Seminars

The CBCS seminars are held weekly on Tuesdays at 11am in Room 501 of the Goddard Building.

Morning tea is held before each seminar at 10:30am in the Level 5 tearoom in the Goddard Building.

Zoom links are available for upcoming weekly seminars by emailing cbcs-info@uq.edu.au

Videos of past seminars may be viewed at the CBCS YouTube channel.

Photo by Romina Castagnino Vera.

2024

DATE	SPEAKER	TALK TITLE
9 January
16 January
23 January
30 January	Sreekar Rachakonda, CBCS	Conservation opportunities through effective protected area management
6 February
13 February
20 February	Emma Gray, QUT	TBC
27 February	CBCS Lunch on the Lawn	No seminar
5 March	Claire Mason, CSIRO/CBCS	Climate-effective management for threatened species and protected places
12 March
19 March	Michael Bode, Queensland University of Technology	TBC
26 March
2 April
9 April	CBCS Lunch on the Lawn	No seminar
16 April
23 April
30 April
7 May
14 May
21 May	CBCS Lunch on the Lawn	No seminar
28 May
4 June
11 June
18 June
25 June
2 July	CBCS Lunch on the Lawn	No seminar
9 July
16 July
23 July
30 July
6 August
13 August	CBCS Lunch on the Lawn	No seminar
20 August
27 August
3 September
10 September
17 September
24 September	CBCS Lunch on the Lawn	No seminar
1 October
8 October
15 October
22 October
29 October
5 November	CBCS Lunch on the Lawn	No seminar
12 November
19 November
26 November
3 December
10 December	No seminar	No seminar

