Joanne is the Director of The Analytical Edge Statistical Consulting. She has worked in Australia, the United Kingdom and the USA in both academic and
government settings as a statistical consultant. show more »
After completing her undergraduate degree at The University of Melbourne in Applied Statistics
and Environmental Science, she worked as a consultant statistician at the
Arthur Rylah Institute for Ecological Research within the Victorian State Government.
Here, she completed research in a variety of ecological applications, such as assessing the
impact of salinization,
and habitat fragmentation.
In 2006, Joanne left the Victorian state government and moved to the Centre for Research into Ecological and Environmental Modelling
at University of St Andrews in Scotland, to undertake her PhD studies. She was supervised by Prof. Stephen Buckland,
Dr. Len Thomas, and Dr Anne Savage, and developed methods for incorporating animal movement data into
capture-recapture analysis for abundance estimation for small mammals.
Her post-doctoral research was undertaken at the Centre for Environmental Sciences, the University of Southampton, England.
Her project, titled “Understanding the status, autecology and taxonomy of UK Biodiversity Action Plan Species”, was funded by
DEFRA, UK.
More recently, Joanne’s work has focused on risk analysis within biosecurity and engineering settings, working as a Research Fellow at the
Australian Centre of Excellence for Risk Analysis, the University of Melbourne. For example, she developed
risk-based trace priorities for disease outbreak [PDF],
funded by DAFF;
and assessed statistical methods (namely, maximum likelihood estimation and median-rank regression)
for dealing with heavily censored data, funded by DSTO.
Collaborators
Mike Cove
Mike Cove is an applied conservation ecologist and mammalogist, with a strong quantitative background, having completed his PhD studies at NCSU utilising occupancy modelling
and spatial capture-recapture techniques to study small mammals. show more »
His research uses traditional methods and museum collections, as well as non-invasive survey techniques and statistical modelling procedures, to study population and community ecology.
Mike's research interests are mainly focused on the conservation of mammal communities, but also mesopredator release and trophic cascades, the urban/suburban wildlife interface,
species invasions, disease ecology and animal microbiomes, and human dimensions of conservation and sustainable development in the tropics.
For an up-to-date list of Mike's publications, please see his Google Scholar profile and also
check out his website CoveWildlife.com to learn more about his many ongoing research projects.
Jim Lovell
Jim has a PhD in physics from the University of Tasmania and has worked primarily in the fields of radio astronomy and geodesy, with roles in research,
operations and project management. show more »
He has extensive experience in managing large survey-oriented research programs from planning through to observations, data management, analysis and publication.
Jim can provide assistance in developing techniques and strategies for efficient gathering of experimental data and software solutions for data organisation, management, analysis and visualisation.
For the 10 years following the completion of his PhD, Jim worked as a professional astronomer first in Japan at the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science on
the VLBI Space Observatory Programme mission (which involved the first orbiting radio telescope), then in Canberra
conducting research in astronomy and supporting observations at NASA's Deep Space Station at Tidbinbilla for CSIRO.
From 2007 until 2017 he was Project Manager of the AuScope VLBI project at the University of Tasmania. This involved the
construction and operation of a $7 million array of three radio telescopes in Australia (Hobart (Tas), Katherine (NT) and Yarragadee (WA)) designed specifically for geodesy.
Jim is currently working in several consultancy-based roles with a growing emphasis on applying his skills and experience obtained in astrophysics to environmental applications.
This has included management of data for the Where Where Wedgie citizen science program, operated by NatureTrackers, aimed at
monitoring the population of the threatened Tasmanian wedge-tailed eagle. He has also been working on adapting radio astronomy
techniques to passive acoustic wildlife monitoring. This has involved building audio data recorders and post-processing the data to obtain low noise spectrograms and signal
direction measurements for species localisation and identification.
For more information, see Jim's resume (PDF).
Hugh McGregor
Dr Hugh McGregor is a wildlife researcher, specialising in the ecology and impacts of feral cats. show more »
He has designed and implemented numerous applied field experiments, including radio-collaring over 100 cats all over Australia.
Hugh did his PhD on how feral cats interact with fire in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, with the University of Tasmania and Australian Wildlife Conservancy.
He is currently working in remote South Australia as a post-doctoral researcher under the National Environmental Science Program, Threatened Species Hub, along with
collaborating and consulting with numerous conservation organisations.
Joanne Potts and Hugh have been working together for over eight years.
Leslie New
Dr Leslie New graduated from Cornell University (BS in Natural Resources, 2003) and the University of St Andrews (PhD in Statistics and Biology, 2010).
She remained at St Andrews as a postdoctoral fellow, before continuing her research with the US Marine Mammal Commission and the US Geological Survey at Patuxent Wildlife
Research Center. show more »
Currently, Leslie is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics and Washington State University, Vancouver, where she focuses on statistical ecology.
Her research interests include the practical application of hierarchical Bayesian state-space models, understanding and mitigating human-wildlife conflict, and quantitatively assessing
the population consequences of disturbance. Dr. New is particularly interested in the quantification, incorporation and propagation of uncertainty in statistical models used for
management and conservation decisions.
For more information about Leslie, see her Google scholar profile, and read more about her
research at Washington State University.
Grant Telford
Grant is Director and Principal consultant at Biosecurity Solutions Australia Pty Ltd. show more »
He has made a significant contribution to Australia's favorable biosecurity status
and has over 20 years experience working for the Queensland government at a senior level in the areas of biosecurity planning, management, strategy, policy and legislation.
Grant's 'on ground' experience coupled with his extensive knowledge of legislation, policy and procedure has delivered sound biosecurity outcomes - including the
eradication of the exotic disease of citrus, citrus canker, in 2009 in his role as Program Manager of the National Citrus Canker Eradication Program.
for further information.