Current activities

Karen leads the Pelagic Predator Ecology and Dynamics Team in the Marine Resources and Industries Research Program at CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere. She is involved in research focused on improving scientific understanding and developing options to improve marine resource management, particularly in relation to international fisheries and top predators. She currently leads projects investigating the stock structure of key tuna and billfish species across the western Pacific and is coordinating activities associated with the UN led second World Ocean Assessment. She is co-chair of the Integrated Marine Biosphere Research project’s regional programme ‘Climate Impacts on Top Predators’ (CLIOTOP), a member of the Group of Experts for the United Nations Regular Process for the Global Reporting and Assessment of the State of the Marine Environment, Including Socio-Economic Issues, a member of the International Biologging Science Society Executive Committee and is an associate editor for the journal Proceeding of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.

Background

Karen's background has largely been focused on the movement, behaviour, foraging ecology and physiology of top order pelagic predators, including teleosts, cetaceans and seabirds, particularly in relation to anthropogenic impacts. She has lead and coordinated a number of projects providing inputs into international fisheries management throughout the Pacific and Southern Oceans, collaborating with country and regional programs in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Her understanding of regional marine science has seen her lead and contribute to UN regular processes, including the first Global Integrated Marine Assessment of the Regular Process by the UN, the Coral Triangle Initiative and  she has led large scale marine biodiversity assessments at the national scale for the Australian Government State of the Environment report.

Academic qualifications

Dr Evans attained her Bachelor of Science degree at James Cook University, Queensland and her honours and PhD at the University of Tasmania, Tasmania. She also holds a graduate diploma in Antarctic science from the University of Tasmania, Tasmania.

Membership of key national committees

Karen is a scientific member on the Commonwealth Fisheries Marine Mammal Working Group and a member of the IMOS Task Team - State and Trends of Australia's oceans Report