Professor Craig Moritz completed his undergraduate at University of Melbourne where he developed his passion for evolutionary biology. For his PhD at ANU, he studied chromosome evolution and speciation in arid zone lizards, along the way discovering all-female reproduction in Bynoe's gecko.

He completed a post doctorate at University of Michigan, before returning to a faculty position at The University of Queensland. From 2000-2012 he was Director of the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology at UC Berkeley. From mid 2012 he happily settled at EEG/RSB as a Professor and ARC Laureate Fellow. Craig is also the Director of the joint ANU-CSIRO Centre for Biodiversity Analysis.

Professor Dixon is a John Curtin Distinguished Professor with Curtin’s School of Molecular and Life Science and a Visiting Professor at Kings Park and Botanic Garden. His work in conservation science, restoration ecology and plant science has been fundamental to conserving threatened species and transforming ecological restoration practice in Australia.

His discovery of the chemical in smoke that is responsible for germination in Australian species has had widespread application, being valued at $100 million per annum in terms of potential global benefits to agriculture, mining restoration and horticulture. As Foundation Director of Science at the Botanic Gardens and Parks Authority for 32 years, he is acknowledged as the driving force behind the creation of its world-recognised research laboratories.

Associate Professor David Morgan is a Senior Research Leader of the Freshwater Fish Group & Fish Health Unit. He has spent his career researching fishes throughout Western Australia and documenting the distribution of most inland fish species in the process. 

David’s research focuses on the impacts of introduced fishes in our waterways, safeguarding endangered species and researching the ecology of W.A.'s unique fishes. His research has taken him to most rivers in the Kimberley, Pilbara and the Southwest. He has discovered several new species of fish in Western Australia, and is regarded as one of Western Australia's leading experts on freshwater fish ecology.

Andrew has more than 30 years experience in aquatic ecology, specialising in the ecology and management of fish, invertebrate and waterbird communities of tropical and temperate freshwater systems. In 1995 Andrew established Wetland Research & Management, an environmental research and consultancy group, and has directed numerous biological surveys, impacts assessments and monitoring programs, including various research studies on Kimberley rivers, such as the Fitzroy and Ord Rivers.

He is member of various committees, including WA Threatened Ecological Communities Scientific Committee, and various Technical Advisory Groups (Swan River Trust, Ord River Scientific Panel). He has authored over 75 project reports, and published over 50 scientific papers.

Dr Ryan Vogwill has been an influential Hydrogeologist in Western Australia for 15 years. He has undertaken project work and provided advice regarding the management of water resources and environmental impacts across most business areas and across all regions of WA. During time working in Government, he played a significant role in establishing and in the initial application of the Perth Regional Aquifer System Model, a platform for more responsible and informed management of groundwater resources in the Perth region.

He was the Supervising Hydrologist for the Natural Diversity Recovery Catchment Program in the now Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions. He was also formerly an Associate Professor at the University of Western Australia, where he established, coordinated and was the primary lecturer for the Hydrogeology MSc course at UWA.

Dr Anja Skroblin is a post-doctoral fellow in the Quantitative and Applied Ecology Group at the University of Melbourne. She is fascinated by the way life-history adaptations influence the distributions, population dynamics and persistence of species in the face of disturbance and threatening processes.

Her research has spanned conservation biology, monitoring, fire ecology, rangelands management, spatial ecology, molecular genetics and evolution. Much of her research bridges the interface between science and on-ground management, and in particular has indicated the management needed to protect the Purple-crowned Fairy-wren, an Endangered endemic of Australia’s northern rivers.

Jeff Connor is Professor of Water Economics specialising in quantitative economic, environmental and social integrated systems modelling. He has a history of working closely with governments at local, state, national and international levels to provide policy advice based on rigorous economics. Jeff has worked as an advisor to the Murray Darling Basin Authority, natural resource management boards and state departments for water, agriculture and natural resource management in South Australia, Victoria, and Western Australia and in Bangladesh, Indonesia, China and Laos. 

He has secured and managed over $6 million worth of externally funded research and published over 60 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters in water resource and environmental economics. 

Peter Veth has been involved in archaeological, ethnohistoric, ethnographic and maritime studies throughout Australia, Torres Strait, Maluku Province Indonesia, East Timor and Pitcairn Island. Beginning with surveys on the Sturt Creek of the SE Kimberley in to the Great Sandy Desert in 1980, he has now carried our several hundred projects throughout Greater Australia. His work in the arid region of Western Australia spans more than 30 years and is foundational to the understanding of the entire span of human occupation of the arid zone, from initial Aboriginal occupation until European colonisation. 

Peter has published over 300 peer-reviewed volumes, chapters, papers and reports; produced over 800 public education pieces; and developed new curriculum and research alliances in Australian Indigenous archaeology, maritime archaeology, Native Title and contact studies. 

Professor O’Connor began her career in archaeology at The University of New England before completing her PhD from The University of Western Australia in 1991. Sue's research in the Kimberley spans more than 20 years and provided the first evidence of occupation of the Kimberley region dating back beyond 40,000 years, as well as the earliest evidence for rock art production in Australia. 

Her research interests include the maritime colonisation of Australia and Southeast Asia; interactions between humans and their environment; human impacts on the environment; and rock art. Fieldwork for this research has taken Sue to remote locations such as Arnhem Land, the Kimberley, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Timor Leste.