Boojarah Wardandi man of the Noongar nation, Prof. Stephen van Leeuwen is Australia’s first Indigenous Chair of Biodiversity and Environmental Science, based at Curtin University in Perth.
A highly respected and renowned botanical ecologist and research scientist, he has a diverse research pedigree extending from threatened flora survey, fire ecology and threatened flora and fauna management through to biological survey, arid zone ecology, plant taxonomy and pollination biology. Prof. van Leeuwen has a profound respect for Country and works to engage and build 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.