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Who we are
Dr Anthony Boxshall
Principal and Founder of
Science into Action
“Anthony speaks science,
English and Government”.
Anthony is an experienced executive, board member and science leader with expertise in climate adaptation, environmental and conservation science. He has a PhD in science, is a qualified board director and a Melbourne Enterprise Fellow at the University of Melbourne.
As executive lead for EPA Victoria’s science capability for many years, Anthony knows how critical a science-based strategy is for an organisation in a complex organisational, emergency, media and political environment. And as the inaugural chair of the Marine and Coastal Council in Victoria, he understands the climate adaptation challenges decision makers are facing.
In the complex situations in which we all must make our decisions, Anthony helps people to embrace that complexity, plot pathways to impact, and actively co-design products, services and future states.
He builds capability in people and helps leaders to build trust with their stakeholders. As the co-creator of the Authentic Co-design and Science Impact Boot Camps, he has found innovative ways to help decision makers and leaders put science into action in their own field.
Finally, Anthony is a mentor and facilitator who aims to leave his clients better off, with the knowledge, skills and the strategy to go out on their own.
Our Mission
We help you see the potential in scientific and technical knowledge
We help you
make decisions
We help you put
them into action
How science makes impact
Where we're coming from
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Anthony's story
A marine ecologist by trade, he has worked in Australia and the USA for over 30 years in government, academia and private industry.
He is the inaugural chair of the Victorian Marine and Coastal Council. As the valedictory chair of the Victorian Coastal Council he guided the council through a period of legislative reform and change. From this he has a deep and practical understanding of the complexities facing decision makers who want to create impact across many sectors.
He is a qualified company director, is a current board director of Parks Victoria, and has been on several innovation boards, including the successful Victorian Centre for Sustainable Chemical Manufacturing.
He is the co-founder of Authentic Co-design with Max Hardy and Susan Carter to build capability in co-design and deliberative engagement processes. More details (and courses!) are available at Authentic Co-design.
In 2023 he co-founded Strategy into Value with Melanie Turner to help create better public value by improved strategy, planning and delivery. We guide and support organisations to mature and maximise public value. Working with you, we build your capability at each step of our Strategy into Value approach. For more information, visit Strategy into Value.
As a Melbourne Enterprise Fellow (Associate Professor) in the School of Biosciences at the University of Melbourne, one day a week, he focuses on integrating science into decision making, including rebuilding and re-launching Centre for Anthropogenic Pollution Impact and Management, a major translational research centre.
Almost 20 years ago, he established the marine science program at Parks Victoria following the creation of marine protected areas in Victoria, Australia, including the Sea Search Citizen Science program. He has also worked at UC Santa Cruz USA and Deakin University in Australia. He is a former national president of the Australian Marine Sciences Association, Australia's peak professional marine science body.
He ran the science area of the Environment Protection Authority in Victoria for nearly a decade through a period of transformation and growth, and so understands how critical science is for an organisation in a complex organisational, emergency, media and political environment.
As a hobby he has been communicating the wonders of the marine environment through the award-winning “Radio Marinara” on 3RRR-FM in Melbourne since late 1996.
He loves turning science into action wherever he can.
He is committed to delivering public value and has the experience to make it work.
Finally, Anthony is a mentor and facilitator who aims to leave his clients better off, with the knowledge, skills and the strategy to go out on their own.
Our colleagues
As a thriving micro-business, we work seamlessly with highly skilled and expert people to expand our capability and capacity. We only work with companies with a history of delivery to ensure that you get the quality and scale you need.
Melanie Turner - Plan to Perform
With over 15 years’ experience in strategy, organisation development and business planning including integration with performance management frameworks and alignment to business deliverables, Melanie is an expert is organisational performance. She has worked with national, state and local governments as, and small to medium businesses.
Melanie leads, facilitates and mentors senior leaders, leadership teams and subject matter experts to gain clarity and get results for their organisations. She has a broad experience in participatory approaches that allow people to provide their input and expertise to a product that they can own and buy into.
Science into Action is a partner with Plan to Perform in Strategy into Value with Melanie Turner to help create better public value by improved strategy, planning and delivery. We guide and support organisations to mature and maximise public value. Working with you, we build your capability at each step of our Strategy into Value approach.
For more information, visit Strategy into Value.
Scientell
With the motto “Science, in other words”, Scientell are brilliant science communicators and marketers with decades of experience in the field. Scientell distils technical information into clear text for non-scientific audiences such as policy-makers.
They are also experienced at writing for young people. Scientell specialises in planning and implementing communication strategies for scientific, environmental and technical agencies. Find out more about their services and clients here, and meet the Scientell team here.
Susan Carter - The Community Studio
Susan is a community and stakeholder engagement specialist. She’s worked with science, environment, planning, regulation, and infrastructure organisations to manage their community and stakeholder issues and build organisational capability to work effectively with stakeholders. Susan has developed strategy that has calmed angry people down, built relationships and achieved time, cost and stress savings for organisations and the community.
