Professor Syd Shea was educated at the Australian National University where he obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Forestry. Later, he received a Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Toronto. On his return from Canada, he was employed as a senior research scientist by the Western Australian Government for fourteen years. During this period, Professor Shea undertook research on a wide range of ecological and natural resource problems.
In 1985, he was appointed Executive Director of the Western Australian Department of Conservation and Land Management and held this position for fifteen years. CALM is the State land management agency responsible for managing over 23 million hectares of public land and waters, including National Parks, Nature Reserves, Marine Reserves and State Forests. Professor Shea initiated CALMs' highly successful tree crops on farms program, the first carbon sequestration project in Australia, major nature based tourism attractions such as the tree top walk and the worlds largest feral animal control program - Western Shield. His major interest is the application of ecological processes to solve environmental problems by using an integrated approach to Natural Resource Management.
