Emilie leads the innovative and award-winning Cross-cultural Ecology Lab at MQU. Following completion of her PhD (University of Wollongong, 2007) and first Post Doc in Weed Ecology (Charles Darwin University, 2007/8) she started collaborating with Indigenous researchers as an ECR through the Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research at The ANU. Here she worked closely with Indigenous communities and multidisciplinary researchers to develop new cross-cultural approaches to science and environmental management. Emilie moved to MQU in 2013 where she teaches in Environmental Management and is developing a vibrant group of researchers. Her lab works on a range of topics including invasive species, fire, wetlands, coastal floodplains, climate change, genetics, species modelling and maintenance of cultural knowledge, all in partnership with Indigenous knowledge holders to develop cross-cultural understandings and management plans.

Dr Ens’s teams have won several awards including the 2017 Eureka Prize for Innovation in Citizen Science and the 2014 Banksia Award for Indigenous Leadership in Sustainability. 

Some of her other roles include: co-leading the Wuyagiba Bush Uni (NT); she is an active and inaugural member of the Indigenous Working Group of the Ecological Society of Australia; in the Indigenous Ally group of the Society of Ecosystem Restoration Australia; Technical Advisory Group member for the Laynhapuy Indigeous Protected Area; and editorial board member of journals Ecological Management and Restoration and Sustainability. 

Further details on her Awards, Publications, Grants and Impacts are detailed here in this PURE profile.