Saul Cunningham
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About
Professor Saul Cunningham's first experience of research was as an Honours student at Monash University. He then received a Fulbright Award to support Ph.D. studies in the USA with field work in Costa Rica.
Having been awarded his Ph.D. in 1995, he returned home to Australia and commenced post-doctoral projects at Macquarie University, before joining CSIRO in Canberra as a Research Scientist. Over a 17 year period with CSIRO, Professor Cunningham developed a research program focusing on the challenge of maintaining biodiversity in landscapes dedicated to agricultural production.
He has worked with farming industry groups, local landholder groups, and a wide network of international colleagues with shared interests.
In 2015 the Ecological Society of Australia honoured Professor Cunningham with the "Australian Ecology Research Award". He was a contributor to the Intergovernmental Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) Assessment Report on Pollination and Food Production, published in 2016.
Professor Cunningham has been Director of the Fenner School of Environment & Society since 2017.
Affiliations
Research interests
Professor Cunningham is interested in finding ways to manage farming landscapes and preserve biodiversity while supporting agricultural production.
In pursuing this overarching challenge, his work ranges across specific questions regarding the fundamental determinants of biodiversity, methods of ecological restoration, management practices to increase farm productivity, and more.
He has worked extensively on crop pollination; a poorly understood but sometimes critically important input to agricultural production, which generally depends on wild insects living in the farming landscape.
Areas of expertise
- Applied ecology
- Conservation biology
- Crop pollination
- Agricultural landscapes.
Open PhD opportunities
Projects
- Healthy pollinators / healthy food, Director
Location
Frank Fenner Building (141)