Public Event with Panel Discussion and Moderated Q&A 

Our Panel

Sally Sherwen is an inter-disciplinary scientist and the Director of Wildlife Conservation and Science at Zoos Victoria (the Conservation Organisation charged with the operation of Melbourne Zoo, Werribee Open Range Zoo, Kyabram Fauna Park and Healesville Sanctuary in Australia). Sally leads a dynamic team of scientists and specialists that develop and deliver strategic programs in conservation, animal welfare, education and environmental sustainability. Sally has a PhD in Animal Welfare Science and in previous roles has established an evidence-based research program in animal behaviour and welfare science, developed and implemented an institutional welfare assessment tool to advance welfare standards and designed and ran collaborative training courses with several NGOs for industry professionals and community groups.

Daniel T. Blumstein is a Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and a Professor in the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability at the University of California Los Angeles. He received his Ph.D. at the University of California Davis and conducted postdoctoral work at the University of Marburg, the University of Kansas and Macquarie University. He is a behavioral ecologist and conservation scientist who has worked around the world studying a variety of mammals, birds, reptiles, fishes and marine invertebrates. The author of over 500 publications and 7 books, he runs the world’s second longest study that follows the fate in individually-marked mammals—the yellow-bellied marmots of the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory in Gothic, Colorado, USA. Much of his research in Australia has focused on understanding mammalian predator recognition abilities, and generating ways to help them co-exist with novel mammalian predators to improve reintroduction success.

Lee Berger is an Associate Professor at the Melbourne Veterinary School, and fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, who is interested in emerging diseases of wildlife and managing their impact on conservation.  Her research focusses on the disease chytridiomycosis, which has caused global declines and extinctions of amphibians. She collaborates with Australian zoos, with the overall goal of improving survival rates of wild frogs. Her research has led to the recognition worldwide that spread of exotic disease is a threat to biodiversity (similar to feral predators) and is a serious consequence of globalisation.

John Woinarski is a Professor and conservation biologist at Charles Darwin University, engaged mostly with research and management to help conserve threatened species and biodiversity in general. He has studied, and written extensively about, many aspects of conservation in Australia, including reviews of all Australian extinctions, impacts of fire and of cats, the conservation significance of islands, and conservation success. His books include A Bat’s End: The Christmas Island Pipistrelle and Extinction in Australia, Cats in Australia: companion and killer and The Action Plan for Australin Mammals. He is a Director of the Australian Wildlife Conservancy, co-chair of the IUCN Australasian Marsupial and Monotreme Specialist Group, and on the science advisory committees of Zoos Victoria and of Invertebrates Australia.

Our Facilitator

Jen Martin (@scidocmartin) is an Associate Professor at University of Melbourne.  She spent many years working as a field ecologist until she decided the most useful thing she could contribute as a scientist was to teach other scientists how to be effective and engaging communicators. Jen founded and leads the University of Melbourne's acclaimed Science Communication Teaching Program. She also practises what she preaches: for nearly 20 years she’s been talking about science each week on 3RRR radio, she writes for a variety of publications, hosts the Let’s Talk SciComm podcast and MCs events. Jen was named the 2019 Unsung Hero of Australian Science Communication, is Ambassador for The Wilderness Society’s Nature Book Week and is a member of the Homeward Bound Teaching Faculty, a global leadership program for women in STEMM. Jen’s first popular science book, ‘Why am I like this? The science behind your weirdest thoughts and habits’ was published by Hardie Grant in 2024.

Our Organiser

Andy T.D. Bennett is a Professor at University of Melbourne’s Veterinary School, Vice-President of Ecological Society of Australia and is on the three-person Organising Committee of ISBE 2024.  After a Zoology degree at University of Adelaide, Andy did a D.Phil. at Oxford University working with a founder of behavioural ecology, John Krebs on bird navigation.  Andy then became Reader in Sensory and Behavioural Ecology at University of Bristol where he became well known for his pioneering work on avian colour vision and coloration.  He moved back to Australia and established the Centre for Integrative Ecology at Deakin University, was President of the Australasian Society for the Study of Animal Behaviour, and has been on numerous boards and experts panels advising government.  Andy is an integrative ecologist with long standing research interests in sensory ecology (particularly of birds), disease ecology and the ecology of animal movement.  He has a lifelong passion for biodiversity conservation and he initiated this Public Event as part of ISBE 2024.