Dr Sam Nicol
Natural Capital Group Leader and Principal Research Scientist
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Biography
Sam leads the Natural Capital Group, a group of 25+ researchers who are united around reinvigorating Australia's natural capital to support environmentally sustainable development. The group has an outstanding capability mix, including understanding carbon/vegetation processes, forest function, ecosystem services, quantitative biodiversity assessment, natural capital assessment and accounting, and corporate nature disclosures. We use our mix of cutting-edge science to take on some of the biggest challenges facing nature globally.
Some of the key components of the Natural Capital portfolio include natural capital accounting and disclosures, which use accounting and reporting techniques to make nature's services visible to business, and Nature Positive action, which includes considering how to convert disclosures into tangible actions that support businesses to improve their nature position. We engage in this work at a range of scales, from developing the tools to empower individual businesses to disclose their nature impacts to supporting global initiatives like the Global Biodiversity Framework. For more information about what CSIRO are up to, check out our Natural Capital webpage here: https://www.csiro.au/en/research/natural-environment/natural-resources/natural-capital-accounting
Outside of his leadership role, Sam is an ecological modeller and decision scientist who is interested in science that makes biodiversity and nature goals practical for real-world application. He uses techniques from a broad range of disciplines to inform decisions and provide scientifically robust and defensible recommendations at the appropriate level of complexity for application. Some of his specific interests include improving our understanding of the effectiveness of recovery and restoration actions, predictive modelling of species movement and other ecological processes, and developing 'win-win' actions that benefit people, the economy and nature.
Dr Nicol has published more than 50 refereed journal papers, including articles in leading journals such as PNAS, Nature Communications, Journal of Applied Ecology, and Methods in Ecology and Evolution.
Professional Areas
Fields of Research
Current Roles
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Group Leader, Natural Capital
Leader of CSIRO's Natural Capital Group, a group of 25+ researchers who are united around reinvigorating Australia's natural capital to support environmentally sustainable development. -
Natural Capital Coordinator
Coordinating CSIRO's portfolio of work in Natural Capital, including streamlining CSIRO's capability to provide an integrated offering to clients. The role will better connect CSIRO with our partners and clients to support the implementation of Natural Capital-related work around Australia.
Academic Qualifications
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2010
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
The University of Queensland -
2004
Bachelor of Science/Bachelor of Engineering (Hons 1st Class)
The University of Western Australia
Professional Experiences
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2018-2024
Senior Research Scientist
CSIRO Environment -
2015-2018
Research Scientist
CSIRO Land and Water -
2012-2015
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
CSIRO Ecosystem Sciences -
2010-2012
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
University of Alaska Fairbanks -
2005-2006
Graduate Environmental Engineer
Sinclair Knight Merz -
2005-2005
Project Officer
Western Australian EPA Service Unit
Achievements and Awards
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2024-2024
R&D Excellence Award (Murray-Darling Ecosystem Functions project team)
Australian Water Awards -
2012-2012
Outstanding paper award in Computational Sustainability
Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI-12) -
2015-2016
Invited Participant
National Institute for Mathematical Biology and Synthesis (NIMBioS) Working Group “Area contributions of habitat for migratory species" (Knoxville TN) -
2018-2023
CSIRO Julius Career Award for outstanding early-mid career researchers
CSIRO
Other highlights
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2023-2025
CSIRO Natural Capital Coordinator for the Environmental Natural Capital Strategic Growth Opportunity
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2024-2025
Project Lead for National Climate Risk Assessment (Natural Systems risk)
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2021-2021
Team leader, Conservation Decisions Team
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2020-2023
Murray-Darling Basin Ecosystem Functions project: Waterbirds connectivity theme lead
Community and Corporate Citizenship
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2023-2024
Standards Australia: Biodiversity Committee (BD-112)
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Jan 2018-June 2022
Associate editor, Ecology and Evolution
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December 2019-Present
Review editor, Models in Ecology and Evolution
Related links
Publications
We have publications by Dr Sam Nicol