Researcher

Keywords

Fields of Research (FoR)

Freshwater ecology, Wildlife and habitat management, Landscape ecology, Forensic biology, Surface water hydrology

Biography

Roxane Francis is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Centre for Ecosystem Science at the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. Her research spans field‑based ecology, analytical chemistry, drone technology, and advanced remote sensing, with a strong focus on understanding and monitoring freshwater and...view more

Roxane Francis is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Centre for Ecosystem Science at the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. Her research spans field‑based ecology, analytical chemistry, drone technology, and advanced remote sensing, with a strong focus on understanding and monitoring freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems.

A major component of her work involves the analysis of satellite imagery and other remotely sensed data to map ecosystem extent, function, and change across large spatial scales. She has extensive experience using Landsat and other Earth observation time series within cloud‑based platforms such as Google Earth Engine and the Digital Earth Australia Sandbox, developing scalable and reproducible workflows for ecosystem mapping, surface water estimation, and automated classification aligned with the Global Ecosystem Typology.

Her broader research includes waterbird monitoring and management in Australia and Botswana; the use of portable X‑ray fluorescence (pXRF), stable isotope analysis (SIA), and ICP‑MS to investigate diet, provenance, and toxic exposure; and the application of drones and machine learning to collect and analyse ecological data. Roxane is highly proficient in R, Python, and JavaScript, integrates field and remote sensing data seamlessly, and combines strong computational skills with extensive experience working in remote field environments.


My Grants

Centre for Ecosystem Science Postgraduate Grant               2019                                         

Taronga Conservation Society Field Conservation Grants      2017   

IDEA WILD Field Equipment Grant                                       2014                            


My Qualifications

Doctor of Philosophy 2021

Honours in Ecology 2015

Bachelor of Science with Distinction 2013

Bachelor of Arts 2013


My Awards

Winner of the BEES UNSW Science Postgraduate Research Showcase                           2020


My Research Activities

WildENFORCE - developing a real-time forensic tool to determine animal provenance. Joint project with Taronga Conservation Society, ANSTO, UTS

Waterbird colony monitoring with drones

Development of automated counting systems for drone imagery

Mapping of vegetation coverage - Wild Deserts

Conservation prioritisation

Eastern Australian Waterbird Survey

Diet and toxin work using ICPMS, pXRF and SIA

Analysis of citizen science data - waterbirds

Surface water mapping for waterbird management

Fieldwork - reptile trapping, waterbird monitoring.


My Teaching

BIOS 1101 - Ecology, Sustainability and Environmental Science

BIOS 1301 - Evolutionary and Functional Biology

SCIF 1131 - Skills for Science

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