Associate Professor Andrew Knight was raised on the northern fringe of Sydney near the Muogamarra Nature Reserve on the Country of the Kuring-gai Traditional Owners. He has worked since 1995 on nature conservation planning and research in government agencies in New South Wales and Western Australia, and universities in Australia, South Africa and the United Kingdom.
Andrew has co-lead the design and implementation of transdisciplinary Honours, Masters and Doctoral training programs in conservation science since 2011, focused on integrating different types of knowledge systems, primarily that of Indigenous communities and western science in southern Africa.
Originally trained as a soil scientist, Andrew’s work is now focussed upon understanding and enabling how people make effective decisions for managing landscapes. Projects have included understanding drivers of people’s connectedness-with-Nature, designing strategies for mitigating conflict between people and wildlife, how people can best learn from failed conservation initiatives, and the stewardship of Nature on private lands.
Andrew was appointed to the School of Molecular and Life Sciences at Curtin University in August 2021. He is the Editor-in-Chief of the journal Ecological Management & Restoration. He respectfully acknowledges the Whadjuk People of the Noongar Nation on whose Country he lives and works. When not working to heal Country, he can be found paddling Derbarl Yerrigan (the Swan River).
Photo Credit: Gabby Salazar