Organising committee
The Victorian Biodiversity Conference is organised by postgraduate students, early-career researchers and professionals from a diverse range of Victorian institutions. If you're interested in joining the team to help with future conferences, feel free to contact us.
The committee for the Victorian Biodiversity Conference 2022 includes:
Jacinta Humphrey (she/her)
La Trobe University
Jacinta is a PhD candidate who studies the birds that share our suburbs. She is investigating the relative influence of housing cover and canopy tree cover on urban bird communities in greater Melbourne.
Alicia Dimovski (she/her)
La Trobe University
Alicia is a PhD candidate investigating the ecological and health consequences of light pollution on Australian mammals. She is also working with lighting engineers to try and produce wildlife-friendly LED lighting that mitigates these impacts.
Alex Maisey
La Trobe University
Alex is an early career researcher studying the relationship between natural capital on farms and ecosystem services (pollination and pest suppression) in crops. His PhD research focused on the ecosystem engineering role of the Superb Lyrebird in Victoria's tall forests.
Allison Menzies (she/her)
La Trobe University
Allison is a 3rd year student in the Bachelor of Wildlife & Conservation Biology. She is interested in the ecology of pollinators in the Western Plains of Victoria.
Iris Hickman (she/her)
La Trobe University
Iris is a Biological Science student currently investigating future climate change scenarios for alpine shrubs. In particular, she is looking at the variation of alpine shrub traits when protected by snow verses those exposed with low snow cover.
Kelly Williams (she/her)
La Trobe University
Kelly is a PhD candidate interested in the behaviour and conservation of Australian native mammals. She is currently researching how the behaviour and endocrinology of greater stick-nest rats affect their survival after translocation.
Nicole Peruzzi (she/her)
La Trobe University
Nicole has recently completed a Bachelor of Animal and Veterinary Biosciences/Bachelor of Science (Botany). She is interested in science communication and using platforms such as blogs or journal articles, to educate and inform the public about scientific concepts and (real-world) applications.
Emily Scicluna (she/her)
La Trobe University
Millie is a PhD candidate who researches fat-tailed dunnarts of the Victorian basalt grasslands and their threats. She also investigates the morphological and behavioural implications of captive breeding, to assist reintroduction and broader conservation outcomes for Australian threatened marsupials.
Stan Wawrzyczek (he/him)
La Trobe University
Stan is a PhD candidate investigating ecology and evolution of mammal pollination in the western Australian biodiversity hotspot. His main focus is on honey possums and the dryandras – a potentially co-evolved plant-mammal pollinator mutualism.
Andrea Canzano (she/her)
Darebin City Council
Andrea is a zoologist who has a special interest in fauna conservation and threatened species management. She is also Darebin City Council’s Biodiversity Officer, where she works on programs that contribute to the protection and enhancement of Darebin’s local flora and fauna.
Elodie Camprasse (she/her)
Deakin University
Elodie recently completed a PhD with the Centre for Integrative Ecology on individual specialisations in seabirds. She now works as a Casual Academic at Deakin University, a Project Manager at the nature connection charity Remember The Wild, and as an Emergency Response Operator at Wildlife Victoria.
Rachel McIntosh (she/her)
La Trobe University
Rachel is a PhD candidate studying the effects of fire on semi-arid vegetation. She is investigating how annual rainfall and soil texture influence the recovery of plant communities after fire.
Ella Loeffler (she/her)
DELWP
Ella completed her honours in Wildlife Conservation at Deakin University in 2018. She is now a Biodiversity Project Officer at the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning.
Maddy Barker (she/her)
DELWP
Maddy completed her Honours in Wildlife Conservation at Deakin University examining non-breeding habitat selection in the threatened shorebird, the Hooded Plover. She is now a graduate at DELWP with rotations in wildlife management, impact assessment and fire.
Ielyzaveta Ivanova
Monash University
Liza is a PhD candidate studying the relative contribution that private protected areas make to Australia’s reserve system, in terms of the biodiversity values protected.
Katherine Berthon (she/her)
RMIT University
Katie is a PhD candidate using a variety of methods to understand and predict the influence of green space design on plant-insect relationships, to better inform how green spaces can be designed to support biodiversity in cities.
Marco Gutierrez (he/him)
RMIT University
Marco is a PhD candidate investigating how biodiversity and ecosystem services are addressed in strategic environmental assessments, and the opportunities and risks that they present to biodiversity conservation
Christine Connelly (she/her)
Victoria University
Christine completed her PhD looking at the effects of urbanisation on Eastern Yellow Robins at Deakin University in 2019. She now lectures in Environmental Science at Victoria University. She is an advocate for citizen science, because she loves working with passionate community groups.
