Our Community

Helen Cathles

Helen is a grazier who runs a 4000 ha property at Wee Jasper, NSW, in partnership with her husband, Ian. The property runs fine/superfine wool Merinos and Angora goats, and also operates as a conferencing and farm stay business.

Helen has previously owned and managed a sheepskin manufacturing and retailing business at Wee Jasper from 1979-1996.  This business had good domestic and small export markets. She also taught manufacture of sheepskin techniques in North Korea, 1985.

Helen has the ability to liaise with all levels of Government and with people from all walks of life, and to coordinate and bring people together. Helen has presented at seminars on the impact of wild dogs and the outcomes from a cooperative management approach.

Murray Rankin

Murray has extensive director, senior consulting and executive experience gained over 25 years in Information Communications Technology, national security, law enforcement, renewable energy and the private equity finance sectors.

Murray will build on the entrepreneurial business and commercial focus of the Board. He is passionate about helping organisations achieve their objectives and deliver stakeholder value through the application of good governance and sound strategy. Murray currently holds Chair and Director positions on eight boards.

Peter Noble

Peter is an executive leader and senior lawyer with an international profile developed with prominent global law firms, and seats on numerous boards and executive leadership teams.

He has a notable legal career history of significant matters and executive roles in large complex organisations, and specialisations in governance and risk management, strategic acquisition, integration management, and sustainability. In addition to his legal and executive leadership experience he holds numerous appointments including academic, industrial, business and to the board of a United Nations Environment Program Finance Initiative.

Peter has a background working in RD&E management of IP and commercialisation and is also a producer in his own right in the Southern Highlands backgrounding about 100 steers a year. He also uses soil testing to improve pastures and assist in weed eradication.

David Palmer

David has extensive agricultural experience as well as leadership and governance experience spanning 30 years.

This includes Managing Director of Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) 2006 – 2011 during the Free Trade Agreement negotiations in the United States and the development of TRILAMB, a three-country initiative designed to safeguard Australian lamb imports to the United States.

He has a focus on sound administration, good governance of industry funds and a track record of proven communication skills at all levels in the Australian red meat sector. David has held State and Federal advocacy positions, currently holding a number of senior chair and director positions on associated livestock and agricultural industry boards and authorities.

Dr Glen Saunders AM

Dr Saunders AM has over 40 years’ experience in pest animal management and research.

In that time he has conducted extensive research with particular focus on improving management strategies for invasives species. His professional qualifications include a PhD from Bristol University (UK) and a Masters of Science from Macquarie University.

Dr Saunders has held a wide range senior research and management leadership roles in both NSW DPI and the Invasive Animals CRC, including as Director of Invasive Plants and Animals and as Senior Principal Research Scientist in NSW DPI and Director of Research in the Invasive Animals CRC.

He has also been the Past President of the Australasian Wildlife Management Society (AWMS) and has served on many committees which have successfully guided invasives species management activities both nationally and internationally.

In 2010, Dr Saunders was awarded the  Medal of the Order of Australia for service to the protection of Australia’s biodiversity and agricultural production as a research leader in vertebrate pest management strategies and technologies and the winner of the Australian Wildlife Management Society Graeme Caughley Medal in 2007.

Jan Ferguson OAM

Jan is a leader and strategist for the 21^st Century. Her deep experience in innovation, knowledge and enterprise management is fused with a passion for people, teamwork, social justice and especially for rural and remote Australia.

She has a flair for building large, effective partnerships across industry, government, academia and the community to understand and solve major challenges. Jan now works as a strategist and company director with organisations that reflect her broad range of interests.

For nine years she managed Ninti One Limited, a national not-for-profit that delivered notable results for people, industries and communities in remote Australia through research, innovation and enterprise development. Its research findings have helped raise the issues of this vast region (which generates most of our export wealth) along with those of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, in the national awareness, engendering a new respect and richer dialogue about progress, participation and prosperity.

Jan also worked for more than 15 years as a senior executive in the South Australian Government and was 1997 Telstra Business Woman of the Year (SA Public Sector Category). Her managerial expertise embraces fields such as the arts, Aboriginal affairs, economics, education, energy, knowledge and research management, precision pastoralism, rangelands issues and tourism. She has extensive experience in developing relevant, insightful and compelling reports.

Having lived in Beltana in northern SA, and Alice Springs, NT, she has a particular, heartfelt commitment to building a better future for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and all remote Australians.

Andreas Glanznig

Mr Andreas Glanznig is the CEO of the Centre for Invasive Species Solutions (CISS). CISS is the successor to the Invasive Animals Cooperative Research Centre, also led by Mr Glanznig between 2010 and 2017, Australia’s largest integrated invasive animals research and innovation collaboration.

Over its 12-year life, the IA CRC developed a suite of new pest control products including rabbit and carp biocontrol agents, new genetic surveillance techniques, new wild dog, fox and feral pig toxic baits, and strategic knowledge and planning tools to strengthen collaborative regional scale integrated pest management.

