Ricky Spencer

Dr Ricky Spencer is The head of WildLab and Associate Professor of Ecology at Western Sydney University. Ricky is a member of the School of Science and Health, as well as a member of the Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment. Dr Spencer is also the manager of Citizen Science tools, such as TurtleSAT (www.turtlesat.org.au), WomSAT (www.womsat.org.au) and CatSAT (spencer9.wix.com/catsat).

Prior to beginning at ASH, Ricky was a Senior Research Scientist for a Pestat within the Invasive Animals CRC, conducting research and development as part of a $3.18 million project to develop new vertebrate pest control methodologies, specifically using PAPP.

Ricky completed his PhD in 2001 was a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Qld (Fire Ecology on Fraser Island); Iowa State University (Temperature dependent Sex Determination in turtles (TSD) and his PhD research investigated the impact of foxes on freshwater turtle populations of the Murray River.

Ricky has spent 15 years actively working on vertebrate pests and major current projects include an ARC Linkage Project on the 'Turtle Crisis' in the Murray River, as well as evaluating optimal fox management strategies for managing nest predation on turtles and water birds.