Dr. Úna Fitzpatrick is the chief scientific officer at the National Biodiversity Data Centre of Ireland.

She is the co-founder of the All Ireland Pollinator Plan, which is a conservation initiative to protect native pollinators across Ireland.

In this episode Dani and Úna discuss the challenges of protecting habitats for native bees and how local initiatives, like the Tidy Towns competition, can help to build public support for helping native bees in Ireland.

More information

https://pollinators.ie/

https://biodiversityireland.ie/

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Dr. Iain Kerr is a technology enthusiast with a love for innovation.

Together with his team of whale trackers, he has forged the way and inspired many whale researchers by flying drones through whale spouts, dropping electronic tags on whales from drones and developing new ways to disentangle whales.

More Information

https://whale.org/

https://www.facebook.com/oceanalliance/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJIHb0hi1xM

https://www.instagram.com/snotbot/

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Those of you who have seen the documentary Follow The Rain, will be familiar with the Zombie Hunter, Donovan Teal.

Donovan has since collected holotypes for sixteen new fungi species, and worked with scientists to describe them.

He is a prolific photographer and champion of the little things :)

More Information

https://earthlingcards.com/

https://bsky.app/profile/earthlingcards.bsky.social

https://www.planetfungi.movie/

Contact the Show

We are always looking for more guests to tell us about interesting citizen science projects, research and events.

You can email us at: [email protected]

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My connection to sharks began, ironically, with fear. Like many others, I watched Jaws as a teenager and internalised the narrative of sharks as killers. When I first encountered a shark—a wobbegong, calmly passing beneath me during a snorkel—it left me both mesmerised and terrified. That moment pushed me to better understand sharks instead of fearing them.

The more I dove, the more that fear dissolved. Sharks aren’t lurking monsters. They are intelligent, responsive animals with critical roles in our ecosystems. As apex predators, sharks help regulate marine life, removing sick or weak individuals and preventing overpopulation that can threaten coral reefs. Yet we kill around 100 million sharks each year, largely for their fins, often discarding the rest of their bodies while they’re still alive. This practice, driven by status-oriented demand for shark fin soup, is cruel and wasteful.

Sharks are embedded in global supply chains in ways most people don’t realise—from cosmetics to dog food to fertiliser. And much of it is hidden under ambiguous labels. The disconnect between what’s happening and what the public knows is staggering.

More Information

https://www.friendsofkurrawyba.com/

https://www.instagram.com/eyeinthewater/

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61557593740945

https://theconversation.com/the-untold-story-of-shark-nets-in-australia-3748

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-04-30/shark-nets-out-nsw-beaches-permanent-removal-marine-animals/103779608

https://hsi.org.au/marine-wildlife/sharks/

https://www.robstewartsharkwaterfoundation.org/articles/caught-documentary

https://www.instagram.com/sharkdefencecampaign/

If you enjoy this podcast, please like and subscribe to our show wherever you get your podcasts.

Leave us a comment and share this show with your friends.

It really helps us to reach more citizen scientists, like you.

Contact the Show

We are always looking for more guests to tell us about interesting citizen science projects, research and events.

You can email us at: [email protected]

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Emeritus Professor Rob Harcourt leads the Marine Predator Research Group at Macquarie University and Australia’s Integrated Marine Observing System Animal Tracking Facility.

He is active in marine conservation, behavioural ecology of marine predators, and marine observations.

Rob uses technology to 'open a window' into the world of large marine predators and was part of the first team to successfully deploy satellite transmitters on seals, penguins, whales and sharks.

More Information

https://researchers.mq.edu.au/en/persons/robert-harcourt

https://theconversation.com/profiles/rob-harcourt-118857

https://researchers.mq.edu.au/en/projects/a-national-animal-tracking-network-to-monitor-movements-of-austra

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Andy Howe from the Australian Wildlife Conservancy joins the show to talk about one of the most remarkable conservation comebacks in Australian history: the northern hairy-nosed wombat, a species that dropped to just 35 individuals in the 1980s and now sits at around 400.

Andy walks through the science of monitoring an animal that's almost impossible to study directly from DNA collection using sticky tape to cutting-edge ground-penetrating radar that maps burrow systems in 3D.

He explains how two surprisingly simple interventions, fencing and permanent water, drove a major population turnaround at Epping Forest National Park.

We also cover the wider world of Australian wombats and marsupials, the ongoing threat of habitat loss and disease, and AWC's ambitions to return the species to its historic range in southern New South Wales after more than a century of local extinction.

