Dr Kate Helmstedt
Faculty of Science,
School of Mathematical Sciences
Biography
Dr Helmstedt's research expertise is in using operations research to guide smart decision making for natural resource and environmental management with the ultimate goal of guiding future management decisions towards cost-efficiency, transparency and defensibility. Ecological systems are incredibly complex, and changing how those systems interact and evolve can have unexpected implications. Dr Helmstedt builds mathematical models of coupled ecological, land-use, and economic systems to understand the mechanisms driving success, failure, and efficiency of management actions. Carefully, transparently, and defensibly planning management and policy interventions while acknowledging those complexities and the associated risks helps achieve better outcomes for the environment and society. Dr Helmstedt completed her PhD in 2015 at the University of Queensland under the supervision of Professor Hugh Possingham. She then spent two years as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California Berkeley before joining QUT as a Lecturer. For more information, see Dr Helmstedt's website, twitter, or Google Scholar profile.Personal details
Positions
- Research Fellow (DECRA)
Faculty of Science,
School of Mathematical Sciences - Senior Lecturer in Operations Research
Faculty of Science,
School of Mathematical Sciences
Keywords
decision science, operations research, biodiversity conservation, threatened species, invasive species, multi-use landscapes, environmental management, ecological modelling, Great Barrier Reef, Antarctica
Discipline
Applied Mathematics, Environmental Science and Management, Ecological Applications
Field of Research code, Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC), 2008
Qualifications
- PhD (University of Queensland)
- Bachelor of Science with Honours Class Honours Class 1 (University of Queensland)
- Bachelor of Science (University of Queensland)
Teaching
Prospective Honours and PhD students who are interested in any combination of biodiversity conservation, natural resource management, and operations research are encouraged to contact Dr Helmstedt -- especially those from groups traditionally underrepresented in mathematics. There are opportunities for competitive funding for domestic and international students through university schemes. Postdoctoral researchers pursuing their own funding are also encouraged to contact Dr Helmstedt. Undergraduate teaching 2017 Lecturer and Unit Coordinator of Operations Research for Stochastic Processes (MXB334), Queensland University of Technology 2016 Running graduate student working group UC Berkeley, Modelling and minimizing the ecosystem impacts of food waste 2015 Guest lecture UC Berkeley, Mathematical modelling of ecological systems 2010-2015 Five years’ experience as a teaching assistant at the University of Queensland: Mathematics and statistics undergraduate
- Calculus and Linear Algebra (2010, 2012)
- Advanced Calculus and Linear Algebra (2010-2014)
- Applied Mathematical Analysis (2011)
- Multivariate Calculus & Ordinary Differential Equations (2012)
- Analysis of Scientific Data in R (2010)
Biology undergraduate
- Theory & Practice in Science (2010, 2011, 2012, 2014)
2011 Development of course materials (labs, tutorial materials and assignments) for “Theory & Practice in Science”: a first year undergraduate course for biology and chemistry students, covering an introduction to mathematical modelling, mathematical problem formulation and programming in Python.
Experience
Dr Helmstedt collaborates with diverse groups of scientists including mathematicians, statisticians, economists, ecologists, biologists, agricultural and marine scientists. These collaborative networks span Australia and internationally across the US and Europe (and, pending Brexit, the UK). Through ongoing collaborations with the Australian Antarctic Division and the Tasmanian state government, she helps guide decision-making about how to tackle the huge environmental problem of invasive species on islands.
Selected publications
- Adams M, Sisson S, Helmstedt K, Baker C, Holden M, Plein M, Holloway J, Mengersen K, Mcdonald-Madden E, (2020) Informing management decisions for ecological networks, using dynamic models calibrated to noisy time-series data, Ecology Letters, 23 (4), pp. 607-619.
- Holloway J, Helmstedt K, Mengersen K, Schmidt M, (2019) A decision tree approach for spatially interpolating missing land cover data and classifying satellite images, Remote Sensing, 11 (15), pp. 1-25.
