Vanessa is an ecologist with a background in botany and fire. She has worked with Indigenous Australians for much of her career and is a passionate advocate for right-way science and Indigenous science. She supports ESA’s Indigenous Working Group and has facilitated the judging of the Indigenous awards since their inception. Vanessa is currently a Research Fellow at Curtin University working under the NESP Resilient Landscapes Hub on an Indigenous-led project focusing on the importance of Culturally Significant Entities.

Heather Lee-Kiorgaard is a Senior Project Officer for the NSW biodiversity conservation program, Saving our Species. She completed first class honours at the University of Sydney in 2017 with research in restoration ecology and outcome monitoring. She has five years’ experience working with the Saving our Species program in NSW government, supporting the program to align with science and conservation best practice. She has a passion for exploring new approaches to strategic conservation planning and improving outcomes for imperilled species and ecosystems.

Alice is a threatened species project officer and the spatial lead for the Assets of Intergenerational Significance (AIS) program under the NPWS threatened species framework for zero extinctions. Over the past 5 years she has been working for the NSW Government in marine policy and as a member of the NPWS statewide marine wildlife team. Prior to her time in the public service, she worked in climate advocacy and supported research projects funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research and the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Indonesia, Vietnam, and Ecuador. Alice is an avid sailor and loves long distance ocean swims.

Indigo drives and directs threatened species projects across South East Queensland as a Project Manager for Healthy Land & Water. Indigo’s focus is on conserving and building a better future for Australia’s flora and fauna. She works with stakeholders, communities and land managers to achieve positive outcomes on the ground and is interested in building the scientific outputs produced from project delivery. Driven by her passion for wildlife ecology and conservation, Indigo hopes to inspire others to connect with nature to drive positive change for Australia’s natural systems. Tom Lally oversees large-scale, strategic projects across South East Queensland as a Team Lead with Healthy Land & Water. He focuses on building connections throughout communities and stakeholder networks to achieve lasting outcomes for the protection of threatened species and the improvement of ecosystem and catchment health. Tom has a background in wildlife and landscape ecology and is passionate about bringing community and science together to drive the protection and restoration of SEQ’s incredible flora, fauna, and landscapes.

Natalya is a final year PhD Candidate at the University of Queensland, and is supervised by Associate Professor Diana Fisher, Professor Hugh Possingham, Dr Michelle Ward, and Professor Jonathan Rhodes. Her current research, in partnership with WWF and QTFN, focuses on maximising single-species conservation benefits at the landscape scale, using the brush-tailed rock wallaby as a model species. Natalya is interested in translating environmental policy into conservation outcomes and threatened species recovery, with a particular focus on identifying and managing threatening processes and strategic conservation planning. Prior to beginning her PhD, Natalya completed a Master of Conservation Science at the University of Queensland in 2020 and a BSc in Biology at the University of Ottawa, Canada.