Day 1, Monday, 8 September 2025
Climbing higher: from koala research to conservation impact
8:30am to 5:30pm, Doltone House, Hyde Park, Sydney
8:30am: Registration
9:00am: Welcome to Country
9:20am: Introduction: Koala Research Plan, valuation and symposium
Simone Grounds – Department of Climate Change, Energy, Environment & Water
9:30am: Keynote speaker: The bigger picture
Peter Cochrane – International Union for Conservation of Nature
Session 1: Land management/fire/monitoring theme
9:55am: Koalas in the landscape – Version 2 (KITL V2)
Rajesh Thapa – University of New England
10:10am: Two-eyed seeing for the care and repair of Country
Graham Moore – Department of Climate Change, Energy, Environment & Water
10:25am: Koalas, Science and Culture in Guraban Bagan
Jayden Perry, Hudson Fishlock, Brooke Bartley – Ulladulla Aboriginal Land Council
10:40am: Panel Q&A
10:55am: Morning tea
Session 2: Habitat/dieback theme
11:25am: Understanding the confluence of eucalyptus dieback and koala habitat in NSW
Rachael Nolan / Brendan Choat – Western Sydney University
11:40am: Koalas and climate change: heat stress induced mortality
Valentina Mella – University of Sydney
11:55am: Panel Q&A
12:10pm: Lunch
Session 3: Restoration theme
1:10pm: Evaluating direct koala benefits of early-stage habitat restoration actions
Uffe Nielsen – Western Sydney University
1:25pm: Informing current practice to restore effective koala habitat using lessons learned from historical restoration
Julian Radford-Smith – Western Sydney University
1:40pm: Panel Q&A
Session 4: Vehicle strike/disease theme
1:55pm: Developing a non-invasive koala health diagnostic framework
Celine Frere – University of Queensland
2:10pm: Vaccination of Koalas at the Interface between chlamydia positive and chlamydia negative koala populations
Mark Krockenberger – University of Sydney
2:25pm: Evaluating road sign technology to decrease road related impacts on koalas
Diqi Chen – Griffith University
2:40pm: Panel Q&A
2:55pm: Afternoon tea
Closing
3:25pm: Reflections of the day / panel discussion
3:55pm: Closing remarks
4:10pm–5:30pm: Poster session
Day 2, Tuesday, 9 September 2025 (invite only)
Co-design in research and translating research to on ground action
8:30am to 4:15pm, Doltone House, Hyde Park, Sydney
8:00am: Arrival
8:30am: Welcome, introduction to the day
Workshop 1: Co-design and Collaboration
8:40am: Margo Ngawa Neale – Emeritus Fellow National Museum of Australia – Clever Country: there is no nature without culture
9:00am: Predators on Country: combining eDNA with Traditional Ecological Knowledge
Kazan Brown – Murrindyarr Aboriginal Corporation
Margot Law – Department of Climate Change, Energy, Environment & Water
9:15am: Workshop session: Incorporating Traditional Ecological Knowledge
10:00am: Morning tea
10:20am: Workshop session: co-designing research
12:00pm: Lunch
Workshop 2: Translating research into policy and on-ground action
1:00pm: Research in real-time for management actions
Carolyn Hogg and Luke Silver – University of Sydney
1:20pm: Workshop session: Translating research to policy
2:15pm: Afternoon tea
2:40pm: Workshop session: Translating research to on-ground action
3:30pm: Closing remarks