Vanessa Pirotta

Pirotta in 2019

Vanessa Pirotta is an Australian wildlife scientist, science communicator and author. Her research uses innovative technologies, like drones and AI, for wildlife conservation. ^[1] Pirotta is the founder and chief scientist of Wild Sydney Harbour, ^[2] a scientific and citizen science program which is learning more about marine life in Sydney Harbour, Australia. She has published children's books about whales.

Career

Pirotta completed a Bachelor of Science in zoology/animal biology at the Australian National University in 2010. ^[3] Her Masters of Research in Conservation Biology at Macquarie University in 2014, and her PhD in marine sciences at Macquarie University in 2018. ^[4] Her PhD research focused on the conservation of marine wildlife, investigating human induced and natural threats to cetaceans (whale, dolphin and porpoise) around the world, conducting research in Tonga, Madagascar and Antarctica. ^[5] She is most recognised for her use of drones to collect whale snot (visible plumes of spray) in order to conduct an assessment of whale health. Pirotta has written for Vogue Australia ^[6] and The Conversation. ^[7]

Publications

Papers

• Prendergast, Kit, Vanderstock, Amelie, Neilly, Heather, Ross, Catherine, Pirotta, Vanessa, and Tegart, Patrick (2021). Potential and pitfalls of citizen science with children: Reflections on Pollinators in the Playground project. Austral Ecology .
• Pirotta V, Shen K, Liu S, Phan HTH, O'Brien JK, Meagher P, Mitchell J, Willis J and Morton E (2022). Detecting illegal wildlife trafficking via real time tomography 3D X-ray imaging and automated algorithms. Frontiers in Conservation Science.
• Pirotta, Vanessa, David P. Hocking, Jason Iggleden, and Robert Harcourt. (2022). Drone Observations of Marine Life and Human–Wildlife Interactions off Sydney, Australia. Drones 6, no. 3: 75.
• Brasier M and Pirotta V (2022) Humpback Whales Have Super Feeding Events in Australian Waters. Frontiers for Young Minds. 10:713720.
• Pirotta, V., Franklin, W., Mansfield, L., Lowe, J., and Peterson, O. (2023). Sighting records of "Migaloo" the white humpback whale provide evidence of Australian site fidelity and use of New Zealand waters as a migratory route. Australian Zoologist
• Raoult, V., Pirotta, V., Gaston, T.F., Norman, B., Reynolds, S., Smith, T.M., Double, M., How, J., and Hayward, M.W. (2023). Widespread exposure of marine parks, whales, and whale sharks to shipping. Marine and Freshwater Research

Children's books

• Humpback Highway, Diving into the mysterious world of whales (UNSW Press, 2024).
• Oceans at Night (CSIRO Publishing, 2024).
• The Voyage of Whale and Calf (CSIRO Publishing, 2022).

Awards and prizes

• 2018 winner of FameLab Australia. ^[8]
• 2019 Australian Financial Review 100 Women of Influence. ^[9]
• 2021 Science & Technology Australia Superstar of STEM. ^[10]
• 2025 Celestino Eureka Prize for Promoting Understanding of Science. ^[11]

References

1. Dalton, Angus (2023-02-03). "Lunch with the spokeswoman for the ocean's oddities". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2024-07-24.
2. "Wild Sydney Harbour". Wild Sydney Harbour. Retrieved 2024-07-24.
3. "From campus to whale snot". ANU College of Science. Retrieved 2024-07-24.
4. "A whale of a time". Macquarie University. 14 November 2022. Retrieved 24 July 2024.
5. Pirotta, Vanessa (2022-03-29). Migrating humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) do not respond to underwater construction or whale alarms off Sydney, Australia (PhD thesis). Macquarie University.
6. Pirotta, Vanessa (8 March 2024). "Life in Letters: A leading scientist pens a letter to her childhood self about perseverance and striving on". Vogue.
7. O'Brien, Justine; Pirotta, Vanessa (2022-09-22). "Lizard in your luggage? We're using artificial intelligence to detect wildlife trafficking". The Conversation. Retrieved 2024-07-24.
8. "Vanessa Pirotta wins FameLab Australia 2018 title" . Retrieved 24 July 2024.
9. "Dr Vanessa Pirotta - AFR Women of Influence" . Retrieved 2024-07-24.
10. "Dr Vanessa Pirotta". Science and Technology Australia. Retrieved 2024-07-24.
11. "2025 Australian Museum Eureka Prizes winners". The Australian Museum. Retrieved 2025-09-10.