- Runge C, Plantinga A, Larsen A, Naugle D, Helmstedt K, Polasky S, Donnelly J, Smith J, Lark T, Lawler J, Martinuzzi S, Fargione J, (2019) Unintended habitat loss on private land from grazing restrictions on public rangelands, Journal of Applied Ecology, 56 (1), pp. 52-62.
- McDonald J, Helmstedt K, Bode M, Coutts S, Mcdonald-Madden E, Possingham H, (2018) Improving private land conservation with outcome-based biodiversity payments, Journal of Applied Ecology, 55 (3), pp. 1476-1485.
- Helmstedt K, Stokes-Draut J, Larsen A, Potts M, (2018) Innovating at the food, water, and energy interface, Journal of Environmental Management, 209, pp. 17-22.
- Coutts S, Helmstedt K, Bennett J, (2018) Invasion lags: The stories we tell ourselves and our inability to infer process from pattern, Diversity and Distributions, 24 (2), pp. 244-251.
- Helmstedt K, Potts M, (2018) Valuable habitat and low deforestation can reduce biodiversity gains from development rights markets, Journal of Applied Ecology, 55 (4), pp. 1692-1700.
- Helmstedt K, Possingham H, (2017) Costs are key when reintroducing threatened species to multiple release sites, Animal Conservation, 20 (4), pp. 331-340.
- Helmstedt K, Shaw J, Bode M, Terauds A, Springer K, Robinson S, Possingham H, (2016) Prioritizing eradication actions on islands: it's not all or nothing, Journal of Applied Ecology, 53 (3), pp. 733-741.
- Helmstedt K, Possingham H, Brennan K, Rhodes J, Bode M, (2014) Cost-efficient fenced reserves for conservation: single large or two small?, Ecological Applications, 24 (7), pp. 1780-1792.
QUT ePrints
For more publications by Kate, explore their research in QUT ePrints (our digital repository).
Selected research projects
- Title
- Mathematically Optimal Rand D for Coral Reef Conservation
- Primary fund type
- CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
- Project ID
- DE200101791
- Start year
- 2020
- Keywords
- Title
- Securing Antarctica's Environmental Future
- Primary fund type
- CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
- Project ID
- SR200100005
- Start year
- 2020
- Keywords
Projects listed above are funded by Australian Competitive Grants. Projects funded from other sources are not listed due to confidentiality agreements.
Supervision
Current supervisions
- Development of a Novel Sustainability-Based Multicriteria Decision-Making Approach for Organic Waste Processing Technolgies in the Meat Industry
PhD, Associate Supervisor
Other supervisors: Professor Robert Speight, Professor Ian O'Hara - Assessing the Risk of Marine Invasive Species to Nearshore Marine Ecosystems of Australia's Antarctic Research Stations and Subantarctic Islands
PhD, Associate Supervisor
Other supervisors: Professor Kerrie Wilson - Operations research to optimise logistical deployment of emerging reef restoration technologies
PhD, Associate Supervisor
Other supervisors: Associate Professor Paul Corry, Adjunct Professor Mark Gibbs
Completed supervisions (Doctorate)
Completed supervisions (Masters by Research)
Supervision topics
- Understanding international governance in Antarctica through cooperative game theory
- Optimal conservation management in uncertain Antarctic environments
- Modelling and managing uncertain Antarctic species networks
- Statistical methods for detecting Antarctic ecosystems from space
- Ecological interactions in Antarctic ecosystems
- Optimal ecosystem management in rapidly changing systems
- Modelling and managing uncertain Antarctic species networks
- Mathematically optimising value of information for biodiversity management
- Bayesian inference meets value-of-information: how much more data do we really need for management of ecological networks?
- Considering economics when prioritising species conservation
- Developing optimal management approaches to sustain the Great Barrier Reef
- Mathematically optimizing the management of protected areas in the Antarctic ecosystems