INVITED SPEAKERS

The AFSS 2024 Organising Committee would like to thank all Invited Speakers who contributed to the Scientific Program this year.

LUNGFISH LECTURER

Professor Barry T Hart

Emeritus Professor
Monash University

Professor Barry T Hart is currently Emeritus Professor at Monash University, Director of Water Science Pty Ltd, Board member of EcoFutures Consulting (an Alluvium Grooup company), and a member of Alluvium Research and Insights Panel. He recently completed terms as Chair of Alluvium Holdings and Alluvium Consulting (June 2024) and as Chair of the Goyder Institute for Water Research (December 2023). Previously, he was Director of the Monash University Water Studies Centre for over 35 years and Deputy Director Research of the CRC for Freshwater Ecology.

He has published over 220 refereed papers and 13 books, and is on the editorial board of 3 international journals. His most recent books are: Hart, B.T. & Doolan, J. (eds). (2017). Decision Making in Water Resources Policy and Management: The Australian Experience, Elsevier, Oxford, UK and Hart, B.T., Bond, N.R., Byron, N., Pollino, C.A. and Stewardson, M.J. (eds.) (2021). The Murray-Darling Basin, Australia: Its Future Management, Elsevier, Oxford, UK.

Prof Hart has established a national and international reputation in the fields of natural resources decision-making (water quality and catchment management, environmental flows, water policy), ecological risk assessment and environmental chemistry. He has worked hard over the years to get current research adopted in water policy and management. To this end, he has chaired or been a member of many scientific inquiries, reviews and advisory committees. In 2018 he completed 9 years as a Board member of the Murray-Darling Basin Authority. He has received several awards, including the Limnology Medal (1982) from the Australian Society for Limnology, the Environmental Chemistry Medal (1996) and Applied Chemistry Medal (1998) from the Royal Australian Chemical Institute, Centenary Medal for services to water quality management and environmental protection (2003), and was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in the 2012.

CHRISTIE FELLOWS LECTURER

Dr Sarah Mika

Senior Lecturer in Aquatic
Ecology and Management
University of New England

Sarah leads the Aquatic Ecology and Restoration Laboratory at the University of New England, Armidale NSW, Australia. Sarah has over 10 years’ research experience in river and wetland ecosystems ranging from semi-arid to coastal systems including estuaries. Her research focuses on biogeochemistry and ecosystem ecology, with an emphasis on catchment-scale water quality and basal resources for aquatic foodwebs, and their use in landscape restoration. Most of Sarah’s current research is based in the northern Murray Darling Basin, where she contributes to the Commonwealth Environmental Water Office’s monitoring, evaluation and research program to manage ecological outcomes of environmental water. It is a real privilege to partner in the adaptive management of such a critical part of Australia’s water resources and aquatic systems, and Sarah has concentrated on developing leadership in collaborative interdisciplinary research, and research engagement with government and community stakeholders to ensure that her targeted research informs the adaptive management of these systems.

Sarah’s first love are the coastal rivers of northern NSW, with their high biodiversity values. She leads collaborative research with local and state government agencies to assess aquatic ecosystem health at catchment scales, and inform priorities for catchment management and rehabilitation. She enjoys building interdisciplinary teams and tackling complex questions, including the mentoring of student researchers to develop their skills and confidence in ethical scientific research.

When not at work, Sarah volunteers with her local fire brigade, enjoys seeing the seasons unfold in the beautiful New England Tablelands, and inflicting her cooking on friends. She is strictly a dog person.

INTERNATIONAL PLENARY LECTURER

Assoc. Prof. Jonathan Tonkin

Rutherford Discovery Fellow
University of Canterbury, New Zealand

Jonathan Tonkin is an Associate Professor and Rutherford Discovery Fellow at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand. He is an ecologist and biodiversity scientist focused on tackling global challenges at the nexus between biodiversity and climate change, with a particular emphasis on ecological forecasting and understanding drivers of biodiversity change in rivers. He has won a number of awards, including the NZ Prime Minister’s MacDiarmid Emerging Scientist Prize, the NZ Freshwater Sciences Society,and University of Canterbury Early Career Researcher Awards, and a Rutherford Discovery Fellowship. 

Jono’s research has appeared in leading multidisciplinary (Nature, Science) and ecological (Nature Ecology & Evolution, Trends in Ecology & Evolution, Frontiers in Ecology & the Environment) journals. He leads the Tonkin Lab, a diverse group of postdocs and postgraduate students, and is a Principal Investigator in Te Pūnaha Matatini, a New Zealand Centre of Research Excellence in Complex Systems. He also writes the newsletter Predirections. 

PLENARY LECTURERS

Ms Sonia Cooper

Yorta Yorta Water & Climate Change
Research Officer

Sonia Cooper, a proud Yorta Yorta person was raised by her grandmother on Cummeragunja, NSW.

Deeply connected to her culture, Sonia lives and works on Country, dedicating her career to a rights-based approach and the intersection of various protections but extends that knowledge to bring others on the journey.

Her focus includes cultural law, water law, chemical science, and assessing cultural impacts. Sonia is committed to challenging conventional thinking and invite all those who wish to yarn.

Dr Erin O’Donnell

Senior Lecturer & ARC Research Fellow
University of Melbourne Law School

Dr Erin O’Donnell is a Senior Lecturer and ARC Research Fellow at the University of Melbourne Law School. She is a water law and policy expert, and she is recognized internationally for her research into the legal rights for rivers and Indigenous rights to water.

Since 2018, Erin has been a member of the Birrarung Council, the voice of the Birrarung (Yarra River) in Melbourne. In 2023, Erin commenced an Australian Research Council-funded fellowship to explore the power of treaty to address water justice and create more sustainable and legitimate settler state water laws.

Her book, Legal Rights for Rivers: Competition, Collaboration and Water Governance is available from Routledge.