Dr Rocio Ponce Reyes

Dr Rocio Ponce-Reyes is an applied conservation decision scientist specialising in transforming complex ecological and spatial data into cost-effective, actionable decision-support tools for national environmental, sustainability, and infrastructure challenges. Her expertise integrates advanced spatial analysis, cross-sectoral data integration, and ecological modelling. She works collaboratively with government, research, and industry partners to deliver insights across biodiversity conservation, water resource management, transport and logistics planning, and emerging sustainability sectors.

Her work provides a scientific foundation for major government decisions and investments. She has led the data curation and spatial analysis components for several national initiatives:

• Threatened Species Prioritisation (ISP/QSP – Decision Support Tools):
  Dr Ponce-Reyes played a key role in developing the Integrated Species Prioritisation (ISP – NSW) and Queensland Species Prioritisation (QSP) tools, leading the spatial data curation and analysis for both. She designed scalable, automated workflows to harmonise spatial, ecological, and investment datasets, transforming how species recovery priorities are identified, evaluated, and funded. These tools have enabled governments to transition from expert opinion and disconnected datasets to spatially intelligent, transparent, and repeatable decision-support systems.

• Water Security and Infrastructure Planning (NAWRA, MDB-EF):
  She contributed spatial modelling and decision-support expertise to two national water initiatives: the Murray–Darling Basin Environmental Water Assessments and the Northern Australia Water Resource Assessment. She led and contributed to innovative habitat modelling approaches and curated hydrological datasets to predict how water flows, dam inundation, climate change, and environmental watering decisions impact vulnerable species, ecosystems, and habitat connectivity at landscape scale. These tools are now used by government agencies to inform conservation planning, environmental water allocation, and sustainable infrastructure investment.

• Transport Network Strategic Investment Tool (TraNSIT):
  Dr Ponce-Reyes provides spatial decision-support expertise to the TraNSIT program (www.csiro.au/TraNSIT), helping evaluate how transport and supply chains respond to climate change, infrastructure constraints, and geographic isolation. As part of extending TraNSIT to sea and air freight, she leads the development of the Sea-Lines and Air Freight geospatial networks for TraNSIT Web, integrating maritime and aviation connectivity with country-to-port trade flows. She also leads technical work on sensitive freight and international development applications, including designing an avoidance and proximity-based multi-variable analysis to assess route feasibility, vulnerability, and access to critical services. As part of the Pacific food systems resilience project, Dr Ponce-Reyes contributes to modelling how climate change, remoteness, and limited infrastructure affect the movement of local food crops and coastal fisheries, helping inform climate-resilient transport investment.

Dr Ponce-Reyes has also demonstrated innovation leadership by initiating CSIRO’s work on edible insects as a sustainable food system opportunity, leading to the CSIRO Edible Insects Roadmap, which gained national and international recognition and positioned CSIRO as a leader in this emerging domain. Learn more: https://research.csiro.au/edibleinsects/