After completing a BSc (Resource and Environmental Management) with Honours at the Australian National University in 1996 Jenifer worked as a technical officer with CSIRO (Division of Environmental Mechanics), NSW Agriculture and then CSIRO (Division of Plant Industry). The associated research projects were on the treatment of sewerage waste water through crop irrigation, sustainable grazing systems on the central tablelands, and wheat breeding. She completed her PhD at the Australian National University in 2004, with an investigation into how hillslope hydrology effects locating tree belt plantations to utilise excess water.

After completing her PhD she worked for 15 years at the Fenner School of Environment and Society (FSES) and its' predecessors, as part of the Integrated Catchment Assessment and Management (iCAM) Centre. For many of those years she was heavily embedded in the National Centre for Groundwater Resource and Training (NCGRT). While at iCAM her research projects included the development of the Coastal Lake Assessment and Management (CLAM) tool, Landscape Logic and an invesitgation into the feasibility of Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) for Australia's cotton industry.

She began working at the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) in the Department of Agriculture, Water and Environment in March 2020, as part of the Biosecurity and social science team. Most recently she has developed guidelines to help program staff, funders and policy-makers plan, implement and monitor general surveillance programs and developed and analysed a national landholder survey about the occurrence and management of pests and weeds. 

BSc (REM); PhD (REM)

Jenifer’s research interests are motivated by her desire to increase the sustainability of Australia’s agricultural industry, while protecting the natural environment. Her early research focused on the biophysical components of agriculture in soil, water and the agronomic system. While more recently she broadened her interests to include economic, ecological, social and governance criteria when informing the management of agricultural and natural resources. She has a strong interest in integrated assessment and modelling, with a particular focus on developing decision support tools using participatory processes, such as Bayesian networks.

She has researched the conjunctive use and management of water within the Murray Darling Basin, and the potential for Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) to provide an adaptation option suitable for irrigators and the environment. A new research area for her is using general surveillance (i.e. people from all walks of life) to assist in the early detection of biosecurity threats to Australia’s agricultural production and natural environments.