research interest lies in trying to find ways to advance sustainable global health.[1]

Training & Education

Butler obtained a Bachelor of Medical Sciences (Hons) Degree in 1984 and a Bachelor of Medicine Degree in 1987, both from the University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia.

In 1985, prior to his final year at medical school, he spent 10 months outside of Australia, mostly studying health issues in low income countries. This included time in Nigeria with the health arms of two Christian missions, as well as the University of Ilorin, and in Nepal with the Britain Nepal Medical Trust. After graduating, he worked for several years in rural general practice in Tasmania. His longstanding interest in global health led him to pursue a Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (DTM&H), which he received from the Royal College of Physicians in 1990. Later, in 1997, he obtained a Master of Science Degree in Epidemiology from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.[1] While there, his main mentor was Professor Tony McMichael.

In 2002, Butler completed a multidisciplinary PhD at the Australian National University, entitled "Inequality and sustainability". His thesis argued that the unequal distribution of global political and economic influence facilitates "environmental brinkmanship," whereby the wealthy and powerful risk global environmental change of such degree that it threatens the fabric of civilization.[2] These ideas are components of what has recently been called "planetary health."[3]

Career

In 1989, Butler co-founded BODHI with Susan Woldenberg. These organizations, one in the US and one in Australia, work in the field of international health, primary health care, and education. BODHI identifies itself as one of the "oldest Buddhist influenced development NGO[s] based in the West."[4]

While studying for his PhD, Butler was awarded the 2001 Borrie Prize, from the Australian Population Association for "the best student paper on a population-related topic".[5] Butler's winning essay traced the decline of Malthusian thinking within demography. It also called for a re-thinking about this.

Butler was involved with the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, which was requested by United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan in 2001. He was also part of the "Extended Writing Team" that authored Ecosystems and Human Well-Being: A Report of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment.[6]

In 2009, the French Environmental Health Association named Butler one of "a hundred doctors for the planet."[1]

The following year, Butler was awarded[7] an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship, which "supports research in areas of critical national importance by giving outstanding researchers incentives to conduct their research in Australia. The aim of Future Fellowships is to attract and retain the best and brightest mid-career researchers."[8] Butler's grant project, which he completed in 2015, was entitled "Health and Sustainability: Australia in a Global Context."[7]

In 2014, Butler co-founded an international research network based at the University of Canberra called Health-Earth. The network has six major research themes: poverty, climate change, infectious disease, ecosystem disruptions, security, and transformation.[9]

Also in 2014, he also became the first Australian contributor to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to be arrested for civil disobedience, in opposition to Australian government policies concerning climate change. Initially facing a maximum sentence of 7 years jail, for allegedly damaging mining property (allegedly preventing use of a private road for 50 minutes) Butler received, instead, a two year good behavior bond. No sentence was recorded, however, as a result of his arrest, he was refused a visa to the US in time to attend a meeting with the Planetary Health Commission.

Writing

According to the University of Canberra, Butler "has published widely (now about 130 articles and chapters, 2 edited books), and given 67 invited talks overseas on topics including food security, population growth, ecology and infectious diseases."[1]

Butler edited the following two books:[1]

For a selected bibliography of Butler's other writings, see the External Links section.

External links

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Butler, Prof. Colin". www.canberra.edu.au. University of Canberra. Retrieved December 26, 2015.
  2. 1 2 "Professor Colin Butler". www.anu.edu.au. Australian National University. December 15, 2015. Retrieved December 26, 2015.
  3. ↑ The Rockefeller Foundation–Lancet Commission (July 16, 2015). Safeguarding human health in the Anthropocene epoch: Report of The Rockefeller Foundation–Lancet Commission on planetary health (Report). Lancet. Retrieved December 26, 2015.
  4. ↑ "BODHI". www.bodhius.org. Benevolent Organisation for Development, Health and Insight. Retrieved December 26, 2015.
  5. ↑ "The Borrie Prize". www.apa.org.au. Australian Population Association. Retrieved December 26, 2015.
  6. ↑ Carlos Corvelan, Simon Hales, Anthony McMichael; et al. (2005). Ecosystems and Human Well-Being: A Report of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (PDF) (Report). World Health Association. Retrieved December 26, 2015.
  7. 1 2 "Colin Butler". www.canberra.edu.au. University of Canberra. Retrieved December 26, 2015.
  8. ↑ "Future Fellowships". www.arc.gov.au. Australian Research Council of the Australian Government. Retrieved December 26, 2015.
  9. ↑ "Health-Earth (H-Earth)". www.canberra.edu.au. University of Canberra. 2015. Retrieved December 26, 2015.
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