Cathy is an aquatic ecologist who dedicated over three decades to working in South East Asia before returning to Australia in 2018 to join the University of the Sunshine Coast as Professor of Ecology.

She carried out her pioneering doctoral research on tropical stream ecology on Bougainville Island in Papua New Guinea. Subsequently she spent five years as an environmental consultant in Indonesian Borneo, before devoting 18 years to research and teaching tropical environmental biology at Monash University’s Malaysian campus.

Currently, her collaborative, multidisciplinary research focuses on the ecology of regional peat swamps – extreme and endangered environments of global significance due to their immense carbon sequestration and distinctive biodiversity. With a profound, global perspective on terrestrial and aquatic ecology, conservation, sustainability and the impacts of climate change, Cathy approaches these issues with dedication and passion.