2023

Date	Speaker	Talk title
17 January	NO SEMINAR	NO SEMINAR
24 January	Jake Rendle-Worthington, eleCREW	elephantCREW: pioneering new techniques in animal welfare and wildlife conservation
31 January	Earl Saxon and Hugh Possingham, CBCS	Which 30%: Where does climate change make a difference to regional conservation portfolios?
7 February	Katharina-Victoria Perez-Hammerle, CBCS	Lost in wilderness, found on Country: a PhD journey from mapping intact ecosystems for biodiversity conservation to navigating ~~an existential crisis~~ *existential crises
14 February	Shayan Barmand, Noosa Council	Conservation in practice: Priorities and challenges in the Noosa Biosphere Reserve
21 February	Pablo Negret Torres, CBCS	Maximizing key habitat retention under limited budgets: Expansion of the protected area network in Colombia to maximise forest bird habitat persistence
28 February	No seminar	CBCS Lunch on the Lawn
7 March	Alex Braczkowski, Griffith University	Setting up international monitoring programs for the wildlife we love most
14 March	Bill Sutherland, The University of Cambridge	Transforming conservation using evidence – what needs to be done next?
21 March	Megan Evans, UNSW Canberra	"Don't let the bare minimum be the enemy of the grossly inadequate": Australia's nature positive and net zero "journey" so far
28 March	Anna Metaxas, Dalhousie University, Canada	Bridging the science–policy interface: An ocean of possibiliites and responsibilities
4 April	No seminar	CBCS Lunch on the Lawn
11 April	Derek Manzello, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, US	NOAA’s Coral Reef Watch: Three decades of providing decision support tools for coral reef management in a warming world
18 April	Assaf Shwartz, Israel institute of Technology	Conserving urban biodiversity, why, how and for whom? Rethinking the complex relationship between biodiversity, well-being and support in conservation
25 April	No seminar	ANZAC Day
2 May	Tori Seydel, Griffith University	Koala conservation: Engaging and empowering communities to protect an Australian icon
9 May	Jaana Dielenberg, Biodiversity Council	Ecologists be heard! How to get your science in the media and reaching the public
16 May	Assaf Shwartz, Israel Institute of Technology	Conservation outside protected areas: Designing effective multi-functional landscapes and ecological corridors in agro-ecosystems
23 May	No seminar	CBCS Lunch on the Lawn
30 May	Yanxu Liu, Beijing Normal University	Global assessment of nature's contribution to people
6 June	CBCS Small Grants Scheme presentations	Short presentations by the project leads of the 7 successful recipients in the 2023 CBCS Small Grants Scheme
13 June	Akira Terui, UNC Greensboro	Emergent biodiversity in complex habitat networks
20 June	Aurora Torres, University of Alicante	Sand sustainability in the Anthropocene
27 June	Diana Kleine	UQ CoralWatch citizen science program: 20 years of coral monitoring, education and outreach to help protect reefs globally
4 July	No seminar	CBCS Lunch on the Lawn
11 July	CSIRO-UQ funding recipients	Emer Cunningham: Detecting novelty in modern coral reef communities; and Nan Ye: Bayes, brain and fish
18 July	Nur Arafeh Dalmau, UCLA and Stanford, USA	Remote sensing can help address gaps in kelp conservation and inform climate adaptation
19 July, 2pm	Mizuki Takahashi, Bucknell University	Special seminar: Giant salamander biology
25 July	Brett Gardner, The University of Melbourne	The ecology of abortion: Infectious reproductive loss in Australian fur seal breeding colonies
1 August	Jason Everett, SENV/CBCS	Building tools for stakeholder engagement in conservation planning
8 August	Alejandro de la Fuente Pinero, James Cook University	Crisis in the tropics: Signs of an imminent collapse
15 August	No seminar	CBCS Lunch on the Lawn
22 August	Steph Brodie, CSIRO	Ecological forecasts for marine management during climate extremes
29 August	Rich Cottrell, CBCS	Optimising aquaculture feeds to support sustainable seafood
5 September	Nick Leseberg, CBCS	What do we actually know about Australia’s rarest birds?
12 September	Joshua WIlson, CBCS	Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles and Endangered shorebirds: fight or flight?
19 September	David Poulton, CBCS and Alberta Land Institute, Canada	What do Canadian resource regulators think of the mitigation hierarchy?
26 September	No seminar	CBCS Lunch on the Lawn
3 October	Yiwen Zeng, National University of Singapore	Promises and pitfalls of scaling up biodiversity conservation post-COP15
10 October	Angela Dean, CBCS	Building community participation in nature stewardship: Insights from social science in diverse Australian communities
17 October	Michal Belcik, CBCS	How can social information alter the effect of habitat fragmentation on bird diversity?
24 October	Special session: Policy discussion with Sarah Legge, Charles Darwin University	DCCEEW feral cat Threat Abatement Plan - CBCS submission
31 October	Tong Mu, Princeton University, US	Challenges in conserving migratory shorebirds at multiple scales
7 November	No seminar	CBCS Lunch on the Lawn
14 November	Jeff Hanson, Carleton University, Canada	Making better coservation decisions
21 November	Zoe Stone, Massey University, New Zealand	Improving reintroduction success to get more birds in the bush
28 November	CSIRO-UQ funding recipients	Short talks by reps of the successful teams about their projects
29 November, 2pm	Maximilian Kotz, Potsdam Institue for Climate Impact Research	Attributable impacts of climate change on vertebrate species abundance
5 December	Brendan Wintle (Biodiversity Council/UniMelb): Special seminar	Rearranging the deck chairs to get a comfortable view of the Anthropocene extinction
12 December	No seminar	No seminar

