The development of the Earthwatch research and education programs is guided by an independent Scientific Advisory Committee.Members of the committee come from a wide range of academic and education backgrounds and have extensive international experience. Earthwatch undertakes a rigorous peer review process as part of its selection of projects for its field research portfolio. Members of the committee are consulted as part of this peer review process when developing the project portfolio and education programs.
The following people generously donate their time on the Earthwatch Australia Scientific Advisory Committee:
Prof Mark Burgman
Dr David Choquenot
Prof Chris Dickman
Dr Josephine Lang
Prof Helene Marsh
Assoc Prof David Paton
Assoc Prof Navjot Sodhi
Prof Nigel Stork
Dr Stephen Williams
Prof Mark Burgman - Chair
The University of Melbourne
Prof. Mark A. Burgman joined the Board in 2006. He also chairs the Earthwatch Australia Scientific Advisory Committee, which he joined in 2002.
Mark is Managing Director of the Australian Centre of Excellence for Risk Analysis and is the Adrienne Clarke Chair of Botany in the School of Botany at the University of Melbourne. He works on ecological modelling, conservation biology and risk assessment. His research has included models on a broad range of species including giant kelp, Orange-bellied parrots, Leadbeaters possums, bandicoots, and Banksias in a range of settings including marine fisheries, forestry, irrigation, electrical power utilities, mining and national park planning.
Mark received a BSc from the University of New South Wales (1974), an MSc from Macquarie University, Sydney (1981), and a Ph.D. from the State University of New York (1987). He worked as a consultant ecologist and research scientist in Australia, the United States and Switzerland during the 1980’s before joining the University of Melbourne in 1990.
Mark has received research grants from the Australian Research Council, government agencies, industry and private foundations. He has published four authored books, two edited books, over 140 research papers, and more than 50 reviewed reports and commentaries. His most recent book is ‘Risks and decisions for conservation and environmental management’, which appeared through Cambridge University Press in 2005. He was elected to the Australian Academy of Science in 2006.
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Dr David Choquenot
Landcare Research, New Zealand
David has wide experience in science and research management, most recently as Science Manager, Biodiversity and Ecosystem Processes with Landcare Research, New Zealand. Prior to that appointment, David was in charge of Fauna Ecology research for the Department of Sustainability and Environment in Victoria, Australia.
David's research interests centre on interactions between vertebrates and their environment, and he has worked extensively with both native and introduced species. David maintains a high science profile, having authored 64 refereed and 42 other publications.
David joined in Science Advisory Committee in 2005. In addition he is currently a member of the Biodiversity Committee of the Royal Society of New Zealand and the Science Advisory Committee of the Department of Conservation and Land Management in Western Australia, and chairs the board of the Centre for Biodiversity & Biosecurity - a joint initiative of Landcare Research and the University of Auckland.
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Prof Chris Dickman
The University of Sydney
Prof Dickman is a terrestrial ecologist whose major research focus is the investigation of factors that influence the distribution and abundance of terrestrial vertebrates. This research is stimulated by his curiosity about the causes of the many intriguing patterns of vertebrate distribution in Australian fauna, and concern that many species have declined or become extinct with the advent of European settlement.
For the last twenty years Prof Dickman has focussed on elucidating, by observation and field experiment, the factors that regulate diversity in the small vertebrates of arid Australia. Research on the exceptionally rich communities of small mammals and lizards of this region has provided an opportunity to contribute to the theoretical debate about the importance of biotic and physical processes in shaping population and species dynamics, and to achieving practical conservation goals.
Prof Dickman has been a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee since 2002.
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Dr Josephine Lang
RMIT University
Dr Josephine Lang has extensive qualifications in both education and environmental studies and her particular research interests lie in areas of curriculum design, learning and teaching, assessment, teacher professional learning and reflective practice, and education for sustainability.
Dr Lang joined the Earthwatch Scientific Advisory Board in 2005.
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Prof Helene Marsh
James Cook University
Prof Helene Marsh is Professor of Environmental Science at James Cook university. Her particular research interests include the application of ecology to the management of marine, coastal and terrestrial wildlife species (notably dugongs, sea turtles and native mammals) and their habitats, especially in relation to their distribution and abundance, life history, diet and movements. Her review of the dugong's global status led to an UNEP action plan which informed an MOU under the international Convention for Migratory Species, a review of the dugong for the IUCN Red List and global policy on marine conservation at the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD). Current research also includes the management of Indigenous resources and environmental monitoring and associated methodological problems.
In addition, Prof Marsh's research played a significant role in the 2004 Rezoning of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park which set a new global benchmark for Marine Protected areas with more than 33% of the area zoned ‘no-take'. Currently Helene is leading a CRC Reef research program involved with finding sustainable solutions to anthropogenic impacts on the Great Barrier Reef.
