Since 2000, Nature Foundation has awarded $1,974,786 in research grants to postgraduate students, academics, and the community to kick-start research careers, supporting 464 students.

Jack Bilby and Rebecca Greening are multi-year recipients of Nature Foundation's student research grants program, with funding supporting their important research projects that further nature science understanding and outcomes.

Join host Dr Lucy Clive, Nature Foundation's Science and Knowledge Program Officer, to learn more about Jack and Rebecca's research projects and the findings providing important outcomes for nature science and conservation.

Register here

Featured speakers:

• Dr Lucy Clive, Science and Knowledge Project Officer, Nature Foundation
• Jack Bilby, PhD Candidate, University of New South Wales
• Rebecca Greening, PhD Candidate, University of Adelaide

Following the presentation, we invite you to participate in a Q&A session. This is your chance to engage directly with our speakers and delve deeper into the topics discussed.

A recording of the webinar will be made available after the live broadcast. Please register below to receive immediate access to the recording once it is available or check back on the Nature Foundation website in the week following the webinar to watch it online.

About the speakers:

Jack Bilby

Jack is an early-career researcher and an excellent example of nominative determinism! He is currently pursuing a PhD in climate ecology and reintroduction biology at the University of New South Wales, where he investigates the responses of dryland mammal species to extreme heat. He has a particular focus on using biologging technology to investigate fine-scale differences between native and invasive species.

Outside of his PhD research, Jack has worked with Nature Foundation to create a statistically validated monitoring plan for the endangered Pygmy Bluetongue Lizard, tracked juvenile western Quolls in the Flinders Ranges, monitored an endangered snake species, and worked on reintroduction projects for Numbat, Kowari, and Phascogale species in the South Australian rangelands. His primary goals are to use robust and appropriate monitoring methods to inform effective management and deliver positive conservation outcomes.

Rebecca Greening

Rebecca is a PhD Candidate at the University of Adelaide, who is digging into the effects of livestock on soil ecological processes in Australia's arid rangelands. Her multidisciplinary research combines soil chemistry and eDNA with the study of how plants respond aboveground to investigate whether grazing indirectly limits native plant recruitment and alters nutrient cycles. Her project utilises the TGB Osborn Vegetation Reserve—a unique site that has been free from livestock for 100 years—as an ecological baseline to compare with neighbouring grazed land in South Australia's rangelands.

Rebecca's connection to arid lands began during her undergraduate studies, when she volunteered on the reserve's annual vegetation survey, contributing to Australia's longest-running ecological study. Rebecca is passionately working to revitalise interest in this under-recognised site, demonstrating how grazing-exclusion reserves have immense value for understanding arid ecosystem function, benefiting both conservation and pastoralism. She recognises that conservation in arid lands and pastoralism go hand in hand and works to ensure her research is relevant to both—to create practical outcomes that can regenerate arid lands and increase the sustainability of pastoralism.