2020

Mary-Anne Lea

Associate Professor at the Ecology and Biodiversity Centre at the Institute for Marine & Antarctic Studies at the University of Tasmania

Dr Mary-Anne Lea is an Associate Professor at the Ecology and Biodiversity Centre at the Institute for Marine & Antarctic Studies at the University of Tasmania. She is interested in the way in which the environment and climate change affect the behaviour, distribution and life history of marine and polar vertebrates. She studies the behavioural ecology of many species of seals and seabirds in temperate, Southern Ocean and Alaskan waters and has participated in over 25 expeditions and voyages. Her research focuses on the way in which marine predators, especially migratory animals, interact with their environment at different temporal and spatial scales, and the fine-scale relationships between animal behaviour and prey dynamics. Much of her and the Marine Predator Lab group’s research focuses on the use of emergent technologies to study the influence of climate change and variability within the marine environment on top predator behaviour and distributions in the Southern Ocean and globally. She is a member of the Scientific Committee for Antarctic Research Expert Group of Birds and Marine Mammals, a SC-ATS delegate at the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources. Mary-Anne is also a keen advocate of equity and inclusion and a co-founder of Homeward Bound.

After completing her Science degree at the University of Sydney, Mary-Anne moved to Tasmania to study the maternal investment of long-nosed fur seals for her Honours degree. After working as a research assistant at the University of Tasmania, Mary-Anne undertook at joint PhD with the Zoology Dept. and the CEBC-CNRS (France) to study the ecology and oceanographic interactions of Antarctic fur seals at Iles Kerguelen. Since then Mary-Anne has conducted post-docs at the UBC Fisheries Centre (Vancouver, 2003-2004) and the National Marine Mammal Laboratory (Seattle, 2005-2007) researching the winter ecology of juvenile Steller sea lions and northern fur seals. Mary-Anne returned to Tasmania in 2007 to take up an ARC-funded post-doc on the winter migratory behaviour of Antarctic fur seals. More recently Mary-Anne has held visiting research fellowships at the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle (2012) and the Scottish Association of Marine Science (2013, MASTS Fellowship).

Sarah Reutas

Network Systems Administrator, Information Technology Services, University of Tasmania

Sarah is a Network Systems Administrator within the IT Services team at the University of Tasmania.

She has a background in providing technical support for large enterprises and government including the Queensland Education Department, Department of Justice and Attorney General and the Supreme Court of Queensland. She has 10 years of experience working across a variety of areas in IT, such as help desk, project support, server systems administration and network systems administration.

Originally from Brisbane, Sarah moved to Tasmania in 2018 for a change away from her fast-paced life in Brisbane city. She loves that living in Tasmania provides more opportunities to connect with its smaller and active communities, in a way which feels welcoming in a uniquely Tasmanian way.

She is a member of various local groups such as the Tasmanian Mermaids women’s dive club, Tasmanian University Dive Club and The Convict City Rollers women’s roller derby team. She is passionate about sustainability and environmental conservation and is a member of the UTAS Green Impact program. She spends her free time doing yoga, scuba diving in the temperate Tasmanian sea and exploring the islands vast and valuable national parks.

Mel Lukianenko

Ignite Project Services

Mel has been working in the ICT industry for over 25 years and has held many senior roles including Chief Information Officer at Aurora Energy and ICT Leader at TasNetworks.

In 2016 she started her own ICT Strategic Advisory and Project consultancy business in Hobart, Ignite Project Services which currently employs up to ten people and has contracts with large Government departments and Government owned entities.

Mel has extensive experience in developing and implementing ICT strategies, along with a passion for leading and developing people and elevating organisational culture.

Mel is Vice-Chair of StLukesHealth and Board member for Colony 47 and Healthy Business Performance Group.

Mel was recently awarded "Outstanding Contribution by a Women in ICT" by TASICT for her dedication and commitment to the industry.