Celebrate World Ocean Day

Len Collard is a Whadjuk Nyungar Traditional Owner of the Perth metropolitan area and Adjunct Professor at Nulungu Research Institute at the University of Notre Dame.

Len’s ground breaking research around decoding Noongar Place Names of the southwest of Australia has significantly added to Nyungar cultural research on the local, national and international stages. Len’s contribution to research has broadened the world’s understanding and appreciation of Aboriginal culture and heritage of Southwest Australia. As an accomplished academic, Len’s research has predominantly focused on Aboriginal studies including Noongar language and nomenclature; interpretive history, tourism and youth studies.

As a Director of Moodjar Consultancy, Len’s works with stakeholders from government, commercial and non-profit sectors to share Noongar knowledge and culture, producing a positive impact for all Australians.

Jock Clough has degrees in marine biology and engineering. He was formerly Chairman of Clough Ltd and Hartley Poynton Ltd and a board member of The Nature Conservancy and the WA Maritime Museum.
He is currently Chairman of the Advisory Board to the University of Western Australia’s Oceans Institute & co-trustee of The Jock Clough Marine Foundation.

Paul is a WA-based director with the Australian Marine Conservation Society, Australia’s largest ocean-focussed NGO, where he leads Protect Ningaloo, a joint initiative to protect Exmouth Gulf, Ningaloo, and contributes to a range of WA and national ocean and climate priorities.

Previously with WWF International, based in Switzerland, Paul was the architect of its campaign to elevate the ocean’s multiple values, threats and conservation solutions globally, framing it as the world’s 7th largest economy, referenced by institutions including the World Economic Forum, The Economist and the G20.

Paul led WWF-Australia’s work to protect offshore reefs and islands from oil and gas development and the joint efforts that forged the Kimberley conservation strategy and the world’s largest marine protected area system in Australia’s federal waters (and in Antarctica).

Paul was the spokesperson for the Save Ningaloo campaign of the early 2000s to spare Ningaloo from inappropriate development and successfully advocated for significant new marine protected areas and National and World Heritage listing.

Daniel is a Bardi Jawi Traditional Owner. Co Chairperson Kimberley Indigenous Saltwater Advisory Group.

Daniel will be on the first panel covering the Importance of Marine Parks and Marine Sanctuary Areas.

Dr Emily Lester is a marine ecologist and Fulbright Postdoctoral Scholar associated with Dr Liz Madin’s lab at the University of Hawai’i Manoa. She is interested in the drivers of fish demographics, shark conservation, and is a passionate advocate for the inclusion of women in STEM.

Broadly, her research focuses on the behaviour of marine animals in response to human pressures. Particularly, she focuses on how human activities can modify food chains and the stability of ecosystems, and how this can impact processes such as trophic structures and alternate stable states. Her research seeks to understand how these ecological processes unfold under the growing footprint of human activity, and how we can leverage the information from these studies to inform the conservation and management of marine ecosystems.

Dan Gaughan holds a PhD and is the Chief Fisheries Scientist. Daniel is also the Director Aquatic Science and Assessment & Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development.

Emily holds a master’s degree in Political Science and International Relations from the University of Western Australia. Prior to her role at the Minderoo Foundation, Emily worked as an advisor with the Department of Premier and Cabinet. In her current role at Minderoo, Emily has furthered her experience within the policy sector, working on several pieces within her team “Flourishing Oceans” and across the Foundation that drive impact and push for change. Most recently, Emily published the report “Mending the Net” that reviews the current legislation on Australia’s seafood imports. This work has developed into an integral project within the Flourishing Oceans team, with Emily leading a campaign for improved regulation on the countries imported seafood, along with developing policy solutions and managing research projects that complement this project.

Dr Charlotte Birkmanis is a shark scientist, consultant marine biologist and wildlife science communicator working at the intersection of research, industry, and education. Charlotte’s research in Australia examines how marine ecosystems respond to development and predator removal, with the goal of allowing us to co-exist with ocean wildlife, especially sharks. Looking to create a better tomorrow, Charlotte also uses her skills to support renewable energy and sustainable ocean management. Charlotte is passionate about making science available to everyone by promoting ‘bite-sized science’ through her talks, books, podcast and radio show, and was recently recognised as a ‘Superstar of STEM’ and ‘STEM Ambassador’ with Science and Technology Australia.

Julia is a highly regarded marine scientist and adjunct fellow at the University of Western Australia. She holds a doctorate in plastic pollution with over 15 years of experience leading R&D for universities, technology companies and foundations, including The Ocean Cleanup, the Australian Institute of Marine Science and, Minderoo Foundation. Julia is also completing her MBA at UWA and has a PHD, Masters and Honours in Oceanography.

Michael was previously a Principal at BHP, helping to guide its multi-billion dollar AI/ automation growth strategy and R&D portfolio. Before BHP, he practised as an M&A lawyer with top-tier law firm, Corrs Chambers Westgarth. There, Michael advised on a number of high-profile M&A and fundraising transactions (incl. in the mining and aquaculture sectors) and helped to drive the firm’s “emerging technologies” practice. He has double degrees in Law and Commerce (with First Class Honours in Finance) from the University of Western Australia.

Dr Mark Meekan is an adjunct Senior Research Fellow with the University of Western Australia.

Mark is a tropical fish ecologist and a major part of his research portfolio examines the ecosystem role and ecology of elasmobranchs, with a specialist focus on whale sharks. He has supervised post-doctoral fellows and PhD students on working on shark and reef fish projects throughout the Indian and Pacific Oceans.

Fiona is an estuarine and marine ecologist and has worked across a spectrum of these ecosystems with a focus on understanding how they function and how to better sustain them alongside healthy societies. Before joining The Nature Conservancy, she worked as a Senior Research Scientist in the academic sector, undertaking applied research for government, industry and community agencies for about 20 years. Her core areas of interest were fish and invertebrate ecology, ecosystem health indices and optimising trade-offs across human-natural systems for sustainable development.

She joined TNC in 2019 as the Marine Coordinator for Western Australia, overseeing and delivering shellfish reef restoration projects across south-western WA and later South Australia, and progressed to Oceans Program Director in 2022. She now leads a diverse national team focussed on restoring and sustaining Australia’s most critical coastal ecosystems for the benefit of people and nature.

Jack will be providing a Nyoongar youth perspective on World Ocean Day. He is currently Director – National Leadership Council at Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander International Engagement Organisation, and Community Map Maker Community Map Maker Telethon Kids Institute.

Lincoln is a Reporting Project Officer for Tangaroa Blue Foundation, runs beach clean-up events in Perth, and is passionate about ocean conservation. She’s currently completing my PhD in Marine Science at the University of Western Australia where her research examines the relationship between large ships and recreational vessels on marine wildlife.

Nathan is CEO of The Leisure Collective, a WA-based business that owns and distributes highly regarded surf hardware brand Creatures of Leisure, eyewear brands OTIS Eyewear and Sito Shades, and travel towel brand Layday. Born in the beautiful region of south west WA these brands have the ocean and coastal lifestyle in their DNA and they’re serious about doing as little harm as they can to the environment, living their motto “do what we can where we can as fast as we can”.

The Leisure Collective has recently achieved B Corp Certification, an independent global designation that confirms the business is meeting the highest standards of social and environmental impact. While they’re excited to be on this path they are the first to offer up that they are not perfect, they’re on a journey and continuing to make positive improvements across all aspects of their business and hope to encourage others to do the same…using business as a force for good.