Mr Glanznig’s 30 year career has traversed executive science management, policy analysis and advocacy, and strategic communications. Former roles include leading the World Wildlife Fund’s advocacy team on invasive species legislative and policy reform, and an Australian Government policy analyst.

Mr Glanznig has also served as a Director of the Weeds Cooperative Research Centre and the Global Invasive Species Program. He has degrees in Science and Letters, and a Masters of Business Administration.

Lucie Hassall

Lucie Hassall is the General Manager and Company Secretary of the Centre for invasive Species Solutions. In her role she is responsible for the operations of the company including our finances, contracts, governance arrangements, audit and risk analysis and other major activities.

Lucie is a Chartered Accountant who has over 25 years’ experience in the finance industry, including 9 years in the KPMG chartered accounting practice as an auditor and manager and 18+ years in Commercial Business, primarily at Lendlease Corporation. She has held Senior Finance Manager and Head Office accounting positions over the last 18 years focused on Financial Control, Cost Reporting, Risk Management, Office administration, Financial Systems, Management and Statutory Reporting.

Lucie is a member of the Instituted of Chartered Accountants in Australia and holds a Bachelor of Business (Accounting and Management) from the University of Technology Sydney

A/Prof. Richard Price

Dr Price has an immense amount of experience in the RD&E sector, with a particular focus on environmental and agricultural research. 

Closely aligned to the core objectives of CISS, Dr Price has managed several national agricultural and environmental R&D programs, including Grain & Graze, the National Dryland Salinity Program, National Soil Acidification Program, Integration in Catchment Management Program, Climate Variability in Agriculture Program and a host of government and community based biodiversity initiatives.

Most recently as Research Director & Deputy Director of the Australia-Indonesia Centre, he established a portfolio of energy, health, infrastructure, water and agriculture projects, overseeing over 400 researchers and HDR students across Australia and Indonesia.

Dr Price is an Honorary Associate Professor at the Fenner School of Environment & Society (Australian National University) and a winner of an Australia Museum National Banksia Award for biodiversity research.

Dr Price was made a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Agricultural Science and Technology in 2013 and has sat on Boards of Cooperative Research Centres, NGOs and Committees of the Prime Minister’s Science, Engineering & Innovation Council.

Dr Ian McDonald

Dr Ian McDonald is a science communication professional who has a strong background in research, education and community engagement.

In his role as Communications Manager he leads the implementation of the centre’s communications strategy to promote a diverse array of research projects. He has also coordinated the roll-out of major national pest animal campaigns and programs.

Ian has previously worked for national organisations such as the CSIRO, ANU, Alzheimer’s Australia and the Invasive Animals CRC.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor of Applied Science with Honours in Wildlife Management, UQ
• PhD in Animal Reproduction and Animal Immunology, UQ
• Master of Science Communication, ANU

Dr Tony Buckmaster

Dr Tony Buckmaster comes from an agricultural background having grown up and worked on the family farm but also has extensive experience in wildlife ecology and strategic pest management as well as 12 years of teaching and research experience.

He currently manages our Centre R&D program and leads our Balanced Research Program. He is also actively involved in several on-going research projects and convenes a Masters level unit in Vertebrate Pest Management for the University of Sydney.

Qualifications:
Bachelor of Science – University of Canberra
Honours in Applied Science – University of Canberra
PhD in Ecology – University of Sydney

Shan Southwell

Finance and Office Manager

Shan Southwell is the Finance and Office Manager of the Centre for Invasive Species Solutions and is responsible for the day to day finance and administration operations of the centre.

Shan has previously worked for organisations such as CARE Australia, The Australian Gas Association and Deloittes.  Shan is a member of the Instituted of Chartered Accountants in Australia and New Zealand and has Bachelor of Accounting from the Canberra College of Advance Education and a Graduate Diploma in Management Sciences from the University of Canberra.

Julie McGuiness

Julie McGuiness is the CISS Office Manager and Executive Assistant to the CEO. She has a background in administrative, organisational and research support roles in environmental conservation, medical research and biosecurity RD&E management organisations.

Qualifications:
Bachelor of Applied Science in Medical Laboratory Science, UC
Graduate Diploma in Biochemistry, ANU
Graduate Diploma in Environmental Management, CSU
Graduate Certificate in Ornithology, CSU
Certificate in Governance Practice, Governance Institute of Australia

Yvette Cazabon

Yvette Cazabon is Graphic/Web Designer, who is highly proficient in the use of the Adobe Creative Suite and Social Media and has a strong background in visual art.

Yvette’s role as Senior Graphic Designer & Content Coordinator gives support to the Communications team and utilises her graphic design, web and digital skills.

Yvette has previously worked at Department of the House of Representatives, Department of the Environment, Remote Area Health Corp and has had various freelance roles.

Qualifications:
Bachelor of Graphic Design, UC

Geena Correa

Geena is an aquaculturist and has worked in the pet retail industry among other places.

