Dr Liz Tasker has been Principal Scientist Fire Ecology with the NSW Government for the past twenty years. During this time her research has focused on the fire ecology of animals and plants, with a particular emphasis on threatened species, and the interactions between plants and animals and their environment. She is also interested in the philosophy and psychology of conservation, science, science communication and narrative theory.

Nick Fitzgerald is an Ecologist with Bush Heritage Australia, working on ecological monitoring of private land conservation reserves. As an unrepentant field botanist, Nick seeks to place his vegetation observations into a broader ecological context by exploring patterns, processes and interactions. Dr Fitzgerald’s previous research has focused on vegetation monitoring and mapping to assess impacts of management interventions and climate change in temperate and Subantarctic environments. His conservation planning work has contributed to improving Tasmania’s reserve system. He coordinates citizen science to engage the public in biodiversity surveys and advocate for conservation outcomes. Current projects at Bush Heritage include threatened flora species recovery and heathland management using prescribed burning, within an adaptive management framework. Nick.Fitzgerald@bushheritage.org.au

Mark joined the Foundation for National Parks & Wildlife (FNPW) in 2022. As a zoologist and conservation biologist he is responsible for FNPWs strategic and operational program delivery across Australia. Mark has focused his work over the past 28 + years on threatened species recovery for many of Australia’s most endangered species through landscape and habitat restoration, conservation breeding, translocation, research and monitoring, and development of specialised educational training/workshops. His work has been undertaken across multiple organizational delivery models including the zoo industry, government statutory bodies, philanthropic trusts, community-based NGOs and local government, and as a consultant to government and development sector industries. Mark is passionate about biodiversity and conservation. The opportunity provided by FNPW enables him to focus on developing and driving solutions to address the major challenge of delivering real impact and change at scale that is desperately needed to stem biodiversity decline across Australia.

Andy works for the National Parks and Wildlife Service in the Mount Lofty Ranges region of South Australia as a Fire Ecologist. He is responsible for Environmental Assessments for prescribed burns, managing the Region’s pre and post-fire weed control program and implementing monitoring programs to support prescribed burning decision making. He has a particular interest in planning and implementing prescribed burns that contribute to the management of threatened species and ecosystems.

Felicity recently submitted her PhD in June 2025 in the School of the Environment at The University of Queensland. Felicity researched the influence of changing fire-regimes on fire-dependent plant-animal interactions. Her research focused on the Glossy black-cockatoo and their food trees with the aim of providing new data on optimal fire regimes for restoration of Glossy black-cockatoo food trees. Felicity currently assists on a fire management experiment evaluating wildfire risk reduction and biodiversity improvement through botanical surveys and prescribed and ecological burns at The University of Queensland.

Professor Matthias Boer’s research focuses on gaining better understanding of multiscale interactions between climate, vegetation, and fire, including the management of bushfire risk. His research has made significant contributions to the modelling of (global) fire regimes, spatiotemporal dynamics of forest flammability, and quantification of the effectiveness of fire management measures. With a background in the biogeosciences and landscape ecology, he applies a range of disciplinary approaches in his research, including climatic water balance modelling, digital terrain analysis and remote sensing to better understand the spatiotemporal dynamics of fire-prone environments and from there identify risk management options. His current research focuses on the development of deep learning models for the forecasting of fire at a range of spatiotemporal scales. Prof. Boer was on the leadership team of the NSW Bushfire Risk Management Research Hub (2018-2022) and was founding Director of the NSW Bushfire and Natural Hazards Research Centre (2022-2023). Matthias joined the Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment in 2011, after previous research positions with Cemagref in France (2010), The University of Western Australia (2004-2010), the CSIC in Spain (1993-1999; 2001-2003), and CSIRO in Alice Springs (1999-2001). Matthias received his PhD in Physical Geography (1999) from Utrecht University, The Netherlands.

Tamika began working in the fire space as a forest firefighter in 2019, before moving into fire ecology in 2021. In her ecologist role, she focussed on implementing science-based burning regimes in the Otways region with the Conservation Ecology Centre. This experience ignited her passion for applied landscape ecology. Starting in 2023, she continues to explore this ongoing research as part of her PhD. Beyond her professional pursuits, Tamika can be found chasing birds in the forest, surfing on the coast, or spotlighting wildlife in the canopy.