Meet the Team
Associate Professor James Van Dyke - VIC
Van is an Associate Professor from La Trobe University in Victoria and is the 1 Million Turtles Program Lead and the contact person for both national and VIC enquiries.
He is an integrative biologist who researches vertebrate reproduction to answer big questions in conservation and evolution. He has studied turtle nesting and reproductive ecology for over 10 years to determine how threats like invasive predators, pollution, and climate change affect turtle hatching success.
Professor Ricky Spencer - NSW, ACT
Ricky is a Professor from Western Sydney University and the Co-Program Lead and the contact person for both national and NSW enquiries.
Ricky is also the manager of TurtleSAT and actively strives for active engagement with communities and management agencies to ensure best practice research is integrated to its full potential.
Dr Deborah Bower - NSW, NT, ACT, QLD
Deb is a Conservation Biologist and head of the Laboratory of Applied Zoology and Ecosystem Restoration (LAZER) in School of Environmental and Rural Science and University of New England. She is a program team member and the contact person for enquiries from Armidale NSW. She is also currently writing a children's book to raise awareness about turtle conservation.
Prof Mike Thompson - SA
Professor Mike Thompson is an emeritus professor from the University of Sydney. Mike has been at the forefront of turtle biology research in Australia since the "80s". He produced the first publication demonstrating that Australian Turtles were at risk due to predation by foxes and he is the face of turtle conservation in South Australia.
Program Team Member and the contact person for enquiries from South Australia and parts of Victoria.
Dr Anthony Santoro - WA
Post-doctoral researcher and turtle ecologist at Murdoch University and our Western Australia program contact.
Anthony enjoys using a mixture of field observations, tracking technologies and modelling to answer applied conservation ecology questions, specifically relating to the effects of climate change, urbanisation, and predation. He is the face of the citizen science based Saving Our Snake Necked Turtle project, and the contact person for all enquiries from Western Australia.
Dr Sylvia Clarke - SA
Dr. Sylvia Clarke is the Senior Project Officer for Citizen Science with the Murraylands and Riverland Landscape Board in South Australia. She has a background in ecology, natural resource management and science communication. She currently coordinates a number of citizen science projects that engage the community in being actively involved in increasing the collective understanding of the region and its waterways.
1 Million Turtles Program Coordinator for South Australia.
Marilyn Connell - QLD
Since 2001, Marilyn has led the Mary River turtle conservation program in the Mary River catchment. She was awarded a Winston Churchill Fellowship to investigate freshwater turtle conservation and community engagement in Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Brazil. Marilyn works with Tiaro Landcare group and is a Lab Associate of MLE Lab, Charles Darwin University.
Atlanta Veld - WA
Atlanta is a passionate Citizen Scientist of 15 years with a Bachelors in Restoration Ecology. She has been collecting long term data on Chelodina oblonga in Albany WA since 2007. She’s Albany’s go to girl, regularly appearing in the local media to promote awareness of this freshwater turtle throughout the region. Her enthusiasm for the south western snaked necked turtles is shared with numerous schools and community groups and her collaboration with the City of Albany has created traffic signage specifically targeting the turtle nesting season and also for when the hatchlings emerge in winter, to reduce traffic mortality at turtle crossing hotspots. She hopes to bring her knowledge of freshwater turtle ecology and connection to community to promote the 1 million turtles progam throughout the great southern of Western Australia.
Dr Olly Dove
Living up to her bird name, Dr Olly Dove has recently completed a PhD in seabird foraging behaviour in lutruwita/Tasmania. Having made the leap to turtles, she is now a Research Assistant for the 1 Million Turtles Program, involved in various ongoing projects such as the production of visual media to promote the work of 1MT.
Dr Kristen Petrov
Kristen is a Research Assistant for the 1 Million Turtles Program. Kristen has been researching freshwater turtles for over a decade, including her own PhD research into the ecology of the Bellinger River snapping turtle. In 2021, Kristen drafted conservation advice documents and listing assessments for Australian freshwater turtles. Kristen is currently assisting with program management and coordination of tasks.
Dr Willem Roosenburg
Willem has been researching conservation and ecology for more that 30 years. Willem is a professor at Ohio University and has created TERP (Terrapin Education and Research Partnership), which integrates K-12 environmental education and literacy with conservation science to both enhance awareness and evaluate the effectiveness of conservation / management strategies.
Our Partners
LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR AWESOME PROGRAM SUPPORTER & PARTNER
Saving our SNake-NECKED TURTLE in WA
The Saving Our Snake-Necked Turtle (SOSNT) project is a citizen science and community engagement program to help conserve the southwestern snake-necked turtle. The project aims to save the southwestern snake-necked turtle populations from further decline and potential extinction. Learn more by clicking below.
Another awesome initiative with our partner Transport NSW
FAUNA ROAD MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
In partnership with Transport for NSW and Western Sydney University, we are piloting new technology that utilises Artificial Intelligence (AI) and your phone or dashcam to automatically record turtles on roads. The technology has broad applications. Trial is currently underway. Watch the video below to see how it works