She’s passionate about helping others improve their engagement skills.
Science into Action is a partner in Authentic Co-design with Max Hardy and Susan Carter to build capability in co-design and deliberative engagement processes. More details (and courses!) are available at Authentic Co-design.
Patrick O’Callaghan - Deliberate Impact
Principal of Deliberate Impact, Patrick O’Callaghan helps government agencies & authorities, non-profits, and social enterprises to plan, sharpen and realise their impact. Clear goals, solid plans, awesome programs and calculated steps. All carefully tailored to achieve the things you exist to achieve.
Decades of program development experience and leadership roles in cause-based organisations, government agencies, statutory authorities, enterprise startups and the wild world of consulting have given Patrick a quiver of powerful insights and street-smarts that he loves sharing around.
Max Hardy - Max Hardy Consulting
Max Hardy is one of Australia’s foremost experts in co-design and deliberative processes and a highly sought after facilitator. Renowned internationally for his skilful design and facilitation of community and stakeholder engagement processes, Max has developed innovative models for collaboration, for which he has won numerous national and international awards.
Max Hardy specialises in collaborative governance, process and solution co-design, appreciative inquiry, strategic questioning, collective impact and designing, facilitating and evaluating deliberative community engagement processes. He also co-facilitated Australia’s first Citizens’ Parliament and facilitated a world café session at the Festival of Dangerous Ideas, Sydney.
As a Master Trainer for IAP2 Max co-designed and facilitated two training academies in 2006 and 2008, in Alberta Canada, and Edinburgh, UK respectively, and in May 2019 delivered training in five cities across Canada.
Science into Action is a partner in Authentic Co-design with Max Hardy and Susan Carter to build capability in co-design and deliberative engagement processes. More details (and courses!) are available at Authentic Co-design.
Murrang Earth Sciences
Murrang Earth Sciences was established to make high-quality science available to everyone and anyone seeking to address environmental problems.
Murrang Earth Sciences provide environmental services for water, soils, waste, environmental chemistry, agriculture and environmental regulatory science. They lead, collaborate and support projects with challenging applied problems that require real world understanding of environments.
Their aim is to reduce pollution, restore landscapes, and enhance productivity of ecosystems, while working with scientific rigour, integrity, and respect.
Mark Elliot - Collabforge
Collabforge specialises in delivering excellent collaboration and innovation outcomes in the public sector. This includes both shorter and longer term engagements, as well as strategy, program and technology design and development. Founder and managing director, Mark Elliott, has personally managed hundreds of projects, including FutureMelbourne, the re-design of the City of Melbourne’s ten year strategic planning process for mass participation and cocreation. Mark has also recently published, Collaboration Design: A Step-by-Step Guide to Successful Collaboration, a consolidation of the theory and techniques Collabforge has been using and improving for the last decade.
Lynette Smith
We use our language every day, not just to communicate about what we’re doing, but to actually do things.
My question as a writer is: how can we use words to get good things done? How can we use words to make it easier for people to do what they need to do? How can we represent the knowledge that we have so that people can think for themselves?
As a writer I work closely with my clients to understand what they need. We talk about the value they want to create and protect. We ask what people really need to do. And we challenge assumptions.
Lynette has qualifications in linguistics and philosophy and more than twenty years of experience working with scientists, policy specialists and technical experts in government, business, museums and galleries, and universities.
Over the course of her writing career, she’s worked with experts in climate science, the environment, computer science, risk, emergency medicine, and economics. Lynette has a special interest in how organisations approach risk and how words can help people make decisions in situations of uncertainty.
Adam Beaumont - With Purpose Consulting
Adam is an experienced facilitator, leader and communicator with a background in community engagement, advocacy, behaviour change, ethical goods marketing, regulatory practice, governance and natural resource management. A trained Forest Scientist with a Masters in Environmental Law, Diploma in Investigations and Compliance and 2018 AsiaLink Business Graduate, Adam has worked in the private sector, state government, with independent regulators, national and global not for profit organisations and with major brands and retailers. A natural communicator, problem solver and experienced leader - Adam has a breadth of experience across public and private organisations at operational, marketing, branding, strategic planning, engagement and diplomatic levels.
Tanya Allan - CALM Agency
Dr Tanya Allan is a Strategic Communications Professional with a vast range of experience across a number of media sectors in many countries. She is the Co-Founder of CALM Agency. As a former ABC Foreign Correspondent, senior journalist, producer, and broadcaster Tanya led international projects across the Asia Pacific region including covering the Beijing Olympics in 2008.
CALM is a communications agency with strategic focus. They want to build better workplaces to enjoy strong reputation, clear processes, the right tools and the right people so that everyone has a positive experience. Grounding their work in their deep experience in strategic communications planning, crisis management, corporate and government affairs, strategic engagement, transformation methods and media relations, they create great value by applying Buzz-ER’s tools and insights. They have worked with the world’s best, the biggest brands, and hold strong, long-running partnerships – working with people to make their business great.
