Dr Heather McGinness

Biography

Other Interests

Dr McGinness has expertise in:
- Planning and management of multiple simultaneous projects, including staff/team management and multi-client liaison across geographically broad areas (local to national) and multiple disciplines
- Design and implementation of practical, interdisciplinary field research programs in multiple-use landscapes
- High-level writing, editing, and presentation skills for a range of audiences – from short media articles to reports and scientific journal manuscripts, and from local community presentations to international scientific conferences
- Bird, mammal, reptile, amphibian, vegetation and water quality field survey, ID, capture, handling and ecology
- Statistical analysis and modelling in R and MS Excel using both traditional and Bayesian methods
- GPS and GIS (ArcGIS) mapping and manipulations
- Effective leadership and communication with landholders, community groups, university researchers, government and non-government agencies

Dr McGinness has presented her ideas to and collaborated with CSIRO, government policy, CMA, LLS, university, CRC, local community and industry audiences. She has authored scientific papers, book chapters, and reports; frequently presents public seminars and communicates research through a range of media; and supervises both under-graduate and post-graduate university students in her efforts to advance science in her field.

Professional Areas

• Environmental flows
• River, floodplain, wetland and riparian ecology and management
• Hydrological change and environmental water management: Trajectories of change in floodplain ecosystems
• Responses of floodplain vegetation, fauna, and biomass to varying flood regimes and individual flood events
• Freshwater science
• Connecting land and water: Understanding and managing links between water, vegetation and fauna
• Avian ecology in rivers, floodplains, wetlands and riparian zones

Fields of Research

Current Roles

• Project leader - various projects
  Heather has been a formal Project Leader for a range of projects in CSIRO since 2008. She has consistently and independently sought and obtained external funding for research and consultancies that she has led. Each year she has been Project Leader for between two and six projects simultaneously, while at the same time has also contributed expertise to projects led or developed by others – usually an additional two to three projects per year. Many of the projects that Heather leads involve leadership, co-ordination and supervision of multiple staff from across several CSIRO Business Units and from external agencies and universities.

Academic Qualifications

Professional Experiences

• 1998-Present

  Leadership: Over the past 20+ years Heather has completed multiple leadership courses and workshops most of which have included personality, preference and leadership style profiles and evaluations and plans. Some recent examples include: • The Peter Cullen Water and Environment Trust ‘Science to Policy Leadership’ program. • The 2016 Public Service Women in Leadership Summit • The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People • Working With People • Coaching Performance - Fundamental Skills • Coaching Performance – Challenging Conversations • Customer Conversations • CSIRO Code of Conduct and You and CSIRO Code of Conduct refreshers • Fair Play at Work • EEO Anti-Bullying Harassment & Discrimination • CSIRO Behavioural Expectations • Diversity and Inclusion in CSIRO • Introduction to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultural Awareness at CSIRO • Understanding your role and responsibilities as a CERC Postdoctoral Fellow Supervisor
  University of Canbera; CSIRO

• 2004-Present

  Other skills: Heather has also completed a range of professional courses, workshops, licences and certificates, including: • Project Management Fundamentals • Using R for statistics • ArcGIS II Essential Workflows • Journal Paper Writing Workshops • 4WD Handling and Recovery • All-Terrain Vehicle (ATV - Quad-bike) Handling and Recovery • NSW/ACT Boat Licence • CASA Remote Pilot Licence • CSIRO Remote Pilot Certificate Induction • CASA Aviation Radio Operator’s Certificate • Class A/B Firearm Licence (Employment Licence) • Competition and Consumer Law • Commercial Business Skills Program • Senior / Apply First Aid and Refreshers • Animal Research Ethics for Researchers • Security & Fraud Awareness and refreshers • Impact@CSIRO
  CSIRO

Achievements and Awards

• 2024-2024

  CSIRO Environment Awards 2024 - Growing our Impact
  CSIRO

• 2024-2024

  Australian Water Association National Awards: Research and Development Excellence Award
  Australian Water Association

• 2019-2019

  Commonwealth Environmental Water Office (CEWO) Certificate of Appreciation in recognition of outstanding support and contribution
  CEWO (Commonwealth Environmental Water Office)

