David Francis is an environmental scientist with over 26 years’ experience in the fields of botany, fauna studies, ecological restoration, road ecology, nature conservation mapping systems, impact assessment, environmental offsets and environmental planning. This has included studies throughout Queensland, NSW, Victoria and Papua New Guinea for a wide client base including all levels of government, the development sector, extractive resource industry and non-government organisations. He has stood as an Expert Witness at the Queensland Land Court and Planning and Environment Court and has authored several environmental publications.

David has been a member of the Institute since 2000, and is accredited as a Certified Environmental Practitioner. This year, David co-convened the highly successful National Biodiversity Offsets Conference which had over 240 attendees. Thanks largely to David’s leadership in this event, a diverse and highly skilled group of professionals were brought together to deliver an outstanding Conference.

David is actively involved in the environmental sector. This has included playing a key role in organising other national conferences including the EIANZ’s Breaking the Barriers conference in 2009, presenting at events in Australia and abroad and participation in various expert panels including the Queensland government’s SEQ Biodiversity Assessment.