A Charles Darwin University researcher has been recognised as one of the Territory’s top innovators in conservation research during the Northern Territory Research and Innovation and Young Tall Poppy Awards.
CDU’s Research Institute for the Environment and Livelihoods Professor Stephen Garnett won the overall Chief Minister’s Research and Innovation Award and also took out the Tropical Knowledge Research Award in Darwin at the weekend.
Professor Stephen Garnett arrived in the Northern Territory in 2004 as the first Professor of Tropical Knowledge at CDU. He became involved in a range of research related to the knowledge economy in tropical Australia, including how to increase Indigenous involvement in the economy, how to attract and retain knowledge workers in the tropics and how to pool knowledge resources to increase economic productivity.
“The Territory has some great innovative people, but we need more and we should try to keep those we have if the society is to thrive,” Professor Garnett said.
He is also recognised nationally and internationally for research on conservation management, particularly of threatened species.
Another RIEL researcher, Professor Michael Douglas, was a finalist in the Southern Cross Television Tropical Knowledge Research Award.
As the head of the Tropical Rivers and Coastal Knowledge Research Hub, Professor Douglas represented a group that has improved water resource policy, planning and management in the Territory and more broadly across northern Australia.
The Northern Territory Research and Innovation Awards are an annual event created to recognise and reward the Territory’s most innovative thinkers and problem-solvers.