She provides administration and contract support for our Centre’s RD&E program.

Qualifications:

Bachelor of Science (Hons) – University of Tasmania

Jane Leslie

Jane Leslie is the Administration Assistant for CISS, providing office support to the finance and executive team. She is also the Executive Assistant to Andreas Glanznig, the CEO.

She has an extensive administrative background, working in a variety of private sector roles.

Dr Brad Page (Incursions Domain)

Principal Biosecurity Officer, Pest Animals

Brad’s current role with the Department of Primary Industries and Regions SA involves leading a team of policy and research staff who work with state and federal government agencies, Natural Resource Management boards and industry groups to provide technical and policy advice on the economic and environmental impacts and management of pest animals, including wild dogs, rabbits and deer.

Prior to this, Brad worked for the SA Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources for 5 years, implementing its strategic science agenda and providing technical leadership for South Australia’s marine parks monitoring program and other state-wide programs. Brad initially undertook research in the field of marine biology for 15 years, specialising in the ecological effects of commercial fisheries and their interactions with protected species.

During this phase, Brad completed his PhD at LaTrobe University and worked with SA Research and Development Institute – Aquatic Sciences for 10 years.

Dr Tony Pople (Landscape Management Domain)

Manager, Invasive Plants and Animals Research

Tony is an ecologist with a strong interest in the effects of predation on the dynamics of wildlife populations.  Predation may be commercial and recreational harvesting, culling or baiting programs, or exotic predators killing endangered prey species.

Other interests include aerial survey, deer management and mouse population dynamics.

Tony is Innovation Leader for the Integrated Landscapes Program. He was Leader of the Land Pests Program of the Invasive Animals CRC and manages Invasive Plants and Animals Research in Biosecurity Queensland.

Tony has a PhD in population ecology from the University of Queensland.

Dr Tanja Strive (Biocontrol Domain)

Principal Research Scientist

A molecular virologist by training, Tanja’s research over the past 15 years has focused on mitigating the impacts of invasive vertebrate pest species in Australia, using both lethal and non-lethal, GM and non-GM methods, targeting a series of species from Red foxes to mice, cane toads and in particular rabbits. Her earlier work with CSIRO investigated the development of virally vectored immunocontraception vaccines for foxes and mice, for which she was awarded the Pest Animal Control CRC Chairman’s medal for scientific excellence in 2004 and 2008.

During the past ten years Tanja has driven a combination of applied and basic fundamental research projects focussing on improving our understanding of the diseases used for classical biological control of rabbits. She has built an international track record in the area of rabbit calicivirus biology, ecology, epidemiology, evolution and virulence, which is evidenced in a series of high quality publications and invitations to present at national and international conferences.

Tanja has a PhD in molecular virology from Philipps Universitaet Marburg, Germany

Dr Agus Sunarto

Senior Research Scientist

Dr Agus Sunarto obtained his PhD in virology from the University of Queensland and was head of Fish Health Research Laboratory within the Indonesian Ministry of Fisheries before joining the CSIRO in 2013. Agus is a senior research scientist in the Managing Invasive Species & Diseases Program within the CSIRO Health and Biosecurity. His research interests include viral biocontrol of invasive fish. Currently, he is investigating the application of cyprinid herpesvirus 3 (CyHV-3) as a potential biocontrol agent for carp and tilapia lake virus (TiLV) for tilapia. Agus is based at the Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness (ACDP) in Geelong, Victoria.

Andrew Mitchell

Automated Weed Identification Program Manager

Andrew has more than 20 years’ experience in botany, vegetation mapping and surveying and strong skills in GIS. He has spent much of career being an environmental consultant, where has had previous roles developing software for environmental management purposes.

Through his work as an environmental consultant, Andrew has travelled throughout Australia and has documented both native vegetation and non-native plants including weeds.  To cover such a geographic range and to remember so many species, Andrew long ago committed to building databases and virtual herbariums to record his observations.  These records now account for more than 5000 species including most weed species.  His work as a consultant also included consultation with landholders about the economic and environmental impact of weeds.  Andrew has worked to raise awareness of many poorly known weedy species with weed control authorities.

Andrew will be based in Canberra at both the Centre for Invasive Species Solutions HQ and CSIRO Black Mountain Laboratories, however he will be spending a large amount of time in the field taking photos of invasive plants as part of the project in its developmental stages.

Dr Dave Forsyth

Researcher

Dr Forsyth has over 20 years experience in wildlife management and research. Since gaining his PhD in New Zealand in 1997 Dave has conducted a variety of long-term projects in Australia and New Zealand, focusing on understanding how to manage the impacts of overabundant large herbivores. Prior to joining the NSW Department of Primary Industries in 2016, Dave led the Wildlife Management Program at the Victorian Government’s Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research. There he supervised projects investigating the distributions, abundances and impacts of deer. Dave has been contracted to provide research and technical advice on vertebrate pests to a variety of state, national and international agencies.

