Governance
Taxonomy Australia's Governance
Taxonomy Australia is governed by a Steering Committee comprising representatives of peak bodies and organisations along with individual leaders in the taxonomy and biosystematics community.
Members of the Steering Committee
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Prof. Andy Austin
Andy is Professor Emeritus at Adelaide University, having retired in early 2021 after 36 years as a university academic and researcher. During that time he supervised 38 PhD and Masters students and some 50 Honours students to completion, and taught undergraduate courses in invertebrate zoology, entomology and evolutionary biology.
He has received significant funding from the ARC and ABRS to support his research on the systematics and evolution of parasitic wasps, spiders and stygofauna (aquatic subterranean invertebrates). His research has been recognised through numerous awards, most recently the Distinguished Career Award from the Society of Australian Systematic Biologists.
Andy is a co-opted member of the Steering Committee and a former Director of Taxonomy Australia.
Dr Jane Melville (Deputy Chair)
Jane is a Senior Curator, Terrestrial Vertebrates at Museums Victoria. She is Deputy Chair of the Steering Committee.
Her research combines field-based studies and genetics to help understand the taxonomy, conservation, ecology and evolution of endangered reptiles and frogs.
Jane was recently awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to conduct research at the Living Earth Collaborative at Washington University in St. Louis on contributions of taxonomy to the conservation of Australian reptiles.
Jane is a co-opted member of the Steering Committee.
Dr Tom May (Chair)
Tom is a Senior Principal Research Scientist at Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria and Chair of the Steering Committee.
He studies the taxonomy, ecology and conservation of larger fungi, including their history, bibliography and nomenclature. He is member of the editorial team for the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi and plants, and an Associate Editor of Australian Journal of Taxonomy.
Tom represents the Australasian Mycological Society (AMS) on the Steering Committee.
Associate Professor Jennifer Tate
Jennifer is the current President of the Australasian Systematic Botany Society and represents that society on the Steering Committee.
Dr Katharina Nargar
Katharina is a former President of the Australasian Systematic Botany Society (ASBS). Katharina is a co-opted member of the Steering Committee.
Katharina is a plant systematist and evolutionary biologist and leads the orchid research program at the Australian Tropical Herbarium. Katharina uses collection genomics to elucidate diversification, trait evolution, and systematics of hyperdiverse plant lineages. Her conservation genomic research assesses species delimitation and genomic diversity in Australia’s rare and threatened plants.
Dr Matthew McCurry
Matthew is the Treasurer of Australasian Palaeontologists, and represents that association on the Steering Committee.
He is Curator of Palaeontology at the Australian Museum and a lecturer at The University of New South Wales, where he focuses on understanding the evolution of Australian species over the last 66 million years. He is currently excavating a number of ion rich fossil sites to understand the impact of aridification on Australia’s fauna during the Miocene.
Jennifer McIlwain
Jennifer McIlwain is the chair of the Council of Heads of Australian Faunal Collections (CHAFC) and represents this peak body on the Steering Committee.
Dr Haylee Crawford-Weaver
Haylee is the Director of the Biodiversity Science & Knowledge Section, Parks Australia Division, in the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water.
Haylee is a co-opted member of the Steering Committee.
Dr Elycia Wallis
Dr Elycia Wallis works at the Atlas of Living Australia, in a collaborative role with the museum and herbarium communities, plus on international initiatives – such as the Biodiversity Heritage Library and Biodiversity Information Standards (TDWG). Ely leads the Engagement team in ALA whose activities range across citizen science, biosecurity, taxonomic names management, restricted access data and the Indigenous Ecological Knowledge program.
Prior to joining the ALA in 2018, Dr Wallis worked with Museums Victoria in roles spanning collection management, database management and publishing collections online.
Dr Sage Rassmussen
Sage is one of the two ECR (Early Career Researcher) representatives on the Steering Committee.
