Helen Mayfield

Helen’s main research interest is the application of different data modelling techniques to both biodiversity conservation and eco-epidemiology, with a focus on making these techniques accessible to practitioners in this field. She is particularly interested in the relationship between these two areas and the potential benefits from studying this overlap between biodiversity and human health. In 2015, she completed her PhD at UQ on the application of machine learning techniques to predicting deforestation, and has since completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the The University of Queensland’s Centre of Biodiversity and Conservation Science, devising guidelines for the use of conceptual modelling and expert elicitation for setting benchmarks in threatened species management. She has also worked for the Australian National University, modelling the risk factors of leptospirosis in Fiji, and is currently working on a project analysing a program being carried out to eliminate lymphatic filariasis in Samoa.