Gemma is a senior leader in the environment profession, currently working at MMG’s Dugald River Mine as Environment Superintendent. Gemma built her career within government, working to develop and implement public policy and regulations regarding environmental protection and land management. Since taking the leap into industry, Gemma has been genuinely encouraged by industry’s commitment to environmental sustainability and drive to do the right thing, not simply complying with the law. Gemma is also passionate about paying-it-forward to future environmental professionals and actively mentor’s environmental university students through gaining real work experience in the mining industry.

Russell has 30 years’ experience in environmental chemistry, specialising in water quality and treatment and environmental pollution. He also has over 20 years of experience in the geochemistry of acid rock drainage (ARD). Russell has specialised in water quality relating to the mining industry. He has led a variety of projects in Australia and oversees examining how water quality influences mineral processing, and several projects determining water management options at mining and mineral processing operations. For the over 20 years, Russell lead research focused on fundamental understanding of the geochemical processes involved in ARD. These research programs had an emphasis on application to site ARD management and the experience gained from these research programs continues to place EGi at the forefront of innovation in ARD management. He also has extensive experience in consulting at an operational level with mining projects around ARD assessment and management.

Michael Cramer is an environmental impact assessment and management specialist with 29 years’ professional experience working in the resource development and management sectors. His experience includes project managing environmental impact assessments and preparing management plans for major projects in the mining, renewables, oil and gas, waste, industrial and water sectors. This includes developments in both temperate and high-rainfall environments in Australia, Asia, Africa and Papua New Guinea. Michael has specialist expertise in directing site rehabilitation and closure investigations, preparing and costing mine closure plans, auditing financial assurance estimations, developing closure and residual risk cost estimation tools, and advising on post-closure management. He has been called as an Expert Witness in relation to mine closure issues.

Kia Dowell is a Gija woman from Warmun Community (Turkey Creek) in the East Kimberley of Western Australia. Her traditional Aboriginal name is Wadjbarreyal and her skin name is Nangala. She joined the Board of Gelganyem in 2017 and was appointed as Chairperson shortly after. Immediately recognizing the urgent need to enact a plan for change, grounded in the cultural values of Traditional Owners of the Barramundi Dreaming where Rio Tinto's Argyle Diamond Mine is located, she sought to empower her community. In 2018, negotiations led by Kia with Rio Tinto commenced with a focus on accountability, equity and transparency. In 2022, Gelganyem continues to advocate for structural change, empower Traditional Owners, push for greater accountability and consequences regarding the performance and delivery of the 8 Management Plans and ensure the Sustainability Fund will continue to benefit generations to come. With greater connections with First Nations communities around the world, Kia looks forward to the day when thousands of stories and experiences are shared, heard and acted upon. Kia is passionate about working to support the growth of profitable and sustainable organisations that serve a greater social purpose for Aboriginal communities. She leverages her experiences (personal and professional) as a past participant of the Global Ambassadors Program, a partnership between Vital Voices and Bank of America Merrill Lynch, a finalist in the 2016 AIMWA and The West Australian’s West Business Pinnacle Awards for Emerging Business Excellence, a 2015 Business News 40under40 Award Winner and her MBA in International Business from the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) to identify and implement transformational and sustainable initiatives that deliver shared value. She has spent time with school, community and corporate audiences in the US, Vanuatu, Turkey, Mexico and across Australia sharing her experiences of the power of business, cultural identity, resilience and the power of female leadership. Her most ambitious and important role is as mum to her two daughters, Lila and Naiyah.

