Our Community

Bruce Christie

Bruce has over 30 years of experience working in biosecurity, initially as a veterinarian dealing with animal health and production issues, and then across the broader biosecurity spectrum of animal and plant pests, diseases and weeds.

His most recent role was as the Deputy Director General Biosecurity and Food Safety with the NSW Department of Primary Industries where he was responsible for biosecurity and food safety strategy and policy development and implementation within NSW. Prior to that he was the NSW Chief Veterinary Officer where he led responses to a number of exotic disease incursions, including the successful eradication of Equine Influenza (EI) from NSW and Australia.

Since 2004, when he was appointed to the position of Director Animal and Plant Biosecurity, Bruce has driven a cross-sectoral agenda aimed at improving the effectiveness and efficiency of biosecurity systems for animals and plants in NSW and across Australia. He also represented NSW on the National Biosecurity Committee, chaired the Environment and Invasives Committee (EIC) for a number of years, and has been a key driver in the development of the national Intergovernmental Agreement on Biosecurity (IGAB) and the National Environmental Biosecurity Response Agreement (NEBRA).

Justin Bellanger

Justin has extensive director, senior consulting and executive leadership experience in natural resource management, aquaculture and fish management, spanning the non-government and government sectors.

Based in Denmark, Western Australia, Justin works as an Executive and Governance Services Consultant providing specialist services to businesses within the natural resource management sector.

Justin is the Independent Chair of the Aquaculture Council of Western Australia, a member of Biosecurity Council of Western Australia, a member of the National Environmental Biosecurity Advisory Group, and the Co-convenor/Governance Group Member of the National Biosecurity General Surveillance Community of Practice.

Justin is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, holds an Advanced Diploma of Leadership and Management from the Australian Institute of Management, and has Bachelor of Science with First Class Honours in Aquaculture from James Cook University.

Robbie Davis

Robbie has business experience in both the private and public sectors domestically and internationally, at Board level as a Non-Executive Director, and in reporting to a Board in the capacity of CEO.

With a strong understanding of whole-of-industry value chains, she also has a grazing property in the Upper SE of South Australia.  Following ten years living and working in SE Asia (Singapore, Indonesia, Brunei), she was self-employed as an agribusiness consultant until her appointment as CEO, Potatoes South Australia in 2012. She continues to consult privately.

Robbie believes that the reduction and transformation of food waste is critical to productivity gains, and to the sustainability and reputation of Australian agriculture. She also believes that R&D programs across agricultural sectors and value chains are vital to Australia attaining its $100b production target by 2030.

Her involvement in biosecurity has been extensive including as a representative on Primary Industries & Regions SA (PIRSA) Biosecurity SA’s Plant Health Technical Reference Panel, Market Access Program Working Group, and Stakeholder Reference Group in the development of the new Biosecurity Act for South Australia.  She presented at the 2018-19 National Roundtable Forum and has been a witness at Federal Senate Inquiries concerning importation of plant material.  She is also a member of the Limestone Coast Landscape Board which has a statutory function for the prevention and management of declared pest animals and weeds.

Robbie was profiled under PIRSA’s Women Influencing Agriculture and Regions in 2015, is the AgriFutures 2016 SA Rural Woman of the Year and is a graduate of the NFF’s Diversity in Agriculture Leadership Program 2019.

She holds a Bachelor of Agricultural Science, a Master of Business Administration (MBA) and is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (GAICD)

 Additional Board Positions include:

• Non-executive Director,  Chair Research & Commercialisation Committee and Member Industry Impact Committee for the Fight Food Waste (FFW) Cooperative Research Centre (CRC)
• Member Rural Bank Agribusiness Advisory Board
• Member Governing Board Research Consortium-Agricultural Product Development (University of Adelaide)
• Member Limestone Coast Landscape Board (LCLB)
• Company Secretary/Shareholder Puree Australia Pty Ltd

Jan Ferguson OAM

Jan is a leader and strategist for the 21st Century with deep experience in innovation, knowledge and enterprise management. She is passionate about people, teamwork, and social justice, 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.

Dr Adrian Zammit

BSc.Agr (Hons 1), PhD (agriculture), MBA, GAICD

With over 30 years of experience in environmental and agricultural sustainability, Adrian is co-founder of GreenSmart, serves on the boards of multiple companies and was previously the Deputy Director General of Infrastructure, Investment and Business Excellence at NSW Department of Primary Industries. Adrian was also the CEO of Landcare NSW from 2018 to 2021.

Specialising in water quality, biodiversity, and agriculture, he advocates for proactive sustainability solutions that turn environmental risks into opportunities, driving organisations toward sustainable growth.

As a C-suite executive and an Institute of Company Directors’ certified director, Adrian has successfully led, built, and transformed organisations both domestically and internationally, with a focus on corporate sustainability and ESG issues.

