BRAHSS Personnel
Principal Investigators
Adjunct Professor Douglas H. Cato - Chief Scientist and Principal Investigator
Defence Science and Technology Organisation, University of Sydney, Sydney NSW;
Cetacean Ecology and Acoustics Laboratory, School of Veterinary Science, University of Queensland, Brisbane QLD.
Doug Cato has forty years of experience in marine acoustics particularly ambient noise, propagation and source localization, and thirty years' experience in marine bioacoustics, including the effects of noise on marine animals.
His achievements include determining the characteristics of ambient sea noise from physical, biological and shipping sources for the Australian Indo-Pacific region, based on extensive experiments and modelling. He also developed the first comprehensive theory of sound generation by
Dr. Michael Noad - Principal Investigator
Cetacean Ecology and Acoustics Laboratory, School of
Mike did a degree in veterinary science at the University of Queensland, graduating in 1990. He worked primarily as a small animal vet in the Gold Coast hinterland for 15 months before travelling extensively through Asia and Europe to Britain where he worked as a locum vet for another year.
After returning to Australia in late 1994, Mike started a PhD in 1995 at the University of Sydney, supervised by Prof. Michael Bryden in the Faculty of Veterinary Science, and Dr Doug Cato of the Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO). Here he worked on humpback whale acoustic behaviour and began simultaneous visual and acoustic tracking of humpbacks which eventually developed into the HARC project. During this time he was the lead author on a paper published by Nature on the replacement of the east Australian humpback whales' song by one from the
He finished his PhD in 2002 and started work as a post-doctoral research fellow in the School of Life Sciences (now the School of Biological Sciences) at the University of Queensland, switching to a lectureship in the School of Veterinary Science in late 2003. He became a Senior Lecturer in 2009.
Mike's main research interest is the evolution and function of humpback whale song. Related interests include the effects of anthropogenic noise on marine mammals, the evolution and transmission of cultural traits in animals, the population ecology of east Australian and other South Pacific humpback whale populations and the function of social sounds in humpback whales.
Associate Professor Rob McCauley - Principal Investigator
Centre for Marine Science and Technology (CMST), Curtin University, WA.
Rob McCauley is
Prof. McCauley has been working on seismic survey implications since 1992. He has numerous related publications several current seismic projects including investigating
Dr. Rebecca A. Dunlop - Principal Investigator
Cetacean Ecology and Acoustics Laboratory, School of V
Dr. Dunlop has over ten years of research experience including four years of research in physiology (respiratory physiology, hearing physiology, stress physiology and neurophysiology in fish) and over seven years of research in marine mammal population, communication, behaviour and marine bioacoustics.
Rebecca developed the first comprehensive catalogue for humpback whale non-song vocalisations and linked these vocalisations to behavioural context. She has worked on both east coast and west coast Australian humpback whales to develop an accurate census of each population using both
Co-Investigators
Dr Hendrik Kniest - Co-investigator
School of Engineering, University of Newcastle, Southern Cross University - Centre for Whale Research
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- Semi-automatic methods for whale fluke matching. Development of new software (FLUKE MATCHER) to assist in
Mr. David Paton - Co-investigator
His extensive field experience includes the identification of a diverse range of cetacean species, coordinating whale, dolphin, turtle and
In addition to his role as Co-investigator, Dave also serves as a vessel master on the BRAHSS experiments.
Mr. John Noad - Co-investigator
His work in HARC includes:
- Design, building and running the computer networks used for recording information
- Some advice on the modifications to software to use the network
- Design and building various items of equipment used in the project
- Preparation, testing and maintenance of field equipment, particularly hydrophone buoys, wireless antennas, solar panels etc.
- Involvement in the planning of project developments
- Work on developing and testing new networks for more extensive data gathering including connections to vessels
Dr Rob Slade - Co-investigator
Operations Manager / Senior Marine Scientist, Blue Planet Marine
Dr Slade has over 30 years experience working as a marine biologist in both academic and industrial settings. Academically, Rob has published in excess of 30 peer-reviewed scientific papers ranging from whale ecology to dugong ecology and population genetics of seals and other organisms. He held a postdoctoral position at the Department of Immunogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Biology, Tübingen, Germany and was the recipient of an ARC Postdoctoral Fellowship. Rob also worked at the Australian Genome Research Facility as the Bioinformatics Officer.
