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Dr Angela Dean is a conservation social scientist with more than 20 years’ experience leading research and engagement programs with diverse communities, from urban residents to rural farming communities. Her research draws on behavioural science to explore patterns and drivers of environmental stewardship, how people experience and perceive environmental change, and the effectiveness of different engagement & communication approaches in encouraging uptake of conservation actions. Angela works closely with a range of government and NGO partners, coordinating social monitoring of engagement in reef and waterway stewardship.

Paul Dennis leads an exciting research group that applies cutting-edge technologies to understand the roles of microorganisms and their responses to environmental change.

He is also a passionate educator and public speaker who advocates for the importance of biological diversity and evidence-based environmental awareness. He has talked about his research on ABC Radio and a range of other media outlets.

His teaching covers aspects of ecology, microbiology, plant and soil science, and climatology. He considers these topics to be of fundamental importance for the development of more sustainable societies and takes pride in helping others to obtain the knowledge and skills they need to build a better future.

Paul's research has taken him to Antarctica, the Amazon Rainforest, high mountains and oceans. The approaches used in his lab draw on a wide range of expertise in molecular biology, ecology, statistics, computer science, advanced imaging and soil science. He applies these skills to a wide-range of topics and systems including plant-microbe interactions, Antarctic marine and terrestrial ecology, biogeography, pollution and human health.

Pedro Fidelman leads strategic projects in the Social and Environmental Sustainability theme at the UQ Centre for Policy Futures, including the Centre's contribution to the Reef Restoration and Adaptation Program and Blue Economy Cooperative Research Centre.

Pedro’s research focuses on environmental policy and governance with an emphasis on the role of institutions (e.g., regulations, norms, and decision-making processes) in addressing global environmental change (e.g., over-exploitation of natural resources, biodiversity loss and climate change). He is also interested in the process of policy making and associated social and political actors and contextual factors.

His research is predominantly empirical, drawing on case studies in the context of marine and coastal social-ecological systems, climate change adaptation and natural resources management in Australia, Southeast Asia and Brazil. Current research includes governance, policy and regulatory implications of using novel and emerging technologies for environmental outcomes, and policy and regulatory innovation in the context of environmental, social and technological change.

Prior to joining UQ, Pedro held research positions in Brazil (e.g., University of Brasilia) and Australia (e.g., ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and Sustainability Research Centre of the University of the Sunshine Coast).

Badin is an environmental engineer with over 20 years’ experience in environmental hydrology and water resource engineering. In his current role with the University of Queensland’s School of Civil Engineering he leads a program of research that aims to support the sustainable management of water resources and aquatic ecosystems. This research seeks to quantify water flows and the associated transport of sediment and contaminants in environmental systems ranging from upland rivers and streams to lakes, estuaries and the near-coastal ocean as well as their connected groundwater systems. Badin employs a multi-disciplinary approach that combines the application of innovative environmental monitoring with a range of models to better understand how different factors influence water quality and ecosystem health in these systems.

Prior to joining the University of Queensland, Badin was active in engineering and environmental management roles within various local government, state government, not-for-profit and professional engineering consulting organisations. He applies this past industry experience in his current research activities, which are characterised by close collaboration with water management agencies, to deliver scientific information to support management decisions.

Badin also maintains an active involvement in the University of Queensland’s undergraduate and post-graduate teaching programs where he delivers lectures in various subjects including environmental engineering, hydrology, environmental risk assessment and modelling of surface water and groundwater systems. The experience gained in these roles enables him to communicate complex environmental information with a level of detail appropriate to a range of different audiences from community stakeholders to the engineering profession and regulatory agencies. Badin also supervises a number of post-graduate and undergraduate students who are pursuing research in the area of environmental hydrology and contaminant transport, with many focusing on the implications of forecast climate shifts on water resource management decisions.

Dr Julius Kotir is a Senior Scientist with the Queensland Government Department of Agriculture and Fisheries and also an Adjunct Senior Fellow in the School of Agriculture and Food Sustainability. His academic and research interest is focused on understanding and managing the complex and long-term sustainability of coupled socio-economic-environmental systems. A particular interest is how to use this understanding to design decision support tools in the form of models to evaluate the impact of different options under an uncertain global future. His work takes an interdisciplinary approach, combining participatory co-design and field-based methods with systems thinking tools and system dynamics modelling to develop qualitative and quantitative simulation models that can support decision making. Julius has is currently using these tools and methods to address a wide range of complex agri-environmental problems including international and rural development issues, food security, economics of farming systems, agrifood and digital twin supply chains, climate-smart agriculture, water resources management, farmer adoption of new practices, and agribusiness policy design and analysis.

Professor Anthony J. Richardson uses mathematical, statistical, computational and spatial planning tools to investigate human impacts on our oceans - and to find solutions. Particular foci include:

• Marine spatial planning - Where best to locate marine protected areas to minimise impacts on people, maximise ecosystem benefits, ensure they are climate-smart and connected, and enable multiple-use zoning of the ocean.
• Developing models of marine ecosystems - How do lower trophic levels (plankton) regulate fisheries productivity and carbon sequestration, and how will these be impacted by climate change.
• Long-term change in lower trophic levels (plankton) in the ocean. This includes both field work around Australia and global analyses.