Dr Dave Ramsey

Principal Scientist (Program Leader) – Wildlife Management

Dave Ramsey is a quantitative ecologist conducting research primarily related to the population dynamics and management of vertebrate pest species.  After completing his PhD in 1996 he worked for 11 years in New Zealand at Landcare Research working primarily on the population dynamics and epidemiology of bovine tuberculosis in brushtail possums.  During this time he was also a member of the technical advisory group for the New Zealand Animal Health Board from 2005 to 2006 advising on strategies for the eradication of bovine Tb from wildlife. Since 2007 he has been working at the Arthur Rylah Institute in Victoria where I work on a range of wildlife management issues.  He has worked with both The  Nature Conservancy (USA) and Island Conservation (USA) developing structured frameworks for quantifying pest eradication success on offshore islands.

Qualifications: BAppSc (distintiction) 1988, QUT;  PhD 1996, QUT

Dr David Peacock

Biosecurity Research Officer

An ecologist and author of a number of published journal articles, reports and book chapters, David holds the position of Research Officer with the Natural Resources Management Biosecurity Unit of the Department of Primary Industries and Regions South Australia (PIRSA). David primarily undertakes research on rabbits focussing on improving their control by the RHDV and myxomatosis biocontrols through an ongoing 21 year project at Turretfield in SA. He has also surveyed invading cane toads in SW Qld, mapped rabbit warrens for destruction, undertaken landscape fox control, planned and assisted in the reintroduction of the western quoll (Dasyurus geoffroii) to SA, surveyed landholders about feral deer and helped address numerous other pest animal issues.

David has fulfilled a diverse range of roles throughout his career including Technical Officer, National Park Ranger and Research Fellow. He completed a Bachelor of Applied Science (Wildlife and Park Management), followed by a Diploma in Natural Resources in 1990, and a PhD in 2003 focusing on “The search for a novel toxicant in Gastrolobium (Fabaceae: Mirbelieau) seed historically associated with toxic native fauna”.  An outcome from this PhD research is a current collaborative project to develop a toxic ‘population protecting implant’ to remove predating feral cats and stop them wiping out reintroduced or vulnerable native fauna populations.

Prof. Dianne Gleeson

Science Program Director

Dianne is a wildlife geneticist, with 18yrs of research experience in the application of DNA technologies for biodiversity conservation outcomes in both New Zealand and Australia.

Her career focus has been facilitating the translation of fundamental research into outcomes for end-users. Previously at Landcare Research NZ, she developed a successful business unit, EcoGene, resulting in a national award for Women in Science Entrepreneurship.

Currently she leads a team at the Institute for Applied Ecology, University of Canberra, which is focused on the development of eDNA technologies for individual species detection and whole community analysis in freshwater systems.

Qualifications:

PhD, Australian National University;

BSc University of Auckland.

Prof. Don Hine

Professor, School of Psychology and Behavioural Science

Professor Hine specialises in environmental psychology, research methods, and statistics. His research focuses on understanding the factors that underlie environmental problems such as resource over-consumption, climate change, air pollution, and invasive species. His research group designs and evaluates behaviour change strategies to help solve these problems.

Dr Elise Furlan

Post-doctoral research fellow in Molecular Ecology

Elise is a post-doctoral research fellow with over 15 years’ experience in molecular genetics. She strives to develop high quality, rigorous scientific methods and apply them to wildlife management problems. Elise was one of the first researchers in Australia to develop techniques to analyse environmental DNA (eDNA) and was instrumental in the creation of eDNA facilities at the University of Canberra to enable high-sensitivity detection of trace DNA. She has applied a single-species approach to infer the presence or absence of native and invasive species (including detection of invasion fronts and confirming eradication success), and is currently working on using eDNA to infer the abundance of fish species in waterways. Elise has also employed metabarcoding to detect the presence of multiple species simultaneously and has applied this to determine the diet composition of various species and to detect biodiversity at a site.

Elise completed a Bachelor of Science (Hons) and PhD in Genetics at the University of Melbourne.

Greg Mifsud

National Wild Dog Management Coordinator

Greg Mifsud is the National Wild Dog Management Coordinator funded through the Centre for Invasive Species Solutions through a co-investment model that includes WoolProducers Australia, Australian Wool Innovation Ltd, Meat and Livestock Australia, Animal Health Australia, Sheep Producers Australia and the Cattle Council of Australia.

Dr Hanwen Wu

Principal Research Scientist

Dr Wu is a Principal Research Scientist and a group leader in weed research and management at Wagga Wagga Agricultural Institute, NSW DPI. He has been active in weed research since 1997 and has diverse research experience in chemical ecology, weed biology, genetic diversity, herbicide resistance and weed management. He is a globally recognised expert in the biology and management of many important agricultural and environmental weeds such as flaxleaf fleabane and silverleaf nightshade. He has supervised a large number of research projects funded by various funding bodies such as GRDC, MLA, RIRDC and CRDC. Many of these multidisciplinary research projects involve the collaboration between taxonomists, social and economic scientists, molecular geneticists and weeds professionals from various organisations. 

