Professor Frankham has had a distinguished career in conservation genetics. He is a pioneer in and a leading international authority on conservation genetics. His research career has focused on providing rigorous scientific evidence to support conservation genetics theories through his studies of Drosophila and he has extensively studied the minimum viable population size for species persistence.
Professor Frankham has published 145 papers and books. He is senior author of the Conservation Genetics textbook “Introduction to Conservation Genetics”, which is now in its 2nd edition. In 2005 Professor Frankham was awarded a D.Sc. from Macquarie University, where he held a personal chair from 1997 – 2002. He is an invited member of editorial boards of major international journals (Animal Conservation, Biological Conservation and Genetical Research) and is Associate-editor of Conservation Genetics and Pacific Conservation Biology.
Plenary Speaker - Game Management symposia
Brian Murphy was born in New Mexico and raised in Texas and Oklahoma. His life-long passion for the outdoors led him to pursue a career in wildlife management. Brian received his B.S. in Range and Wildlife Habitat Management from Texas Tech University (’89) where he was recognized as The Most Outstanding Wildlife Senior during his final year. Brian then earned his M.S. in Wildlife Resources from the University of Georgia (’92) where he received the E. L. Cheatum Wildlife Excellence Award given to the most outstanding graduate student within the School of Forest Resources. Following graduation, Brian worked as a Wildlife Research Coordinator for The University of Georgia where he managed the University's captive whitetail herd and coordinated all deer research. In 1993, Brian accepted the position of Deer Project Biologist for the Tasmanian government. During Brian's four years “down under,” he introduced the concepts of Quality Deer Management and Property-based Game Management, which provided numerous benefits to landowners, hunters and conservationists alike. During his last year, Brian established a Game Management Unit within the Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service, only the second such unit in Australia at the time. In 1996 Brian received the National Conservation Award from the Australian Deer Association.
Upon returning to the United States in late 1997, Brian accepted the position of Chief Executive Officer with the Quality Deer Management Association (QDMA), which he currently holds. Founded in 1988, QDMA is a nonprofit wildlife conservation organization dedicated to ensuring the future of white-tailed deer, wildlife habitat and the hunting heritage. During Brian’s 11 years with QDMA, membership has grown from 3,400 to more than 50,000 in all 50 states and several countries. Today, QDMA is widely regarded as the most respected and influential whitetail organization in North America.
Brian manages all of the association’s activities and represents the organization at numerous events annually. Brian also is a prolific writer and speaker, having conducted over 600 lectures on deer biology and management and written nearly 120 popular and scientific articles. Brian has been married to his wife Heidi for 19 years and they have two daughters, Lauren (9) and Jordan (7).
Charles Krebs is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Zoology at the University of British Columbia, and Adjunct Professor in the Institute for Applied Ecology at the University of Canberra. He spends his leisure time in retirement writing textbooks in ecology and studying the impact of climate change on animal populations in the north of Canada. He spends half the year in Canada and half in Australia, visits New Zealand often, all in his eternal search for a politician who understands the ecological world view.
Plenary Speaker - Mitigating impacts of pest species through non-lethal management strategies Dr Tim Wardlaw is Principal Research Scientist with Forestry Tasmania where he leads a team of scientists undertaking research into applied forest health management and conservation biology. Tim’s professional background is in forest pathology but his interests span all aspects of forest health management. Tim oversaw the introduction of forest health surveillance into Tasmania in the late 1990’s and this health surveillance program remains one of the strongest in the Australasian region particularly with regard to the surveillance of eucalypt plantations. He has undertaken numerous consultancies in applied forest health management throughout the Asia-Pacific region. Working for one of the few remaining forest management agencies in Australasia that have retained in-house research capability, Tim works closely at the interface between management and science. He currently chairs two project steering committees, and is co-leader of the Integrated Pest Management Project, within the Cooperative Research Centre for Forestry.
