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Organizing Committees 

ICCB planning committees play an important role in helping to organize, promote, and manage ICCB. 

Volunteers work on several planning aspects to ensure robust programmatic content, a safe and welcoming environment for all attendees, student advancement and professional development opportunities, and more. Volunteers gain new career boosting skills in project management, team building, and event organizing while helping SCB deliver a forward-looking Congress that will shape the future of conservation.

ICCB is not a success without the volunteers who make the meeting the best it can be for all attendees.

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Steering Committees and Subcommittees 

In line with the ICCB 2025 Philosophy Statement of providing a safe and inclusive space that is accessible for people of many cultures and backgrounds to share their insights, knowledge, and research we have established a Steering Committee and a number of Subcommittees to guide the implementation of various aspects of the conference.

We are extremely grateful to the many individuals across the SCB and SCBO networks who volunteered to contribute their time and expertise to these committees to make the conference an inclusive and well-rounded event.

Committee chairs are denoted with an asterisk.

Meet the ICCB 2025 Steering Committee

The ICCB 2025 Steering Committee has overall responsibility for providing guidance on all aspects of conference development and delivery and liaising with the SCB Global and SCBO boards. Subcommittees report to the Steering Committee. 

Hugh Possingham*

Conference Chair, University of Queensland

Micha Jackson*

Conference Chair, SCBO Directors representative (SCBO Past President)

Vanessa Adams 

SCB Global Network Board representative (SCB Global President)

Nate Spillman

SCB Global Services representative (SCB Global Managing Director / Deputy Director)

Courtney Melton

SCBO Directors representative (SCBO President)

Jack Pascoe 

University of Melbourne, Indigenous leadership representative 

Caitie Kuempel

Griffith University, Australian Universities representative 

Stacy Jupiter

Wildlife Conservation Society, Regional countries representative (Pacific Islands)

Phill Cassey

University of Adelaide, Australian Universities representative 

Tatsuya Amano

University of Queensland, Language Accessibility representative

Tom Lloyd

University of Queensland, Early Career Researcher and SCBO local chapter representative

Scientific Subcommittee

The ICCB 2025 Scientific Subcommittee was formed to shape the scientific program in a way that fosters collaboration, learning, and the dissemination of conservation science and traditional ecological knowledge. Through proposal and abstract evaluation and management, inclusive consideration and selection of program content, and the promotion of diversity and disciplinary inclusion, the committee seeks to curate a dynamic scientific program that empowers conservation and social science researchers, practitioners, policymakers, students and ICCB stakeholders to exchange ideas, disseminate the latest research in conservation science and practice, forge partnerships, and catalyze positive change in biodiversity conservation. 

Phill Cassey* – University of Adelaide (Australia)

Hugh Possingham* – University of Queensland (Australia)

Ayesha Tulloch – Queensland University of Technology (Australia)

Carolyn Lundquist – University of Auckland (New Zealand)

Cedrick Fogwan Nguedia – African Marine Mammal Conservation Organization (Cameroon)

Débora Martins de Freitas – São Paulo State University (Brazil)

Geetha Annavi – Universiti Putra Malaysia (Malaysia) 

Francisco Gelves-Gomez – University of Tasmania (Australia)

Malavika Hosahally Narayana – Consultant (Australia)

Natalie Forsdick – Manaaki Whenua - Landcare Research (New Zealand)

Paula Prist – EcoHealth Alliance/IUCN CEM (United States)

Placide Masengesho – Rwanda Wildlife Conservation Association (Rwanda)

Inclusion, Equity and Diversity Subcommittee

The ICCB 2025 Inclusion, Equity and Diversity Subcommittee was formed to ensure that ICCB 2025 is an inclusive conference with diverse and equitable participation, and thus, contribute to advancing justice in conservation science, policy, and practice more broadly. In particular, the Subcommittee helps to ensure that the principles of equity, inclusion, diversity and justice underpin actions to meet the goals established for SCB conferences, including in event planning considerations, behaviour expectations, presentation and speaker considerations, and on-site venue considerations.

