Susan Bengtson Nash
Professor @ Griffith University; Development Lead of the Antarctic Monitoring and Assessment Program (AnMAP); Coordinator of the Humpback Whale Sentinel Program; Head of the Southern Ocean POP Lab
Brisbane Australia
Susan Bengtson Nash is a Professor of Environmental Toxicology at Griffith University and is the Development Lead of the Antarctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AnMAP). AnMAP seeks to ensure sufficient and reliable chemical data from the Antarctic region in support of global chemical policy. AnMAP is a joint initiative under the Scientific Committee for Antarctic Research (SCAR), in partnership with the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP), the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), and hosted by Griffith University Australia. Susan prioritizes policy-relevant research, such as elucidating which man-made chemicals make their way to the remote Antarctic region and therefore possess the chemical risk criteria of persistence and environmental mobility. She has designed and implemented several long term surveillance programs in support of environmental management. These include the Humpback Whale Sentinel Programme (HWSP), a long-term biomonitoring program for circum-polar surveillance of climate and chemical impacts to the Antarctic sea-ice ecosystem. Susan is passionate about Planetary Health, nature protection, and Earth wisdom. Originally from Denmark, Susan has been privileged to work alongside both Scandinavian and Australian traditional owners and is passionate about capacity building among traditional owners, land and sea managers. In her spare time, Susan appreciates being with family, riding and camping with her horse, writing, and painting.
