Dr Megan Evans receives prestigious ACT Tall Poppy Science Award

UNSW Canberra lecturer and ARC DECRA Fellow Dr Megan Evans has been awarded a prestigious ACT Tall Poppy Science Award.

Presented by the Australian Institute of Policy and Science, the Tall Poppy Award recognises research excellence and enthusiasm for communicating science to broad audiences.

Dr Evans’s work aims to understand and inform governments and businesses on how they can more effectively protect the environment.

“Governments around the world have introduced laws, policies and markets that aim to protect the environment but species continue to go extinct at an alarming rate,” Dr Evans said.  

“Many of these efforts including biodiversity and carbon offsets can often sound good in theory but not works so well in practice.”

Dr Evans’s background, which includes mathematics, ecology, public policy and policymaking, informs her research.

“I use tools and methods from a range of fields, including public policy, conservation science and environmental economics to help design environmental policies, study how they work in practice and learn what improvements are needed,” Dr Evans said.

“I’m working to understand how different industries might become carbon neutral and what actions governments and the private sector need to take to transform our economy into one where both people and nature can thrive.”

The Tall Poppy Awards celebrates Australian intellectual and scientific excellence, and it was created to encourage younger Australians to follow in the footsteps of these outstanding achievers.

‘Tall Poppies’ are engaged in activities to promote an interest in science among school students and teachers, as well as an understanding and appreciation of science in the broader community.

Read more about Dr Evans’s work:

Why ignoring biodiversity loss is an increasingly risky business

Ask an Expert: What is the EPBC Act?                 

Five ways to improve the government’s plan to protect threatened wildlife