Robin Erskine                     
Director, Computing Services      
Australian National University    
Canberra, ACT 0200
Australia
Robin.Erskine@anu.edu.au
Telephone 61 6 249 0678 or 61 6 249 4519
FAX       61 6 249 5088

My initial training was as a mathematician and research physicist. On
obtaining my doctorate from the University of Glasgow, I took up a position
at CERN, Geneva as a research physicist/programmer where the computing
interest quickly overtook the physics interest.

I then held positions at the University of St. Andrews, UK initially as
Computer Manager and ultimately as Director of the Computing Laboratory at
that University. During that time I, along with a few other Scottish
University Computing Laboratory directors, prepared a submission to
government to set up an ARPA style of network linking our Universities.
Unfortunately that proposal was not funded.

I moved to Australia in 1981 to work at the Australian National University,
where I am currently  the Director, Computing Services. The ANU is one of
the largest universities in Australia with an internationally acknowledged
research charter. The research schools, centres and faculties within the
University have a strong commitment to and dependence on good network
connectivity and services to attain their strategic academic goals. The
coordination and implementation of this infrastructure are amongst my
direct responsibilities.

In the late 1980's Geoff Huston and I worked closely to convince the
Australian Universities that they should set up an Internet style of
network and I was appointed as the Chair of the technical procurement
committee to oversee the procurement and initial installation of that
network - which was a strategic move forward for the Australian Community,
given that it was a uniform service serving all universities and the major
government research centres in Australia.

For the next few years I was a member of the AARNet Board of Management,
attended several CCIRN and PACCOM meetings as the AARNet representative,
and assisted in the formation of the APCCIRN.

I am one of the early members of the Internet Society.

Over the last year or so my networking interests have moved from the
technical and policy questions dealt with earlier to the implementation of
good network connectivity and services, both within the University and the
community at large.

This involves positioning the University to make effective use of the
services on the network and to become well known and respected on the
network internationally for its contributions to the world community. The
University has a high profile in the areas of Library services, electronic
publishing and supercomputer applications.

Within the local community, which is the Australian Capital Territory and
the rural areas of New South Wales surrounding the ACT, I am chairing a
group drawn from other local Universities, local government and information
providers to set up an ACT Education and Information Network. The principal
aims of the group are to introduce the Internet into all schools and
colleges in the region, to encourage government agencies to publish their
information on the network and to set up a Freenet service for the area.
Much of this work is now just coming to fruition.