Episode 88: Dr Sharon Appleyard (CSIRO)

Craig's guest in this episode is Dr Sharon Appleyard who is a Senior Research Scientist at the CSIRO Marine Laboratories in Hobart and is the current Director of the Australian National Fish Collection (ANFC). Sharon’s research interests centre around applying molecular genetic techniques to address the scientific challenges of species identifications, with applications to ecology, population connectivity, and for biodiversity assessments for fish and other marine life.  Her research, over the past 25 years at CSIRO,  has been applied to wild fisheries stock assessments for a whole range of species including Patagonian toothfish, gulper sharks, ling, orange roughy, black cod, yellowfin and bigeye tuna, and in selective breeding programs for aquaculture species such as oysters and abalone.  You will hear Sharon talk engagingly about her career path and about some of her earlier research projects, including international collaborations, and also about her recent appointment  to the position of Director of the ANFC; its future directions and the associated challenges.