Christopher Wilcox Email & Phone Number

Over a 30-year career as a quantitative biologist, Dr. Chris Wilcox has worked with NGOs, government and private enterprise to develop cost effective solutions to natural resource management problems. His research has included biodiversity offsets, population estimation, analysis of satellite tracking data, optimization of invasive species eradication, management of fisheries, reserve design and management, understanding the impacts of marine pollution, and control of illegal fishing.In 2005, Chris joined Australian’s national research institution, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) as a senior research scientist. He served in a number of high level science and administrative leadership roles, including developing and managing large multi-institutional collaborations, overseeing internal funding and science direction, and serving as a central point of contact for large funders, such as the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Throughout his time at CSIRO Chris led large interdisciplinary teams, including social scientists, statisticians, engineers, programmers, spatial analysts, and biologists, delivering new technologies and analytic solutions for CSIRO clients in government and industry. He was a substantial contributor to the institution's grant earnings, averaging $750,000 in grants per year over the course of his 17 year tenure, among the highest across CSIRO's more than 6,000 staff.Dr. Wilcox’s won the national Eureka award for environmental science, been a finalist for the Gates Foundation’s Best Ideas in Innovative Finance, and won the Ocean Innovation Award for his fisheries surveillance technology work. He has published over 170 in the scientific literature, with more than 27,228 total citations and an H index of 63.In 2022 Dr. Wilcox joined the Minderoo Foundation as the Director of the Fisheries and Conservation Program, a portfolio of science and on-ground actions focused on ending overfishing globally and reaching the target of 30% of the worlds marine estate protected by 2030. During his tenure he grew the program from $4 to $15 million annually, tackling integrated conservation and fisheries management projects across the Indo-Pacific, building a program to estimate fish stock status, governance quality, and fishing capacity for all countries globally, and tacking IUU fishing through reforming countries oversight of their vessels.Dr. Wilcox left the Minderoo Foundation in 2024, and is currently consulting for a wide range of clients in the fisheries and marine conservation space.