Researcher biography

I am a conservation decision-maker interested in managing the direct and indirect impacts of human-associated pressures on marine and terrestrial environments and biodiversity. My vision is to influence real-life decision-making addressing complex and contentious issues of biodiversity conservation and resource exploitation.

In my recent postdoctoral research I have developed frameworks to effectively link cumulative impact maps with management actions, and have developed cost-effective solutions for mitigating threats to priority species at national and local scales.

In my PhD with Professor Hugh Possingham at UQ School of Biological Sciences and CSIRO I used a combination of spatial conservation planning and ecosystem modelling to understand and manage multiple threats to marine ecosystems, building expertise in tropical coral reef ecology and conservation, land-use change and run-off modelling. The ecology, conservation and management of threatened megafauna and how they interact within complex dynamic systems are of particular interest to me, and I also developed models of baleen whales and krill across the southern hemisphere to predict the historical and future impacts of whaling and climate change.

It is important to me that my research is applicable and accessible to agencies and stakeholders involved in making conservation decisions, and I collaborate with industry, government and non-government organisations as much as possible, including the Wildlife Conservation Society, WWF, and The Nature Conservancy.