The Team
The MLDP research team is made up of several UNSW PHD and Honours students working under the supervision of Dr Neil Jordan and Dr Benjamin Pitcher, and alongside partners on the ground to deliver research relevant to management.
Dr Neil Jordan (Founder MLDP, Senior Lecturer Centre for Ecosystem Science, UNSW Sydney & Taronga Conservation Society Australia).
Dr Neil Jordan co-founded the Myall Lakes Dingo/Dapin Project in 2019.
Neil is passionate about long-term projects studying individual animals, and is most interested in the ecology and behaviour of carnivores.
His work focuses on developing and evaluating tools to reduce human-wildlife conflict, and particularly those that leverage knowledge of animal communication.)
Penny Wood (PhD student, 2021> UNSW Canberra) – Dingo coexistence through a relational lens.
Penney is a PhD candidate with UNSW Canberra.
Her interdisciplinary PhD focuses on the social and ecological relationships between humans and wildlife in shared environments, and she is using human-dingo interactions in Myall Lakes as her case study.
Her research investigates the ways entities connect and perceive each other and seeks to understand the connections between perceptions of knowledge and power in the context of wildlife management.
UNSW
Brendan Alting (PhD student, 2021-2024, Centre for Ecosystem Science, School of BEES, UNSW Sydney) – Dingo interspecific interactions
Brendan is a founding member of the MLDP team, and the first PhD student to complete their work on the project.
He completed his PhD on the ecology and interactions of dingoes in a human-modified landscape, conducting the first dingo density survey of the eastern Myall Lakes region, and investigating aspects of dingo movement and dingo interactions, both with other dingoes and sympatric species.
Dr Benjamin Pitcher (co-Founder MLDP, Lecturer, Macquarie University & Taronga Conservation Society Australia)
Dr Benjamin Pitcher co-founded the Myall Lakes Dingo/Dapin Project in 2019.
Ben is a behavioural and sensory ecologist, with particular interests in Conservation Behaviour and how animal behaviour can be used to solve problems in conservation biology.
His research interests include the evolution of animal cognition and how animals use multiple sensory systems for foraging, communication and recognition in complex and changing environments, and how these might influence species conservation.
Alexander Dibnah (PhD student, 2024>, Centre for Ecosystem Science, School of BEES, UNSW Sydney) – Dingo social behaviour and human-dingo interactions
Alex is a PhD student at UNSW Sydney.
He is interested in understanding large carnivore behaviour and integrating this into practical solutions for managing conflict with humans.
His PhD is focused on dingo social networks and leadership, howling and scent marking communication, as well as human-dingo interactions in and around urban areas.
Ultimately, Alex hopes to apply resulting knowledge to the development of new non-lethal management strategies for mitigating human-dingo conflict.
Dr Michelle Campbell-Ward
(Wildlife Veterinarian, The University of Sydney & Taronga Conservation Society Australia)
Dr Michelle Campbell-Ward is an Associate Professor in Wildlife and Avian Medicine at The University of Sydney and an experienced wildlife, zoo and exotic species veterinarian. She is the wildlife veterinarian on the MLDP and conducts all veterinary procedures and advises on veterinary, welfare, and ethical issues.
Amelia Jeffery (PhD student, 2024>, Centre for Ecosystem Science, School of BEES, UNSW Sydney)
Amelia is a PhD candidate at UNSW Sydney studying dingoes in the Myall Lakes National Park.
Her interests lie in investigating how dingoes navigate, behave, and interact in human-disturbed natural landscapes.
She uses GPS collars and camera traps to evaluate the dingoes movement ecology and resource use to provide insight on fundamental behavioural characteristics of dingoes and the impact of anthropogenic presence.
Amelia seeks to use these findings to inform evidence-based management of dingoes and address gaps in the existing research.