Anthony did an undergradulate degree in Mathematics and Biology at the University of Queensland, followed by an Honours degree there. He was awarded a PhD degree from the University of Cape Town in 1998, modelling the dynamics of marine ecosystems. Since 2005, Anthony has held a joint position between UQ (School of the Environment) and CSIRO Environment. He has previously held positions at the University of Cape Town (South Africa), the University of the Western Cape (South Africa), and the Sir Alister Hardy Foundation of Ocean Science (UK).

Anthony runs a dynamic lab at the nexus between conservation science and mathematics. His focus is on using mathematical tools to better conserve biodiversity, predict impacts of climate change, and understand the functioning of marine ecosystems. If you have a background in marine ecology and are interested in applying mathematics/statistics/computational science and want to apply your skills to real-world problems, get in touch.

Research interest: Monitoring ecosystem health of coral reefs and seagrass habitats, integrating field and remote sensing image datasets, and the developing applied cost-effective mapping and monitoring approaches. Developed approaches have been adopted as standard practice globally, making a difference in conservation of these valuable habitats. The long term monitoring studies at Heron and Moreton Bay formed the basis for the development of mapping and monitoring over time and space at local to global scale. See here major research impact

Major projects:

• Long term monitoring of benthic composition at Heron Reef (2002-ongoing).
• Long term monitoring of seagrass composition and abundance in Moreton bay Marine Park (2000-ongoing).
• Smart Sat CRC Hyperspectral Remote Sensing of Seagrass and Coral Reefs 2023-2027.
• Developement of Underwater Field Spectrometry and Benthic Photo Collection and Analysis
• 3D GBR Habitat Mapping Project 2015 - ongoing:
• Global habitat mapping project 2019-2023 Allen Coral Atlas .

Current position: Associate Professior in Marine Remote Sensing leading the Marine Ecosystem Monitoring Lab. . Academic Director Heron Island Research Station and affiliated researchers with Centre for Marine Science and Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science

Capacity Building and Citizen Science: Capacity: under/post graduate courses; Msc/PhD supervision, workshops/courses; Remote Sensing Educational Toolkit, and online courses (e.g. TNC).Strong supporter of citizen science based projects, as trainer, organiser and advisor for Reef Check Australia, CoralWatch, Great Reef Census and UniDive.

Susanne leads a vibrant team researching natural ecosystems and agroecosystems focussed on plants, microbes and soil. This aims to advance the circular nutrient economy, the restoration of degraded soils and landscapes, and the sustainable use of Australia's flora in a project that is led by Indigenous Australians.

Funded PhD and MPhil positions are available in the (i) Bushfood project and the (ii) Next-generation fertilisers project and soil ameliorants project. Honours and Masters projects are available in all active projects. Please register your interest emailing Susanne.Schmidt@uq.edu.au

Active projects:

• A Deadly Solution: Combining Traditional Knowledge and Western Science for an Indigenous-led Bushfood Industry (ARC Discovery-Indigenous)
• Realising Smart Compost Formulations (Fight Food Waste CRC)
• Next-generation fertilisers and soil ameliorants (ARC Industry Transformation Training Centre 'Transforming Biosolids')
• Boosting the natural regeneration of the nitrogen capital in grazing lands (Meat & Livestock Australia)
• Validating novel phosphorus formulations augmented with beneficial microbes (Innovation Connections Partnership, EcoGrowth Fertilisers)
• The integrated bio-economy project and the controlled biosphere (ARC Linkages)
• Ultrahigh-resolution remote sensing for assessing biodiversity hotspots (ARC Discovery)

Completed recent projects

• Environmentally responsive bio-composite fertilisers
• Ecofriendly fertilisers for sustainable farming
• Effective microbial biostimulants in horticulture
• New technologies and management: transforming nitrogen use efficiency in cane production
• Recycled phosphorus from waste streams as efficient sources for agriculture
• License to farm - nitrogen use efficiency in sugarcane production
• Developing sugarcane-legume companion cropping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
• Spinifex desert grass - ecophysiology and nano-cellulose production for novel biomaterials
• The role of soil microbes to restore soil carbon in tropical reforestation
• Soil carbon sequestration in the Cooloola biosphere chronosequence
• Advancing Livestock Waste as Low Emission-High Efficiency Fertilizers
• Ecogenomic profiling of Queensland sugarcane soils
• more (not listed)

Dr. Ryan Turner is currently the Interim Deputy Director of the Reef Catchments Science Partnership at the University of Queensland (a partnership with the Department of Environment, Science and Innovation). Ryan was previously the Principal Scientist for Water Quality and Investigations in the Department of Environment and Science, and held an Adjunct Associate Professor role at Queensland University of Technology in the Managing for Resilient Landscapes, Institute for Future Environments. For 14 years Ryan managed multimillion dollar water quality monitoring programs assessing the impacts of sediment, nutrient and pesticides loads in numerous catchments along the Queensland coast discharging to the Great Barrier Reef and Moreton Bay. Ryan has been on several steering committees and technical advisory panels, such as the Great Barrier Reef Foundations Technical Advisory Panel. He has published extensively (>60 papers and reports) and led several Queensland Government – Academic collaborative research projects. Ryan previously supervised analytical chemistry (water and soil) and microbiology laboratories in the private and public sector. Ryan has developed numerous methodology and standard operating procedures for analytical and monitoring techniques (water quality, sediments and soils). Ryan’s passion for the future of water security is what keeps him going.