Hugh Possingham - Curriculum Vitae#

EDUCATION

• 1980 - 1982 B.Sc. The University of Adelaide, Australia.
  
• 1983 B.Sc. (Hons.) 1st class, Applied Mathematics
  
• 1984 - 1987 D.Phil., Oxford University, St John’s College

EMPLOYMENT

• 2000 -Professor of Mathematics and Professor of Ecology, The University of Queensland (40%)
  
• 2022 Chief Scientist, Accounting for Nature (10%)
  
• 2022 Co-chair, Biodiversity Council (10%)

FIELDS OF RESEARCH

Conservation Biology: using tools from decision science and economics to solve conservation problems, setting conservation priorities, biodiversity and climate change.

Basic ecology: metapopulation dynamics, stochastic population modelling, landscape ecology.

FUNDING SUPPORT

$85 million at universities (all sources), and raised >$50 million of philanthropic funds.

RESEARCH IMPACT (ONE EXAMPLE)

Over the past two decades collaborators and my lab developed a systematic conservation planning tool – Marxan – that is now used by >20000 users in >150 countries worldwide changing the face of about 10% of the planet’s surface.

RECENT SELECTED SERVICE (BOARDS AND COMMITTEES, 31 IN ALL)

• Conservation International Science Advisory Committee
  
• Vice-President, BirdLife Australia, plus three subcommittees
  
• Advisory Board Chair, Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network
  

SELECTED RECENT SPEAKING ROLES

I deliver 20-50 invited seminars and talks at international, national and local events each year, including multiple plenaries and keynotes.

• 2024 talks at Oxford University and in Chile (several universities), many regional talks
  
• Feb 2021 British Ecological Society webinar on optimal monitoring (>400 online attendees)
  
• May 2019 Royal Society Breakfast in London on the future of biodiversity, UK
  
• May 2019 Third annual “EO Wilson lecture”, Oldenburg University, Germany
  
• May 2019 Invited seminar, University of Rome, Italy
  
• May 2019 Invited seminar, European Union Joint Research Commission, Ispra, Italy
  
• Apr 2018 "Alfred Newton Prize Lecture", British Ornithologists annual meeting, UK

MENTORING AND RESEARCH TRAINING

• Postdoctoral Fellows – 57 (many now full Professors in the UK, USA and Australia)
  
• PhD students completed – 92 (12 now full Professors in Canada, USA, Colombia, UK and Australia)
  
• Honours students - 64

PUBLICATIONS – SUMMARY DATA (AUGUST 1, 2024)

• h-index: 127 Web of Science;
  
• 2016 - 2024 ISI Highly-cited Researcher (8 years so far), 17 highly cited papers in last 10 years (top 1%)
  
• Policy mentions: 93 of publications have been cited in policy documents from agencies including United Nations, National Academies of Sciences, European Union

Media attention: 108 of publications have been mentioned by news outlets 847 times, in e.g. The Los Angeles Times, Le Monde, New Scientist, National Geographic, Huffington Post.