Congratulations to our University of the Sunshine Coast team who have won the Smart Biosphere Award at the 2025 Noosa Biosphere Awards.

The work was led by former UniSC Forest Research Institute PhD candidate and soon-to-be Dr, Rodrigo Minici de Oliveira, under Professor Andy Marshall's long term research project, 'Selecting Indicators of Conservation Success,' with co-supervisors Associate Professor Romane Cristescu, Professor Claudia Baldwin and Dr John Meadows, and consultant Mark Annandale who provided guidance on Indigenous perspectives within the research. 

Presented by the Noosa Biosphere Reserve Foundation and supported by Noosa Council, the Awards celebrate the environmental champions in our region. 

Funded and initiated by the Noosa Biosphere Reserve foundation, Rodrigo's PhD research inspired the award by delivering a practical solution through the application of the Holistic Indicator Selection Protocol (HISP). This HISP approach, developed by Professor Marshall, responds to a long-standing gap in conservation practice: the lack of a systematic, science-based process for identifying indicators of success within conservation projects. 

Through his research, Rodrigo has combined rigorous strategic conservation planning with extensive community consultation (more than 20 organisations and community groups were engaged) to identify and score indicators across biodiversity conservation, socioeconomic wellbeing, governance, and climate resilience.

The project identified 54 locally relevant indicators, now presented to Noosa Council for implementation in a monitoring plan, alongside a further 72 indicators aligned with all UN Sustainable Development Goals and the full UNESCO Periodic Review framework. This gives the Noosa Biosphere Reserve the first complete, science-based system for measuring, monitoring and reporting success.

This system directly supports the UNESCO Man and Biosphere objectives by strengthening conservation outcomes (including monitoring of koalas, greater gliders, glossy black cockatoos, seagrass, sea turtles and water quality), linking environmental health with sustainable development and community wellbeing. 

The project’s impact is already being felt. A further milestone has been Rodrigo's appointment as Principal Environment Officer at Noosa Council, ensuring the research is embedded directly into local decision-making and securing a lasting collaboration between Council, the Noosa Biosphere Organisation, and UniSC.