2024 John Dillon Memorial Lecture

Will irresistible force overcome immovable object: solar photovoltaics and the energy transition? – John Quiggin (2011 UNE Distinguished Alumni and 2004 AARES Distinguished Fellow)

Looking at the role of solar photovoltaics (PV) in the energy transition is reminiscent of the paradox arising from the clash of an irresistible force and an immovable object. John will argue that the irresistible force of low-cost solar generation will win out over the apparently immovable obstacles of entrenched attitudes and network structures.

John Quiggin is a Professor of Economics at the University of Queensland and holds a PhD from the University of New England. He is a prominent research economist and commentator on Australian and international economic policy. He has produced over 2000 publications, including 12 books and over 300 refereed journal articles, in fields including decision theory, environmental economics and industrial organization. He is an active contributor to Australian public debate in a wide range of traditional and social media.

The AARES New England Branch and UNE Business School are delighted to welcome John Quiggin to present the John Dillon Memorial Lecture for a second time and in UNE’s platinum jubilee year. The agricultural and resource economics discipline is at the heart of UNE’s 70-year history.

A Faculty of Agricultural Economics was conceived in UNE’s Act of Incorporation in 1954, and the Foundation Professor of Agricultural Economics and Foundation Dean of the Faculty commenced in 1957. The discipline has a long history of distinguished graduates, with John Quiggin being especially renowned among them. The John Dillon Memorial Lecture has been held since 2006 and is dedicated to John Louis Dillon (1931-2001), an agricultural economist of international stature, who in 1965 at the age of 33 was appointed Foundation Professor of Farm Management at UNE and then spent the remainder of his academic career based in Armidale.

Co-hosted by the New England Branch of the Australasian Agricultural & Resource Economics Society (AARES), UNE Business School and Armidale Regional Council.