Dr Wu also leads an impressive outreach program, promptly disseminating research results to growers, Ag-advisors, Weed/NRM officers, academic peers and other stakeholders through Research updates, field days, workshops, grower’s articles, professional conferences, media interviews and academic publications. The active research dissemination has significantly benefited farmers, agricultural and scientific communities. 

Dr Lynette McLeod

Postdoctoral Fellow

Lynette is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of New England. Her primary research field is environmental psychology, concentrating on the application of human behaviour change approaches to improve current extension and adoption practices. Current research projects have covered a variety of environmental and agricultural issues, including domestic cats, wild dogs, widespread weeds and chemical spray application. Lynette has over twenty five years of experience working in invasive mammal management with NSW DPI, Local Land Services and community groups. In 2017 she completed a PhD on human behaviour change and domestic cat containment.

Dr Malcolm Kennedy

Research Officer

Malcolm has worked in the field of ecology for over twenty years. He undertook a Bachelor of Science (Hons) at Macquarie University and PhD in Natural and Rural Systems Management at the University of Queensland. He has been employed in a range of roles in universities and private and government conservation organisations, and worked across invasion ecology, predation and fire ecology. He is now employed as a Research Officer with Biosecurity Queensland. His current research includes a strong focus on wild dog management but also includes work on large feral herbivores, feral pigs and new incursions.

Malcolm is the Project Leader for the Queensland Cluster Fencing project.

Dr Mark Tizard

Principle Research Scientist, Project Leader; Genome Engineering

Mark began his career in the UK in the early days of gene cloning as part of the team that studied vaccines for malaria (Holder et al, 1984, Nature). He came to Australia and CSIRO following the impact of postdoctoral bringing over technology to identify the bacterium that causes the wasting disease of cattle and sheep known as Johne’s disease.

New opportunities in CSIRO allowed to explore the emerging field of RNA interference and microRNA biology. His group was the first to catalogue the microRNA repertoire of the chicken (Glasov et al, 2009, Genome Research), a model system in which he later developed a novel approach to tackle bird ‘flu. As the new era of gene editing began his lab has lead the way with new approaches to disease control in poultry and an interesting spin-off, a new method to remove males from the egg-layer industry without having to hatch and cull day-old chicks (the current practice). Many of these development, though called for by industry, are yet to go into practice, as industry and the public grapple with what GM and gene editing mean in an animal food context.

With the advent of “CRISPR/Cas9”, and the ease of applying gene editing in poultry, Mark has broadened his horizons to take a look at how these techniques might be applied in the genetic control of vertebrate pests. His current interests are in gene editing in the cane toad and exploring the possibilities of the new gene drive technology for fish and rodent pests.

Dr Matt Gentle

Senior Zoologist

Dr Matt Gentle (BAppSci, PhD) is a Senior Zoologist at the Pest Animal Research Centre, Biosecurity Qld, in Toowoomba, Queensland. Matt started his career at NSW DPI and subsequently completed his PhD on fox baiting practices on the central tablelands of New South Wales. Since 2004 his work has focused on investigating the ecology, impacts and management of pests including feral pigs, foxes, wild dogs and feral cats in Queensland.

Dr Matt Sheehan

National Coordinator, National Environment and Community Biosecurity RDE Strategy

Matt has been actively involved in natural resource management for the past 18 years. He has expertise in coastal and estuarine management and biosecurity and threatened species policy and management Australia-wide.

Matt has worked within the public and private sectors, as well as for NGOs and research institutes. Over the past 10 year he has held national coordination roles where he has worked extensively with local, state and national governments, community groups and industry. He has established extensive networks in NRM across Australia.

Matt is passionate about improving how natural resource management issues are communicated. He works tirelessly to ensure consultation process are meaningful, so that participants feel empowered, take ownership of the issue and are motivated to work collectively towards a common outcome. Matt enjoys being the conduit between policy makers, researchers and land managers, ensuring that the needs and expertise of each party is communicated and used to make strategic decisions which will lead to the best possible outcomes.

Matt holds a Bachelor of Applied Science from LaTrobe University and a PhD from the University of Tasmania.

Dr Michelle Christy

National Incursions Prevention and Response Facilitator

Michelle is an accomplished scientist, manager, consultant, and in conservation ecology. She has worked nationally and internationally with governments, industry and community to provide implementable solutions to ecological problems from endangered species recovery to incursion prevention.

Her recent published research includes, determining pathways of incursion, probability of detection, and establishing what motivates animals to move.

She developed and implemented a national incursion management program, the foundation of which is effectiveness, simplicity and collaboration.

Michelle has a PhD (University of Sydney), and BAppSC, Hons with Distinction (Curtin University).