Jack Pascoe* – University of Melbourne (Australia)

Georgina Gurney* – James Cook University (Australia)

Ayesha Tulloch – Queensland University of Technology (Australia)

Dzarina Susuke – Society for Conservation Biology PNG Chapter (Papua New Guinea)

Garima Gupta – University of Stirling (United Kingdom)

Josie Alec – Australian Conservation Foundation (Australia)

Marlène Djoumessi Ngouadjio – Community-Based Association Tube Awu (Cameroon)

Robyn    James – The Nature Conservancy (Australia)

Sylivia     Opieba – Egerton University (Kenya)

Teagan Shields – Curtin University (Australia)

Xiang Zhao – EcoCommons (Australia)

Language Accessibility Subcommittee

The ICCB 2025 Language Accessibility Subcommittee was formed to organise, lead, and facilitate initiatives to encourage people with diverse linguistic backgrounds to participate in ICCB 2025, and lower the language barriers for participants before and during the conference as much as possible. The ultimate goal of the subcommittee is to (i) increase the linguistic and cultural diversity of ICCB 2025 participants, and (ii) facilitate the exchange of diverse ideas, knowledge, experience, and expertise on biodiversity conservation among participants.

Tatsuya Amano* – University of Queensland (Australia), first language – Japanese 

Violeta Berdejo-Espinola – University of Queensland (Australia), first language Spanish

Erica Cseko Nolasco – Queensland University of Technology (Australia), first language Portuguese

Hui Xiao – CSIRO (Australia), first language Chinese

Karlina Indraswari – University of Queensland (Australia), first language Bahasa Indonesia

Rosa Mar Dominguez-Martinez – University of Queensland (Australia), first language Spanish

Social Subcommittee 

The ICCB 2025 Social Subcommittee was formed to shape the ICCB social program to be accessible and inclusive for attendees across the spectrum of career types and stages, of all cultures, and all identities. Through visualizing, planning, and facilitating a series of events throughout the week of the Congress, the committee seeks to foster collegiality, networking opportunities, collaborative learning, new experiences, and the general enjoyment of attendees and on some tailored occasions, the public. Such recreation will be guided by a mutual passion and pursuit for biodiversity conservation. 

Courtney Melton* – SCBO President/Bush Heritage Australia (Australia)

Caitie Kuempel* – Griffith University (Australia)

Javiera Olivares-Rojas – Monash University (Australia)

Jennifer Francois – Independent ecological restoration consultant (USA)

Kelsey Roberts – Louisiana State University (USA)

Maria Kleshnina – Queensland University of Technology (Australia)

Sidney Stiefel – Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources (USA)

Diana Methner – Victoria University of Wellington (New Zealand/Aotearoa)

Thomas Lloyd – The University of Queensland (Australia)

 
Travel Awards Subcommittee 

The ICCB 2025 Travel Awards Subcommittee was formed to support the administration of held funds and identify further funding opportunities to support the attendance of participants who may be otherwise unable to attend the conference due to travel costs.

ICCB 2025 will be offering a limited number of highly competitive student travel awards. The purpose of these awards is to enable conference participation by SCB student members who would not otherwise be able to attend. The Travel Awards Subcommittee will assess applications for student travel awards in a fair and transparent way and notify successful and unsuccessful applicants.

Micha Jackson* – Society for Conservation Biology Oceania (Australia)

Vanessa Adams – Society for Conservation Biology Global (Australia/USA)

Rebecca Weeks – Society for Conservation Biology Oceania (Australia)

Namrata Ghosh – Durgapur government college (India)

Nathalie Butt – The Nature Conservancy (Global Science, Australia)

Yashmita Ulman – Acharya Narendra Deva University of Agriculture & Technology (India)

Djako Judicaël Beugre – Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny (Côte d'Ivoire)

Manoj Singh – Kalinga University (India)

Daniel Rogers – University of Adelaide, Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (Australia)

Jonathan Richardson – University of Richmond (USA)

David Poulton – University of Queensland / Alberta Land Institute (Australia / Canada)