RESCHEDULED My Science Odyssey: Planet Futures – lions, leopards and the new future
Join us for this FREE online seminar where we will discover what has led to a life-long-love of science for our two guest presenters.
This seminar was rescheduled due to technical difficulties on the original date.
Bios
“Scientist, analyst and entrepreneur – I spend my time at the interface between technology, business and policy innovation. I’m especially interested in new technologies/business models that improve sustainability and our capacity to work together to make the world a better place.”
Gary is a sustainability futurist working mainly in the areas of transport, energy and regional innovation. He has a penchant for identifying system scale opportunities which combine technology, business and regulatory innovation.
He received his PhD in Biophysics from the University of Newcastle (Australia) and followed on to lecture in Biology, Ecology and Sustainability Strategy. He has worked in industry as a Senior Scientist and Strategic Analyst in the cleantech innovation space and has worked on projects such as the ‘Blueprint for a Low Carbon Hunter Valley’. Gary works with companies to identify technology and business pathways to new cleantech products and services. Dr Gary Ellem has published peer reviewed papers in the fields of biofuels, electrified transport and global fossil fuel resources. He has IP in the fields of wireless signal communications, the thermal processing of Biomass and micro algae photobioreactor design.
Matt Hayward is a Professor of Conservation Science at the University of Newcastle.
Matt conducted a PhD on the conservation ecology of the vulnerable quokka – a small wallaby that the introduced red fox loves to kill – in the Western Australian jarrah forest.
He then conducted two post docs in South Africa; the first on bushmeat hunting in the coastal forests of the Transkei with the Walter Sisulu University, and the second at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University to study the reintroduction of lions, spotted hyaenas and a leopard to Addo Elephant National Park.
After this, Matt undertook a Marie Curie Post-Doctoral Fellowship at the Polish Academy of Science’s Mammal Research Institute in Białowieża Primeval Forest where he studied bison ecology and predator-prey interactions with wolves and bears in Poland.
Matt then moved back to Australia to work as the Australian Wildlife Conservancy’s regional ecologist on reintroduction, ecosystem services, feral eradication/control and fire management.
Matt took up a lectureship at Bangor University in beautiful North Wales where his research teams worked on reintroducing red squirrels; ascertaining the impact of pine marten on squirrels; the context dependence of humans on wolf ecology; spatial ecology of peccaries and elephants; invasive snakes; and the impact of neonicotinoids on fossorial mammals.
Matt has researched these conservation issues in Australia, Africa and Europe on marsupials, rodents, reptiles, invertebrates, ungulates and large predators.
Organiser
The Hunter Innovation and Science Hub (HISH) is a network of organisations within the Hunter that collaborate to deliver ongoing community science engagement programs, including during National Science Week. Our vision is to grow an inquisitive and future-enabled Hunter community.