Adrian has a proven track record of identifying and capitalising on emerging opportunities, driving results, and delivering outcomes, and fostering open and effective communication with stakeholders.

Adrian is a lifelong learner and an innovative thinker, who seeks to leverage environmental and social responsibilities as a competitive advantage in today’s world.

Andreas Glanznig

Andreas Glanznig is the CEO of the Centre for Invasive Species Solutions (CISS), which succeeded the Invasive Animals Cooperative Research Centre (IA CRC). Under Andreas’ leadership from 2010, the IA CRC’s and CISS’s collaborative RD&E programs have developed management innovations, including biocontrol agents for rabbits and carp, new genetic surveillance techniques, new digital surveillance products for weed identification, and toxic baits for wild dogs, foxes, and feral pigs.

With a career spanning 35 years, Andreas has extensive experience in science management, policy analysis, advocacy and strategic communications. His previous roles included leading WWF’s biodiversity and invasive species advocacy team that elevated island pest eradications nationally and secured funding for the Macquarie Island rodent and rabbit eradication program. He has also been a Board Director of the Weeds Cooperative Research Centre and the Global Invasive Species Program.

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

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, The University of Canberra
• Honours in Applied Science, The University of Canberra
• PhD in Ecology, The University of Sydney

David Picker

As the Head of Strategic Partnerships at The Centre for Invasive Species Solutions, David is responsible for growing and sustaining long-term funding by identifying new investment opportunities and securing corporate partnerships that provide mutually beneficial outcomes.

David has extensive agribusiness experience within the private and public sectors, a career spanning 20 years with a strong focus on international and domestic trade investments and revenue growth.

David joined the Centre after playing a vital role in launching a successful Agtech company and has previously held influential industry roles providing strategic representation and advice to advancing Australia’s global leadership position in agriculture, including commodity marketing and traceability, biosecurity, animal welfare, modernising legislation and social license initiatives.

Dr Baxter Massey

As the Senior Research & Development Coordinator, Baxter’s main responsibilities include managing current and emerging projects, such as weed RD&E projects. This includes assisting with the commercialisation of CISS outputs, managing data, and supporting the administration of contracts and projects.

With a strong interest in controlling invasive species, Baxter brings over four years’ experience in conducting molecular biology research on fungal and viral biocontrol agents at Landcare Research Ltd, New Zealand. His work on using Araujia mosaic virus (ArjMV) as a biocontrol agent on Moth plant has been published in Archives of Virology (2007) and the Australasian Plant Pathology Society (2009).

He spent nearly a decade at the Australian National University, contributing to plant molecular biology research projects, particularly cloning plant lines with the goal of improving photosynthesis in crop plants.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor of Science (Biological Sciences), The University of Auckland
• Master of Science (Molecular Microbiology), The University of Auckland
• Doctor of Philosophy (Plant Molecular Biology), The University of Queensland

Shan Southwell

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.

Karen Gregory

Karen brings a firsthand appreciation of invasive species including blackberries, rabbits and foxes from her earliest days growing up on a dairy farm. Today, she’s an active Bushcare volunteer in her homebase of Wollongong, where she’s gained insights into the impact of both feral deer and environmental weeds.

She has a BA in Journalism from RMIT University and a Master of Business (Marketing) from The University of Wollongong.

Sreshti Nair

Sreshti has experience in the social and education development sector in a fundraising, marketing and communications capacity. She is responsible for providing operational support and the delivery of CISS Communication and Marketing Plans.

Sreshti holds the following qualifications:

• BA (Hons) in Economics, The University of Manchester
• Master of Business Administration (Marketing), Macquarie Business School

Dawn Jean Luc

Dawn comes from a decade long career working as a Bio Medical Technician creating and maintaining genetically modified pedigrees for research utilising mutagenesis techniques including EDU and CRISPR, a Biosecurity Officer and Animal Ethics Officer at The John Curtin School of Medical Research as well as a Field Ecology Assistant on several conservation projects attached to the Australian National University and Australian Conservation Foundation. Specialising in Animal Behaviour and Welfare Dawn has worked with a wide variety of vertebrate species from lab animals to livestock, to native species and even exotic wildlife such as old-world primates and meerkats.

Dawn holds the following qualifications:

• Adv Diploma Animal Technology, CIT
• Diploma Event Management, AD1

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.

Greg Mifsud

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.

Gillian Basnett

Gillian Basnett has been in the role of National Feral Cat and Fox Management Coordinator since its inception in early 2021. She has a background in community engagement, science communication, Landcare and natural resource management with extensive experience in wildlife ecology and management, and fire ecology. She has spent much of her career in positions that improve environmental conservation and sustainable agriculture through research, hands-on field work, education, engagement and empowerment of the community. Throughout, the management of cats and foxes have been a common theme.

