Jane Thomas
Hub knowledge broker and science communicator, The University of Western Australia
jane.thomas@uwa.edu.au
Research outputs linked to policy change and decision-making
- NESP Northern Australia Environmental Resources Hub, knowledge brokering and communications (KB&C) team. As part of the KB&C team, she worked alongside researchers to ensure that their research and research findings were accessible and useful. This was not just at the end of projects for their final outputs, but throughout the research process to ensure that research teams were engaging most effectively with research users such as Traditional Owners, Indigenous rangers, policy-makers and other land managers. The KB&C team used a wide range of products including graphics, animations, videos, photos, web resources, factsheets, workshops and on-Country presentations to help communicate research processes and findings. These products helped hub researchers to deliver practical results for on-ground management including artificial intelligence and drone technology to help manage Country, understanding the co-benefits of Indigenous land and sea management programs, managing invasive weeds and protecting threatened species across northern Australia.
- Jane led the development of the Northern Hub symbol library, a collection of graphical symbols for communicating science in northern Australia. The collection of symbols has been downloaded more than 900 times so far.
Current academic employment and position
- knowledge broker and science communicator, The University of Western Australia.
Highest qualification
- 2003: BSc (Hons) in Botany, The University of Queensland.
Links with non-government groups or networks
- 2022–current: member of the Public Communication of Science and Technology network
- 2019–current: member of Australian Science Communicators
What are your interests as they relate to resilient landscapes?
- As the hub’s knowledge broker and science communicator, Jane is keen to get the hub’s research across Australia into the hands of those who are best placed to use that knowledge to improve management and policy.
What do you love about working in Australian landscapes?
- The wide open spaces, the peace and quiet, the people, plants and animals, and taking the tinny out for some fishing and bird-watching.
