Rate My Professor Hugh Possingham

Professor Hugh Possingham is a leading researcher at the University of Queensland in the Faculty of Science. He holds a Bachelor of Science with Honours from the University of Adelaide and a Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Oxford. His early career included postdoctoral work at Stanford University and positions at the Australian National University and the University of Adelaide before joining the University of Queensland in 2000, where he has served in roles including ARC Professorial, Federation, and Laureate Fellow. Possingham was Director of the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions and the Australian government’s Threatened Species Recovery Hub. He served as Chief Scientist of The Nature Conservancy from 2016 to 2020 and as Queensland Chief Scientist from 2020 to 2022.

His research focuses on conservation research, operations research, and ecology, with emphasis on decision theory applied to biodiversity conservation, including the co-development of the Marxan software for systematic conservation planning. Possingham has authored or co-authored hundreds of peer-reviewed publications and supervised numerous doctoral and postdoctoral researchers. He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, the Royal Society, and other academies, and has received awards including the Australian Mathematical Society Medal, Fenner Medal, and Eureka Prizes for Environmental Research. He has contributed to policy through roles on government committees and the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists.