SCB Oceania Board update – farewells and welcomes!

We are pleased to share with you some changes to the Society for Conservation Biology Oceania (SCBO) Board following our recent elections.

First, we fondly farewell our outgoing Past President Nicky Nelson. We are enormously grateful for Nicky’s long-term contributions to SCBO, in particular her support of early career researchers, SCBO conferences and engagement with the conservation community throughout her term. We wish Nicky all the very best for the future and look forward to staying in touch. We also extend our thanks to Shannon Rivera, co-founder of the SCBO Hawai’i Chapter, who has completed multiple terms as a Member-At-Large on the Board. We are excited that Shannon will remain engaged with SCBO as a Specialist Director, in particular to provide advice on SCBO engagement in Hawai’i.

Next, we welcome new directors Laura Torre and Erica Csekö Nolasco who have been elected to the Board as Members-At-Large.

Laura is a conservation biologist with a passion for science communication and inspiring people to take action for the environment. She is a cetacean researcher, educator, and project manager. She has worked for non-profits, government, consultancies and in the tourism sectors. Laura believes in the power of education to inspire behaviour change and environmental action.

Erica is a PhD candidate at the Queensland University of Technology. Via a diverse topics pathway, Erica’s PhD combines her previous ecological and biological knowledge with social-ecological system thinking. She hopes that this approach can help bring academic knowledge into practice and encourage pro-environmental behaviours that maximise benefits for human well-being and biodiversity. 

We are excited to plan a new year of conservation activities across the Oceania region with the added enthusiasm of our new Board members, as we gear up to host ICCB in Brisbane/Meanjin in June 2025.