CBCS PhD candidate
CBCS’s Professor Hugh Possingham has been elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society – one of the highest honours in science, and a recognition shared by the likes of Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin and Stephen Hawking. A global leader in conservation science and a long-time advocate for biodiversity, Hugh is only the 10th Queenslander ever elected to the prestigious society since its founding in 1660. He described the news as “good” – delivered via email while sitting at home – and sees the real value of the honour in how it can be used: to amplify impact, shape policy and help protect the natural world. In this interview, he reflects on the privilege, people and purpose that have shaped his career – and what he believes matters most for the next generation of scientists.
This honour places you among the ranks of some of the most celebrated scientists in history. What does that mean to you?
“Professionally, the main advantage I see is it potentially gives me slightly more ability to influence politicians, bureaucrats and industry. There are about 40 or 50 fellows with the Royal Society in Australia. There are six in Queensland at the moment; 10 ever”, Hugh says.
What experiences helped define your purpose in science and conservation?
“I feel lucky, because from an early age I knew what I was passionate about. I knew why I should get out of bed in the morning”. Hugh recounts a particular moment that solidified his interest in conservation: “When I was 17, my father and I went to our favourite bird watching spot, a beautiful piece of pink and blue gum woodland in South Australia, and it had been replaced by wheat. It was in an area where there was very little woodland left. And to me, that was so outrageous. It made me so annoyed and angry”, he says. “I think most people’s advocacy paths and paths to purpose come from an assault on what they love, which could be an attack on people or nature, or it could be injustice. I think, you know, that people often need that trigger point to intervene and say, ‘This is stupid. I’m going to fix this’.”
You’ve spoken openly about the role of privilege in your success. Can you expand on that?
“I would say most of this FRS stuff and all the other accolades are very much 90% privilege, the other 10% is 9% hard work and maybe 1% talent. On the wheel of privilege, there’s about 12 dimensions, and on all those dimensions, I score at the top level, except one – I’m white, I’m male, over-educated, etc. My family wasn’t filthy rich; they were middle class – that’s the only area where I am not excessively privileged. So, in the end, if I didn’t achieve all those things, that would be alarming, wouldn’t it? My grandmother received a mathematics degree from The University of Sydney in 1913, and my mother a PhD in physics. I am sure that, if times were different, they would have been elected an FRS.”
“Once you recognise that it’s 90% privilege and it has nothing to do with you as a person, then you’ve got to say, ‘Well, there are two things I have to do: one is to use that privilege for good, and the other one is to try and work out how you can make sure all those privileges are diminished into the future’”.
What would you say to others who hold similar privilege?
“Make sure that you have impact. If you’ve got all that privilege, make it deliver benefit to nature and people. Most people use that privilege to amass wealth or power, but power without purpose”, Hugh says. Hugh also highlights the importance of proactively levelling the playing field. “One thing I do like about Australia is that we have affirmative action. I give positive bias to people that, for a variety of reasons, don’t have privileges … . I think you just need to include that in all your decision-making. Unfortunately, there are some people who push back on affirmative action.”
What would you say to those just starting out who hope to shape real-world change?
“It’s important that you’re doing something you love doing. I think passion and purpose are everything. If you have a purpose, and you know what you really want to achieve, that makes you wake up in the morning. And then it should be fun, it should be interesting, it can’t be boring”, he says. “Furthermore, happiness also relies on autonomy. People with autonomy know it doesn’t matter how much money they have. I have been given the privilege of a great deal of autonomy working in the university and not-for-profit sectors.”
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