War and the military have never been far from Professor Rufus Black's life, despite the man displaying the airs of an inherent pacifist.
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As the University of Tasmania's vice-chancellor, Professor Black has been the captain of a ship that has questioned and reinvented its identity.
In the past two years, Professor Black has championed a new future and cause for the university and created meaningful change across all disciplines, to create an institution embedded in Tasmania's social fabric.
The question of 'what is the right thing to do' has always been a guiding light throughout Professor Black's career, which is evident in UTAS' cultural and strategic transformation during his tenure at its head.
He has always been a curious person, something he has held intrinsically part of himself since childhood, watching his lawyer father grapple with the complexities of social justice - or injustice.
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"It's that fundamental question, what's the right thing to do. That's a question everyone ponders; ethics is the opportunity to do that in a kind of disciplined way," he said.
That curiosity has led to a lifelong search for the answers to some of society's most complex ethical questions. And it will be that moral compass that will help to drive one of the most extensive and most complex cultural changes in Australia's recent history.
Professor Black was named in November by Prime Minister Scott Morrison as one of three members who will form an independent oversight committee to drive cultural change in Australia's defence force.
The committee, which will report directly to Defence Minister Linda Reynolds will oversee the implementation of recommendations made in the explosive Brereton report into alleged war crimes committed by Australian Defence Force soldiers in Afghanistan.
Throughout his life, Professor Black's professional and personal lives have intersected with the defence force at critical junctures.
When you have a father who's a lawyer and a grandfather who's a soldier, you grow up hearing the stories around the dinner table about things they've done - and it was always about the right thing ..
- Professor Rufus Black
In the professional sphere, it was when he was working for public policy and consulting firm McKinsey and Company, Professor Black led a budget audit of the defence department in 2009.
But arguably his most significant defence-related work would come some years later when he was commissioned by then-Prime Minister Julia Gillard.
In 2011, Professor Black undertook a review of the defence accountability framework for the Australian Government.
The report, which became known colloquially as the "Black Review" examined the strengths and weaknesses of accountability in Defence.
It was the first of its kind and led to widespread reform adopted by the federal government of the time.
The Black Review was, as Professor Black described it, "a classic intersection of good management practices and how the practices coincide with ethical questions in governance".
He said ethics had been "a continual theme" in his life, throughout his academic career and in his public policy work.
"I've never really had a career...I never sought to have one, but arguably I've had two or three," Professor Black said.
"What it was, is the opportunity to develop a set of skills to evolve things I really care about, but ethics has always been a guiding light."
The presence of defence and the armed forces has been semi-present in Professor Black's life for many years, but it has also been a common theme in his personal life.
It has helped, along with his father's sense of justice, and injustice, that has played a vital role in helping cement a young Rufus' moral compass and ethics value set.
"I think I have always been curious. I grew up in a household where my Dad was a lawyer, so the ethics of what's right and wrong was our bread and butter, it was what was talked about in our house," he said.
But it was tales from his grandfathers about their time in the armed forces that left a strong imprint on him, he said.
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"When you have a father who's a lawyer and a grandfather who's a soldier, you grow up hearing the stories around the dinner table about things they've done - and it was always about the right thing to do," he said.
"My grandfather, he always knew what was right and wrong - he would always put his fellow soldiers first, sticking up for them, even if it was to the detriment of his own career."
Professor Black said that even during wartime, both his grandparents followed strict ethical codes.
"My other grandfather was a pilot, and he used to recall a time when he'd shot down an Italian pilot, but that pilot's wife was pregnant.
"My grandfather flew back over the pilot's village and flew a message from his plane to let her know that her husband was alright."
He said his academic work and his personal ethics code had helped inform how he approached all his public policy work.
"That pondering, what's the right thing to do, both as an individual, but also as a society, it's about that line between conversations about ethics and justice," he said.
"But they are all on one continuum really. Questions of justice have always fundamentally interested me. I did law out of a curiosity about interesting questions about justice and they've been an animating theme of my whole life."
His public policy work has often exposed him to examples and descriptions of traumatic incidents, or have included stories from the community that can be hard to hear.
Professor Black said he wasn't a stranger to trauma, but he had a regular and rigorous self-care routine to manage it.
"I think in any work where you're dealing with traumatic experiences, an important part about it is to make sure you're looking after your own mental health," he said.
"That's something I've always done. I trained as a United Church Minister so I have some experience in the task of ensuring you're in psychologically good shape yourself and that you're aware of any signs of something troubling you.
"You need to have good self awareness, which I have always believed I had, to deal with if something is impacting you mentally."
He said he subscribed to the disciplines of preventative mental health measures and was keenly aware of his own state of mind when dealing with traumatic evidence.
Professor Black will conduct his work for the oversight committee in addition to his regular duties as vice-chancellor of UTAS, along with his other public policy work he is doing for the Tasmanian Government.
He said timelines attached to some of the work meant that he was nearing the end of some of the state work, which would free him up to complete the committee tasks.
Professor Black will start his role with the committee in 2021 as his contribution to the Premier's Economic and Social Recovery Advisory Council comes to an end, which is part of a VC's role.