Dr Russell Reichelt AO FTSE

International Scientific Advisory Committee

Russell was Chairman and Chief Executive of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority from 2007 until October 2018. During this period GBRMPA developed the GBR Outlook Report which publicised scientific reports of the threats of coral bleaching other risks of rising sea temperatures caused by greenhouse gas concentrations. He is now a board member of the Australian Climate Change Authority and in 2018 was appointed as the Australian Sherpa [Representing the Prime Minister] for the High-Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy and in 2019 as Chair of NSW Marine Estate Management Authority.

He began diving on the Great Barrier Reef in 1968 and worked as a research scientist at the Australian Institute of Marine Science in the 1980s studying the ecology of coral reefs, particularly the crown-of-thorns starfish. He has a PhD in marine science and has served as CEO of the Australian Institute of Marine Science, Chairman of the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation, and as a member of Australia’s State of the Environment Committee and on the board of the Australian Maritime Safety Authority. He has previously chaired Australia’s National Oceans Advisory Group and CSIRO's Wealth from Oceans Flagship Advisory Committee. He is an Adjunct Professor at Queensland University of Technology and the University of Queensland; and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, the Institute of Marine Engineering, Science and Technology (UK).