Professor Stephen van Leeuwen is a botanical ecologist, research scientist, senior manager and respected Indigenous leader with strong links to Country in the Busselton and Margaret River areas of south-west Western Australia. Professor van Leeuwen builds collaborative relationships with Traditional Owners and other land managers to co-deliver novel and enduring outcomes for biodiversity conservation, bio-cultural land management, and the stewardship of Country. Professor van Leeuwen joined Curtin University in 2019 as the inaugural BHP Curtin Indigenous Chair of Biodiversity and Environmental Science, and in the short time since, he has succeeded in securing a range of projects and partnerships linking Curtin with Indigenous stakeholders, corporate mining partners and national coverage research collaborations. Professor van Leeuwen has a diverse research pedigree extending from threatened flora surveys, fire ecology and threatened flora and fauna management through to biological surveys, arid zone ecology, plant taxonomy and pollination biology. He has worked for over 39 years across Western Australia, principally in the rangelands (Pilbara and Western Desert) and the Kwongan sandplains of the biodiversity hotspot that is south-west Western Australia. Professor van Leeuwen is a member of key environmental boards and advisory panels, including as a Federal Ministerial appointee to the Federal Environmental Indigenous Advisory Committee, Threatened Species Scientific Committee, and the Great Victoria Desert Biodiversity Trust. He holds State Ministerial appointments to the Board of the Botanic Gardens and Park Authority, and Western Australian Threatened Ecological Communities Scientific Committee. Professor van Leeuwen is also Deputy Leader and Senior Indigenous Facilitator of the National Environmental Science Program (NESP) Resilient Landscapes Hub, is a member of the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network’s Surveillance Advisory Group, Chair of the Indigenous Working Group to the Ecological Society of Australia, an Advisory Board Member to The Nature Conservancy and a member of Bush Heritage Australia’s Science and Conservation Committee. Professor van Leeuwen is the Director of the Australian Research Council Training Centre for Healing Country.

Professor Fiona Haslam McKenzie is a Winthrop Professorial Research Fellow at the University of Western Australia (UWA). She has expertise in regional economic development and political geography with extensive global experience in population and socio-economic change, housing, and analysis of remote, regional and urban socio-economic indicators. Professor Haslam McKenzie has published widely and undertaken work for all three tiers of government, the corporate and small business sectors both nationally and in Western Australia. She was formerly the WA Director of the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute and subsequently lead of the CSIRO Minerals Down Under Regions in Transition Project. In 2012, she was appointed Principal Research Leader of the Regional Economies – Enduring Community Value from Mining program for the Remote Economic Participation Co-operative Research Centre until 2015, when she was appointed Director of the Centre for Regional Development at UWA. Professor Haslam McKenzie currently serves as a board member of the Western Australian Environmental Protection Authority and is Regional Economic Development program lead on the Co-operative Research Centre for Transformation in Mining Economies, assessing socio-economic preparedness of mining regions and designing re-purposed mining economies.

Jim Walker is an Aboriginal man of the Yiman and Goreng Goreng First Nations peoples of Australia. He is a lecturer within the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences within the Faculty of Science at the University of Queensland. He is also a member of the Science Advisory Committee of Earthwatch Australia and Bush Blitz, Chair of the Murri Mura Aboriginal Corporation and Board of Advice member of the Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Foundation. He has been involved in advocating for the rights of Indigenous Peoples in excess of 20 years both in Australia and internationally. He has worked within the Australian Government at executive and senior management level in Indigenous affairs and was former Manager, Office of Indigenous Engagement at CSIRO. He has been involved in development and implementation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander policies and programs in the fields of environment protection, housing and community infrastructure, science research, social justice, education, health, economic development, Indigenous rights advocacy, and Indigenous cultural protection. Jim is the Chair, of the CRC First Nations Advisory Team.

Christian is a Research Assistant working on the ARC Training Centre for Healing Country. He is a Whadjuk and Ballardong Nyoongar man, currently studying Philosophy, Political Science, and International Relations at the University of Western Australia. His research interests are focussed on what constitutes ethical best practice when working in conjunction with Indigenous Australians, specifically in the conservation and restoration science paradigm. Christian’s other interests pertain to the synthesising of Indigenous Ecological Knowledge with Western Science and the Philosophy of Science.

Associate Professor Côte has more than 20 years’ experience in environmental and water resources management for a range of sectors. She has held a number of roles in research and consulting engineering, before setting up the Centre for Water in the Minerals Industry with Prof Chris Moran. She has engaged extensively with mining operations in Australia, Africa, Chile and Canada to address water and sustainability issues, documenting and implementing leading practices. She has extensive industry experience as she worked for the Anglo American Metallurgical Coal Business unit from 2011 to 2018, where she provided technical expertise on environmental and water-related topics, including a range of water quality challenges, particularly in Canada. She designed and implemented the water strategy and supported a range of environmental compliance topics, such as the development of innovative software for tracking legal obligations. She also led novel approaches to improving mine closure planning and the management of final voids. In her role at the Sustainable Minerals Institute, she is seeking to promote environmental excellence through the mining cycle, based on capacity building and targeted research programs on water and environmental management, closure planning and beneficial post-mining land uses that minimise residual risks.