2022

DATE	SPEAKER	TALK TITLE
11 January	NO SEMINAR	NO SEMINAR
18 January	Shu Chen, Zoological Society of London	China, wildlife, and the way forward
25 January	Cooper Smout, IGDORE	Open Heart + Mind (OHM): Creating radically open and reliable knowledge systems imbued with compassionate values
1 February	Tom Bruce, James Cook University	Feral cats in the rainforest: Occupancy, interactions and management
8 February	Matthew Rees, University of Melbourne	Foxes, cats and conservation in Australian dry forests
15 February	Cynthia Riginos and Maria Beger	How can evolutionary genetics contribute to spatial planning?
22 February	NO SEMINAR	CBCS Lunch on the Lawn
1 March	Rajeev Pillay, University of Northern British Columbia, Canada	The global importance of intact tropical rainforests for biodiversity
8 March	Sangay Dorji	Setting conservation and research priorities under future climate change in the eastern Himalayan hotspot of Bhutan
15 March	Jed Brodie, University of Montana	Habitat change, hunting, and their synergies
22 March	Bill Laurance, James Cook University	Environmental synergisms and the future of tropical nature
29 March	NO SEMINAR	CBCS Lunch on the Lawn
5 April	Ryan Schoenbaum, The University of Melbourne	Climate change and integrated cross-realm conservation planning in the Great Barrier Reef region
12 April	Jeffrey Hanson, Carleton University, Canada	Making better conservation decisions
19 April	NO SEMINAR	NO SEMINAR - Easter break
26 April	Zoe Stone, Massey University, New Zealand	Inferences from post-release monitoring of mainland reintroductions in New Zealand
3 May	Noam Levin, CBCS	Remote sensing analysis on the Black Summer fires in Australia 2019–20
10 May	NO SEMINAR	CANCELLED - Zoom morning tea only
17 May	Geoff Heard, Threatened Species Index, TERN, UQ	Twenty years of worrying about threatened frogs
24 May	NO SEMINAR	CBCS Lunch on the Lawn
31 May	Austin Green, University of Utah	Wasatch Wildlife Watch: How camera traps and community members make large-scale conservation possible
7 June	Zena Dinesen, Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries	Policy making in government: Reflections on my career as a principal policy officer
14 June	Short presentations by CBCS Small Grants Scheme recipients	Various
21 June	Justine Cawley and Amberyn Pearson, UQ Library	Open Access publishing and resources
28 June	NO SEMINAR	CBCS Lunch on the Lawn
5 July	John Carr and Tema Milstein, University of New South Wales	Spaces of ecocultural invisibility: The human barriers to Sirenia habitat and species protection
12 July	CBCS ECR speed talks	CBCS ECR speed talks
19 July	Eduardo Gallo-Cajiao, University of Washington, Seattle	Pandemic prevention and the wildlife trade
26 July	Jason Flower, University of California, Santa Barbara	Designing protected areas for offshore waters
2 August	Rogelio Luque Lora, University of Cambridge	What conservation is: A contemporary inquiry
9 August	Hannah Wauchope, University of Exeter	Do protected areas work? Adventures in impact evaluation
16 August	NO SEMINAR	CBCS Lunch on the Lawn
23 August	April Reside, CBCS	How do we plan for species conservation considering climate change? A case study of cockatoos
30 August	Genevieve Deaconos, Australian Wildlife Conservancy	Australian Wildlife Conservancy: Practical conservation across 12.9 million hectares
6 September	Carla Archibald, Deakin University	Food for thought: Conserving biodiversity on private and agricultural land against a backdrop of climate and societal change
13 September	Maria Jose Martinez Harms, Institute of Ecology and Biodiversity, Chile	The constitutional pathway toward the “Rights of Nature” in Chile
20 September	Allison Binley, Carleton University, Canada	From better monitoring to better decisions: Improving conservation using community science data
27 September	NO SEMINAR	CBCS Lunch on the Lawn
4 October	Jun Zhou, Griffith University	Analysing koala road crossing behaviours using AI-powered observation networks
11 October	Martine Maron, CBCS	Countering the collapse of a bird community
18 October	Craig Bohm, The Nature Conservancy	Reef Builder – Restoring lost oyster reefs in Australia: With special focus on the Noosa Oyster Ecosystem Restoration Project
25 October	Jonathan Rhodes, CBCS	Flexible conservation for climate adaptation
1 November	Yolanda Lee Waters, Queensland University of Technology	Raising awareness for coral reefs: What does it mean and does it lead to action?
2 November	Joseph Bennett, Carleton University, Canada	Three very intimidating conservation problems
8 November	Louis Backstrom, CBCS	Citizen science in ornithology and conservation: Challenges, successes and opportunities
15 November	NO SEMINAR	CBCS Lunch on the Lawn
22 November	Julien Louys, Griffith University	Orangutans in the past, now, and in the future
29 November	Sebastian Luckeneder, Vienna University of Economics and Business	The global trade flows of energy transition minerals and their impacts on forest environments
6 December	NO SEMINAR	NO SEMINAR
13 December	NO SEMINAR	NO SEMINAR
20 December	NO SEMINAR	NO SEMINAR