Sage is a marine biologist specialising in the taxonomy and systematics of hard corals (Scleractinia). Her background includes applying integrated taxonomic approaches—utilising historic museum collections and molecular tools—to revise the genus Acropora, a key reef-building coral in Australian waters. She currently works as a taxonomic consultant on coral restoration projects, bridging fundamental research with conservation.
Professor Nathan Lo
Nate is one of the two representatives of the University sector on the Steering Committee.
Nate is an evolutionary biologist and co-leads the Molecular Ecology, Evolution, and Phylogenetics Laboratory at The University of Sydney. His research interests include the phylogenetics, systematics, and genomics of termites and cockroaches, and the evolution of symbiosis and social behaviour in these taxa.
Dr Mark Harvey
Mark is Editor-in-Chief of the Australian Journal of Taxonomy and joins the committee in an ex officio capacity, representing the journal.
He is Head of Terrestrial Zoology at the Western Australian Museum.
Dr Mary Finlay-Doney
Mary is the Manager of the Australian Biological Resources Study (ABRS) and represents ABRS on the Steering Committee.
Prof Alan Andersen FAA
Alan is Professor of Terrestrial Invertebrates in the Research Institute for the Environment and Livelihoods at Charles Darwin University, following a 30-year career with CSIRO. His primary research interests are in the global ecology of ant communities, which includes a key focus on documenting Australia’s largely unrecognised ant diversity. Alan is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science and Chairs the Academy’s National Committee for Ecology, Evolution and Conservation. Alan represents the Academy on the Steering Committee.
Dr Maggie Haines
Maggie is one of the two representatives of mid-career researchers on the Steering Committee.
Maggie is a project officer at the Museums Victoria Research Institute. Her research combines genomic and morphological techniques to better understand species evolutionary history and systematics. She previously worked on Australian lizards but is currently resolving the taxonomic relationships among brittle stars.
Dr Jeremy Wilson
Jeremy is one of the two representatives of mid-career researchers on the Steering Committee.
He is the Curator of Arachnids and Myriapods at the Western Australian Museum, specialising on the taxonomy, phylogenetics, and evolutionary biology of the Mygalomorphae (trapdoor spiders and their relatives). His work integrates collection-based museum biodiversity science with modern molecular, phylogenetic, and bioinformatic methods to optimise taxonomic outcomes and help preserve Australia’s native invertebrate fauna. He is also an Adjunct lecturer at the University of Western Australia, and a Research Associate of the Queensland Museum.
Dr Andrew Thornhill
Andrew is one of the two representatives of the University sector on the Steering Committee.
He is a lecturer in plant systematics at the University of New England in Armidale as well as the director of the N.C.W. Beadle Herbarium. He has worked in a number of Australian institutes and states, as well as, in the USA. Andrew studies a broad range of aspects in plant evolution with an emphasis on Australian plants and large phylogenetic studies. He has published on the evolution, palynology, phylogenetics, systematics, and biogeography of the Myrtaceae and in particular has worked on the phylogenetic relationships of the eucalypts which are a species rich group in Myrtaceae. More recently he has become involved with bryophyte (moss, liverwort, and hornwort) collection curation and their systematic and phylogenetic relationships.
Dr Perry Beasley-Hall
Perry is one of the two ECR (Early Career Researcher) representatives on the Steering Committee. Perry also represents the Australian Society of Systematic Biologists (SASB) on the Steering Committee
She is an entomologist specialising in the systematics, taxonomy, and evolution of Australian cave crickets (Rhaphidophoridae: Macropathinae), a group currently declining across the country for reasons that are as-yet unknown. Perry is presently employed as an ABRS Postdoctoral Fellow at Adelaide University and has a background in molecular evolution, eDNA, phylogenetics, and biogeography. Her specific research interests lie in the evolution and conservation of weird and wonderful subterranean species, including those that have transitioned to an underground life in caves, burrows, and aquifers.
