presenters
Richard Kingsford
Professor of Environmental Science, Director of Centre for Ecosystem Science School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences UNSW Sydney
Richard is a river ecologist and conservation biologist who has worked extensively across the wetlands and rivers of the Murray-Darling Basin and Lake Eyre Basin. He worked for the NSW Government Environment agency from 1986-2004. He also worked with many different communities and governments across this region. His research has influenced the policy and management of rivers in Australia, including through involvement on state and federal advisory committees. He also leads a reintroduction or rewilding project, Wild Deserts, in Sturt National Park (NSW), collaborating on the Platypus Conservation Initiative and Red-Listing of Ecosystems. He is also researches effective ways of implementing effective conservation actions through developing adaptive management approaches and engagement with communities.
Simon Kuestenmacher
Simon Kuestenmacher is a Director and Co-founder of The Demographics Group, and he presents on demographic and global trends that are shaping Australia today and into the future.
Simon is a columnist for The New Daily newspaper, a monthly columnist for The Australian newspaper; and he is a media commentator on demographic and data matters.
In his spare time Simon has authored three books on maps and runs what is by now the world’s largest Twitter account dedicated to maps and data. His social media posts reach over 25 million people every month. Simon ranks as one of the world’s top 10 influencers in data.
I’m a Geographer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmxrZ9womN8
Catherine Kerr
Office of Energy and Climate Change, NSW Treasury Climate Change Adaptation
Catherine Kerr is a Coastal Manager, Science Communicator and Geographical Educator who has worked for the Queensland and NSW governments for over 15 years. She is passionate about climate change and believes in the power of human centred design to communicate, educate, and drive the transition to a climate secure and socially just future. She currently leads Adaptation Knowledge for Climate Adaptation, Land Sector and Opportunity, within OECC, NSW Treasury. She lives in Northern NSW with her young family and loves to surf, camp and hike whenever she can.
I’m a Geographer Profile
Karen Davids
Circular Economy Consultant at MRA Consulting Group / High school & University Geography Tutor
Karen Davids is an analytical and creative thinker in the sustainability sector. Key foci include product stewardship (designing out waste upstream), scaling up the social benefits of reuse/repair infrastructures, and policy/legislation development in the circular economy. She has been a high school and university tutor (main focus is HSC) for the past five years, specialising in English and various social studies including Geography. As a result, she is extremely passionate about communication (writing/presenting/speaking), environmental research, and advocacy. Additionally, her thesis in Geography which was awarded a University Medal investigated the capacity to scale up the social and environmental benefits of reuse and repair infrastructure in Australia - two essential circular economy interventions.
Alison Jose
Director of the Circular Centre and STSC Sustainable Textile Supply Chain and CEO of Adetex Circular Solutions, creator of Circlolink Circular Materials Passport via RFiD Threads®
RFiD THREADS® are the world's first digital ID in a single thread that links clothing and products to a unique Circlolink Circular Textiles Passport and IoT. The smart thread shares product and textile information and will link to a circular textiles network to connect repair, resale, rent, recycle, remanufacture and regenerate to repurpose. RFiD THREADS® are easily added to both new and recovered products.
Circlolink offers solutions to keep products out of landfill and re-circulating via interconnected resource recovery networks and provides unprecedented metrics to design out waste plus mitigate emissions & pollution. Alison also develops and wholesales sustainable textiles focusing on removing plastic microfibres and promoting wealth from waste textiles like banana stem fibre, nettle and peace silk. (www.stscecotextiles.com)
Alex Webb
Senior Communications and Marketing Manager, Oceania at the Marine Stewardship Council.
Alex has over 20 years of experience in behavior change communications across multiple contexts. For the last ten years, Alex has held various roles at the international non-profit, the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), both in his home country, England, and since 2019, Australia.
Alex is passionate about the role we can all play in the MSC's vision of an ocean teeming with life and its ongoing mission to end overfishing by transforming the seafood market to a sustainable basis. In support of this endeavor, and since arriving in Australia, Alex has overseen and launched two education programs: Saltwater Schools in Australia and Te Kawa O Tangaroa in Aotearoa New Zealand. These programs join a global effort set by the United Nations, to boost ocean literacy in the formal and informal education sectors and create a new generation of ocean leaders by 2030. Designed by teachers, for teachers, the Saltwater Schools education program features ocean-themed education resources aligned with the Australian curriculum suitable for Stages 3-5. This includes lesson plans, videos, fact sheets, games, and activities.
Andrew Toovey
Director of Teaching and Learning, Mount Annan Christian College, Lecturer, UNSW School of Education.
Andrew is a passionate and experienced Geography Teacher and has been teaching Senior Geography for 15 years and HSC Marking in Geography for 10 years. He is currently Director of Teaching and Learning (P-12) at Mount Annan Christian College and is privileged to lead a wonderful team of middle leaders in developing a learning culture for the College built on the foundations of Visible Learning and the Learning Power approach. Andrew was previously Head of Geography at St Aloysius College Milsons Point for 5 years where he led the Geography team with a focus on Spatial Technologies and Fieldwork. Since 2017 Andrew has also been a Geography lecturer for the UNSW School of Education.
Professor Brett Summerell
Chief Scientist & Director Science, Education and Conservation, Royal Botanic Garden Sydney / Australian Institute of Botanical Science. Professor Summerell is championing the conservation of plants and all life that depends on them. He has been performing vital scientific research for over 30 years and leading a team of world-class plant scientists for the last 15 at Australia’s oldest living scientific institution. In his role Prof. Summerell is building on the Botanic Gardens' legacy of studying, documenting and protecting plant life in Australia for over 200 years by advocating for plant conservation and how important plants are in our lives. He also provides senior scientific advice to government and other industry bodies and is mentoring and inspiring the next generation of plant scientists.
Larissa Shashkof
Dr Karen O'Connor
Rania Poullos
Leveraging over 10 years of project and resource management experience in digital transformation, Rania is practiced in delivering user centric projects with technical requirements and very familiar with the common challenge of disconnected systems.
Understanding the urgency to strive for better outcomes in the face of natural disasters, Rania is passionate to build resilience in the landscape and for communities, particularly via spatial technologies and AI which can provide valuable insights before, during and after a fire.
Rania currently spearheads projects which seek to support fire agencies to improve methods of detection, prediction and decision response to fires. Since starting with Minderoo, she has overseen the development of Spark Operational, a national bushfire simulation tool which Minderoo has assisted in fast-tracking to operationalise for fire agencies, and piloted remote sensing technology to assess risk in the landscape.