PLENARY SPEAKERS
Dr Ian Dutton has a lifelong passion for coastal and marine environments and is committed to the sustainability of communities whose wellbeing depends on them.
His 40 year career has included global executive leadership roles with the University of Rhode Island, The Nature Conservancy, Alaska SeaLife Center/North Pacific Research Board and Rasmuson Foundation. Ian returned to Australia in late 2018 to take up the role of General Manager of Marine Resources with the Tasmanian Government where he led numerous new research and development collaborations and major policy reform processes until he stepped down in March 2024. He currently serves as an advisor to philanthropists, nonprofit and public boards and research organisations on environmental and social change initiatives, with a particular focus on climate adaptation in coastal and marine environments and communities.
A serial entrepreneur, Ian has founded three companies, including Nautilus Impact Investing which provided advice to individual investors, development banks, corporations and foundations on fisheries and oceans, climate change adaptation, food security and other initiatives supporting the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. He has worked with indigenous communities, interdisciplinary research coalitions, public and private sector partnerships and philanthropic organisations on high impact social and environmental initiatives throughout Australia, and in more than 30 countries.
Ian is a graduate of the University of Canberra (BAppSc), Griffith University (MSc), the University of Queensland (PhD) and the Cornell University Executive Leadership Program. His work has been formally recognized by the Matsumae Foundation (Japan), Coastal America Partnership (USA), the Royal Australia Planning Institute (Australia), the Ministry for Marine Affairs and Fisheries (Indonesia) and the Governor of Alaska. He has authored more than 70 scientific publications and has been featured on CNN, ABC, Asia Week and other global media.
He is a keen photographer, bushwalker and poet and is actively engaged with various community service organisations including the Environmental Sustainability Rotary Action Group (ESRAG) and Wildcare.
DR IAN DUTTON
Federation University
Judi is a statistical marine ecologist who has worked mainly in the field of interpreting changes associated with human activities in the marine environment. She has researched disturbance-recovery dynamics, biodiversity, ecological health, resilience, tipping points and monitoring. Her co-authors include people from local and central government and researchers from most universities in Aotearoa New Zealand, as well as researchers from Finland, Spain, Italy, Norway, US and the UK.
PROF JUDI HEWITT
University of Auckland
Catriona L. Hurd is a phycologist with expertise in the physiological responses of seaweeds to environmental drivers including light, temperature, water motion, dissolved inorganic carbon and nutrient supply. Her research currently focusses on the impacts of ocean acidification, ocean warming and marine heat waves on seaweed metabolism, the development of seaweed aquaculture in Australia, and on assessing the role of seaweeds in marine Carbon Dioxide Removal.
PROF CATRIONA HURD
The University of Tasmania
Linda is of Ngāti Rangi and Whanganui tribal descent and classifies herself as a ‘research strategist’. She has long been an advocate for creating space for the distinctive and innovative opportunities and benefits possible through reclaiming, revitalising and restoring mātauranga Māori alongside science. In various capacities Linda has guided and facilitated research outcomes that leverage ‘dual knowledge power’ in authentic, empowering and mana enhancing ways. Her recent appointment as Natural Sciences Commissioner of the New Zealand National Commission for UNESCO, and as a member of the Advisory Board for the UN Decade of Ocean Science recognises the growing international interest in such approaches.
LINDA FAULKNER
Director of Tutaiao Ltd
Ingrid has worked at CSIRO as a Senior Research Scientist focussed on improving marine and fisheries management. She has been Acting Research Program Manager Fisheries at the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) and is currently an Adjunct Professor at the Centre for Marine Socioecology (CMS) at the University of Tasmania. Ingrid has extensive experience in economics and an interest in applying behavioural economics to address fisheries, climate change, and natural resources management problems. Ingrid works in an interdisciplinary capacity and has undertake research in many different parts of the world. She has published over 150 peer reviewed papers and she sits on several Scientific Advisory and Steering Committees in New Zealand, Europe, and for WorldFish.