Rate My Professor Robert Heinsohn

Professor Robert Heinsohn is a Professor at the Fenner School of Environment and Society at the Australian National University. He holds a BSc (Hons) and a PhD from ANU, awarded in 1990. His primary research interests lie in conservation biology and evolutionary ecology of vertebrates, with a focus on birds. Professor Heinsohn’s early research as an honours and PhD student at ANU examined the behavioural ecology of cooperatively breeding bird species. He completed an NSF post-doctoral fellowship based at the University of Minnesota, conducting field research on lions in Tanzania’s Serengeti National Park. Upon returning to Australia, he held an ARC Post-doctoral Fellowship and an ARC Queen Elizabeth II Fellowship, establishing long-term field studies on the behavioural ecology and conservation biology of Eclectus parrots and palm cockatoos on Cape York Peninsula and in Papua New Guinea.

Since 2010, Professor Heinsohn has led field programs on endangered Tasmanian bird species including swift parrots, orange-bellied parrots, and forty-spotted pardalotes, collaborating with government agencies on conservation outcomes. His team has expanded to include research on critically endangered regent honeyeaters and, from 2020, Norfolk Island green parrots. He is co-founder of the Difficult Bird Research Group at ANU and serves on recovery teams for several endangered bird species. In 2009, he co-authored the book Boom and Bust: Bird Stories for a Dry Country, which received the Whitley Medal. In 2023, he was awarded the D.L. Serventy Medal. Professor Heinsohn maintains interests in African wildlife and has supervised students working on elephants, lions, and baboons. His professional email address is robert.heinsohn@anu.edu.au.