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

Heidi brings over 20 years of experience in the NRM industry, specialising in engagement and collaboration. She has extensive expertise in  invasive species management, environmental water and project management, having worked across not-for-profit, private, local, and state government sectors.

Heidi served as the Victorian Rabbit Action Network (VRAN) Executive Officer at Agriculture Victoria from 2016 to 2023, where she led a participatory engagement process to enhance community capacity for managing rabbits across Victoria. In 2024, Heidi worked as a consultant, focusing on communications, partnership and stakeholder management. In addition to her work with CISS, Heidi is a member of Rabbit Free Australia and actively participates in the Australian Rabbit Managers Network. Her passion lies in fostering meaningful connections between people and the environment to achieve sustainable outcomes.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor of Applied Science (Environmental Science)

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

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.

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

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.

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 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 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.

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).