Dr Judy West AO
Assistant Secretary, Strategic Partnerships & Australian National Botanic Gardens, Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water
Dr West has headed up the Australian National Botanic Gardens for more than a decade, and also manages Parks Australia’s partnerships and oversees its science, natural resource and knowledge-management activities.
Her scientific expertise is in plant systematics and phylogenetics, biodiversity informatics and conservation biology. She has more than 30 years’ experience in scientific research and policy as a research scientist in CSIRO Plant Industry and director of the Australian National Herbarium and then the Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research. She holds an adjunct professorial position at the Australian National University, participates on multiple botany-related national and international associations and committees, and served as the Australian botanical liaison officer with the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, United Kingdom.
For her contributions to Australian plant systematics and Australia’s Virtual Herbarium, Dr West was awarded the Nancy T Burbidge Medal in 2001, and an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2003. She uses her skills developing partnerships that link science and policy to build an active science and knowledge-management network in Parks Australia.