Dr Susan Bengtson-Nash - Development Lead AnMap

Affiliation with Antarctic Science Foundation

Ambassador for ASF on Antarctica Flights Season 2021/22

More About Susan

Susan is the Development Lead for the Antarctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AnMAP) and lead of the Chemical Pollution theme within Griffith University's Centre for Planetary Health and Food Security. Her scientific research goals focus on investigating the pathways of synthetic chemicals to Antarctica, their environmental behaviour and fate in a warming climate, and ultimately their impact upon biota in rapidly changing Antarctic ecosystems.

The Humpback Whale Sentinel Program (HWSP) is the major surveillance activity of AnMAP. It is a long-term biomonitoring program for the circum-Polar surveillance of Antarctic sea-ice ecosystems. It is designed to complement existing sentinel programs under the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCMLR) Ecosystem Monitoring Program and produce open-source data for Antarctic and cetacean research communities. It is supported by the Southern Ocean Research Partnership (SORP), endorsed by the Southern Ocean Observing System (SOOS), and is the culmination of 14 years of in-house biomarker and ecological tracer development within Susan’s lab. Susan serves as Chief Officer of the Scientific Committee for Antarctic Research (SCAR) Action Group Input Pathways of persistent organic pollutants to AntarCTica (ImPACT) and on the International Whaling Commission (IWC) Committee for Environmental Concerns.

Susan is a strong proponent of circum-Antarctic research and monitoring, open-source science and effective science communication for evidence-based decision-making.

Publications

Please click here for a complete list of Susan’s publications.