Dr Pat Taggart

Research Officer (rabbits)

Dr Pat Taggart is a Research Officer (rabbits) with the Vertebrate Pest Research Unit (Biosecurity and Food Safety) of the NSW Department of Primary Industries. His primary role is to investigate interactions between RHDV2 and other RHDVs and its potential as an additional rabbit biocontrol agent.

Since 2011, Pat has worked within the field of environmental consulting and sub-contracting conducting targeted and general fauna surveys for various government and non-government organisations, both within Australian and internationally.

More recently Pat completed his PhD at the University of Adelaide which investigated factors influencing the presence of cat-borne diseases in wildlife, livestock and people. Over the years, Pat has developed extensive experience in trapping, catching, handling and sampling a wide range of native and exotic wildlife.

Qualifications:

• PhD Wildlife and Disease Ecology – University of Adelaide (2019)
• (Hons) (Enhanced Hanced Program for High Achievers) (Biodiversity and Conservation) – Flinders University (2015)

Dr Paul Meek

Project Leader Wild Dog Alert & E-Hub Intelli traps

Paul completed his under-graduate Degree at Roseworthy in SA, a Master’s Degree on the biology and ecology of foxes, free-roaming dogs and cats in Jervis Bay at University Canberra and completed his PhD at the University of New England on camera trapping. He was awarded the Chancellors Post-Doctoral Research Award for his PhD research. Paul has been working in the ecology field for over 30 years in positions throughout Australia and has been fortunate to work overseas, including 3 years on Christmas Island. He is currently working for NSW Dept Primary Industries in the Invasive Plant and Animal Unit; he is a research collaborator of the Vertebrate Pest Research Unit and CISS, and an Adjunct Lecturer with the University of New England. Primary work roles are developing policy framework for pest management that integrate new research findings into control and monitoring. He also contributes to research that benefits pest management and impact monitoring, conducting training and working with all pest agencies throughout Australia to develop best practice. Paul is Project Leader for the Wild Dog Alert and e-Hub Intelli Trap Projects.

Areas of expertise include, camera trapping, predator trapping, small mammal trapping, radio tracking, fox, wild dog and feral cat ecology, Hastings River Mouse and Christmas Island shrew ecology.

Paul was awarded a Churchill Fellowship in 2011 investigating the use of camera traps in wildlife research and monitoring.

Dr Peter Adams

Development Officer, Invasive Species

Dr Peter Adams has >16 years research experience focusing on applied ecology, with the aim of improving our understanding of the physiology, behaviour and impact of vertebrate pests to inform and improve current conservation and pest management strategies. Peter has participated in a range of scientific research on vertebrate pests including pigs, foxes, cats, and deer. In particular, Peter has focused on the impacts of feral pigs, investigating the abundance and digging activities of feral pigs on different landscapes, as well as methods for controlling and managing these impacts. More recently, he has been involved in research to evaluate the efficacy of thermal sensors to detect and monitor feral pigs and other vertebrate pests. Peter is currently a Development Officer with the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development and works to facilitate coordinated and improved vertebrate pest management by community-led groups. This involves the adoption of ‘best practice’ management and innovative technologies to improve control efficiency.

Qualifications:

BSc in Biotechnology (Honours 1^st Class)

PhD Veterinary Parasitology

Dr Peter Caley

Senior Research Scientist

Peter Caley has a background in applying quantitative methods for addressing contemporary problems in the environmental sciences. This has included the development and application of statistical methods to generate quantitative inference where previously, qualitative assessments dominated. His current research areas include applying Bayesian Hierarchical methods for inferring population trends in mobile species, developing methods for monitoring small populations, and using citizen science for species surveillance.

Peter has key statistical skills needed for making inference from ecological monitoring data.

Qualifications

• PhD
• MApplSc
• BSc

Peter West

Senior Research Officer and Invasive Species Officer (Engagement)

Peter is a Senior Research Officer and Invasive Species Officer (Engagement) within the NSW Department of Primary Industries, in Orange. He has 20 years’ experience in invasive species research and wildlife management. He is a national facilitator and project leader for the Centre for Invasive Species Solutions, working to empower communities, develop community surveillance technology, support networks, build community capacity and design citizen science programs to involve community in invasive species management. He recently received a prestigious national Banksia Award for innovation in citizen science.

A/Prof. Phill Cassey

Associate Professor

Phill is a leading global change biologist. He has published extensively (>200 papers) on the conservation, transport and trade in animal species. Phill leads a research intensive laboratory at the University of Adelaide.

He teaches extensively in ecological research and research methods, and is the coordinator for the University of Adelaide’s Bachelor of Science Advanced program. Phill has been awarded a large number of competitive international research project and training grants (totalling more than AU$6M).

Phill is an experienced scientific communicator and regularly engages with stakeholders, media, and scientific forums.

Dr Simon Humphrys

Commercialisation Manager (left in December 2017)

Simon is an experienced senior manager who has focussed on applying and commercialising research and development (R&D) outputs for the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, animal health, agricultural chemical and veterinary medicines industries. Simon was a Program Leader at the Invasive Animals Cooperative Research Centre where he effectively engaged government agencies, industry, and other stakeholders to successfully manage a portfolio of projects aimed at reducing the impact pest species have on animal health and biosecurity.

