Greg Summerell
DPE (NSW Government)

Dr Greg Summerell

NSW Department of Planning and Environment

See Dr Summerell’s full research profile here.

Research outputs linked to policy change and decision-making

• led and developed the NSW Bushfire Research Management Hub (current investment over 5 years is ~$5 million directly), which is already leveraging at 3:1 for their investment to date
• developed our Aboriginal cultural science program to support joint management initiatives in our national parks as well as cultural fire management in NSW
• implemented key research programs in the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016:
  • biodiversity assessment methodology
  • alignment of the NSW threatened species lists to federal assessment methodology
  • serious and irreversible impacts, biodiversity baseline assessment.

Current academic employment and positions

• 2012–present: Director, Conservation and Restoration Science, NSW Department of Planning and Environment.

Highest qualification

• 2004: PhD (civil and environmental engineering), University of Melbourne.

Major prizes, medals and honours

• 2019: Honorary Fellow, MSSANZ International Congress on Modelling and Simulation (MODSIM).

Roles on government or regional organisation committees

• co-lead for the agency’s cultural fire management position statement, which outlines the roles and responsibilities of all when engaging in cultural fire management practices
• NSW koala strategy research program overseeing the science and research governance into policy and on-ground research programs
• NSW post-fire 2019–2020 recovery for threatened species and cultural heritage. Dr Summerell has been ensuring that science rigour and governance is maintained through a prioritisations processes and aligning to on-ground management needs and federal processes.

Links with non-government groups or networks

• steering committee member for the NSW Biamanga National Park and Murrah Flora Reserves cultural burns on co-management land in the NSW parks reserve system
• science executive lead on the 2017 Aboriginal cultural heritage reforms.

My Projects

Current projectCompleted project

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  Strengthening resilience to threatening processes and extreme events

  Keywords: Strengthening resilience, Extreme events, Weeds, Feral animals

  
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  Indigenous knowledge and managing the Indigenous estate

  Keywords: Indigenous knowledge, Indigenous Protected Areas