Our Team

Adrian Flynn

Director and Principal Consultant

PhD, MEIANZ

Adrian is a specialist in marine ecology, environmental impact assessment and biomonitoring. He has been an environmental consultant for over 20 years and has completed ecological studies and impact assessments for some of the highest profile development projects in the Asia-Pacific region. Adrian’s specialty is to link an in-depth understanding of biological systems with project-related stressors to assess impacts on aquatic communities and ecological functioning, and to develop best-practice monitoring and management programs. Adrian has led multidisciplinary research and consulting projects and has led several field expeditions in remote areas in Australia and overseas including Papua New Guinea, Cook Islands, Indonesia, New Caledonia, Suriname, Laos and Tanzania. Dr Flynn is skilled in marine ecological surveys in temperate and tropical environments, biomonitoring, biotope classification, habitat mapping, statistics, ecosystem modelling and biogeography. He has a technical speciality in deep-sea ecology and has published several scientific papers. Adrian is a qualified ADAS commercial diver and a Member of the Environment Institute of Australia and New Zealand. He is an Honorary Research Associate of La Trobe University and Melbourne Museum. 

David Donnelly

Senior Consultant

David is an experienced cetacean researcher with complimentary knowledge of marine reptiles, seabirds and other surface pelagic fauna. He has over 20 years’ experience in the cetacean research field and 15 years’ experience in open ocean surveys as a marine fauna observer.  David has completed numerous offshore operations across Australia, New Zealand and the Antarctic in a consulting capacity or on behalf of the Australian government, scientific research institutions, the military and the oil-and-gas industry. David is a certified Marine Mammal Observer in New Zealand and Australia. David also is experienced in marine ecological surveys of temperate subtidal and intertidal reefs. He is manager of two citizen science projects associated with recording whale movements along the Victorian coastline. David has a long history of successful collaborations in developing nations. David is a qualified ADAS commercial diver and Coxswain.

Giorgia Cecino

Senior Consultant

PhD

Giorgia is a marine spatial ecologist and data scientist. Giorgia has a technical speciality in ecological modelling and network analysis. She is skilled in R, MATLAB and Python programming and GIS, with particular expertise in data harvesting, statistical analysis and visualisation. She has also worked in the area of government agency environmental management in Europe. 

Peter Faber

Senior Consultant

PhD

Peter is an environmental chemist and ecologist with experience researching coastal marine environments as well as environmental assessments for development programs in Indonesia and Fiji. His research on carbon metabolism in estuaries and coastal waters investigated the drivers of carbon and alkalinity export under different catchment land use regimes. More recently, Peter has been involved in a multidisciplinary research project, assessing the environmental impacts of a water and sanitation intervention in informal settlements, in terms of contamination of water resources and the abundance of disease vector mosquitoes. He is skilled in statistical analysis and the use of R programming language.

Jane Kennedy

Senior Consultant

MSc, MTeach (Sec)

Jane is a marine scientist with extensive experience in marine megafauna aerial surveys and as a vessel-based lead marine fauna observer.  She has worked on a myriad of aerial surveys in Western Australia, Victoria, and Northern Territory on behalf of the oil and gas industry, state governments and scientific research institutions.  Jane has managed marine fauna observer teams during offshore operations in Australia and New Zealand, supporting clients to fulfill their regulatory and reporting obligations.  She has a thorough understanding of HSE practices and an ability to mitigate risks in real time.  Jane is also a secondary science teacher with expertise in teaching biology and environmental science plus coordinating collaborative projects between students and universities, government departments, community groups and citizen science programs.

Stella Fulton

Senior Consultant

MSc

Stella is a marine scientist with experience in tropical and temperate reef ecosystem research, marine and coastal habitat restoration, commercial aquaculture, and environmental education. Stella’s Master of Philosophy thesis at James Cook University was focused on investigating the effect of removing macroalgae from degraded coral reef ecosystems and its potential to assist coral recovery. Stella has previously worked in marine science consulting, research, and commercial land-based aquaculture of microalgae, and has practical experience in invertebrate husbandry and marine-based field survey techniques. She is competent in using R for statistical analysis, ecological modelling, and data visualisation.

Mitch Burrows

Consultant

BSc (Hons)

Mitch is a marine scientist and certified Marine Fauna Observer in Australia, with experience in temperate seagrass habitat and marine mammal research, shorebird and coastal habitat conservation, and environmental education. Mitch’s Honours research generated a predictive model that can be used to inform the oyster aquaculture industry, resource managers, and researchers about the nature of impacts on seagrass habitat associated with oyster farming. Mitch has contributed to myriad marine research projects and has developed complimentary knowledge of marine mammals, fishes, seabirds and other surface pelagic fauna. He has experience in landscape management, vegetation quality assessment and ecological monitoring. Mitch is a Scientific Diver and Coxswain (Grade 1 Near Coastal)

Hazel Stapleton

Administrative Assistant

Hazel has extensive experience in administration and bookkeeping in a range of industries.  These include customer service, retail, wholesale and science businesses.

As well as having qualifications in bookkeeping she is also a qualified and experienced laboratory technician.  Her laboratory technician experience includes environmental, biological and chemical.  Hazel has worked in both TGA and NATA accredited laboratories in pharmaceutical and veterinary pathology sectors working in microbiology, biochemistry, haematology and histopathology.  Her science administrative experience extends to general admin, accounts, customer service, QAQC and accreditation maintenance.