Katherine Wilson is a molecular biologist and a

marine scientist Oceanography (), also known as oceanology and ocean science, is the scientific study of the oceans. It is an Earth science, which covers a wide range of topics, including ecosystem dynamics; ocean currents, Wind wave, waves, and geophysical flu ...

. She is also the executive director of the science division at the Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH), New South Wales. Wilson is responsible for the delivery of OEH's science program, which provides technical analysis, expert advice and research to support the NSW government's policy and program objectives in environmental management. As a member of the OEH Executive, Wilson guides delivery of services ranging from energy efficiency programs to management of national parks. Wilson is also a Board Member of the Low Carbon Living Cooperative Research Centre and Chair of the External Advisory Committee, Australian Rivers and Wetlands Centre, University of New South Wales.

Career

Wilson's research interests began in molecular biology and application to

aquaculture Aquaculture (less commonly spelled aquiculture), also known as aquafarming, is the controlled cultivation ("farming") of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, algae and other organisms of value such as aquatic plants (e.g. lot ...

and agricultural problems in

rhizobia Rhizobia are diazotrophic bacteria that fix nitrogen after becoming established inside the root nodules of legumes (Fabaceae). To express genes for nitrogen fixation, rhizobia require a plant host; they cannot independently fix nitrogen. In gene ...

l ecology. Prior to joining the Office of Environment and Heritage, Wilson was Director of the Wealth from Oceans Flagship at the

CSIRO The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) is an Australian Government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentar ...

. In this position Wilson was leading and managing Australia's largest marine research portfolio, driving research from coastal to deep-sea ecosystems and from marine ecology to offshore industries. She was co-founder of the Centre for the Application of Molecular Biology to International Agriculture (Canberra), and research leader in tropical aquaculture at the Australian Institute of Marine Science, Townsville. Wilson has held previous board positions for the Marine and Coastal Committee (a

COAG The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) was the primary intergovernmental forum in Australia from 1992 to 2020. Comprising the federal government, the governments of the six states and two mainland territories and the Australian Local Go ...

subcommittee); Western Australian Marine Science Institution; CRC Torres Strait; the Centre for the Application of Molecular Biology to International Agriculture and was an editorial board member for the Marine Biotechnology journal, published by Springer-Verlag. Wilson was previously Chair of the Research and Development Working Group for the Marine and Coastal Committee and the governing council of the Australian-New Zealand Consortium for the International Ocean Drilling Program. Wilson has held an Adjunct Senior Lecturer position at the School of Life Science, University of Queensland, the School of Biomedical and Molecular Science,

James Cook University James Cook University (JCU) is a public university in North Queensland, Australia. The second oldest university in Queensland, JCU is a teaching and research institution. The university's main campuses are located in the tropical cities of Cairn ...

and the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Australian National University. Wilson studied gus-a-bearing plasmids in plants.

Education

Wilson completed her doctorate in Molecular Genetics at Harvard University and holds a Bachelor of Arts with First Class Honours from Cambridge University. Wilson was born in a small village in the United Kingdom called Shipton (or

Shipton-by-Beningbrough Shipton (also known as Shipton-by-Beningbrough) is a village and civil parish in the Hambleton district of North Yorkshire, England, about north-west of York. History The village was in existence at the time of the Norman invasion ...

) just outside York.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Kate Australian zoologists Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Harvard University alumni Alumni of the University of Cambridge British emigrants to Australia Women biologists Australian expatriates in England