Rich Little

Dr. Rich Little is a Senior Research Scientist at CSIRO Environment in Hobart, Australia. His work focuses on integrating biophysical models with socioeconomic analyses to address challenges in marine resource management, fisheries economics, and climate adaptation. He has developed decision-support tools like ELFSim for coral reef fisheries and leads the South East Australian Marine Ecosystem Survey (SEA-MES). Additionally, he contributes to Marine Visual Technologies, which employs AI for sustainable fisheries monitoring.

• Certificate in Executive Management and Development (2018), Australian Graduate School of Management
• PhD (2000), University of Alberta
• MSc (1995), University of Western Ontario
• BSc (1989), University of Western Ontario
• Diploma (1993), University of Western Ontario

Rich Little’s research spans marine population dynamics, tradeable permit markets, Bayesian Belief Networks for fishing behavior, and the economics of marine protected areas. His recent work explores parametric insurance for climate adaptation, deep learning applications in electronic monitoring, and resilience-building in mixed fisheries. Publications highlight interdisciplinary approaches to reconciling ecological, economic, and social objectives.

His scientific accolades include the CSIRO Julius Career Development Award (2008-2011), the Early Career Research Excellence Award (2005), and an Honorary Associate position at the University of Tasmania (2007-2010). He has also contributed to transdisciplinary initiatives like the Theo Murphy Frontiers of Science meeting.