Alexandra Knight

Dr Alexandra Knight

Ecologist and Environmental Sociologist

Agricultural, Environmental and Veterinary Sciences

Biography

Dr Alexandra Knight is an ecologist, social researcher and educator. She is one of 100 women globally accepted into Homeward Bound 8, a collaborative leadership program for women in STEM. Alex’s research focuses on the space between research and practice, addressing complex problems and working with communities to find solutions. Alex’s PhD research (completed in 2015) focussed on a small, little-known amphibian, Sloane’s Froglet, and resulted in widespread community interest and support in protecting the species. Alex works closely with Landcare groups, other community groups and schools ensuring research is built collaboratively and that results are spread widely. Alex lectures in natural resource management, open space planning and wildlife management and ecology.

Prior to working in academia, Alex has a successful professional career in national park management and biodiversity enhancement on private land. She led the biodiversity program of the then Murray Catchment Management Authority, building a diverse range of projects with farmers and local communities to protect and enhance frogs, ground-nesting birds, native vegetation and mammals. Conservation on private land expanded on her foundation as a Ranger for the Queensland and New South Wales national park services, a job which she loved. Fire-fighting, undertaking comprehensive flora and fauna surveys, weed and pest species control, community relations and park planning were all part of her daily activities.

Research
  • Wildlife management including Australian amphibians and microbats
  • Developing community understanding and action for biodiversity
  • Estuarine and tidal wetland management
  • Interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches to environmental management
  • Knowledge exchange and the mobilisation and utilisation of new knowledge
Publications
Full publications list on CRO

Recent publications

  • Dorph, A., Ballard, G., Legge, S., Algar, D., Basnett, G., Buckmaster, T., Dunlop, J., Edwards, A. M., Hine, A., Knight, A. R., Marshall, E., McColl-Gausden, S. C., Pauza, M. D., & Penman, T. D. (2024). Current and emerging feral cat management practices in Australia. Wildlife Research, 51(6), Article WR23107. https://doi.org/10.1071/WR23107
  • Knight, A. R., Watts, R. J., Allan, C., McDonald, S., & Lappin, N. (2024). Habitat features important for the conservation of the endangered Sloane’s Froglet (Crinia sloanei) in peri-urban environments. Wildlife Research, 51(7), Article WR23032. https://doi.org/10.1071/WR23032
  • Cochrane, T., Strevens, C., Jeffries, P., McManus, S., Baumgartner, L. J., & Knight, A. (2024). Reconciliation in Science: Analysing Australian environmental case studies that combined Indigenous and Western science and methodologies.. Paper presented at University of Oxford: BCM Research Symposium, Oxford, United Kingdom.
  • Cochrane, T., Jeffries, P., McManus, S., Baumgartner, L. J., Knight, A., & Strevens, C. (2024). Using Indigenous methodologies to conserve my personal totem the koala. Paper presented at Health and Environmental Science Research Campus Connections 2024, Port Macquarie, New South Wales, Australia.
  • Knight, A., & Leck, J. (2023). Evaluation of habitat recovery for Hollow Dependent Fauna – regional scale solutions for long-term resilience: Report for North Coast Regional Landcare Network, Gulbali Institute report number 2. (Gulbali Report; Vol. 2). Gulbali Institute.