Simon holds a Bachelor of Agricultural Science (hons), a PhD in Medicine, and was awarded a prestigious Professional Fulbright Scholarship in 2017.

Dr Susan Campbell

Research Scientist, Invasive Species

Currently working with the West Australian Department for Primary Industries and Regional development, Susan is an ecologist with over ten years’ experience in the field of invasive pest animal research.  Her research primarily focusses on preventing new incursions of starlings, an invasive pest bird, into the western third of Australia, Susan is also the West Australian co-ordinator for rabbit biological control and she collaborates closely with other CISS researchers who are currently investigating biological and genetic alternatives for control of established pest animals.  With an Honours degree and PhD in microbat conservation from the University of Melbourne, Susan also has a keen interest in the direct and indirect conservation benefits ensuing from improved pest animal management.

Dr Tarnya Cox

Professional Officer

Tarnya has participated in research projects on a variety of species including flying foxes and rodents in northern Queensland, mice in South Australia, grey squirrels in the UK and rodents in Cambodia. Tarnya’s previous research has included identifying prey species of owl through bone fragments, the role of flying foxes in the transmission of Leptospirosis, and the use of predator scents to deter vertebrate pests from palatable feed.  Current research includes assessing the impact of biological control tools on rabbits and the use of emerging technologies to improve pest animal detection.

Tarnya has a PhD in Wildlife Ecology and Vertebrate Pest Management from the University of QLD.

Dr Tracey Kreplins

Research Scientist

Tracey is a wildlife ecologist who has being researching for over a decade. Coming from an academic and government background Tracey is a versatile researcher who has worked with a range of native and invasive species in conservation and agricultural environments.

Tracey completed her honours and PhD on endangered mammals and tree declines at Murdoch University, Perth. Tracey has also worked on a range of wildlife species whilst a fauna conservation officer with Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions for many years. More recently, Tracey was a post-doctoral researcher at Murdoch University  investigating wild canids and their impact on agriculture. This research looked at land holder canid control practices, bait efficacy, guardian animals and learned aversion behaviours around wild dogs, feral cats and foxes.

Currently, Tracey is a research scientist with the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development focusing on wild dog management in farming and pastoral areas. Her research investigates a range of management tools from fencing, canid pest ejectors, non-lethal deterrents to using whole system approaches. Whilst in the Department Tracey has also been involved in feral pig management, thermal imagery and industry engagement.

In 2020 Tracey will travel to South Africa as a Winston Churchill Fellow to investigate predator management in agricultural and farming contexts.

Dr Wendy Ruscoe

Ecologist

Dr Ruscoe works as an ecologist for CSIRO at Black Mountain, Canberra.

Her research is focused on the understanding the ecology and impacts of pest animals in both agricultural and conservation settings.

Her primary expertise is in wildlife ecology, quantitative analysis of ecological data, and modelling population dynamics and species interactions (plant-herbivore, predator-prey).

She has worked for 15 years at Landcare Research in New Zealand studying trophic level interactions among pest species, principally competition between exotic rodents and possums, and predation effects of higher order pests (ferrets, stoats, cats) on meso predators (rodents).  This involved large scale manipulation experiments in indigenous forests and fragmented agricultural grasslands.  Other projects revolve around measuring the benefit of management agency pest control measures for native biota and translating this into monitoring and management plans for agencies involved in biodiversity protection and reporting.

She has a PhD in ecology and population genetics of cane-field rats in sugarcane crops.

Adam Toomes

Ph.D. Candidate

Background

I am an early-stage Higher Degree Research student who has studied and worked in South Australia since 2013. My undergraduate Honours project (completed in 2017 under the supervision of Associate Professor Phillip Cassey) used hierarchical modelling to predict the distribution of an endangered Cunningham’s skink (Egernia cunninghami) population under future climate change. Since then I have collaborated with citizen scientists to improve conservation outcomes for this species and attended multiple conferences in order to emphasise the importance of occupancy-detection monitoring.

Ph.D. Project

As part of CISS, I am currently undertaking a project entitled: ‘Understanding and intervening in illegal trade in non-native species’, which investigates Australia’s role in the spread of potentially invasive species via the illegal wildlife trade. By developing open-source data mining techniques, I aim to analyse online e-commerce platforms to identify broad temporal and spatial trends in the quantity and species diversity of exotic species traded within Australia as well as native species traded internationally. My long-term research objective is to reduce both the opportunity and incentives that have allowed the online illegal wildlife trade to thrive.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor of Science (Honours) 2017
• First Class Honours
• Biology Society of South Australia research grant
• Russell Baudinette Travel Scholarship
• Bill Retalic Prize for Science & Justice

• Bachelor of Science (Advanced)                                     2014 – 2016
• GPA 6.68/7
• Outstanding Academic Achievement Award
• Elsie Marion Cornish Prize

Egi Kardia

Postdoctoral Fellow

Egi received her BSc in Biology from Universitas Padjadjaran, Indonesia in 2011.

