Independent Science Panel

A/Prof Eva Abal

Ecosystem Health

Eva’s passion is in the synthesis and effective communication of scientific information, making science relevant and useful to managers, hence facilitating links between scientists and managers/stakeholders.

For ten years, Eva directed the Science/Innovation Program and Ecosystem Health Monitoring activities of the South East Queensland Healthy Waterways Partnership (SEQHWP) in Australia, including strategic research plan development and dissemination of information to stakeholders, including Ecosystem Health report cards.

Dr Richard Brinkman

Hydrodynamics

Richard is a physical oceanographer/numerical modeller with research interests that fall within the broad topics of coastal oceanography and physical-biological interactions on continental shelves.

He has significant expertise in conducting observational and modelling based research on shelf dynamics, coupling of shelf and ocean circulation, and physical-biological interactions at regional and local scales on Australia’s tropical coasts and marginal seas.

Dr Rob Coles

Marine Biodiversity

Rob has over 20 years’ experience as a fisheries research scientist. His extensive national and international experience includes seagrass research, mapping, taxonomy, biodiversity, recovery after loss and resource evaluation, fisheries statistics and analysis.

Rob is a coastal management specialist and lecturer in coastal management, planning, EIS evaluation and problem scoping. He is internationally recognised for research in Indo-Pacific marine coastal ecosystems.

Dr Jennifer Stauber

Marine toxicology

Jenny is an aquatic ecotoxicologist with over 30 year’s research experience in ecotoxicology and environmental risk assessment.

Her research has focused on the effects of organic and inorganic environmental contaminants on aquatic organisms, in particular microalgae and invertebrates. She is a joint winner of Land & Water Australia’s Eureka Prize for Water Research for research into the assessment and regulation of contaminated sediments. She currently serves on a number of national and international advisory boards, and was previously a Director on the Board of the NSW EPA.

Ms Jane Waterhouse

Water quality

A majority of Jane’s work has focused on water quality research, monitoring and management in the Great Barrier Reef (GBR). She is particularly interested in catchment to reef processes and has contributed to the design and implementation of many research and monitoring programs over the last 20 years. Jane specialises in the synthesis of scientific information to inform management decisions, reflected in a number of recent projects including preparation of regional Water Quality Improvement Plans and leadership of the 2017 Scientific Consensus Statement 2017: Land use impacts on Great Barrier Reef water quality and ecosystem condition.

Dr Melissa Dobbie

Statistics

With more than 20 years of experience as a Statistician, Dr Melissa Dobbie has focussed on developing and applying statistical methods to solve challenging problems across a variety of domains from environmental science to ecology, from health informatics to agriculture. For several years, Melissa helped design efficient and statistically-valid large-scale environmental monitoring programs to assess the condition of Queensland’s rivers. She has also been involved in development of environmental indices for summarising aquatic condition in both freshwater and marine contexts. Melissa is passionate about raising the profile of statistics in the community and stressing its important role in ensuring scientific research is defensible and rigorous so became involved in the Mathematicians-in-Schools program almost 6 years ago.

Dr Erin Bohensky

Social Science

Dr Erin Bohensky works at the intersection of systems, sustainability and engagement sciences, to support understandings of transitions to social and ecological change, particularly as emergency or crisis situations escalate. Her work for more than 15 years on knowledge co-production and participation through integrated assessment and scenario planning processes has assisted governments and communities in Australia, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and Africa to anticipate, respond and adapt to complex social-ecological challenges.

Joining CSIRO in 2006, her work has spanned marine governance, health and biosecurity and climate and disaster resilience – all blending systems science and principles of engagement, acknowledging the crucial roles of social inclusion, equity and legitimacy in achieving sustainable and just outcomes.

Dr Roger Chong

Fish Health

Dr Roger Chong’s professional career began with veterinary medicine and surgery before changing track to fish pathology and aquatic animal health, including diagnostic laboratory work. Roger has worked for the Hong Kong Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department and has spent 17 years with Biosecurity Queensland working in disease surveillance and extension. Currently Roger is based with CSIRO Aquaculture Research where he works as a Veterinary Aquatic Pathologist, supporting research projects.