Rob's field experience
As Operations Manager and Senior Marine Scientist with Blue
In addition to his role as Co-investigator, Rob also serves as a vessel master on the BRAHSS experiments.
Technical, Research & Support Staff
Auxiliary Staff - 2014 Field Season
Jenny Allen - Acoustics | Grant Bender - Safety officer |
Louise Bennett - Small boats (tagging, data collection, biopsy collection) | Wendy Blanshard - Photographer |
Chloë Bodemeaid - Team leader | Dave Donnelly - Vessel master, small boat |
Rachel Drew - Team leader | Aoife Foley - Land coordinator |
Linda Garlepp - Team leader | John Gibbens - Marine mammal observer |
Sue Gibbs - Marine mammal observer (Leader) | Emma Gill - Marine mammal observer |
Elisa Girola - Acoustics | Dan Godoy - Marine mammal observer |
Eva Hartvig - Tag technician | Amy James - Land coordinator |
Michael (Bret) Johns - Land coordinator | Ailbhe Kavanagh - Tagger |
Corey Lardner - Boat data | Pippa Lowe - Team leader |
Sue Mason - Party chief | Fletcher Mingramm - Tagger |
Damien Morales - Assistant party chief | Anita Murray - Acoustics coordinator |
Anthony Muyt - Vessel master, small boat | Rachel (Jones) Myers - Team leader |
Andrew Nichols - Vessel master, small boat | Carlos Olavarria - Marine mammal observer |
Clare Owen - Team leader | Kylie Owen - Tagger |
Iain Parnum - Sonar | Heather Penner - Team leader |
Mal Perry - Technician | Natalie Schmitt - Marine mammal observer |
Heath Storrie - Technician | Brett Sutton - Marine mammal observer |
Bec Wellard - Marine mammal observer | Jennifer Wiggins - Team leader |
Mike (Zeus) Williamson - Tagger |
Volunteers - 2014 Field Season
Sloane Abraham | Nicholas Alcaraz | Elise Babbington |
Karen Backe | Alex Bandurak | Lisa Binks |
Nina Bircher | Anna Bird | Mireia Bou |
Mitch Burrows | Elisa Chillingworth | Ana Carolina De Muzio |
Vanessa Delnavaz | Hazel Doyle | Deborah Fernandes |
Charlotte Foster | Maria Garcia | Lisa Gemma |
Abi Goulding | Lydia Hayward | Anna Hunter |
Katherine Indeck | Bridgette Larsen | Amelia Mack |
Kady Marino | Ellen McArthur | Kieranna McCormick |
Sarah |
Kate McQueen | Lydia Mesquita |
Hannah Moloney | Tegan Mortimer | Sara Niksic |
Erin Parsons | Alex Pearse | Bart Peeters |
Daniela Lucia Marie Prömper | Lucy Ransome | Andy Rogan |
Agustina Schiavi | Kaitlyn Sephton | Charlotte Taplin |
Claire Twyman | Alice Vincent-Piper | Tasha Warren |
James Waterman | Lisa West | Virginie Wyss |
Auxiliary Staff - 2013 Field Season
Louise Bennett - Small boats (tagging, data collection, biopsy collection) | Aletta Bussenschutt - Small vessels, source vessels observer |
Sasha Collecutt - Small boats (data collection) | David Donnelly - Vessel master small boat |
Aoife Foley - Small boats (data collection) | Leila Fouda - Source vessel observer |
Emma Gates - Small boats (data collection) | Sue Gibbs - Source vessel observations coordinator |
Elisa Girola - Small boats (data collection) | Sacha Gugenheimer - Party chief, source vessel observer |
Eva Hartvig - DTag technician | Li-Mi Huang - Shore logistics |
Amy James - Small boats (data collection) | Capri Jolliffe - Source vessel observer |
Ailbhe Kavanagh - Acting trials director, small boats (tagging, data collection, biopsy collection) | Andrew Levings - HSE&S officer (from 4 Oct) |
Doug Levings - Source vessel observer | Sara Marley - Source vessel observer |
Sue Mason - Source vessel observer | Jamie McWilliam - Source vessel observer |
