Our team
Our phytosanitary risk research is delivered by a multi-disciplinary, multi-partner team.
The CSIRO team
Dr Rieks van Klinken
- Rieks is an ecologist and systems thinker who tackles national biosecurity challenges. He leads the Market Access Work Package in CSIROs’ Trusted Agrifood Exports Mission and co-leads the Hort Innovation Safe Trade project. Rieks’ phytosanitary risk science research aims to develop and apply improved scientific methods and tools for trade-related risk management. His role involves coordinating national, multi-disciplinary, multi-agency projects and building linkages with industry, regulators and international partners. In his broader role within CSIRO Health and Biosecurity, Rieks contributes to research that tackles the ecology and management of invasive species including feral animals (pigs and buffalo), invasive plants and pest invertebrates (such as fruit flies, ants and snails).
- Primary Emailrieks.vanklinken@csiro.au
Jane Muller
- Jane leads stakeholder engagement for CSIRO’s phytosanitary risk science work and the Trusted Agrifood Exports Mission, liaising closely with biosecurity regulators, industry organisations and horticulture growers. Jane has worked for many years with horticulture industry groups and growers, facilitating engagement in government policy development and delivering industry programs addressing environmentally sustainable farm practices, rural water use efficiency, climate risk management and adaptation, natural disaster resilience, fair employment practices, and leadership development.
- Primary EmailJane.Muller@csiro.au
Dr Judith Stahl
- Judith is an empirical entomologist experienced with invasive species, biological control and plant-insect interactions. In the Safe Trade project, Judith leads the apple case study, organizing the collection and analysis of data on codling moth behaviour, infestation and control in Australian apple production for export purposes into East Asia, contributing to the optimization of risk science tools and the streamlining of protocols for international and interstate trade. She has previous experience in horticulture and liaising with industry partners from conducting research studies on insect pests in commercial tree fruit and nuts as well as berry production systems.
- Primary Emailjudith.stahl@csiro.au
Dr Maryam Yazdani
- Maryam is an entomologist who works to improve our understanding of insect pest biology and ecology in agricultural systems, towards developing practical, cost effective and environmentally sensitive pest management. Maryam is currently leading research that capitalizes on X-ray and optical scanning technologies, electrochemical sensors, and e-DNA techniques. These technologies are harnessed to detect pest infestations in fresh produce, either in the packhouse or at border inspection points. Her research also contributes to validating the efficacy of diverse phytosanitary measures for managing fruit fly and moth pests of quarantine significance in horticultural crops. Maryam leads the Pest Detection & Management Technologies team within CSIRO Health and Biosecurity.
- Primary EmailMaryam.Yazdani@csiro.au
Dr Jens Froese
- Jens is a Geographer and Landscape Ecologist with research expertise in biosecurity and biological invasions, data integration, spatial analysis, risk modelling and structured expert elicitation. He leads the Adaptive Biosecurity Management Team, who research and develop digital, technological and methodological solutions to enable adaptive management of biosecurity threats. Jens is motivated by doing research with impact that is relevant to policy makers and on-ground land managers. His research approach is integrative, drawing on 15 years of diverse experiences in the biosecurity sector across institutions (government, university and CSIRO) and functions (invasive plants and animals, plant biosecurity and animal biosecurity). In the phytosanitary risk science team, Jens led the development of the Pest Risk Reduction Scenario Tool (PRReSTo) for quantifying trade-related plant pest risks and benefits of risk-reducing measures.
- Primary Emailjens.froese@csiro.au
Dr Habacuc Flores Moreno
- Haba is an ecologist interested in the links between terrestrial biodiversity and ecosystem processes. Within the phytosanitary risk science team, Haba contributes to the on-going development of PRReSTo – the pest risk reduction scenario tool. In his research, Haba models ecological risk of trade-related operations through the lens of ecological communities, biotic interactions and ecophysiology theory. His research is integrative, using a diverse set of quantitative and statistical ‘big data’ science approaches in combination with basic ecological tools such as functional traits, field experiments and data compilations. Haba has previous experience translating research into policy as well as managing research infrastructure as a Data Curator for a national ecological monitoring network and as a consultant for a multilateral environmental organization.
- Primary EmailHabacuc.Floresmoreno@csiro.au
Dr Nick Beeton
- Nick is an ecological modeller, with a background in applied mathematics. Nick’s research has contributed to improving our understanding of facial tumour disease in Tasmanian Devils; spatial modelling of invasive and threatened species; new approaches in phylogenetics and niche modelling of various plant species; and analysis of ecological and human health risks associated with transgenic methods of controlling malaria vectors. For the Safe Trade project, Nick contributes to the development of quantitative models and analysis of field data.
- Primary Emailnick.beeton@data61.csiro.au
Dr Dan Gladish
- Dan is a research scientist with CSIRO Data61 with a background in spatio-temporal statistical modelling and has worked on numerous ecological, environmental, and agricultural applications. Dan has contributed to modelling sediment runoff and pest management in the Great Barrier Reef, applications in soil water, digital agriculture, and hydrology. For the Safe Trade project, Dan leads the development of models to inform site-based monitoring and surveillance. He also works with other team members on site and region-based inference modelling for infestation risks and compliance outcomes, which incorporates data from multiple sources including in-field and consignment.
- Primary EmailDan.Gladish@data61.csiro.au
Dr Himali Ratnayake
- Himali is an ecophysiologist and ecological modeller who is passionate about doing impactful, pragmatic science and communicating her research with stakeholders at all levels. Himali’s doctoral research focussed on the impacts of extreme heatwaves on the physiology of Australian flying-foxes. In her current role with CSIRO, Himali leads the development of a ‘Biosecurity Risk Calculator’, which aims to provide data-driven analytics to calculate and update insect pest infestation risk in fresh produce consignments as they pass along the supply chain.
- Primary Emailhimali.ratnayake@csiro.au
Dr Peter Caley
- Peter is a principal research scientist with CSIRO Data61 who applies quantitative methods to address contemporary problems in the environmental, agricultural and health sciences. Peter is leading the development of quantitative models to validate the efficacy of phytosanitary systems approaches. Peter’s expertise is also applied to other critical health and biosecurity issues, including responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, risk assessments for ports for bee pests and pest bees, and optimization of surveillance with direct uptake by biosecurity agencies.
- Primary Emailpeter.caley@data61.csiro.au
Kerry Collins
- Kerry draws on her holistic knowledge of natural resource sciences to provide support to multi-disciplinary teams of social and biophysical researchers addressing diverse natural resource management issues. For the phytosanitary risk science work, Kerry manages multiple datasets generated from case study sites, ensuring accurate data is supplied for analysis and quantitative modelling. Kerry also has extensive research experience in soil systems analysis; land use, land use change and land use efficiency; and the development of natural resource management decision support tools.
- Primary Emailkerry.collins@csiro.au
Australian government and industry delivery partners
CSIRO acknowledges the valuable contributions of our research partners in the Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Australian state and territory governments, horticulture industry organisations and Hort Innovation.