Academic Board

Emeritus Professor Barbara van Ernst
AM BA BEd MEd PhD JP
Chair and Independent Member

Barbara van Ernst is a Professor Emeritus with Swinburne University, where she was Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic) and Pro Vice Chancellor (Community Engagement). She has had extensive experience in primary, secondary and tertiary teaching. She has served as a higher education quality auditor in Australia (for AUQA) and for several overseas agencies. More recently she has worked as a higher education consultant in leadership, policy and quality assurance. She is also a Justice of the Peace. In 1994 she was awarded an AM for services to education.

Professor Lynne Harris
BSc(Hon1) MPsych(Clinical)(Hon) PhD
Independent Member

Professor Lynne Harris has worked in the university and non-university sector in a range of senior roles for more than thirty years. From 1991 to 2009 Lynne worked at the University of Sydney where she served as Associate Professor and Head, School of Behavioural and Community Health Sciences; Associate Dean, Undergraduate Studies; and Associate Dean, Learning and Teaching and since 2009 has continued as Honorary Professor with the Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney. From 2010 to 2018 she worked at the Australian College of Applied Psychology (ACAP), serving as Professor and Associate Dean, Psychological Sciences, and leading the development and accreditation of a range of new undergraduate and postgraduate psychology programs and chairing the College Research and Scholarship Committee. Lynne joined the Asia Pacific International College (APIC) in 2018 during a period of extensive curriculum development. Most recently she served as Head of Teaching and Learning at Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand. Lynne is author of more than 190 book chapters, reports, journal articles, and conference presentations in areas of psychology, health, research methodology, and education.

Emeritus Professor Archie Johnston
BSc PhD
Independent Member

Emeritus Professor Johnston was Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and IT at the University of Sydney from 2009-17 where he developed and implemented cutting-edge education policy. He is one of Australia’s 100 most influential engineers and was the 2007 Sir John Holland Civil Engineer of the Year, and the 2007 Entrepreneurial Educator of the Year of the Business and Higher Education Roundtable. He is a Non-Executive Director of Engineering Aid Australia and STEM Teacher Enrichment Academy, an Advisor to the China Communications Construction Group, and was President of the Australian Council of Engineering Deans. He is a Fellow of Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, Engineers Australia, and the Australian Institute of Company Directors, and is an Advisory to government bodies in Australia, China, Chile, and India.

Associate Professor Hamid Salarian
BComp, MComp, PhDTelecom.
Academic Dean

Hamid has a solid academic background in Telecommunication/computer engineering and has been involved in teaching and academic roles since 2008 as well as over 10 years of industry experience in the field of robotics and Automated Guided Vehicles (AGV). He is a professional member of Engineering Australia and ACS (Australian Computer Society).

Dr Salarian is a PhD graduate from the University of Wollongong in Telecommunication in 2014, received a BS degree in computer engineering (hardware major) from Ferdowsi University – Mashhad and an MS degree in computer architecture from Isfahan University of Technology, Iran in 2005 and 2008. His research focused on energy consumption in wireless sensor networks and wireless sensor actuator networks, in particular, the effect of mobility in increasing system lifetime. He has published high-quality journal articles in this field.

Dr Salarian’s philosophy is to establish and maintain effective links with business, commerce and industry organisations relevant to the school’s teaching and learning activities to be able to provide students with first-hand professional experience in the industry.