Raphael Didham

Raphael Didham is a Professor at the School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia. His research focuses on community ecology, entomology, and global environmental change, particularly addressing habitat fragmentation and restoration ecology challenges. His work contributes to UN Sustainable Development Goals related to life on land and climate action.

He leads major grants including a CSIRO-funded project on global change impacts on biodiversity and biosecurity (2018–2025), and has collaborated on initiatives like dung beetle ecosystem engineering projects. His research spans tropical forest dynamics, insect conservation, and the ecological impacts of land use changes.

Didham has published over 150 peer-reviewed articles, including high-impact works in Nature, Nature Ecology and Evolution, and Global Ecology and Biogeography. His datasets, such as LandFrag and FragSAD, are widely used in biodiversity studies. He supervises research projects on topics like insect declines, forest fragmentation effects, and restoration strategies.

His grants include funding from organizations like the Forrest Research Foundation and Meat & Livestock Australia, reflecting interdisciplinary collaborations between academia and applied conservation sectors. Key projects address insect trait ecology, dung beetle ecological roles, and ecosystem resilience in fragmented landscapes.

Didham's lab and collaborative networks focus on synthesizing field data with global datasets to inform conservation policies. Current research emphasizes understanding biodiversity loss mechanisms and developing actionable solutions for sustainable land management.