![Margaret Byrne](/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/bn-di-person/Margaret%20Byrne.jpg?itok=WuNTpKmO)
Dr Margaret Byrne is the executive director of biodiversity and conservation science at the Department of Parks and Wildlife where she is responsible for the integration of science, policy and on-ground management for biodiversity conservation. Dr Byrne is recognised as a leading biological scientist in Australia with over 180 publications. She obtained a PhD from the University of Western Australia and was a Post-Doctoral Fellow at CSIRO in Canberra before returning to Perth to develop and manage a conservation genetics program in the then Department of Conservation and Land Management, prior to taking on a greater science management role.