User:Richard Camden/sandbox

Ana Rubio is an aquaculture researcher specialised in edible and pearl oysters. She was born in Spain and educated at the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, Spain BSc (Hons) 1998; at the University of Wales, Bangor, UK (MSc) 2001 and at the Australian National University (PhD) 2007. Her current oyster research is focussed on the Ostreid herpesvirus OsHV-1 µvar at the Faculty of Veterinary Science at the University of Sydney.

Research

Rubio graduated as a marine zoologist in her native Spain. She subsequently worked in the UK on European lobster aquaculture, completed a masters degree in Fisheries and Aquaculture for which she received the 2002 Jeremy Jones Memorial Prize for the most meritorious performance in the masters and distinction for the dissertation project. At this point Ana started her professional career working on oysters in Ireland. After a couple of years working in the cold British waters, Rubio came to Australia where she introduced herself to a large proportion of the NSW oyster industry and stakeholders. Immediately she got involved in key oyster research topics; one of them became the topic of her PhD thesis in which she looked at environmental variables influencing the sustainability of the Sydney rock oyster industry. Ana Rubio’s research work combines environment, disease, health of catchments- waterways and aquaculture industry practices. Ana Rubio was awarded a 2009 Science and Innovation Award for Young People in Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry that allowed her to show proof of concept in using commercial oyster automated graders as experimental tools. Now this proof of concept has been scaled up to a state oyster monitoring program currently covering 7 estuaries on the NSW South Coast and monitoring three types of oysters at 23 locations. This program has been fully supported through the years by the oyster industry and the South East Local Land Services (former Catchment Management Authorities).

Rubio has a long history of working with the Australian oyster industry. She has assisted industry leaders and farmers with the identification of catchment risks and improvement of their husbandry practices as part of the implementation of estuary-wide Environmental Management Studies. She has set up oyster monitoring programs, as well as developed catchment-wide data portals for the better management of oyster areas. She has undertaken research on environmental controls of oyster farms and new technology to improve industry sustainability. As a result, she was awarded the NSW DPI Fisheries 2013 Outstanding Service Award for the service provided to the NSW Oyster industry. Most recently, Rubio has delved into the problems of emerging diseases in the oyster world, helping a larger team find solutions to support this important and ecologically sustainable coastal farming system. Now this proof of concept has been scaled up to a state oyster monitoring program currently covering 7 estuaries on the NSW South Coast and monitoring three types of oysters at 23 locations. This program has been fully supported through the years by the oyster industry and the South East Local Land Services (former Catchment Management Authorities).

Industry role

Ana Rubio’s time is spent between a busy role as an environmental officer in a local government authority, where she uses her scientific background and personal skills in complex coastal and estuarine management, formal academic research, and providing ongoing advice to professional industry associations and directly to farmers. She gives her time freely to support younger scientists and students, foster networks, translate research into practice and has brought a wide range of individuals together to provide assistance to the industry she has chosen to focus her attention on. She works hands on in the field every week, with boundless energy. Rubio exemplifies the benefits of bringing science close to the real world, bridging organisational barriers and linking people and ideas.