Ariel Liebman PhD Program – Speech by Shreejan Pandey

24 July 2025

Monash University has officially launched the Ariel Liebman RACE for 2030 Monash University Indonesia PhD Program – a pioneering partnership designed to build the next generation of energy research leaders.

Good morning, distinguished guests, colleagues, partners, and students.

Thank you for joining us today to launch the Ariel Liebman PhD Program, honouring the late Professor Ariel Liebman’s vision for a collaborative program bringing Australia and Indonesia’s brightest minds to tackle significant energy challenges.

Some of you knew Ariel well. Others may not have met him, but through this speech, I hope to give you a sense of the person behind the name and the values that shaped his work.

I had the privilege of working closely with Ariel for many years, and our relationship extended well beyond professional. We came to know each other’s families, and spent weekends discussing climate politics, energy systems, Buddhist philosophy and our shared love of alternative rock. We even tried to get into a gym routine together, but that never really took off.

Ariel began his academic journey in Physics at the University of Auckland and completed a PhD in quantum optics at the University of Queensland in 1995. His career spanned academia and industry, with senior roles across utilities, advocacy, and research. He joined Monash in 2013, where he ultimately became Professor of Practice in Sustainable Energy Systems at the Faculty of Information Technology and led the Monash Energy Institute as Director.

But titles don’t capture his drive, authenticity and generosity.

Tackling climate change was a personal mission for Ariel. I often estimated that his ideas were about ten years ahead of most of our thinking. His passion, dedication and highly connected network at all levels, from industry boardrooms to students, enabled and supported significant initiatives.

To mention a few;

Ariel conceived and advocated for a multidisciplinary Monash Energy Network, which laid the groundwork for what ultimately became the Monash Energy Institute, the university’s strategic platform for energy impact.
Ariel led the initial business case for the Monash Net Zero Initiative, demonstrating a financial value case to the university, which enabled formal feasibility studies and ultimately led to the University's commitment to Net Zero by 2030. The first by any Australian university, which was later recognised by the UN’s Momentum for Change award.
The National Reliable Affordable Clean Energy for 2030 Cooperative Research Centre brought together over 70 partners from industry, university and government to accelerate clean energy. Ariel was instrumental in the Centre's development and successfully convinced many partners, including Monash, to join RACE. He also led the Centre’s Networks agenda to help host more renewables and electric vehicles on our grid.
As co-leader of the Energy Cluster for the Australia–Indonesia Centre, Ariel led energy planning research in North Sulawesi and beyond, integrating ethnographic insights with techno-economic modelling to develop low-carbon roadmaps and support local capacity for renewable integration and energy access.

In 2015, Ariel travelled with Dr Max Richter to the remote Kei Islands, a journey that involved planes, boats, and motorbikes to understand off-grid communities and their relationship with energy, initiating a deeper study of the region with a student from Gadjah Mada University. In 2017, Ariel and colleague Gabriele Sartori were commissioned by Indonesian officials to develop a tool that supported North Sulawesi in planning renewable and energy efficiency investments and drafting its Regional Electricity Plan (RUKD). These experiences grounded Ariel’s broader understanding of Indonesia’s energy sector and its complexities. It deepened his belief that local realities must inform the energy transition. It gave a new dimension to his expertise in clean energy markets and optimisation, and significantly influenced the thinking behind this PhD program.

Ariel built strong relationships with colleagues at Indonesian universities, including IPB, ITB, and Unhas; connections that shaped both the AIC Energy Cluster and inspired his international impact vision through continued partnerships in the RACE for 2030 CRC. In their last trip, shortly before his passing in 2023, Ariel and Max travelled to seven cities in a week, reconnecting with key partners and friends Paks Iskandar, Bachtiar, Trides, and Ibu Ulfah, at their respective institutions, and visiting Monash Indonesia campus, where Ariel built the case for a joint PhD program linking RACE, Monash, and Indonesian research partners. Ultimately, the vision was to enable a new generation of PhD scholars to work across disciplines, borders, and institutions for a cleaner energy future.

That vision is now becoming a reality.

But this program wouldn’t exist without executive sponsorship and determined follow-through. Thank you to Professor Matthew Nicholson, Dr Bill Lilley and Pak Didi for your executive sponsorship. To Professor Alex Lechner, Dr Max Richter and Christine Gneuss for ensuring continuity after Ariel’s passing. And to Professor Jane Jacobs and Sari Octaviani for your tireless work across institutions and borders to bring this to life. And to Professor Andrew MacIntyre (former Monash Indonesia President), whose early support was instrumental.

And to the academic leaders now shaping the program’s impact; Prof Taufiq Asyhari, Prof Alex Lechner, Dr Muhammad Risqi Saputra, Dr Alyas Widita, and Dr Ivan Butar; thank you for offering topics Ariel would have loved to engage with, debate, and ultimately conclude by stating you were both in “a furious agreement”.

Recently, I’ve spoken about this program with people from across Ariel’s world, industry leaders, Monash academics, and students. The response has been one of positive surprise, followed by joy, pride and a deep sense of connection. Ariel’s children, Gabrielle and Max, have shared their appreciation for the team’s commitment to continuing the work their dad was so passionate about and honouring his legacy. It means a great deal to them.

Before Ariel’s sudden passing, he was thinking big at two levels. How to develop and activate a strong network of global experts to work together, and how to convince political leaders to “go big” for a faster renewable energy transition. He was actively talking to colleagues in Indonesia, Germany, India, New Zealand and Australia. He had several ideas on the go. The PhD program was one of those ideas – a seed that he had hoped to scale and grow for impact.

Those of us who knew him will remember Ariel differently through our shared experience with him. To me, the most important thing was his authentic care for people. It didn't matter who you were or where you came from; if you crossed paths with Ariel, you felt valued and had his support. In his world, professional titles and hierarchies took a backseat to the human connections he fostered. Everyone mattered, and that was the essence of Ariel.

Today, through this program, Monash and close partners honour Ariel not just with words, but with action, enabling nine doctoral candidates to shape Indonesia’s energy future.

Ariel, if you were here today, I know you’d be proud of this program, these partnerships, and the people driving it. You’d still be here at the end, deep in conversation, full of ideas, and already planning what’s next. We carry that spirit forward.

Thank you.