She completed her PhD in Cellular and Molecular Biology from Universiti Sains Malaysia in 2017 where she studied the repair and regeneration process of airway epithelium following aerosol-based stem/progenitor cell therapy in acute lung injury model.

Egi joined the rabbit biocontrol team at CSIRO in 2018 as a Postdoctoral fellow. Her current project focuses on developing rabbit organoid culture to study the replication and infection mechanism of rabbit caliciviruses.

Elena Smertina

PhD Candidate

I graduated from the faculty of Medicine department of Pharmaceutical  sciences of Lomonosov Moscow State University in 2018. I did my bachelor’s project on poliovirus, revealing how important is the interaction of one if its non structural proteins with its genome for viral replication.

For my honours project I went to Finland and worked on oncolytic viruses at the University of Helsinki faculty of Pharmacy.

Now I’m a PhD candidate at the University of Canberra and CSIRO working on rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus.

Jack Rojahn

PhD Candidate

Born and raised in Canberra, Jack completed a Bachelor of Psychology and an Honours in Applied Science at the University of Canberra. Throughout his Honour’s year, Jack developed molecular techniques capable of detecting the highly endangered corroboree frog from water samples, which he then used to infer reintroduction success of captive bred populations released into the wild.

Jack has been working as a research assistant as part of the EcoDNA group at the Institute for Applied Ecology. He conducts fieldwork across Australia collecting eDNA samples for various projects such as the National Carp Control Plan, monitoring of macro-invertebrates along the Murray River, and eDNA detection of the Macquarie Perch throughout Abercrombie NP. He also conducts lab work using single-species molecular approaches to inform the presence or absence of native and invasive species, and metabarcoding techniques to assess diet composition of sea birds.

Jack is now completing a PhD at the University of Canberra through the Centre for Invasive Species Solutions, under the supervision of Dr Dianne Gleeson and Dr Elise Furlan implementing, eDNA and metabarcoding techniques across a diverse range of taxa and ecosystems. His PhD is funded through our Centre.

Jose Huaman Torres

PhD Candidate

I was born and raised in Lima, Peru. I graduated from Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos (UNMSM), Lima with a Bachelor of Science in Biology with specialization in Microbiology and Parasitology, followed by a Master degree in Microbiology. After graduation, I spent nine years working as research assistant at NAMRU-6, Peru, where I obtained a strong research background in laboratory assays, emerging disease surveillance and epidemiology.

I enrolled at LaTrobe University Microbiology PhD program in March 2018, working under the guidance of Karla Helbig, PhD and Teresa Carvalho, PhD. Also, my PhD project is part of the Arthur Rylah Institute (Carlo Paccioni, PhD) and the Centre for Invasive Species Solutions (CISS).

My research project focusses in to know the role of wild deer in the transmission of pathogens to livestock in Australia. I will use a range of molecular biology techniques and bioinformatics tools to detect and classify the blood microbiome in wild deer and livestock, moreover study the possible epidemiological implications.

Katherine Hill

PhD Candidate

Katherine completed her Bachelor of Science in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Adelaide, and continued on to complete her Honours. For her honours, she studied using emerging forensic techniques to determine the origins of a highly invasive exotic species, the red-eared slider turtle (Trachemys scripta elegans). This involved using stable isotopes to identify if a slider incursion was a recently released captive animal, or is from an established wild population.

Katherine is now an early-stage PhD candidate in the Invasion Science and Wildlife Ecology group at the University of Adelaide, supervised by Associate Professor Phill Cassey. Her work involves investigating the pet trade of native and exotic birds, and continuing to develop the use of stable isotopes as a forensic tool for determining wild or captive origins.

Moses Omogbeme

PhD Candidate

Moses is currently enrolled as a PhD candidate at Murdoch University under the tutelage of Prof. Trish Fleming, Dr Halina Kobryn, Dr Malcolm Kennedy and Dr Tracey Kreplins. As part of CISS, his research project is on “Wild dog management and trophic interactions in landscape-scale cell fencing”.

He intends to quantify relationships underpinning wild dog densities and, the native and introduced herbivores within the Murchison Regional Vermin Cell (MRVC) on Western Australian Southern Rangelands, and hopes to develop empirical data to support the relationships between varying wild dog control efforts and total grazing pressure.

Moses has a Master’s Degree in Wildlife Ecology, and a Bachelor’s Degree (First Class Hons) in Animal and Environmental Biology, both at the University of Benin, Nigeria.

Moses emerged as the Best Graduating Student during his first degree. Consequently, after his National Youth Service (NYSC) year, he was awarded an appointment as a Graduate Assistant in 2015 at the University of Benin, then upgraded to the position of Assistant Lecturer in 2017 after his Master’s Degree.