Australian Citizen Science Association

Erin Roger, Chair (Sydney)

Erin is a Senior Scientist working on citizen science for the NSW Office and Environment and Heritage. She is responsible for developing and leading citizen science projects that contribute data to the agency’s environmental research program. She works on a number of citizen science projects such as BioBlitzes, water quality testing, bird counts, photo points and digitising images for photo validation. Erin has been assisting ACSA with its strategic plan development and was on the Entity and Governance working group. She is also an author on the Australian Guide to Running a BioBlitz. Previously Erin has worked in climate change adaptation and has a PhD in terrestrial ecology. Follow Erin on LinkedIn and ResearchGate.

 

Stephanie von Gavel, Vice Chair (Canberra)

Stephanie von Gavel is Business Development Manager for the Atlas of Living Australia (www.ala.org.au) and CSIRO Land & Water. She has over 20 years experience in technology transfer, business development and strategy development in the life sciences area, including biotechnology, agribusiness, inclusive innovation and now biodiversity. She has a strong commitment to citizen science – having contributed to the development of ACSA as an organization, and CSIRO and ALA’s own initiatives in this space, and even participated in BioBlitz or two. Stephanie believes in the importance of citizen science as a mechanism for engaging with communities and individuals to drive a better understanding of science and science literacy especially if Australia is going to have constructive conversation about our environment and the STEM skills of our children (and adults).

 

Alexis Tindall, Treasurer (Adelaide)

Alexis has worked in museums and has a passion for collections and their potential. For the last five years she has led a volunteer digitisation program at the South Australian Museum, working with a team of volunteers to make data and images from their massive terrestrial and marine invertebrate collections available online. During that period she has worked closely with the Atlas of Living Australia, faunal collections around the country and also coordinated content for the Field Guide to the Fauna of South Australia app. She has worked with volunteers in natural history museums, social history museums, regional areas and community organisations, and is keen to contribute further to the citizen science community.

 

Ellie Downing, Secretary (Sydney)

Ellie Downing has two Masters’ degrees in museology; one via coursework at University of Sydney, and one in research exploring experiences of citizen science within museums from Macquarie University. She currently works for the Science Communication unit of the Australian Museum, helping deliver the Australian Museum Science Festival (AMSF) and associated projects.She is passionate about museum communities, informal learning, citizen science and dogs.Follow Ellie on Twitter: @jesiathe

 

Jessie Cappadonna, General Member (Brisbane)

Jessie currently researches how to engage citizen scientists with bioacoustics as a PhD student at the Queensland University of Technology. With a background in ecology and communication, Jessie has a long standing passion for engaging members of the public with scientific research as citizen scientists. Having been involved with ACSA since the initial 2014 workshop in Brisbane, Jessie has had the opportunity help drive ACSA strategic planning and development. Jessie and Michelle Neil co-developed ACSA social media (Twitter, Facebook, & LinkedIn) in the early days, and since then Jessie has been overseeing development of a communication plan and new website, as well as liaised with folks at ALA for the national project finder. Additionally, Jessie contributed to a journal article and book chapter discussing how global associations are currently working together and planning to do so in the future. Jessie also passionate about understanding past, present, and future diversity citizen science across the nation, and looks forward to continue learning from the community!

 

Kylie Andrews, General Member (Sydney)

Kylie Andrews has created and produced large-scale citizen science projects for the ABC Science unit for many years, including Wildlife Spotter, Galaxy Explorer, Weather Detective and Seafloor Explorer.  She is passionate about creating engaging citizen science projects that also hit scientific goals.  She’s also an award-winning producer, editor and science journalist; has a Bachelor of Science degree; has previously worked in natural hazard research and also co-developed the SBS reality TV series The Nest.

Jenn Loder, General Member (Brisbane)

Inspired by her first Indo-Pacific experience in Palau, Jenn moved to Australia to pursue a career that unites science and education to support healthy oceans. As Director of Programs & Partnerships for Reef Check Australia, she works with a diverse volunteer and partner network to implement community-based research using a globally-standardised methodology. As Coordinator for the Great Barrier Reef Citizen Science Alliance, she supports 12 coastal and marine citizen science member groups to foster collaborative strategies that enhance positive citizen science outcomes for the Reef. She believes in the power of citizen science to unlock practical grassroots solutions to environmental challenges.

Paul Flemons, Host Institution Representative (Sydney)

Paul is the Head of Scientific Services and Infrastructure at the Australian Museum. One of his roles is to coordinate and develop citizen science projects and activities.as Head of the Australian Museum Centre for Citizen Science. He has been working in citizen science for around 5 years and is the creator and manager of the DigiVol (www.digivol.org) crowdsourcing website for digitising collections and capturing biodiversity data from images. He has a background in botany, biodiversity informatics and GIS.

Amy Slocombe, ACSA Support Officer (Sydney)

Amy is the new ACSA Support Officer, based at the Australian Museum. She assists with managing the day to day operations of the Association, such as this website, communications (e.g. the ACSA newsletter), records & database management, meeting & event coordination and general office administration. Amy has an environmental science and education background. She began her career with the Waterwatch program in South Australia, which gave her an excellent introduction to citizen science and the role that the community can play in the collection of scientific data. She also has 7 years experience as an Environmental Adviser within a large energy company, which required her to work in some of the most remote locations across south eastern Australia and reinforced her passion for environmental stewardship.

Michelle Neil, ACSA Social Media Moderator (Brisbane)

In 2011 Michelle’s young son presented her with a spider. A redback spider. After convincing her son not to pick up spiders but to take pictures of them instead Michelle soon found she had over 7000 photos of all sorts of creatures and no idea what any of them were called. Thus a citizen scientist is made. In May 2014 Michelle was invited by Earthwatch to attend the Australian Citizen Science Associations Inaugral Workshop in Brisbane.  She found herself co-chair of the Communications Working Group. Michelle and Jessie Cappadonna co-developed ACSA social media (Twitter, Facebook, & LinkedIn). Since then Michelle, with her orange coloured ipad clutched firmly in one hand, has been an active social media moderator, poster and tweeter for the ACSA social media platforms.  Having worked in analytical chemistry for over a decade Michelle finds herself in an interesting place – a scientist as well as a citizen scientist, with a passion for science communication. Follow Michelle on Twitter: @michelle_neil