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Chancellor's Post Doctoral Research Fellow, University of Technology Sydney

Ben Kefford is an ecotoxicologist and aquatic ecologist. Ben’s research has focused on assessing the risk of chemical contaminants (salinity, sediments, metals and pesticides) on aquatic invertebrate communities. He is particularly interested in improving and validating methods to predict the risk of chemicals on aquatic assemblages rather than individual organisms. He has developed ecological indicators that can diagnose whether damaged stream communities is the result of salinity or pesticide exposure.

Ben has a research focus on the effects of salinity on freshwater invertebrates and has completed two Land and Water Australia project in this area.

Ben worked in what is now the Victorian Department of Sustainability and Environment for 5 years. He has continued to collaborate with a number of government management agencies including the Victorian and South Australian EPAs, the Queensland Department of Environment and Resource Management and the Australian Antarctic Division and ongoing collaboration with German researchers.

Prior to joining UTS in July 2010, Ben completed an Australian Research Council (ARC) Australian Postdoctoral – Industry (APDI) fellowship at RMIT University in Melbourne. He has twice participated in the Australian Antarctic Program spending summers in Casey (2005/06) and Macquarie Island (2007/08).