At the Citizen Science Conference in Melbourne, Gregory Andrews spoke with both urgency and hope. A Dharawal man from southwest Sydney, Gregory describes his deep connection to Country, believing that every Australian shares a similar bond when they live respectfully with the land. His totem, the lyrebird, guides his life’s work. Like the lyrebird that speaks many languages, Gregory has spent his career building bridges between cultures, communities, and the natural world.

More Information

https://www.lyrebirddreaming.com/

https://citizenscience.org.au/citscioz25/

About The Citizen Science Show Podcast

This episode of the Citizen Science Show podcast is coming to you from CitSciOz25 the Australian Citizen Science Association conference, in Melbourne Connect, a world-class innovation precinct at The University of Melbourne.

If you enjoy this content, please like and subscribe to our show wherever you get your podcasts. 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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After more than two decades in the university sector, Fiona Sutton Wilson realised that middle management no longer fulfilled her desire to make a tangible difference. Surrounded by policy and research, she felt drawn toward work that would more directly benefit the environment. A turning point came during a week-long bush retreat with a group of women, where the quiet of nature reawakened her childhood love of the natural world—memories of exploring with her botanist father and discovering native orchids resurfaced, reigniting her environmental passion.

More Information

https://earthwatch.org.au/

https://www.climatewatch.org.au/

https://citizenscience.org.au/citscioz25/

About The Citizen Science Show Podcast

This episode of the Citizen Science Show podcast is coming to you from CitSciOz25 the Australian Citizen Science Association conference, in Melbourne Connect, a world-class innovation precinct at The University of Melbourne.

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

At the Australian Museum, Nadiah Roslan coordinates FrogID, a citizen science project that has transformed the understanding of frog conservation since its launch in 2017. Supported by Inspiring Australia and IBM, FrogID began with a simple idea—use smartphones to listen to frogs and turn their calls into valuable scientific data. Each frog species has a unique sound, making acoustic monitoring an effective, non-invasive way to study biodiversity across Australia. By pointing a phone toward a calling frog, anyone can contribute meaningful information to science.

More Information

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

https://citizenscience.org.au/citscioz25/

About The Citizen Science Show Podcast

This episode of the Citizen Science Show podcast is coming to you from CitSciOz25 the Australian Citizen Science Association conference, in Melbourne Connect, a world-class innovation precinct at The University of Melbourne.

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

Dr. Megan Halcroft never imagined that her fascination with bees would begin while studying horticultural science after years of working as a nurse. What started with a unit on apiculture evolved into a lifelong commitment to understanding and protecting Australia’s native bees.

Megan started Australian Pollinator Week which was launched in 2015 with 26 events, gaining recognition from the Environmental Trust.

Pollinator Week has become far more than a scientific outreach program. Across the country, communities host creative and educational events, from workshops to art installations inspired by pollinators. One project built chandeliers from clay leaves in tribute to leaf cutter bees, while another turned bamboo into musical wind-chime sculptures. These activities highlight how art and science can work together to connect people to nature.

More Information

https://www.beesbusiness.com.au/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/beeawareofyournativebees

https://www.australianpollinatorweek.org.au/count/

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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In Antarctica, Lucia Morillo has witnessed another form of exploitation: the industrial harvesting of krill. Once thought to be limitless, krill are now targeted for luxury products such as omega-3 supplements and additives for salmon farms. While the fishery is technically legal, its regulation under the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) is deeply flawed. With 27 member nations required to reach unanimous agreement on quotas, even a single objection—often from powerful countries like Russia or China—can stall or dismantle vital protections.

Krill are far more than prey. They act as a biological carbon pump, consuming microscopic algae that absorb carbon dioxide and carrying that carbon into the deep ocean when they die. In doing so, they help regulate the planet’s climate. Yet humans continue to harvest them for nonessential products. Lucia and her colleagues argue that this practice is both wasteful and unnecessary, as plant-based sources of omega-3s already exist.

More Information

https://www.seashepherdglobal.org/

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

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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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Debbie Breen and Alexis Ting are volunteers with Hunter Wildlife Rescue, dedicating their time, homes, finances, and emotional strength to animals in crisis. Their work reveals a reality far removed from the romantic image often associated with wildlife care.

