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 2025 includes:

Aislinn Primmer (she/her)
Monash University
Aislinn is a Co-Chair of the VicBioCon25 Committee and a first year Ph.D. student in the Integrative Cognition Ecology and Bio-Inspiration Lab at Monash University. Her research focuses on the personality, learning ability and foraging behaviour of native Australian bees. She aims to investigate potential correlations between individual behaviour, cognition and pollination efficiency in Exoneura robusta.

Emily Fu (she/her)
Monash University
Emily is a Co-Chair of the VicBioCon25 Committee and a first year Ph.D. student at Monash University studying evolutionary ecology in marine ectotherms. Her research is focusing on parental effects and the impacts of thermal extremes on the marine tubeworm, Galeolaria Caespitosa. She aims to improve accuracy in predictions of species responses to climate change.

Beau Shrimpton (he/they)
Monash University
Beau is a Co-Chair for the VicBioCon25 Committee as well as a first year Ph.D. student studying marine evolutionary ecology in tubeworms. His honours research investigated how diversity in mitochondrial genomes underpins thermal tolerance and how environmental temperature can predict reactions to future changes. He hopes to investigate the role of mitochondria in maintaining biodiversity in marine broadcast spawners.

Sally Burgemeestre (she/her)
Deakin University
Sally is a PhD candidate studying the interactions between feral ungulates and native animals in subalpine and alpine landscapes. She is particularly interested in how feral horses influence small mammal persistence and habitat using a combination of live trapping, camera trapping, GPS tracking and genetic analyses. This research will hope to inform best practice management techniques and help managers to understand the impacts feral ungulates exert on native communities.
