FERN HAMES

Director, ARI DELWP
Australian, Australia
Fern is the Director of the Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research (ARI) in Victoria, Australia. She leads a large team of researchers exploring ecology, environment and human behaviour change in the context of conservation. She has a research background in Antarctic algae and freshwater fish, and extensive experience in engagement, environmental education and citizen science, from Australia’s wild deserts and Wet Tropics to India. Fern has volunteered in Australia, Tanzania, Myanmar and Pakistan and was a founding member of the Jane Goodall Institute Australia. She was awarded a Victorian Public Service Medal for outstanding contributions to nature conservation, in 2021; received the Australian National Emergency Medal in 2010; is a Fellow of the Rachel Carson Centre, Munich and a Fellow of the Australian Rural Leadership Foundation. Fern is an HB1 alumna.