Damien Morales - Party chief, source vessel observer | Fletcher Mingramm - Small boats (tagging, data collection, biopsy collection) |
Rebecca Oliver - Source vessel observer | Mal Perry, HSE&S officer (to 24 Sep) - Technical officer logistics and acoustic loggers |
Angela Recalde-Salas - Source vessel observer | Louise Smith - Small boats (data collection) |
Verity Steptoe - Small boats (tagging, data collection, biopsy collection) | Michael Williamson - Data coordinator, small boats (tagging, data collection, biopsy collection) |
Auxiliary Staff - 2011 Field Season
Louise Bennett - Hill observation and volunteer coordinator | David Donnelly - Vessel master, photography |
Ellen Garland - Bioacoustics analysis | Sue Gibbs - Observation coordinator on the Whalesong |
Elise Godwin - Research assistant | Eva Hartvig - DTag technician |
Micheline Jenner - Whalesong | Trevor Jordan - Technical consultant |
Ailbhe Kavanagh - Hill/volunteer coordinator | Sue Mason - Party chief |
Anita Murray - Acoustics coordinator | Kylie Owen - Hill observation coordinator, north |
Iain Parnum - |
Mal Perry - Airgun technician |
Melinda Rekdahl - Vessel coordinator | Verity Steptoe - Hill observation and volunteer coordinator |
Vanessa Sturrock - Whalesong | Pat Ward - Vessel operator |
Michael Williamson - Field and technical support |
Volunteers - 2011 Field Season
Hayley Atkins | Gregory Brazzola | Lucy Buckingham |
Sarah Buckley | Helen Cadwallader | Federico Cividini |
Sasha Collecutt | Ana Crespo | Axelle Cruder |
Hannah Curtis | Thalia de Hass | Sharon Drabsch |
Rachel Drew | Joanna Eames | Jaclyn Fowler |
Sean |
Harry Garside | Alexandra Gärtner Zárate |
Ben Humphreys | Laura Kavanagh | Pippa Low |
Amy Macleod | Sarah McEwen | Madison Miketa |
Kalya Miramontes | Rachel Myers | Kelly O'Loughlin |
Clare Owen | Hannah Peach | Heather Penner |
Chris Perry | Amanda Prado | Louise Smith |
David Still | Angelico Jose Tiongson | Emily Trumbull |
Michael van den Bossche | Rebecca Wellard | Jennifer Wiggins |
Auxiliary Staff - 2010 Field Season
Brett Adamson - Master of air gun vessel FV. Ash Dar S. | Ms Louise Bennett - Hill observation and volunteer coordinator |
Mr Dave Donnelly - Vessel master, photography | Ms Ellen Garland - Bioacoustics analysis |
Ms Elise Godwin - Research Assistant | Trevor Jordan - Technical consultant |
Ailbhe Kavanagh - Hill/volunteer coordinator | Mr Jody Kreuger - |
Anita Murray - Acoustics coordinator | Ms Kylie Owen - Hill observation coordinator, north |
Dr Iain Parnum - |
Dr Miles Parsons - |
Mal Perry - Airgun technician | Ms Pam Quayle - Party chief |
Ms Mindi Rekdahl - Vessel coordinator | Mr Michael Williamson - Field and technical support |
Volunteers - 2010 Field Season
Isabel Baker | Ambra Blasi | Sabrina |
Paul |
Drew |
Stacey Chilcott |
Darren Craig | Marie Duffy | Patrícia Falcão Bueno |
Farnaz Farhang | Alexandra Fennell | Aoife Foley |
Jane Gardiner | Linda Garlepp | Emma Gates |
Kirstie Goodman-Rendall | Mirjam Held | Amy James |
Glenn Jepson | Michael (Bret) Johns | Tanya Johnston |
Corey Lardner | Maíta Lisboa de Moura | Siobhan Mannion |
Sue Mason | Rossa Meade | Rebecca Oliver |
Estênio Paiva | Shelly Potter | Angela Recaldo |
Laia Rojano | Briana (Bree) Rooney | Maheshe Wadasindhe |
Zoe Warner | Bec Wellard |
Project Management & Support
Ms Edwina Tanner, University of Sydney (2010/11) | Jackie Lu, University of Sydney (Support, 2010) |
Dr Inke Falkner, University of Sydney (2010/11) | Mark Richards, University of Sydney (Support) |
Eva Hartvig, University of Sydney (2012/13/14) |