Our People

Founders: Lizzie Corke (CEO) & Shayne Neal (Infrastructure & Interpretation Manager)

Lizzie graduated from Melbourne University in 2000 with a degree in Zoology, while Shayne complemented his Diploma in Wilderness Reserves and Wildlife Management from Queensland University with a degree in Natural Resource Management from Melbourne University.

Understanding the importance of caring for ecosystems and the imperative for inspiring and engaging others in conservation, together they founded the Conservation Ecology Centre in 2002. At the same time they established the Great Ocean Ecolodge as a social enterprise to underwrite the Conservation Ecology Trust. The Ecolodge increases the Trust’s sustainability and also provides important opportunities to educate and engage people in conservation efforts.

The Great Ocean Ecolodge opened in 2004 and that year won the Victorian Tourism Award for Best New Business.

The following year, Lizzie was named the Prime Minister’s Environmentalist of the Year, the first female and youngest-ever recipient of the award.

In 2007 Lizzie and Shayne were recognised by the Australian Geographic Society with the prestigious Conservation Award for dedication to protecting Victoria’s threatened wildlife through rehabilitation, conservation and education.

Shayne is the 2011 Victorian State Ploughing Champion and Reserve National Ploughing Champion.

Conservation and Research Programs: Watch this space!

We are delighted to announce that the CEC will be welcoming a new member to our team in mid-May to coordinate the Conservation and Research Programs.  Watch this space for details!

Conservation and Research Team

Our research collaborators include various Universities whose post-graduate students join us to carry out research and contribute to the knowledge base and conservation of Australian flora and fauna.  We also host biology graduates on three month internships as Research Assistants, gaining skills and experience and contributing to all aspects of the operation of the organisation.

Tom Quigley is working with us for three months as a Research Assistant. After graduating from Emory University in 2011 with a BSc in Biology and a minor in Environmental Science, Tom has been traveling and writing for a number of online publications. His research experience includes study on the parasitoid predators of caterpillar in New Mexico with Tulane University, research on West Nile Virus prevalence and mosquito prevention in urban Atlanta with Emory University, and briefly with lobster chemosensory navigation with Boston University. At the CEC, Tom assists in data collection as part of the Koala Conservation Program, soil testing different regions in the area to assist with gaining insight into the cause of the Eucalyptus dieback, as well as daily care of the Centre’s rehabilitating wildlife, having become rather fond of Annie, one of the particularly finicky koala joeys.

Katlin Miller is currently working with us as a Research Assistant. She received her Bachelor of Science in Wildlife Biology in 2008 from Colorado State University and has since been travelling around the world performing volunteer work for a variety of conservation organizations to develop her field skills, experience new things, and fine tune her goals and aspirations for the future.  So far, she has surveyed seabirds and larval crab in Alaska, studied African wildlife in Namibia, worked with sea turtles in Costa Rica, cared for orphan seals in the Netherlands, and joined a Students on Ice trip to Antarctica.  While here at the Conservation Ecology Centre, Katlin is monitoring the local koala population, working on the development of endangered species detection techniques, assisting with habitat restoration and building habitat resilience.  She is also caring for a group of orphaned koala joeys and two little orphaned wallabies.

Tim Flynn is a Research Assistant with a difference – while he has made a great contribution to the work of the CEC he has never actually set foot in the Otways!  Tim graduated from Worcester Polytech Institute in 2011 with two degrees in Robotics Engineering and Computer Science. He is currently working towards a Master of Science degree in Computer Science, expecting to graduate in May 2012. The main focus of his studies has been robotic controls, artificial intelligence, and software engineering. After graduation, Tim will be working for ViaSat, Inc. in the U.S. with the Acceleration Research and Technologies division; there, he will help to design, analyze and implement unique software-only algorithms for network acceleration purposes.
From the US Tim developed the FoliageFinder program for the CEC to analyze photographs of plant foliage by pixel and determine green-foliage to blue-sky ratio.  We have found this program invaluable for quickly and effectively assessing habitat condition to analyse habitat decline in Manna Gum Woodlands.

