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Dr Josie Carwardine

Pronouns: she,her,hers

Senior Research Scientist

https://people.csiro.au/C/J/Josie-Carwardine

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Contact details:

GPO BOX 2583
BRISBANE QLD 4001 AUSTRALIA

Biography

Josie is a team leader and interdisciplinary scientist within CSIRO’s Environment Business Unit, specialising in decision science for biodiversity and the sustainable management of our natural world. Her research seeks to solve pressing local to global environmental challenges, using multi-disciplinary tools to understand stakeholders’ values, and connect these with the best available quantitative and qualitative information to guide outcomes for biodiversity, ecosystems, and people.

Josie leads in the co-development of planning, prioritisation and learning approaches that are fit-for-purpose to solve sustainability challenges faced by our partners, clients, collaborators, and stakeholders. Her research aims to enable decision makers to make more confident, effective and supported decisions that create better outcomes for nature and society. More recently, Josie is also pursuing integrated approaches to mainstreaming biodiversity and nature as part of cross-sectoral, sustainability decision making, seeking transformative benefits for biodiversity, people and organisations.

Josie leads the Adapting for Nature Team (ANT), in the Sustainability Pathways Program, based in Brisbane and Canberra, who work on integrated research to improve human wellbeing and address the biodiversity crisis.

Josie's recent research highlights include:

  • Leader of project team developing the Queensland Threatened Species Prioritisation Framework, to be delivered in December 2024. https://www.qld.gov.au/environment/plants-animals/conservation/threatened-species/our-work-and-partners/program

  • Collaborator on Australia's first Monitoring Evaluation and Research Network to improve evidence for decision making - with a focus on fire and weed management.
    https://research.csiro.au/mer/

  • Led the development of the development of the Priority Threat Management approach from 2012-2022, which is a participatory science tool for assessing alternative scenarios for managing threats to nature across land and seascapes. It has been used to highlight cost-effective management strategies across one fifth of the Australian continent and is informing large scale conservation investment in the Kimberley and Pilbara regions. It is now being applied in Canada, Indonesia and Antarctica. For more details see - https://www.csiro.au/en/research/natural-environment/biodiversity/Conservation-decisions
    https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1365-2664.13268

  • Co-led projects in the National Environmental Science Program (NESP) Threatened Species Recovery Hub (2018-2022), focusing on quantifying the costs of threat management actions, and the co-development of cross-cultural approaches for planning and engaging in threatened species management on Indigenous lands.
    https://www.nespthreatenedspecies.edu.au/people/josie-carwardine

Previous background:
Josie has a bachelor of Applied Environmental Science with First Class Honours from The University of Queensland, and a PhD in Conservation Planning supervised by Stefan Hajkowicz at CSIRO and Dr Hugh Possingham and Kerrie Wilson at The University of Queensland, which was completed in 2010. She has worked on ecological assessment and decision science in research institutions in Australia, Ireland and the United Kingdom.

Professional Areas

Fields of Research

Current

Current Roles

  • Team Leader
    Josie currently leads the external project team developing the Queensland Threatened Species Prioritisation Framework, to be delivered in December 2024. https://www.qld.gov.au/environment/plants-animals/conservation/threatened-species/our-work-and-partners/program

  • Team Member
    Josie collaborates on a project that is piloting Australia's first Monitoring Evaluation and Research Network to improve evidence for decision making - with a focus on fire and weed management. https://research.csiro.au/mer/

  • Team member
    Integrated Spatial Prioritisation tool for NSW saving out species program

Academic Qualifications

  • 2002

    Bachelor Applied Science, Environmental Science with honours class 1
    University of Queensland

  • 2010

    Doctor of Philosophy
    University of Queensland

Professional Experiences

  • 2020-2024

    Senior Research Scientist
    CSIRO

  • 2012-2020

    Research Scientist
    CSIRO

  • 2009-2012

    Postdoctoral Research Fellow
    CSIRO

Achievements and Awards

  • 2016-2019

    Julius Career Award
    CSIRO

  • 2018-2018

    CSIRO Medal for Indigenous Engagmenet
    CSIRO

  • 2012-2012

    AAAI Computational Sustainability Best Paper Award
    Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence

  • 2011-2012

    Payne Scott Award
    CSIRO

  • 2010-2010

    Endeavour Award
    Australian Government Dept Education and Training

Other highlights

  • 2008-2008

    Visiting Scholar - Durrell Institute for Conservation and Ecology

  • 2017-2017

    Priority Threat Management for Antarctic Biodiversity Workshop - Belgium (fully supported)

  • 2016-2018

    Priority Threat Management for ecological and cultural outcomes in West Bali National Park

Publications

We have publications by Dr Josie Carwardine