BHP/Curtin Indigenous Professor in Biodiversity & Environmental Science, School of Molecular and Life Sciences, Curtin University

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Biography

 

Professor Stephen van Leeuwen is a botanical ecologist, executive research manager and respected Wardandi Noongar leader with links to Country in the Busselton / Margaret River region. Stephen builds collaborative relationships with Traditional Custodians and other land and natural resource managers to deliver novel enduring outcomes for biodiversity conservation, bio-cultural land management, and the enduring stewardship of Country.

Stephen is Australia’s first Indigenous Chair of Biodiversity and Environmental Science based at Curtin University. His position is supported by Curtin University, BHP and the National Environmental Science Program (NESP). Stephen has a diverse research pedigree extending from threatened flora survey, fire ecology and threatened flora and fauna management through to biological survey, arid zone ecology, plant taxonomy and pollination biology. He has worked for over 40 years across Western Australia, principally in the rangelands (Pilbara and Western Desert) and the Kwongan sandplains of the biodiversity hotspot that is south-west Western Australia

 

Projects and Publications

 

Read about  some of Professor van Leeuwen's research  projects delivered as part of the National Environmental Science Program.​