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Hire Dr. Gavin B.

Austria

USD 50 /hr

PhD Ecologist | Ecological Modelling, GIS, Scientific Writing & Visualisation | R Expert

Profile Summary

I am a PhD ecologist and environmental scientist with more than ten years of experience in ecological research, quantitative analysis, spatial modelling, GIS, scientific writing, and scientific visualisation. My work spans academic research, government science, and applied conservation, with particular expertise in wildlife ecology, biodiversity conservation, species occurrence and distribution, human–wildlife coexistence, and social-ecological systems. I have extensive experience analysing complex environmental datasets in R, including occupancy modelling, species distribution and habitat modelling, Bayesian and spatial analyses, time-series analysis, and statistical modelling of wildlife responses to environmental conditions. I also work with Python for data analysis and research workflows, and have extensive experience in spatial analysis and mapping using R, QGIS, and ArcGIS. My PhD in Ecology and Conservation Biology investigated the spatial ecology and conservation of Arabian wolves across socio-politically complex and contested landscapes in the Southern Levant. Alongside ecological research, this work involved cross-border conservation, collaboration across cultural and political divides, and engagement with researchers, conservation organisations, protected-area staff, and local communities. My current research interests increasingly connect biodiversity conservation with social-ecological systems, environmental governance, human–wildlife coexistence, and environmental peacebuilding. I subsequently worked as a scientist for the New South Wales Government in Australia, analysing large-scale, long-term biodiversity monitoring datasets from the Murray–Darling Basin. My work included modelling threatened wetland fauna responses to hydrology and environmental water management, integrating passive acoustic, environmental, and spatial datasets, and translating quantitative results into information for conservation planning and management. I am an experienced scientific writer, editor, and reviewer, with research published in international peer-reviewed journals including Biological Conservation, Animal Behaviour, Ecography, Oikos, and Global Ecology and Conservation. I have experience preparing and editing manuscripts, technical reports, literature reviews, research and grant proposals, and science communication materials, and regularly work with researchers from both English- and non-English-speaking backgrounds. I also specialise in scientific visualisation and figure design, using R, GIS, and Adobe Illustrator to develop publication- and proposal-quality figures, maps, conceptual diagrams, graphical abstracts, and data visualisations. I particularly enjoy translating complex scientific ideas, analytical workflows, and results into visuals that are both scientifically accurate and easy to understand. I can assist with ecological and environmental data analysis; statistical modelling in R; GIS and spatial analysis; scientific visualisation; scientific writing and editing; literature reviews and evidence synthesis; research and grant proposals; and interdisciplinary projects spanning conservation, governance, conflict, and social-ecological systems.

Subject Matter Expertise

• ☆ Zoology
• ☆ Data Analysis
• ☆ Statistics
• ☆ Environmental Science
• ☆ Environmental Policy
• ☆ Ecology
• ☆ Conservation Biology
• ☆ Environmentalism
• ☆ Environmental Ethics
• ☆ Peace & Conflict Studies
• ☆ R
• ☆ Peer Review
• ☆ Technical & Scientific Writing
• ☆ Journal Selection
• ☆ Manuscript & Journal Article Writing
• ☆ Science Communication
• ☆ Literature Review
• ☆ Traditional/Narrative Literature Review
• ☆ Systematic Literature Review

Services

• Writing
• Research
• Consulting
• Data & AI

Writing Technical Writing, Copywriting, Creative Writing

Research Meta-Research, Feasibility Study, Gap Analysis, Gray Literature Search, Scientific and Technical Research, Systematic Literature Review, Secondary Data Collection

Consulting Operations Consulting, Scientific and Technical Consulting

Data & AI Predictive Modeling, Statistical Analysis, Image Analysis, Algorithm Design-ML, Data Visualization, Big Data Analytics, Data Mining, Data Cleaning, Data Processing, Data Insights

Work Experience

Project Scientist (Consultant)

NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water

February 2025 - July 2026

Government Scientist – Wetland Fauna

New South Wales Department of Planning and Environment

November 2022 - June 2024

Tutor and Lecturer (casual academic)

University of Technology Sydney

March 2021 - June 2023

Ecological Consultant – Fauna Ecologist

Travers bushfire and ecology

April 2022 - October 2022

Research Assistant

University of New South Wales

December 2021 - April 2022

Education

PhD (School of Life Sciences)

University of Technology Sydney

August 2016 - November 2022

BSc (Hons) in Environmental Biology (Faculty of Science)

University of Technology Sydney

March 2009 - October 2012

Certifications

• International Civilian Peacebuilding Training Programme (IPT): Course in Environmental Peacebuilding

  Austrian Centre for Peace

  April 2026 - Present

Publications

JOURNAL ARTICLE

Liv Baker, William T. Borrie, Adam P.A. Cardilini, William S. Lynn, Shelley M. Alexander, Dror Ben-Ami, Gavin T. Bonsen, Simon Coghlan, Barbara J. King, Christine M. Reed, et al. (2026). Thinking through compassionate conservation: A staged case study of black-footed ferret recovery . Biological Conservation.

Loic Q. Juillard, Eamonn I.F. Wooster, Kyle J.A. Zawada, Gavin T. Bonsen, Daniel Ramp (2025). Extreme temperatures can intensify predator–prey interactions . Animal Behaviour.

William S. Lynn, Liv Baker, William T. Borrie, Adam P.A. Cardilini, Shelley M. Alexander, Simon Coghlan, Paul Cryer, Gavin T. Bonsen, Tristan T. Derham, Oded Keynan, et al. (2025). Compassionate conservation in practice: A values-driven, interdisciplinary, pluralistic, and deliberative community . Biological Conservation.

Gavin T. Bonsen, Arian D. Wallach, Dror Ben-Ami, Oded Keynan, Anton Khalilieh, Yara Dahdal, Daniel Ramp (2024). Navigating complex geopolitical landscapes: Challenges in conserving the endangered Arabian wolf . Biological Conservation.

Eamonn I. F. Wooster, Daniel Ramp, Erick J. Lundgren, Gavin T. Bonsen, Angelica Geisler‐Edge, Dror Ben‐Ami, Alexandra J. R. Carthey, Scott Carroll, Oded Keynan, Yael Olek, et al. (2024). Prey responses to foxes are not determined by nativeness . Ecography.

Eamonn I. F. Wooster, Daniel Ramp, Erick J. Lundgren, Adam J. O'Neill, Esty Yanco, Gavin T. Bonsen, Arian D. Wallach (2022). Predator protection dampens the landscape of fear . Oikos.

Gavin T. Bonsen, Arian D. Wallach, Dror Ben-Ami, Oded Keynan, Anton Khalilieh, Uri Shanas, Eamonn I.F. Wooster, Daniel Ramp (2022). Tolerance of wolves shapes desert canid communities in the Middle East . Global Ecology and Conservation.

Gavin Bonsen (2021). Towards improving conservation strategies for the endangered Arabian wolf, Canis lupus arabs. Jordan Journal of Natural History.

Gavin Bonsen, Brad Law, Daniel Ramp (2015). Foraging Strategies Determine the Effect of Traffic Noise on Bats . Acta Chiropterologica.