Susan is a conservation ecologist, researcher, and research programme leader in the Crown Research Institute Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research where she co-leads the Conservation Ecology research priority area and the ‘More Birds in the Bush’ Endeavour programme (2018-2023). Her wide interests cover botany, ecology, and conservation management of drier eastern inland South Island; biodiversity assessment and quantitative field sampling and measurement, assessment of ecological significance; long-term changes in New Zealand’s land cover and indigenous bird fauna; forest rodent dynamics; threatened plants, plant radiations, and effects of climate change on indigenous biodiversity. Her high country research has addressed land tenure, management and invasion effects, and past and future trajectories of change.