If you've ever wondered what it actually takes to bring a species back from the brink, this one's for you.

Photo Credit: Brad Leue/AWC

More Information

https://www.australianwildlife.org/

https://www.australianwildlife.org/animals/northern-hairy-nosed-wombat

https://www.australianwildlife.org/news-and-resources/press-release/historic-agreement-to-protect-critically-endangered-northern-hairy

https://www.australianwildlife.org/news-and-resources/news/meet-the-people-of-awc-senior-field-ecologist-andy-howe

https://www.australianwildlife.org/news-and-resources/press-release/advanced-radar-tech-deployed-in-pursuit-to-protect-northern-hairy

https://www.australianwildlife.org/news-and-resources/press-release/stumbling-across-rare-footage-of-a-young-critically-endangered

https://www.australianwildlife.org/news-and-resources/press-release/scat-and-sticky-tape-helping-save-the-critically-endangered

If you enjoy this podcast, please like and subscribe to our show wherever you get your podcasts.

Leave us a review and share this show with your friends.

It really helps us to reach more citizen scientists, like you.

Contact the Show

We are always looking for more guests to tell us about interesting citizen science projects, research and events.

You can email us at: [email protected]

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Dr Liam Lysaght is the CEO of the National Biodiversity Data Centre in Ireland, and chair of the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

His organisation plays a key role in mobilising citizen science data and projects with a focus on non protected habitats and species. 

More Information

https://biodiversityireland.ie/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/liam-lysaght-22875324/

https://www.gbif.org/

https://biodiversityireland.ie/surveys/butterfly-monitoring-scheme/

https://pollinators.ie/

https://maps.biodiversityireland.ie/

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Lynette Plenderleith is the chair of the inaugural New South Wales chapter of the Australian Citizen Science Association. 

She is a conservation biologist and biodiversity education specialist with expertise in communication and community engagement. 

Since this episode was recorded, the decision was made not to try and compete with the Australian federal election and the ACSA-NSW launch will now be held on the 21st of June 2025.

Find out more by signing up for the ACSA newsletter at www.citizenscience.org.au/join-the-newsletter

More Information

https://citizenscience.org.au/acsa-regional-chapters/acsa-nsw/

https://citizenscience.org.au/

https://www.frogid.net.au/

https://www.frogsvic.org/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/lynette-plenderleith-6144b173/

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Beneath the waves around the UK lies a hidden problem: lost fishing gear that keeps catching and killing marine life for decades after anyone stopped retrieving it.

In this episode, we talk to Fred Nunn, a volunteer diver with Ghost Fishing UK, a charity marking ten years of methodically surveying, documenting and removing ghost nets, lobster pots and lost fishing line from wrecks and reefs around Britain.

Fred shares stories of the animals they've found entangled, from crabs and cormorants to whales, how the charity has built genuine trust with local fishing communities, and why some recovered gear ends up as sculpture in a cathedral rather than landfill.

We also talk about the surprisingly rigorous citizen science dataset ten years of careful survey work has produced, and why Fred remains, against the odds, an optimist.

More Information

https://www.ghostfishing.co.uk/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNh89l0CpwA

https://www.positive.news/society/meet-the-ghost-hunters-the-volunteer-divers-cleaning-up-uk-seas/

https://www.instagram.com/ghostfishinguk/

https://www.facebook.com/GhostFishingUKOfficial/

https://www.youtube.com/@ghostfishinguk5770/videos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWQ2SKGc264

Diving Photo Credit: © Rich Walker

If you enjoy this podcast, please like and subscribe to our show wherever you get your podcasts.

Leave us a review and share this show with your friends.

It really helps us to reach more citizen scientists, like you.

Contact the Show

We are always looking for more guests to tell us about interesting citizen science projects, research and events.

You can email us at: [email protected]

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Anna Noon is a passionate and dedicated advocate for social, environmental, and climate justice.

She is renowned for supporting vulnerable community members and leading impactful projects that boost the resilience and regenerative capacity of the Lake Macquarie community.

Anna is a founder of the sustainability not-for-profit The Groundswell Collective and recognised in 2024 as the Lake Macquarie Volunteer of the Year, NSW Women of the Year – Community Hero finalist, and the Taronga Hatch Accelerator Program winner.

She demonstrates her commitment to sustainability through leading inspiring, hands-on initiatives such as building tiny forests.

More Information

https://thegroundswell.org.au/

https://earthwatch.org.uk/

https://restor.eco/?lat=26&lng=14.23&zoom=3

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