Meet SMM President, Simon Goldsworthy
I have been a member of the SMM for over 30 years. After completing my BSc (1987) and PhD (1993) at Monash University (Melbourne, Australia), I undertook a Post-doctoral Research Fellowship with the Smithsonian Institution (Washington DC). Since then, I have principally worked as a government scientist in multiple agencies, but also as an academic (La Trobe University, Melbourne), and am currently an Affiliate Professor with The University of Adelaide and Flinders University (South Australia). For almost two-decades I have worked as a Principal Scientist with the South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI) in Adelaide (South Australia), where my research has focused on mitigating marine mammal interactions with fisheries and aquaculture, and the population and foraging ecology of recovering long-nosed fur seals, and the endangered Australian sea lion.
Within the SMM I have acted on the Board of Editors for Marine Mammal Science (2007- 2014), and on the SMM Board as a Member at Large (2010-2014), and most recently as President-elect (2020-2022). As President I wish to enhance the Society’s visibility, impact and the opportunities for members and students to communicate and promote their research. The world’s ecological and climate systems are facing unprecedented threats from human impacts, and the rapidity of change is placing extreme pressure on many marine mammal species and their ecosystems. I believe that at no time has the Society’s mission to promote the global advancement of marine mammal science and increase its relevance and impact in education, conservation and management been so important.
It is with deep sadness that we share the news that Dr. Jeanette A. Thomas passed away on 16 July 2018. Dr. Thomas was the 7th President of our Society (1994-1996) and had a long and distinguished career of leadership in the marine mammal world. She was Editor of Aquatic Mammals, served as a scientific […]
The Board of Governors and Board of Associate Editors have selected Randy Reeves as the winner of the Kenneth S. Norris Lifetime Achievement Award. This award was established in honor of the Society’s founding president as an acknowledgement of exemplary lifetime contributions to science and society through research, teaching, and service in marine mammal science. […]
Your president, Jay Barlow, is currently representing the SMM at the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP-CBD) in Cancun, Mexico. The Society was invited to participate by Mexico’s environmental minister, Rafael Pachiano Alaman, who was one of the recipients of the SMM Conservation Merit Award at the last biennial. The […]
Jay Barlow, Society for Marine Mammalogy President, has been invited to attend the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP 13). The purpose of this meeting is to set the scene and provide the necessary impetus to make progress on specific issues in conservation and to discuss challenges and opportunities. During COP 13, […]
I am delighted to announce that the winner the 2015 Norris Award is James Mead. Jim is a truly worthy recipient of an award which was established in the name of the society’s founding president to acknowledge his exemplary lifetime contribution to science and society through research, teaching, and service in marine mammalogy. Jim is […]