2021

DATE	SPEAKER	TALK TITLE
12 January	Tatsuya Amano, CBCS	translatE project: Our aims and progress so far in overcoming language barriers in conservation science
19 January	Ana Benitez Lopez, Estación Biológica de Doñana	Defaunation and trophic cascading in the Anthropocene: Ecological erosion in the tropics
26 January	NO SEMINAR	Australia Day/Survival Day public holiday
2 February	Katie Ann Peterson, University of Maryland	Using ensemble modelling for conservation decisions
9 February	Listening session	Hosted by CBCS Director Dr Daniel Dunn
16 February	Simon Griffith, Macquarie University	Speciation in finches and conservation
23 February	Chris Roelfsema, UQ	Advancing our capabilities to map and monitor coral reefs: Global information with local detail
2 March	Alexa Fredston, Rutgers University	Understanding, predicting, and managing marine species on the move
9 March	Ben James and Madonna Duffy, University of Queensland Press	Taking research to readers: Pathways to book publication
16 March	Rich Fuller, CBCS	Conserving migratory species
23 March	Cathy Robinson, CSIRO	Empowering Indigenous-led AI and digital technology to care for Country
30 March	No seminar	No seminar
6 April	Hugh Possingham, CBCS	Why do science? What is the point of monitoring and science for delivering conservation outcomes?
13 April	No seminar	CBCS lunch in the Great Court
20 April	Dolors Armenteras, Universidad Nacional de Colombia	Advances in fire science and policy in Colombia
27 April	No seminar	CBCS lunch in the Great Court
4 May	Sofía López-Cubillos, CBCS	Using ecosystem services for spatial planning in agricultural landscapes
11 May	Jaramar Villarreal Rosas, CBCS	Managing ecosystem services for multiple beneficiaries
18 May	Elisa Bayraktarov, EcoCommons Australia	EcoCommons Australia: The platform for ecological and environmental modelling
25 May	No seminar	CBCS lunch in the Great Court
1 June	Helen Mayfield, CBCS/QUT	Bayesian networks in environmental science and public health
8 June	Geoff Pegg, Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries	Introduction to myrtle rust and impacts on Australian Myrtaceae
15 June	Felipe Suarez Castro, CBCS	Managing landscape structure for biodiversity and ecosystem services conservation in human-dominated areas
22 June	Jayden Engert, James Cook University	Ghost roads and the future of tropical forests
29 June	Jez Bird, CBCS	The conservation ecology of threatened petrels on Macquarie Island
6 July	No seminar	CBCS lunch in the Great Court
13 July	Claudia Benham, CBCS	Change, opportunity, grief and hope? Using public deliberation to envision community futures in the Great Barrier Reef
20 July	Vicki Martin, CBCS	Understanding human behaviours to foster environmental stewardship
27 July	Andrea Fullagar, Birdlife Australia	10 years of being Green(ish): A snapshot of my experience working in the environmental sector
3 August	Duan Biggs, Griffith University	The role of conservation science and scientists in a COVID 19 world
10 August	No seminar	Zoom morning tea only
17 August	Richard Cottrell, U Tasmania	Time to rethink trophic levels in aquaculture policy
24 August	Clint Cameron, Charles Darwin University/UQ	Impact of an extreme monsoon on CO₂ and CH₄ fluxes from mangrove soils of the Ayeyarwady Delta, Myanmar, and implications for forest carbon projects
31 August	CBCS Small Grants Scheme winners	Joint presentations about projects
7 September	No seminar	CBCS lunch in the Great Court
14 September	Kimberly Riskas, CBCS	Creating impact through science journalism
21 September	Nathalie Butt, CBCS	Using traits to inform marine species’ vulnerability
28 September	Alec Christie, University of Cambridge	From Covid-19 to conservation: How can we save the planet using evidence?
5 October	No seminar	CBCS lunch in the Great Court
12 October	Liliana Davalos, Stony Brook U, USA	Sensing in the dark: Molecular ecology of #BatSenses
19 October	Annabel Smith, UQ (School of Agriculture and Food Science)	The impact of roadside burning on genetic diversity in a high-biomass invasive grass
26 October	Sheridan Rabbitt, Schools of Biological and Social Sciences, UQ	A framework for assessing women’s engagement in community-based fisheries management in the Pacific: A case study from Marovo Lagoon
2 November	Micha Jackson, University of Adelaide	Measuring waterbird habitat quality in an atypical and degraded wetland system
9 November	Gloeta Massie, CBCS	Wildlife rescue and implications for conservation and welfare
16 November	Lenn Isidore, CBCS	Does acoustic monitoring make cents? A framework for cost-effective monitoring of vocal species
23 November	Tida Nou, CBCS	Communicating about cats – beyond the conservation sector
30 November	No seminar	CBCS lunch in the Great Court
7 December	Masayuki Senzaki, Hokkaido University, Japan	TBC
14 December	No seminar	No seminar
21 December	Masters in Conservation Biology students	Final student presentations

