Meet the team
Adaptive NRM is a collective of ecologists working on Natural Resource Management issues across Australia. We focus on delivering high quality field work, data, tools, analyses and reports that support better conservation and land management. The capacity of Adaptive NRM is enhanced by working in partnership with other organisations, some of which are shown below.
Steve Murphy (Director/Ecologist)
PhD (ANU); BSci Hons (ANU); ADAppSci (UQ)
For the past 15 years, Steve has worked as both land manager and researcher, mostly in northern and central Australia. This has allowed him to develop practical NRM problem solving skills that use quality data and robust analyses. Fire management, feral animal control and threatened species recovery are Steve's main interests.
Rachel Murphy (Ecologist/Admin)
BAppSci (La Trobe) Honours (Monash)
Rachel has worked on a diversity of NRM projects in some spectacular places. This includes invasive species management on Christmas Is, Koala management on Kangaroo Is, threatened species management on the APY Lands, and chasing Night Parrots through Queensland's Channel Country. Rachel now leads most of ANRM's fire scar mapping contracts, and also coordinates ANRM's administration.
Nick Leseberg (Ecologist)
PhD (UQ); B.Tech. (UNSW); Grad. Dip (UNE)
After 13 years as an officer in the Royal Australian Air Force, Nick’s childhood interests in nature, particularly birds, has seen him return to where it all began. Nick is now an ecologist with extensive experience in Australia and overseas. Nick has worked wildlife survey, vegetation mapping, and rare species detection and ecological research.
For ANRM, Nick conducts field-based Night Parrot surveys and acoustic analyses. He is also skilled in spatial analyses, including fire scar mapping.
Jen Silcock (Botanist/Rangeland ecologist)
PhD (UQ); B.Env.Mgt (UQ)
Jen has worked across inland Australia over the past decade for governments, not-for-profits and universities, working closely with graziers, Aboriginal communities, NRM groups and students. She specialises in arid zone botany, historical ecology, rare and threatened species conservation, vegetation change, grazing land management, and wetland mapping and condition assessment. Jen has published widely on these topics in Australian and international journals.
Nigel Jackett (Ecologist)
PhD Candidate (UQ); B.Sci. (UoW)
In 2017, Nigel Jackett was part of a team that discovered the first population of Night Parrots in Western Australia since the early 20th century and has since published descriptions of nesting habitat and vocalisations. For ANRM, Nigel conducts field-based Night Parrot surveys and acoustic analyses. He is also skilled in spatial analyses, including fire scar mapping.
Nigel is also a PhD candidate at UQ working on Northern Masked Owls.