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Vanessa Pirotta

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Postdoctoral Researcher and Wildlife Scientist, Macquarie University

Dr Vanessa Pirotta is a wildlife scientist, woman in STEMM/STEAM, science communicator, author and vessel operator.

Vanessa’s research uses innovative technologies for wildlife conservation. Vanessa works collaboratively across both marine and terrestrial environments merging cutting edge tech to access animals in unique ways. Most notable works include drones to collect whale snot and the use of computer algorithms and AI for the detection of illegal wildlife trafficking.

Vanessa is a passionate and experienced science communicator who plays an important role in society by making science accessible. She’s represented Australia internationally as the international runner up of the world-renowned science communication competition FameLab, spoken on the TEDx platform, been recognized by the Australian Financial Review as one of the top 100 Women of Influence and listed as one of Science & Technology Australia’s Superstars of STEM.

Vanessa is the lead scientist of the scientific and citizen science program Wild Sydney Harbour, which is learning more about marine life in Sydney Harbour, Australia. As part of this, Vanessa is leading scientific research with local First Nations rangers, the Gamay Rangers. Together, they are combining First Nation Knowledge and scientific research to learn more about marine mammals such as whales, dolphins and fur seals.

Vanessa is also a proud children’s and big kids author, with her books The Voyage of Whale and Calf and Humpback Highway: Diving into the mysterious world of whales, serving as an annual reminder of humpback whale biology and ecology in Australian waters.

Experience

  • –present
    Wildlife scientist and science communicator, Macquarie University

Education

  • 2019 
    Macquarie University , Doctor of Philosophy
  • 2015 
    Macquarie University , Masters of Research
  • 2010 
    Australian National University, Bachelor of Science (Zoology and Evolution and Ecology majors)

Publications

  • 2022
    Detecting illegal wildlife trafficking via real time tomography 3D X-ray imaging and automated algorithms, Frontiers in Conservation Science
  • 2022
    Marine Mammal Chapter, Wildlife in Australia- practical and applied methods (CSIRO Publishing)
  • 2022
    Drone Observations of Marine Life and Human–Wildlife Interactions off Sydney, Australia, Drones
  • 2021
    First evidence of bubble-net feeding and the formation of ‘super-groups’ by the east Australian population of humpback whales during their southward migration, Aquatic Conserv: Mar Freshw Ecosyst.
  • 2020
    A citizen science approach to long-term monitoring of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) off Sydney, Australia, Marine Mammal Science
  • 2020
    Operational Protocols for the Use of Drones in Marine Animal Research, Drones
  • 2019
    Challenges of collecting blow from small cetaceans, Ecosphere
  • 2019
    Consequences of global shipping traffic for marine giants, Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment
  • 2019
    Cost‐effective mitigation strategies to reduce bycatch threats to cetaceans identified using return‐on‐investment analysis, Conservation Biology
  • 2018
    Virological Sampling of Inaccessible Wildlife with Drones, Viruses
  • 2017
    An Economical Custom-Built Drone for Assessing Whale Health, Frontiers in Marine Science
  • 2016
    Migrating humpback whales show no detectable response to whale alarms off Sydney, Australia., Endangered Species Research
  • 2014
    A whale alarm fails to deter migrating humpback whales: an empirical test., Endangered Species Research