Professor Sarah Legge
Australian National University, Charles Darwin University and University of Queensland
Sarah is a Professor at Charles Darwin University, an honorary Professor at the Australian National University, and a Principal Research Fellow at the University of Queensland. She has 30 years of research and conservation management experience.
Sarah worked initially on lions, kingfishers, parrots, and other animals, investigating the evolution of sociality, mating systems, sex allocation, siblicide, and intra-tropical migration in Africa, Australia, and New Guinea. She moved to wildlife conservation 20 years ago, working in the NGO sector for over a decade. She now works part-time through Charles Darwin University, and part-time as a consultant.
Sarah's work aims to understand the impacts of threats on threatened and declining species, and to develop ways to address those threats and recover species. It has included work on native mammals, birds, reptiles, and how they are affected by threats, especially changed fire regimes and invasive species such as cats. Much of this work, which has been recognised in applied environmental, service and research awards, is carried out collaboratively with on-ground managers from government, non-government, and Indigenous land management sectors.
Sarah lives off-grid in the forests on NSW with her family, and contributes to her local community by helping with Landcare projects and volunteering to teach science at the local primary school.
"I wanted to join the Biodiversity Council because it is a trusted source for expert commentary on biodiversity policy and research findings." - Professor Sarah Legge