• 2018-2018

  CSIRO Land and Water Award for Visual Communication of Science
  CSIRO

• 2016-2016

  CSIRO Certificate of Recognition 'To acknowledge exemplary project leadership and achievement of significant science impact with key stakeholders on the MDB EWKR Waterbird project'
  CSIRO

• 2015-2015

  CSIRO Land and Water Award 'To acknowledge going the extra mile to deliver impact and trust by directly connecting science with local NRM and landholder communities'
  CSIRO

• 2015-Present

  Completion of the prestigious and challenging ‘Peter Cullen Water and Environment Trust Science to Policy Leadership Program’
  Peter Cullen Water and Environment Trust

• 2016-2016

  Ecological Society of Australia 2016 Ecology in Action Photography Competition ‘When No-one’s watching: Camera trap gems’ remote camera images category: Second Prize for the image ‘Young fox in the afternoon’
  Ecological Society of Australia

• 2016-2016

  Ecological Society of Australia 2016 Ecology in Action Photography Competition ‘Beneath Southern Skies: Unique Australian Landscapes’ category: Highly Commended for the image ‘River red gums at sunset, Paika Lake NSW’
  Ecological Society of Australia

Other highlights

• 2004-Present

  Since joining CSIRO in 2004, Heather's career highlights include:

• 2004-present

  Developing, securing support for and leading multiple research projects, the majority of which were externally funded, while also contributing to projects led by others. Building these projects into a coherent body of research informing trajectories of change in floodplain river systems in response to water management actions and policies at catchment, State, Murray-Darling Basin and Federal scales.

• -

  Influencing on-ground local to catchment scale water management decisions and actions, and Federal, State and Murray-Darling Basin (MDB) water policies and their implementation, thereby supporting the restoration and maintenance of thousands of kilometres of rivers and more than 30,000 wetlands – many of international importance.

• -

  Influencing how scientific peers, managers and policy-makers think about the science and management of land and water, resulting in consideration of whole-of-system perspectives to reduce the risk of perverse outcomes, and tradeoffs in decision-making being made explicit

• -

  Direct positive stakeholder feedback. Commonwealth, State, and regional land and water policy-makers and managers from the Department of Environment, Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder (CEWO), Murray-Darling Basin Authority, and NSW Office of Environment and Heritage have been praising CSIRO research and communications efforts informing waterbird and environmental water management. In particular, GPS satellite-tracking of the movements of waterbirds across the Murray-Darling Basin and beyond is causing quite a stir, for example:

• -

  ‘I think this is a really important area of research – with environmental watering the assumption is that if we add water – everything will respond. I think what you are showing is the system is much more complex than that and that here are other cues that the ecosystem – water birds in your case – are responding to. Many of these other cues we don’t know –let alone measure.’

• -

  ‘This is so exciting. I showed a few colleagues (just internal) and it is causing such a buzz of excitement, with one person commenting that this is the best thing they have seen in 4 and half years of working in the [organisation]! Well done, there is going to be so much interest in this.’

• -

  ‘I reckon this is some of the most exciting work going! It really feeds into/informs our thinking about beyond catchment scale event management.’

• -

  ‘Just a quick note to let you know how much I really enjoy and am learning a lot from the updates you are sending through (I work on both the Lachlan and Mid Murray regions…) Your work is also informing the very early stages of our internal discussions/thinking re the need for e-water planning to be done/linked at the scale at which these flyways are operating. It is awesome work & greatly appreciated at this end.’

Community and Corporate Citizenship

• 1998-Present

  Member, Australian Freshwater Sciences Society (Australian Society for Limnology)

• 2010-Present

  Member, BirdLife Australia

• 2020-Present

  Member, Ecological Society Australia

• 2010-Present

  CSIRO Environment Area Custodian

• 2008-2024

  CSIRO First Aid Officer

Attachments

• Feathering-their-nests [pdf - 0.62MB]
• Waterbirds-on-the-wing [pdf - 0.58MB]

Related links

• Satellite-tracking waterbird movements