Researcher biography

Natasha is a PhD researcher in the Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science at The University of Queensland, and a research assistant in the Quantitative and Applied Ecology group at The University of Melbourne. She started her PhD in late 2019, and is focusing on ways to create practical conservation targets for financial institutions. She is currently working with Professor Martine Maron and Professor Brendan Wintle, and is keen to foster both academic and industry collaborators throughout the life of the project. Her work is aiming to identify tools that are used in the biodiversity and conservation space that can then be altered to create fit-for-purpose decision making tools for the leaders of sustainability in the finance sector.  

Prior to commencing her PhD, she worked for six years with Professor Wintle on a variety of conservation and applied ecology projects. These included population viability analyses, species distribution modelling, investigating trade impacts on biodiversity, spatial prioritisation, decision tools and spatial ecology. She also works as part of the NESP Threatened Species Recovery hub, managing and providing support for a number of projects across different themes. She completed her Masters in 2013, where she looked at the role of fire and model uncertainty on the persistence of an Endangered skink in central Australia.