(Penn State University, USA)

Peter Hudson FRS, IntFRSE, ARPS, FRGS, FBES, DSC, DPhil, BSc

Willaman Professor of Biology at Penn State University

Science Advisor/Co-founder to Random Good Foundation

Professor at Nelson Mandela African Institute of Science

Science Director at Paws Trails

In Science, he is a population ecologist and disease biologist who studies the ecology and evolution of infectious disease in free-living animal populations. His experiments have revealed the parasite-induced processes that drive population cycles (red grouse), the only successful experimental test of the theory of host-natural enemy cycles. He also developed the theory on the dilution effect and tested it experimentally in the field. He demonstrated the biased role of males in transmission (free living mice) and that parasite mediated competition can lead to localized extinction (pheasant and partridge). He examined how parasites interact with host behavior, physiology, climate, and community level effects including predation and competition. More recently, he has been examining the processes of disease invasion and the processes of spillover. This has included detailed studies on the spillover of Hendra virus from bats to horses and shown that spillover is predictable and that habitat restoration should reduce future pandemics. With colleagues he found that SARS-CoV-2 was circulating in white tailed deer and is seeking to find if it could persist in wildlife. He showed how infections invade released wolf populations and how canine distemper selects for black wolves. He is currently working on how to make food webs dynamical and to understand the ecology of Yellowstone and the Serengeti.

In Education, he has been training African women in global health and in 2018 was awarded The Humanitarian of the Year from the Kish Bank in recognition of his efforts in Tanzania. Through Random Good he built an educational field camp in Kenya and they donated the business to the local Maasai that funds the local Maasai girls to go to school and to receive a free lunch. He takes Penn State students there to experience and study the ecology Maasai Mara.

In Science Administration, he directed The Huck institutes of the Life Sciences for 13 years, erected new buildings (MSC), facilities and appointed many faculty. He helped transform the science strategy at Penn State, which was recognized with an Honorary Alumni Award from Penn State in 2018. In Outreach, he is co- founder of the Random Good Foundation and is currently involved in weaving film storylines that portray science with impact to show how ecology is shaped by individual decisions.

In Creativity, he has built and runs a small furniture workshop called Spring Valley Woods that uses trees that have been condemned to give them a new life in our homes.

In Photography, he is a keen wildlife photographer and been recognized and elected an Associate of The Royal Photographic Society. His wildlife photographs have won several competition awards including Natures Best Photography (2025) Capturing Ecology and Royal Society Photography. He produces a biomonthly free online photographic conservation magazine called PT Aware.

At heart, Peter is a naturalist, conservationist, and biological photographer. He has his fulfilled his childhood dream of studying fascinating animals across the globe and manages his own 100-acre nature reserve in central Pennsylvania,

In recognition, Peter was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (2008), an International Fellow of the Royal Society of Scotland (2010), a fellow of AAAS (2012), a Fellow of the Royal Geographic Society (2024) and a Fellow of the British Ecological Society (2025). He received an honorary doctorate from The University of London (2014) and was awarded The Carlton Herman Award (2005) and the Laurent Perrier Award (1985).

Dr Alison Peel (University of Sydney)

Dr Alison Peel is a veterinarian and wildlife disease ecologist in the Sydney School of Veterinary Science. She holds a Sydney Horizon Fellowship and her research investigates associations between bat ecology, bat virome dynamics and the human health risk of emerging bat viruses.

Dr Rodrigo Hamede (University of Tasmania)

Dr Rodrigo Hamede is a Senior Lecturer in Wildlife Ecology and a One Health researcher internationally recognised for his contributions to disease ecology, epidemiology, and host–pathogen evolution. His research integrates field ecology, evolutionary biology, genomics, mathematical modelling, and veterinary science to understand how wildlife populations respond and adapt to emerging infectious diseases, with a strong emphasis on translating research into conservation policy and real-world management outcomes.

(Griffith University, Australia)

Hamish McCallum is an Emeritus Professor at Griffith University. He has been fascinated by the ecology of infectious diseases since completing his PhD with Prof Roy Anderson at Imperial College in 1982. Before retiring at the end of 2024, he was Director of the Centre for Planetary Health and Food Security at Griffith University. Previously, he was Head of the School of Environment at Griffith from 2009-2015 and Senior Scientist of the Save the Tasmanian Devil program at the University of Tasmania from 2006-2009. His interest in disease ecology encompasses disease and conservation biology (especially Tasmanian devil facial tumour disease and amphibian chytrid fungus) and zoonoses (especially Hendra virus in flying foxes). In addition to over 200 research papers, he has published two books, most recently “Infectious Disease and Conservation Biology” Oxford University Press 2022, with Johannes Foufopoulos and Gary Wobeser. He was a member of a team awarded the Eureka prize for Environmental Research in 2011 for work on Tasmanian Devil Facial Tumour and was awarded the Griffith Vice Chancellor’s award for research leadership in 2019.

(Cornell University, USA)

Amandine is a disease ecologist whose research sits at the interface of ecology, evolution, and epidemiology. Her work focuses on understanding how environmental change, host ecology, and species interactions shape infectious disease dynamics, with a particular emphasis on zoonotic pathogens and cross-species transmission.

Amandine integrates field ecology, long-term datasets, genomic tools, and advanced modelling approaches to uncover the mechanisms driving pathogen spread and persistence in wildlife populations. Her research has a strong focus on seabird health, using these systems to address key questions around host competence, pathogen sharing, and the ecological drivers of spillover risk across marine and coastal environments. By combining empirical data with innovative analytical frameworks, she aims to generate actionable insights for biodiversity conservation and public health.

After a varied career in industry and government as an environmental scientist, Dr Alex Callen returned to academia with a desire to improve species recovery in human‑modified landscapes, and her research as a restoration ecologist focuses on how designing and restoring habitats can help biodiversity persist in the face of multiple environmental stressors.

Dr Brett Gardner (University of Sydney)

Brett is a clinical veterinarian for Zoos Victoria and independent researcher in the One Health Research Group at the University of Melbourne. He is originally from South Africa where he graduated as a veterinarian from the University of Pretoria in 2006. He has worked in Zoo & Wildlife medicine since 2008 mostly in Africa until moving to Australia in 2017. He recently obtained a PhD from the University of Melbourne in 2024 investigating the epidemiology of infectious causes of abortion in Australian fur seals. His primary interests are field anaesthesia and infectious disease ecology in marine mammals. Brett is currently involved with the Two Oceans Aquarium, the CEVA Wildlife Health Research Fund and other partners, looking at vaccination as a tool to control the rabies outbreak in Cape fur seals and prevent the spillover of this virus into the subantarctic. He is extremely passionate about facilitating skills development in southern Africa.

Dr Eloise Skinner (University of Sydney)