2020

DATE	SPEAKER	TALK TITLE
14 January	Luis Sánchez, Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil	Evidence of no net loss of biodiversity in mining projects: Is it possible to find a common ground?
21 January	Jeremy de Valck, Central Queensland University	How to estimate the economic value of biodiversity in the Great Barrier Reef? A close look on a complex challenge
28 January	Rochelle Steven, CBCS	Citizen science for threatened species: Experiential tips for building relationships in challenging socio-political settings
4 February	Pedro Fidelman, Centre for Policy Futures, UQ	Biodiversity and conservation science and policy scholarship: Exploring opportunities for collaboration
11 February	David Watson, Charles Sturt University	Mistletoes: New insights into their ecology, evolution and ecosystem-wide impacts
18 February	Earl Saxon, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Convenor)	Anthropocene refugia: Habitat persistence and species dispersal sources in 2040
25 February	Daniel Dunn, CBCS	Conserving the "other" half of our planet
3 March	Micha Jackson, CBCS	Finding rest for the weary: Conserving shorebirds in human-dominated landscapes
10 March	Patrick Crist, PlanIt Forward/University of Idaho	Applying an integrated land-sea planning framework for addressing the current and accelerating coastal crisis
17 March	NO SEMINAR	NO SEMINAR
24 March	Host Hugh Possingham, CBCS	Zoom listening session
31 March	Matthew Luskin, CBCS	Ecological cascades in Asian rainforests: Opportunities to collaborate
7 April	Pablo Negret Torres, CBCS	Ecology and conservation of tropical forest ecosystems
14 April	Host Hugh Possingham, CBCS	Prioritisation puzzle
21 April	Elisa Bayraktarov, CBCS	A Threatened Mammal Index for Australia
28 April	Justine Shaw, CBCS	Island restoration and monitoring: Ecosystem responses to eradication
5 May	Karlina Indraswari, QUT	It's in the news: Characterising Indonesia's wild bird trade network from media-reported seizure incidents
12 May	Justine Bell-James, CBCS/TC Beirne School of Law	Queensland's Human Rights Act: A new frontier for Australian climate change litigation?
19 May	Peter Baxter, CBCS	A national database of threatened species on Australian islands
26 May	Noam Levin, CBCS	World Heritage in danger: Big data and remote sensing can help protect sites in conflict zones
2 June	Leanne Fernandes, Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority	Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority policy and planning: Focus upon the draft Intervention Policy
9 June	Nathalie Butt, CBCS	Using species traits to understand vulnerability
16 June	Holly Jones, Northern Illinois University	Potential for restoring Earth's damaged ecosystems
23 June	Catherine Lovelock, UQ	Linking-up blue carbon and restoration of coastal wetlands
30 June	Daniel Harris, UQ	How will the capacity of coral reefs to protect the coast change under rising sea levels?
7 July	Julia van Velden, Griffith University	Bushmeat hunting in Malawi: A multi-faceted approach to find solutions to complex social-ecological problems
14 July	Anastazia Banaszak, UNAM, Mexico	Upscaling coral restoration in a changing climate: Lessons from Mexico
21 July	Megan Saunders, CSIRO	Restoring our coasts
28 July	Dave Poulton, CBCS	Biodiversity offsetting in Canada: Two programs and a possibility
4 August	Amelia Wenger, CBCS	Can sustainable logging activities protect downstream ecosystem services?
11 August	Christine Beveridge, Mark Cooper and Daniel Ortiz-Barrientos, UQ, and Ian Wright, Macquarie University	Overview of ARC Centre of Excellence for Plant Success in Nature and Agriculture
18 August	Bradley Moggridge, Uni of Canberra & TSR Hub	Indigenous Research Methodologies in science
25 August	Sarah Bekessy, UM	Nature-based opportunities for resilient cities
1 September	Sean Maxwell, CBCS	Area-based conservation in the 21st century
8 September	Jutta Beher, UM	Using decision-science in conservation planning
15 September	Oded Berger-Tal, Ben Gurion University, Israel	The rules of attraction: The necessary role of animal cognition in explaining conservation failures and successes
22 September	Daniel Beaver, Conservation Geography	Private sector science advocacy: The Centre for Conservation Geography experience
29 September	Hernan Caceres Escobar, CBCS/IUCN	Bottom-up conservation: Engaging with the local community to develop better conservation actions
6 October	NO SEMINAR	Get-together in the Great Court 10:30am, BYO coffee
13 October	Eric Ash, Oxford University	Environmental factors, human presence and prey interact to explain patterns of tiger presence in Eastern Thailand
20 October	Helen Bostock Lyman, UQ	Review of deep sea corals from New Zealand
27 October	Robyn Gulliver, UQ	The characteristics and outcomes of Australian environmental advocacy
3 November	Ross Thompson, University of Canberra	Sustainability, certainty and reconciliation: Key challenges for water management in inland Australia
10 November	Kaitlyn Gaynor, NCEAS, University of California, Santa Barbara	Sharing space on a crowded planet: Temporal responses of large mammals to human disturbance
17 November	Steve Wilson, CBCS	Factors shaping the conservation of the Critically Endangered Javan Rhinoceros
24 November	Eduardo Gallo Caijao, CBCS/University of Washington	The governance and politics of migratory species conservation
1 December	Chris Gordon, Aarhus University, Denmark	Megafauna restoration, trophic rewilding and conservation management
8 December	Chris Jolly, The University of Melbourne	The consequences of island arks for endangered species and recipient communities
15 December	NO SEMINAR	NO SEMINAR

