Caitlin Potts

Caitlin is a PhD candidate at University of Newcastle in the CCS. After completing her Bachelor of Environmental Science (Honours) in 2015 from Deakin University, Caitlin worked in ecological consulting for 5 years, predominantly focussed on monitoring and managing windfarm impacts on birds and bats. In 2021, Caitlin took up the field ecologist role for Australian Wildlife Conservancy at the Pilliga Sanctuary in NSW and was involved in the reintroduction and monitoring for numerous locally extinct mammals. During her time working in industry, Caitlin gained extensive insight into the importance that monitoring has in wildlife conservation and has watched with interest how technological advancements have contributed to improvements in this space. Her research investigates how passive acoustic monitoring can be used to improve monitoring of fauna in remote areas, including arid and island biomes in Australia. By working in Partnership with Parks Australia and Traditional owners, this research will help enhance monitoring at a number of nationally significant national parks. Caitlin hopes that her research provides a valuable bridge between research and on-ground conservation efforts, by developing effective monitoring and workflows that can be sustainably conducted long-term in remote regions of Australia.