Marika van der Pol joined us for three months in 2012 as a Research Assistant with a Bachelor of Science majoring in Biology from the University of Alberta, Canada, and field experience in north central British Columbia monitoring northern flickers with the University of Saskatchewan and surveying long-toed salamanders as an amphibian research assistant with the University of Northern BC where she was also involved in community outreach conservation programs.  Marika worked with Julia on intense data collection as part of the CEC’s Koala Conservation Program and managing the many injured and orphaned koalas rehabilitating at the CEC.  She also took on the commitment of raising orphaned swamp wallaby joey, Mel and returned to visit him in February.

Julia Puzak worked with us for three months in 2012 as a Research Assistant after completing a Bachelor of Arts majoring in General Biology from St Mary’s College of Maryland, USA, after studying plant defence mechanisms in the Amazon rainforest, monitoring estuarine vegetation in the Chesapeake Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve and marine interpretation and education in Maine.  Julia worked with Marika on intense data collection as part of the CEC’s Koala Conservation Program and managing the many injured and orphaned koalas rehabilitating at the CEC.  She was particularly responsible for the raising of orphaned koala joey, Franny.

Sarah Rowlands joined us for three months as a Research Assistant in 2011 with a Bachelor of Science in Zoology from Cardiff University and field experience with studying the endemic weevil in the rainforests of Madagascar where she also taught English and assisted rainforest guides with tourism and conservation work. Sarah worked with Chelsey studying the behaviour of the CEC’s resident tiger quolls to gain valuable insights for surveying the wild population, collecting data for CEC’s Koala Conservation Program and managing the many injured and orphaned koalas rehabilitating at the Centre.

Chelsey Stephenson joined us for three months as a Research Assistant in 2011 after graduating from the University of California with a Bachelor of Science in Biology, lab experience with recombinant DNA technology and experience in education through teaching English in Thailand.  Together with Sarah she studied the behaviour of the CEC’s resident tiger quolls to gain valuable insights for surveying the wild population, collected data for CEC’s Koala Conservation Program and managing the many injured and orphaned koalas rehabilitating at the Centre.

Eliza Carpenter from the University of Sydney worked with us in 2011, carrying out a study on the conservation genetics of the Otway Koala population. There are many large and thriving koala populations in Victoria, but most of these were reintroduced to the Australian mainland from small founder populations, after koalas were hunted nearly to extinction in the early 20th century. When animals have come from small founder populations they may lose genetic diversity, which can in turn effect their ability to adapt to natural selection pressures, ie their “fitness”. We hope to gain a better understanding of the genetic makeup of these reintroduced populations of koalas, and the implications for management.

Andrew Wighton joined us in 2011 from San Diego Zoo for several months of intense fieldwork as part of the CEC’s Koala Conservation Program.  Andrew has been involved in behavioural studies at SDZ, he has a passion for endangered species conservation and holds a BA in physical anthropology.

Amanda Orlowski from Deakin University joined us in 2010 to assess the effect of tree canopy defoliation on small mammal and bird assemblages at Cape Otway. She has now finished up her study as was awarded a First Class Honours degree, congrats Amy!

Jack Pascoe carried out a study on owl distribution and habitat use throughout the Otways as his Honours by Research Degree with Deakin University. He completed his PhD at the University of Western Sydney in 2010 and is now back in the Otways working with the Southern Otway Landcare Network, collaborating with us on a number of exciting projects.

Last, but certainly not least, are our community volunteers – they have become a dedicated, skilled and hard working team who return to us each month to help with ecological surveys. It makes a big difference to have the extra hands (and eyes!) helping out on the surveys and since completing their training sessions the volunteers have been extemely effective in collecting high quality research data for us. This builds capacity not only for our own organisation, but for the local community as well since many of our volunteers are members of other local organisations, including Landcare. We’re sure all those extra skills in koala ecology, tiger quoll conservation, biodiversity surveys and habitat dynamics will come in handy!

Research Opportunities

If you’re interested in undertaking research with the Conservation Ecology Centre,
please contact us.