What happens when a mathematician and an environmental scientist walk into a bar? They influence policy. 

Join us for an engaging lecture by Prof Hugh Possingham, Vice-Chancellor's Senior Research Fellow at the University of Queensland, co-chair of the Biodiversity Council and Chief Scientist for Accounting for Nature.

"This talk is not for the faint-hearted" says Hugh who will share stories on how science and maths have influenced policy, or not. The examples could include biodiversity offsetting, allocation of funds to threatened species, long-term monitoring, land-clearing, designing marine protected areas, wildlife management etc.

"My choice will be based on whim because I am the only speaker. but I will leave plenty of time for dispute and questioning." says Hugh.

About the speaker

Professor Hugh Possingham was born in Adelaide and completed a Bachelor of Science with Honours in Applied Mathematics at the University of Adelaide in 1984. He was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to study at Oxford University and completed his Doctor of Philosophy in ecology and Mathematics at Oxford in 1987.

In 2013, he was the first Australian to be elected an Ecological Society of America Fellow, and in 2016 he was elected Foreign Associate of the National Academy of Sciences in the United States. He has a Google Scholar h-index of 157 with >80,000 citations.

Hugh is currently appointed at the University of Queensland as the Vice-Chancellor’s Senior Research Fellow, is a co-chair of the Biodiversity Council and is Chief Scientist of Accounting for Nature.

Mostly he just likes watching birds and puzzling over orchids.