2019

DATE	SPEAKER	TALK TITLE
23 July	Paul Dennis, UQ	Microorganisms and the management of ecosystems
30 July	Richard Cottrell, University of Tasmania	Bridging the land-sea divide for food security and sustainability
6 August	Sophus zu Ermgassen, University of Kent	We need to talk about offsets: No Net Loss and the global infrastructure
13 August	Jeremy Simmonds, UQ	A crash course through the EPBC Act referral and approvals process
20 August	Dibesh Karmacharya, Center for Molecular Dynamics Nepal	Novel approaches to the conservation and management of the Bengal tiger in Nepal
27 August	Paula Prist, Universidade de São Paulo	Forest conservation, human health and politics in Brazil
3 September	Jaana Dielenberg, UQ	Getting media coverage for your research
10 September	Tim Seelig, DES	Making policy for the environment: Lifting the bonnet on policy processes and the role of research
17 September	Duan Biggs, Griffith University	Navigating conservation's cultural divides on iconic wildlife in a fast-changing, uncertain world
24 September	Angela Salim, UQ	Cane toad challenge
1 October	Kaline de Mello, Universidade de São Paulo	The challenge of environmental policies implementation: The case of the Forest Code in Brazil
8 October	Jacqueline Beggs, University of Auckland	Challenges for New Zealand conservation: From social wasps to kākāpo
15 October	Martin Stringer, Dow Centre for Sustainable Engineering Innovation	The world’s energy crisis, its solutions, and their consequences
22 October	James Allan, UQ	How much of Earth's terrestrial area must be conserved to safeguard biodiversity?
29 October	Andrew Baker, QUT	What are the best detection methods for conserving threatened antechinuses?
5 November	Paul Dennis, UQ	Microorganisms and the management of ecosystems
12 November	April Reside, UQ	Bringing ecology into Australia’s environmental law reform
19 November	Alison Johnston, Cornell/eBird	Big data analytics for avian ecology and conservation
26 November	Ian Tibbetts, UQ	Respecting Traditional Owners in Solomon Islands and Moreton Bay
3 December	Michael Noad, UQ	The songs of humpback whales, and why they matter for conservation
10 December	Leah Burns, Griffith University	Tourism and conservation in Iceland: Boom and doom?
17 December	Selina Ward, UQ	The problematic early period of coral lives: Battles for successful recruitment
24 December	NO SEMINAR	NO SEMINAR