Scientific Advisory Committee

Convenor - Dr Michelle Casanova – Principal, Charophyte Services

Michelle has a PhD in Botany and is Principal at Charophyte Services, a consultancy aimed at providing best practice, scientific research, information and assessment concerning water plants and wetlands. Michelle lives and works on a fine-wool merino and cropping farm near Lake Bolac. Michelle is recognised as an international expert in the algal family Characeae, and maintains her research interest through formal associations with the Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne, the New York Botanic Garden and The Natural History Museum, London. Michelle was appointed to the Committee in 2018 and appointed as Convenor in 2020.

Professor David Cantrill – Executive Director Science, Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria

David is a terrestrial botanist whose research interest is in the evolutionary history of the Southern Hemisphere flora. He has extensive field experience in Antarctica, South America, southern Africa, New Zealand and Australia. He has previously been senior research scientist with the British Antarctic Survey (Cambridge, UK) and senior curator in the Department of Palaeobotany Swedish Museum of Natural History (Stockholm, Sweden). He is Chief Botanist and Director of the National Herbarium of Victoria at the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria and holds an honorary professorship at the University of Melbourne in the School of BioScience. Professor Cantrill is appointed as a member with expertise in the areas of vascular flora or communities of flora in terrestrial environments, and potentially threatening processes. David was appointed to the Committee in 2008.

Dr Matt Dell – Independent Senior Consultant Botanist

Matt is an experienced botanist with expertise in the ecology and management of southeast Australia’s flora. His experience and research interests include bryophyte ecology, plant physiology and biodiversity policy. Matt has undertaken surveys widely across Victoria and elsewhere, including numerous assessments of impacts to threatened plants and ecological communities. His previous roles have included principal at leading consultancies, science panel member for a water authority, research supervisor, expert witness and technical reviewer for major projects in Victoria. Matt contributes his expertise on non-vascular plants, vascular plants, ecological communities and threatening processes. Matt was appointed to the Committee in 2018.

Dr Pete Green – Associate Professor in Ecology, La Trobe University

Pete is an ecologist with a broad range of interests in forest ecology, plant-animal interactions, invasion biology and ecological management and restoration.  He has particular expertise in the ecology of rainforests, and maintains long-term research programs in Victoria, Queensland and Christmas Island.  He is a former Head of Department, and he coordinates the Bachelor of Wildlife and Conservation Biology degree at La Trobe University.  Pete was appointed to the Committee in 2022.

Professor David Guest AM - Professor of Plant Pathology, University of Sydney

David is the Professor of Plant Pathology in the School of Life and Environmental Sciences at The University of Sydney. He teaches undergraduate courses at all levels and supervises PhD and Research Masters students. His current research focuses on the constraints faced by smallholder farmers in tropical horticulture that limit adoption of improved crop management and improved livelihoods, and the management of Phytophthora diseases in Australian environments. He has extensive partnerships with national and international research institutes and farming communities, serves on the Sydney Institute of Agriculture, Sydney Southeast Asia Centre, Scientists Australia for Gender Equity, Sydney ID, the Sydney Vietnam Centre, the MARS Chocolate Research Advisory Board, Scientific Advisory Committee for the Victorian Minister for Environment, and is an Honorary Associate of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne. He is Past-President and Fellow of the Australasian Plant Pathology Society and Past President of the Asian Association of Societies of Plant Pathology. He is a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) and was awarded a Career Medal for Agriculture and Rural Development by the Government of Vietnam. David was appointed to the Committee in 2022.

Dr Pia Lentini - Senior Scientist, Arthur Rylah Institute

Pia is a Senior Scientist in the Wildlife Research Section at the Arthur Rylah Institute, where she conducts applied research on the management and conservation of Victoria’s threatened fauna. She is also a Senior Research Fellow with the Interdisciplinary Conservation Science Group at RMIT University, and an Honorary Fellow with the Quantitative and Applied Ecology Group at the University of Melbourne. Pia’s research spans the conservation sciences and incorporates elements of landscape and urban ecology, biodiversity policy, movement ecology, conservation planning and human-wildlife conflict. Pia was also formerly a member of the Executive of the Australasian Bat Society and a Board Member for Wildlife Victoria. Pia was appointed to the Committee in 2020.

Dr Linda Thomson – Honorary Research Fellow, University of Melbourne

Linda held positions at La Trobe University before moving to Zoology at University of Melbourne in 2005, where she is currently an honorary research fellow at the Pest and Environmental Adaptation Research Group (PEARG). She has extensive research experience in biological monitoring, biodiversity assessment, and invertebrate conservation and ecology with particular interest in the role of invertebrates as indicators of environmental sustainability and in the control of pest species in agriculture. Linda is appointed as a member with expertise in the areas of invertebrate fauna in terrestrial environments and potentially threatening processes. Linda was appointed to the Committee in 2016.

Dr Susanna Venn – Senior Lecturer in Environmental Botany, Deakin University

Susanna is a plant ecologist with a wealth of research experience in the processes that shape alpine ecosystems. Her research focusses on how snow influences plant community patterns, (re)assembly and ecological processes. Susanna works at Deakin University as a Senior Lecturer in Environmental Botany and leads the eXtreme Plant Ecology Research Team in the Centre for Integrative Ecology. Susanna was appointed to the Committee in 2018.

For further information on any recommendations of the SAC, please contact the SAC as follows:

Email:

SAC.secretariat@deeca.vic.gov.au

Post:

Secretary, Scientific Advisory Committee

Biodiversity Division

Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action

PO Box 500  EAST MELBOURNE VIC 8002