Ellen Ryan-Colton

Ellen Ryan-Colton is a PhD candidate in the Research Institute for the Environment and Livelihoods (RIEL) at Charles Darwin University, with a current focus on arid zone ecology, indigenous ecological knowledge and landscape change. Ellen has lived and worked in the remote communities of central Australia, working with Aboriginal ranger groups to achieve their conservation and cultural goals. Ellen is an active member of multiple state, interstate and international groups focussing on better understanding and management of invasive species, particularly drawing on her knowledge of buffel grass impacts in central Australia. At an international level, Ellen is a fellow of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) assessment of invasive alien species, and a member of the IPBES Indigenous Local Knowledge liaison group, for the next 3 years. Prior to her PhD research, Ellen has worked as an ecologist for over 12 years focussed on threatened species recovery, protected area management and landscape scale threats. Ellen has a First Class Honours in Bachelor of Environmental Science from the University of Wollongong