Gill has extensive experience rolling out programs and projects focused on improving habitat, native vegetation regeneration and feral animal and weed control, by partnering with the community and local stakeholders. She has worked across several Australian States in a range of roles for government and non-government organisations as well as a private consultant.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor of Science (Resource and Environmental Management) – Australian National University
• Master of Environmental Science – University of Wollongong
• Master of Environmental Science (Research) – University of Wollongong

Dr Thomas Nelson

Tom is a nature enthusiast with a keen interest in invasive species control. He supports Gillian Basnett — the Centre’s National Feral Cat and Fox Management Coordinator — working on project communications and the development of extension materials for land managers, community groups, pest control professionals and biosecurity organisations.

Tom recently graduated from The University of Adelaide’s doctoral program where his research focused on investigating the relationship between brain blood flow and metabolism in birds and mammals.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor of Science majoring in Ecology and Zoology, The University of Adelaide
• Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Environmental Biology, The University of Adelaide
• Doctorate of Philosophy in Biological Science, The University of Adelaide

Darren Marshall

Lead Researcher, Feral Animal Projects, Centre for Invasive Species Solutions

Bringing over 20 years’ experience in natural resource management, Darren Marshall heads up the Centre’s on-ground feral animal projects, specialising in feral pigs.

Darren has developed extensive experience in workshop facilitation to bring awareness of emerging risks, projects, legislation, and best practices control measures.

Using biophysical research to gain new insights into feral animal behaviour and humane control methods, Darren focuses management practices to safeguard both environmental values and agricultural productivity at landscape scale.

Darren is at the leading edge of this work as he completes a PhD (through a collaboration with the University of New England and the USA’s Penn State University) using biophysical research as a vehicle to motivate land managers to take collective action to address the feral pig issue in Australia.

Lachlan Marshall

Senior Technical Officer, Centre for Invasive Species Solutions

As a key member of the Centre’s Feral Animal Projects team, Lachlan Marshall brings significant natural resource management experience, with particular expertise in feral animal research and management.

With experience in managing and monitoring feral species at both property and regional level, Lachlan is a natural communicator able to engage and connect with stakeholders and landowners on the challenges of feral animal management to protect and build healthy ecosystems.

Qualification:

• Bachelor of Science majoring in Ecology and Conservation Biology, Griffith University

Dave Worsley

As the NE NSW Wild Dog Coordinator, Dave Worsley works to coordinate management of wild dogs in the region alongside wool and other livestock producers, public land managers, industry bodies, government departments and other stakeholders to reduce the impact of wild dog predation on livestock.

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 Carlo Pacioni

Senior Scientist | Wildlife Management

Dr Carlo Pacioni is a Senior Scientist in the Wildlife Management Program at the Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research, Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning and an adjunct senior lecturer at Murdoch University.

Dr Pacioni, in addition to a background in epidemiology and wildlife disease investigations, has extensive experience in population genetics and modelling. In recent years,

Dr Pacioni has dedicated substantial attention to the use of molecular data for demographic estimation and phylodynamic analyses.

Professor Paul Thomas

Director: South Australian Genome Editing (SAGE) Facility, Director: Genome Editing Program SAHMRI, Professor: School of Medicine, The Faculty of Health and Medical Science

Professor Paul Thomas leads the Genome Editing Program and South Australian Genome Editing (SAGE) Facility at the University of Adelaide and the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute.

He is using CRISPR/CAS9 genome editing technology for a range of applications including development of synthetic gene drives for suppression of invasive mammalian pests, generation and analysis of mouse models for epilepsy and development of genetic therapies for inherited muscle and eye diseases. He has published more than 100 scientific articles (>9,000 citations) and is supported by competitive funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council and the Australian Research Council.

Dr Annelise Wiebkin

National Deer Management Coordinator

Dr Annelise Wiebkin has background with Biosecurity SA leading senior policy, technical, research and management work across SA.

Prior to Biosecurity SA, Annelise work ranged terrestial and marine NRM from the tropics to the Antarctic.

Annelise brings boundless enthusiasm as well as strengths in engaging groups with diverse values.

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 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 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 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.

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 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 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 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 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.

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 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.

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 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.

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.

Professor 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 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.

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 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 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 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.

Professor 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.

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

Associate Professor 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 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 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

Elena Smertina

PhD Candidate

Elena is a PhD candidate at the University of Canberra and CSIRO working on rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus as part of the Centre’s Balanced Researcher Program.

Elena graduated from the Faculty of Medicine Department of Pharmaceutical  Sciences of Lomonosov Moscow State University in 2018.

For her honours project Elena went to Finland and worked on oncolytic viruses at the University of Helsinki faculty of Pharmacy. She did her bachelor’s project on poliovirus, revealing how important is the interaction of one if its non-structural proteins with its genome for viral replication.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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