Dr. Denise Hardesty, CSIRO

Dr Denise Hardesty from CSIRO is a globally recognised scientist focusing on plastic pollution.  A broadly trained ecologist, her current work focuses on plastic pollution and marine monitoring and surveillance to reduce illegal fishing. Denise’s team takes a risk-based approach to addressing plastic impacts on wildlife, people, and economies. Her work also focuses on drivers for litter losses into the environment, how to identify and implement effective policies to reduce plastic entering the environment, and gear loss from fisheries. She promotes the role of science in underpinning policy and decision-making, and regularly provides science advise to governments and international panels.  She believes strongly in the contribution of communities, having worked with more than 8,000 citizen scientists across 20+ countries to help tackle global challenges.