Prof Marsh joined the Earthwatch Scientific Advisory Board in 2002.
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Assoc Prof David Paton
University of Adelaide
Dr David Paton is an Associate Professor in the School of Environmental Sciences at the University of Adelaide, South Australia and is an experienced Earthwatch Principal Investigator with over 20 years experience.
He is a passionate conservationist and astute ecologist with broad research interests from koalas to honeybees to plants, birds and small mammals. He is particularly interested in how these systems cope with environmental changes brought on by humans at different spatial scales, from the level of individuals to the level of landscapes. Responses of wildlife to fires and introduced pests are also strong components in his research programs. He is a prominent environmental advocate and frequently interacts with the media and freely gives talks to community groups.
His contributions were recognised by the State with the award of the South Australian Great Award for the Environment in 1999 in recognition of his contribution to environmental research and education.
In 2003, David was awarded the Earthwatch Institute Australia Principal Investigator of the Year.
In June 2008 Dr Paton was honoured for his service to conservation and the environment through research into the ecology and behaviour of Australian birds, to the management and restoration of the natural environment, and to education by being made a Member of the Order of Australia.
David has been a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee since 1999.
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Assoc Prof Navjot Sodhi
National University of Singapore
Assoc Prof Navjot Sodhi joined the Scientific Advisory Committee in 2007.
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Prof Nigel Stork
University of Melbourne
Prof Nigel Stork is a biodiversity specialist who joined the Scientific Advisory Committee in 2007 bringing with him much international experience, having worked in many parts of the world including South and Central America, Africa and South-East Asia. He has published 10 books and more than 150 papers including papers in Nature and Science on insect ecology and biodiversity, how many species there are on Earth and rates of extinction.
Prof Stork is a pioneer in the exploration of tropical forest canopies and he installed the first ‘canopy crane' in the Southern hemisphere in the Daintree rainforest in 1999. Prof Stork played an important role in establishing a joint partnership between the Queensland Government and the Smithsonian Institution. He has also worked in collaboration with UNEP, UNESCO and CIFOR, on international activities focussed on identifying global priorities for biodiversity research and climate change. More recently he has helped to establish the Global Canopy Program.
His latest edited book is ‘Living in a dynamic tropical forest landscape', which summarises how research he led on tropical landscapes in Northern Australia has changed management systems, community engagement and economic development.
Prof Stork is currently Head of Department of Resource Management and Geography, and Head of Burnley Campus, University of Melbourne. From 1995-2007 he was the CEO of the Rainforest CRC (Cooperative Research Centre for Tropical Rainforest Ecology and Management) in Cairns, Queensland and prior to that he worked at the Natural History Museum in London (1980-1995). He was formerly the Chair of the Community Consultative Committee for the Wet Tropics Management Authority and is currently a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors as well a member of the Earthwatch Australia Board of Directors.
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Dr Stephen Williams
James Cook University
Currently the director of the Centre for Tropical Biodiversity & Climate Change Research, a multidisciplinary research centre aimed at understanding the patterns and processes underlying tropical biodiversity and the impacts that global climate change will have on the natural environment.
He established international reputation in the research fields of climate change impacts on biodiversity and ecology. This recognition is demonstrated by invited and fully-funded participation in 9 international meetings on the subject over the last two years, and by invited participation in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 4th assessment report as an expert reviewer and as an invited member of the scientific advisory panels at the regional (WTMA, GBRMPA), state (QLD Government), national (Environment Minister advisory panel on climate change) and international levels (IUCN, UNEP, DIVERSITAS).
His papers in Nature, Global Change Biology, and Proceedings of the Royal Society of London were significant contributors to the fact that Science ranked climate change impacts on biodiversity as one of the top ten fields of research having the most impact during 2004. His publications have been cited widely and includes 31 refereed journal articles, 20 of which are in high-quality international journals. Our collaborative paper on predicting global extinctions (Thomas et al 2004 Nature), that included a very significant contribution from his data on the Queensland Wet Tropics, is currently ranked by ISI Essential Science Indicators as the worlds number 1 “hottest” paper in the field of ecology and the environment. The climate change impacts research has an established international reputation and has resulted in significant outcomes in policy development and further research around the globe.
His research has had significant outcomes and has been incorporated into the Wet Tropics Conservation Strategy, QLD climate change policy, National Biodiversity & Climate Change Action Plan, State of the Worlds Birds Report, IUCN Climate Change reports and has instigated many more research projects.
His research was the first to identify global climate change as a severe threatening process in the tropics and the first to predict that we may be facing many species extinctions in mountain systems around the world.
In 2007, Stephen was awarded the Earthwatch Australia Principal Investigator of the Year. In the same year he joined the Scientific Advisory Committee.
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