About

Welcome to the Conservation Decisions team website.

The Conservation Decisions team (CSIRO Land and Water) is a multi-disciplinary group with expertise in ecological modelling, systematic conservation planning, ecosystem services, applied mathematics, artificial intelligence, machine learning and decision theory. We are members of the the CompSustNet research network sponsored by the National Science Foundation, Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence Future Science Platform (CSIRO), and the NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence SPECTRUM (Supporting Participatory Evidence generation to Control Transmissible diseases in our Region Using Modelling).

We’re pioneering techniques in optimal resource allocation, cost-effectiveness analysis, expert elicitation, value of information, spatial prioritisation, multi-objective optimisation, adaptive management and artificial intelligence. We apply our expertise to diverse problems to inform the recovery of endangered species, management of pests, invasive species and diseases, design of conservation reserves, medical decision making, freshwater resource management and the prioritization of threat management to conserve biodiversity in a rapidly changing world.

Our motivation is to solve pressing global and local decision problems. We do this by connecting big and small data with integrated decision science to determine what actions to take, when and where to get the best outcomes for our bucks, while taking into account the many other competing needs of society.

We’re led by Dr Josie Carwardine at CSIRO Land and Water.

Research scientists:
Josie Carwardine, Iadine Chadès,  Sam Nicol, Rocio Ponce-Reyes, Jonathan Ferrer Mestres

Postdoctoral fellow:
Zahid Islam (CSIRO), Peter Eze (University of Melbourne)

PhD and undergraduate students:
CJ Yong (UWA/CSIRO), Luz Valerie Pascal (QUT/CSIRO), Nga-Yee Lai (UQ/CSIRO), Mark Rullo (U. of Adelaide/CSIRO).

Previous team members/visitors:
Stephen Kearney (UQ/CSIRO), Juan Mula Laguna (JCU/CSIRO), Cameron Fletcher (CSIRO), Romain Horcada (ENSTA, France), Hui Xiao (UQ/CSIRO/INRA), Chris Baker (PDF, UQ/CSIRO), Kamal Quazbary (SupAero, France), Jasmine Lee (PhD UQ/Antarctic Division/CSIRO), John Dwyer (UQ/CSIRO), Martin Peron (PhD QUT/CSIRO), Yann Dujardin (Postdoc), Ramona Maggini, Jean-Baptiste Pichancourt, Arthur Le Rhun, Belinda Walters, Yvonne Buckley, Tara Martin, Jonathan Rhodes, Richard Schuster, Tyler Flockhart, Richard Fuller, Nick Murray, RATNAMOGAN Pirashanth (ENSTA), Benjamin Rumeau (ENSTA), Simon Horb (ENSTA), Marc-Antoine Coindreau (ENSTA), Laszlo Jalladeau (ENSTA), Reuben Ross (QUT), Alexandre Garcin (SupAero), Eve McDonald-Madden, Chrystal Mantyka-Pringle, Jennifer Firn.