Hunter Wildlife Rescue was founded more than 36 years ago by Audrey Koosman and originally focused on the lower and upper Hunter Valley. Over time, its reach has expanded significantly, now covering Newcastle, the Upper Hunter, and areas approaching the Central Coast. This expansion reflects not growth in resources, but a sharp rise in animals needing help due to land clearing, development, and road networks. The organisation works independently but collaborates closely with groups such as WIRES and ARC, coordinating rescues and sharing resources when regions are overwhelmed.

Hunter Wildlife Rescue responds to calls around the clock for a wide range of species, including birds, gliders, flying foxes, reptiles, turtles, possums, wombats, kangaroos, and koalas. Most animals are cared for in volunteers’ homes, where carers wake every few hours to feed, clean, medicate, and monitor vulnerable animals. Alexis explained that while bonds inevitably form, the goal is always release back into the wild, not keeping animals as pets.

Moments of success make the hardship worthwhile. Alexis described releasing a brushtail possum after months of care and later receiving confirmation that it was surviving in the wild. Those moments help carers endure exhaustion, injury, and emotional strain. Cat and dog attacks, habitat destruction, and vehicle strikes remain the most significant threats, particularly for koalas.

If you see an injured animal in the Hunter NSW region of Australia, please call the Animal Rescue Line on 0418 628 483.

More Information

https://www.hunterwildlife.org.au/

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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Faith Coleman is an estuarine ecologist who specialises in aquatic microbia, water chemistry and sediment dynamics.

She is currently involved in studying and collecting data in relation to the Harmful Algal Bloom (HAB) off the South Australian coastline.

You can see images of Karenia and the research on the Facebook page; Phytoplankton of South Australia.

More information

https://www.linkedin.com/in/faith-coleman/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1315762396637652

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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Tonight on the show we are talking to two guests who are leading the way in biodiversity monitoring and conservation by using technology to enable land owners to monitor their land through the model of land libraries. 

In partnership with participating land owners, Education Program Team Leader Alice McGrath of the NSW Biodiversity Conservation Trust and Aaron Clausen, Founder and Director of NatureMapr are building pro-active communities with local experts to bridge the gap between land owners, government, scientists and citizen scientists.

More Information

https://naturemapr.org/

https://naturemapr.org/collections/12418

Free Online Conservation Course with the BCT

https://www.bct.nsw.gov.au/elearning

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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The Orange-bellied Parrot is one of the rarest birds in the world and one of only three migratory parrot species. Each year, it breeds in the remote wilderness of Melaleuca in southwest Tasmania before attempting the perilous journey across Bass Strait to the coasts of Victoria and South Australia. Its survival depends on a delicate balance of habitat, safe migration, and human intervention.

Kerri Duncan, an animal science and communication specialist with the Zoo and Aquarium Association Australasia, coordinates the National Orange-bellied Parrot Recovery Team. Her role involves uniting government agencies, zoos, NGOs, First Nations groups, and volunteers in the fight to save this bird. She manages the complex logistics of the recovery program, from facilitating meetings and media releases to overseeing on-the-ground action. Though much of her work is administrative, she relishes opportunities to assist in the field, including fitting tracking devices to parrots in Tasmania.

More Information

https://www.obprecoveryteam.org/

https://birdata.birdlife.org.au/

https://birdlife.org.au/?srsltid=AfmBOorivJpthHcowa4mEQ_A8_sViT56FXkWSF0lBDH_XTkPsLS43zNR

https://parks.tas.gov.au/explore-our-parks/southwest-national-park/melaleuca

https://www.melbournewater.com.au/water-and-environment/water-management/sewerage/western-treatment-plant

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

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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.

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From an early age, Capri Joliffe was captivated by the ocean and its inhabitants. A book on dolphin acoustics she read as a child fixed her ambition to become a marine biologist and to study how whales and dolphins communicate. That passion carried her through studies in marine biology and zoology, then into a PhD in applied physics at Curtin University, where she focused on the acoustic communication of blue whales.

Pygmy blue whales, the subspecies studied by GMR, migrate along the Australian coast without traveling as far south as Antarctica. They must feed continually due to their slender build and limited fat reserves. Geographe Bay offers a rare chance to observe them close to shore, where they appear to follow underwater contours that may shield them from currents, predators, or aid navigation.

More Information

https://www.marineresearch.org.au/?page_id=1484

https://www.marineresearch.org.au/?page_id=199

https://www.jasco.com/news/2024/dr-capri-jolliffe-joins-jasco-australia-as-technical-director

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

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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.