Voting for two new SCB Oceania Board members is now open! We have an impressive field of seven candidates for you to choose from. Their biographies are below.
To vote, go to conbio.org and log in to your member area. There, you should see the invitation to vote (as above).
The voting period will run from Monday 8th May to Thursday 8th June. Votes will be counted by the Society for Conservation Biology, and the results will be announced soon after.
Candidate Profiles
Gregory Jeff Barord
Dr. Gregory Barord is a Conservation Biologist for Save the Nautilus and head of the Marine Biology program at Central Campus in Des Moines, Iowa, USA. He has conducted field and laboratory based studies on cephalopods for 15 years and is currently working to survey nautilus populations throughout the Indo-Pacific to support conservation. These surveys led to the recent adoption of nautiluses into Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, providing the first international regulation of the nautilus trade. While continuing to survey new nautilus populations, Dr. Barord and Save the Nautilus are also now working more closely with nautilus range countries in the Indo-Pacific to assist with the implementation of the new CITES mandates through education, outreach, and engaged participation. Dr. Barord is active and passionate about promoting science literacy and sharing the nautilus story with everyone and has visited countless schools, aquariums, and other events, in multiple countries, speaking with people as young as four years old and as old as eighty. He also serves as a Scientific Advisor to the USA- based Aquatic Invertebrate Taxon Advisory Group and recently joined the IUCN Species Survival Commission Mollusc Specialty Group.
Alienor Chauvenet
Originally from France, I completed a PhD in Ecology at Imperial College London, UK. My PhD focused on planning species translocations under climate change. After finishing my thesis, I spent two years working for the British government as an ecological modeller, gaining valuable experience and a different perspective to species management and conservation. In 2014, I took up my current position of Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Queensland, Australia. There, my research focuses on how to optimise land management decisions for conservation, and measuring the biodiversity benefits of these decisions. I work in conservation science because I am passionate about finding ways to make a difference to the fate of threatened species and ecosystems. This can be through research, but also by engaging people with conservation and science. Although I have been a member of the Society of Conservation Biology since 2010, I became actively involved with the Oceania section by helping organise the 2016 Oceania Congress for Conservation Biology in Brisbane. Seeing first-hand the exciting work done by the SCBO board, I was inspired to invest even more into the Society. Given my experience and interests, I believe I would be a great fit for the position.
Owen T Nevin
I am a Professor of Conservation Biology and Associate Vice-Chancellor at CQUniversity Australia. I have had a long association with the Society for Conservation Biology having joined as a PhD student at Utah State University. Soon after SCB’s first steps towards globalisation I was elected to the newly formed Europe Section Board of Directors and served as Secretary and Treasurer for two terms from 2003 to 2009; this was an exciting time to be involved in the leadership of the Society as it developed to accommodate the diverse and changing needs of the global sections. This was also a time when the Europe Section pioneered major regional meetings through the 1st and 2nd European Congress of Conservation Biology (ECCB). In 2010 I led a successful bid to host the 3rd ECCB and was also elected to SCB’s global Board of Governors where I served for 3 years. In 2012, having just relocated to Australia to take up a senior leadership position at CQUniversity, I did not run for a second term on the Board of Governors; however, I believe that the time is now right to offer my skills and experience in leadership to the members of this society and I look forward to working with other Board members to grow and strengthen the SCB Oceania Section.
Shannon Noelle Rivera
Shannon Noelle Rivera graduated from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa with a dual degree in Environmental Studies with a minor in Zoology to pursue a career working in wildlife conservation. She earned a second degree in Gender and Conflict Resolution to better understand and identify gender-sensitive strategies within conservation practice. Shannon is the Community Partnership Coordinator for Hawaii’s Department of Land and Natural Resources Kaulunani Urban Forestry Program, a student researcher with the University’s Hawaiʻi Wildlife Ecology Lab, a member of the Hawaiʻi Conservation Alliance Nāhululeihiwakuipapa Next- Gen Committee and the President of Society for Conservation Biology’s newly formed Hawaiʻi Chapter. Her focus and passion is Environmental and Endangered Species Conservation and how the consideration of Animal Welfare is addressed in conservation practice.
Lily van Eeden
For the first seven years of my career, I worked in ecological impact assessments and environmental management, first in Australia and then overseas. From counting kangaroos in Victoria, trapping prairie dogs in southern Utah, to chasing badgers in central China, I’ve had some incredible and diverse experiences that have helped shape my outlook on conservation on a global scale. These experiences led me to diversify my approach, and I’m now undertaking a PhD that brings together social and political sciences to address environmental problems. Specifically, I investigate Australia’s dingo management and seek to find solutions to the conflict between dingoes and livestock production so that we can learn to coexist with our only top order predator. I’m particularly interested in this topic because dingoes play an important role in ecosystem regulation through suppression of kangaroos and invasive predators, so allowing the dingo to fulfil this role can facilitate holistic management that restores ecosystem balance at a landscape scale. I’m currently the Events Manager for the Sydney chapter of the Society for Conservation Biology. I’d like to join the Oceania chapter Board of Directors to enhance my ability to contribute to the society and the field of conservation biology more broadly.
Emily S. Weeks
I have been on the SCB-Oceania board for the last 3 years working closely with the policy and education working groups. During this time, I have worked closely with the policy working group and lead the development of the SCB-Oceania Scientific Statement on the status of NZ freshwater flora and fauna. At present, I work in international development on global land policy and natural resource management. Prior to this I was a researcher and then Senior Analyst at Landcare Research in NZ and helped build the National Land Research Centre which aimed to facilitate more efficient uptake of science information and products for end users. My PhD is in Conservation planning and I also have done extensive research in Ecosystem Services. My free time was once spent exploring the outdoors and adventuring through running and mountain biking but is now more focused on exploring the outdoors and taking on new adventures with my 3-year-old.