The Australian Government has made one of the most prominent and distinguished members of the Faculty of Science, Associate Professor Paul Adam, an honorary member (AM) of the Order of Australia.

The award - for Professor Adam's services to science, biodiversity conservation and science education - was made in the general division and announced in a special gazette on May 17, 2007.

Professor Adam has had a strong interest in the study of wetlands, particularly inter-tidal saltmarsh, and has assisted in the development of wetland management policies at local, State and national government levels.

In the early 1980s he prepared the original nomination documents which resulted in the World Heritage listing of New South Wales rainforests and has carried out studies on the flora and insect pollinators of rainforest.

He has been a member of numerous government advisory committees on conservation and resource management issues, and from 1996 and 2004 was deputy chair and then chair of the Scientific Committee established by the Threatened Species Conservation Act in NSW.

Earlier this year he was appointed as Acting Commissioner in the Land and Environment Court of NSW.

Professor Adam, 56, has broad interests in plant ecology and conservation and has been an active researcher and teacher since joining UNSW in 1978, as well as being extensively involved in community service and public life.

Paul has served his school, faculty and university with distinction in many roles over the years and was appointed Head, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, in 2005.

His tertiary studies were at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, from 1969 to 1976, being awarded a BA (1st Class Hons) (1972), MA (1976) and PhD (1976). He worked variously in scientific roles at the Nature Conservancy (UK) and Emmanuel College until he came to Australia in 1978 as a lecturer in the then School of Botany at UNSW.

His awards include a Voluntary Service Medallion, National Trust (1999), he was made a Fellow, Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales (2003) and he was awarded the 2004 Gold Medal by the Ecological Society of Australia.

He has refereed smany cientific articles for many publications and edited two journals, Wetlands (Australia) and Journal of Ecology, as well as examining doctoral and Masters theses for many universities and has been active in a number of scientific societies and also as an editor of journals and books.

He has authored or co-authored more than 70 articles in refereed journals, is the author of two books on saltmarsh ecology and Australian rainforests, and has contributed to chapters in another 20 books.

He has authored or contributed to four Government reports on coastal wetlands and rainforests, and has written dozens of articles for conservation journals and other special interest publications.

Countless local, State and Federal government committees, reviews and inquiries related to conservation and resource-management issues have profited from his membership and he has held office in the Ecological Society of Australia, the Coast and Wetlands Society, the British Ecological Society and as the National Chair of ANZAAS from 1998 to 2005.

Paul has also been a member of appointment and review committees for the Nature Conservation Council and National Trust, as well as serving or advising conservation and heritage-related organisations. Currently he is a Board Director of the National Trust (NSW).

He is a member of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, Commission on National Parks and Protected Areas.

Professor Adam's teaching, research and publication details can be found here

The homepage of the School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences is here