Meet Our Team

Dr Melinda McHenry is a physical geographer, agroecologist, and Learning and Teaching strategist at the University of Tasmania. With more than 15 years of experience across the public and private sectors, she specialises in issues relating to natural resource management. Melinda contributes expertise to state and national policy in soil conservation, geoheritage, geoconservation, and higher education.

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She supervises a diverse cohort of postgraduate students, with recent projects spanning gorse management on Landcare properties in the northern Midlands, post-fire recovery of native and introduced herbivores in Tasmania, and the presence of pollutants in biosolids used as organic amendments on farms.

She is also initiating a national investigation into carbon-farming certification in partnership with landholders transitioning to sustainable agriculture.

Melinda considers her greatest achievement to be her role in empowering rural, regional, and non-traditional higher degree research students to secure meaningful employment and achieve their goals within their communities.

Mark is a Geoscientist and Lecturer in Physical Geography and Spatial Science. He serves as a co-leader of TAARN, a dedicated research group focused on Geoconservation in Tasmania and Australia.

Before joining the University of Tasmania in 2017, Mark was an IT professional working in government and industry sectors in Australia and abroad across a variety of roles. Professionally, Mark is actively engaged with the industry as a geoheritage specialist, practitioner, and consultant, concentrating on geoheritage protection, sustainable geotourism, and geoeducation.

As part of this professional engagement, he chairs a working group on Digital Technologies for Australia’s National Geotourism Strategy.

Young is a geoscientist and core member of Geotourism Australia (Australian Geoscience Council) with extensive experience in UNESCO Global Geopark development, having served as Principal Geoscientist for Danxiashan UNESCO Global Geopark and scientific adviser to several UNESCO global geoparks in China.

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He holds degrees from the University of Hong Kong, Imperial College London, and a PhD from the University of Sydney. Awarded the Hong Kong SAR Medal of Honour (2012) for establishing the Hong Kong UNESCO Global Geopark, he has served over a decade as an IUGS evaluation expert for World Heritage and Geopark nominations.

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His research focuses on geotourism, geoheritage conservation, and sustainable geopark development in economically disadvantaged regions. He has authored over 15 books, including Principles of Geotourism and Dictionary of Geotourism, and contributes as reviewer and editorial board member for journals including Geoheritage, Geoscience Letters, International Journal of Geoheritage & Parks as well as Geoconservation Research Journal.

Raíza is a Brazilian Geographer and PhD candidate in Geography at the Federal University of Santa Catarina (Brazil), and a Research Fellow in Geography, Planning and Spatial Sciences at the University of Tasmania. She also works as a GIS Analyst in Hobart and is a member of the TARN research team.

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Her research focuses on geoconservation in protected areas and Indigenous lands, integrating geoscience with myths and oral histories to strengthen the recognition of geocultural values. Recently, her work received an award at the Association of Geomorphologists Conference in New Zealand. 

Raíza also contributes to international initiatives, including the UNESCO IGCP Project “3GEO: Geoclimbing and Geotrecking in Geoparks” and the Brazilian research group BIOGEO – Structure, Dynamics and Conservation of Biodiversity and Geodiversity.

Ruby is a physical and human geographer. She is a PhD candidate at the University of Tasmania, researching the intersection of geoheritage and planning. Ruby's research also looks at the interactions of fire with geodiversity and geoheritage, and developing tools to assist in their management. She is the current chair of a geoheritage working group under Australia's National Geotourism Strategy.  

William is an Honours candidate in Geography and Environmental Science at the University of Tasmania. His research focuses on the intersection of geodiversity, Indigenous cultural heritage and protected area governance in Australia.

 He has a background in heritage consulting and spatial analysis and is passionate about integrating Indigenous and Western knowledge systems to support more inclusive and equitable conservation practices.

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