People

Neil is an international leader in natural resource management with a strong focus on policy and strategy. He brings innovation, paradigm challenging thinking, and a global perspective to Mosaic Insights’ work. Neil was originally educated in Forest Science at the University of Melbourne and holds an MBA in government policy and reform from Monash University.

Neil has extensive understanding and experience in the complexities in balancing environment and economic development for the betterment of the community. Neil has superior communication and negotiating skills, and networks at all levels of Australian government, and globally through his leadership of World Urban Parks.

Through his senior management roles at Parks Victoria and the North East Catchment Management Authority in Victoria, Neil has been responsible for leading some of the most significant global initiatives in parks management. These include the ‘Healthy Parks, Healthy People’ program, the creation of Parks Forum as a peak Australasian organisation representing parks agencies, and the implementation of World Urban Parks.

Neil has been recognised for many of his contributions and was World Urban Parks’ 2016 Distinguished Individual Award recipient.  In addition to his role at Mosaic Insights, Neil is the CEO of World Urban Parks and Co-Chair of the International National Park City Commission.

Dr Cathy Oke has over 20 years professional and academic experience in urban sustainability and city leadership. She is a strong advocate for local and regional governments driving action on global environmental issues, and leading research for greater impact from informed decision making.

Cathy is currently Melbourne Enterprise Senior Fellow in Informed Cities in the Connected Cities Lab within the Faculty of Architecture Building and Planning at the University of Melbourne, and in this role she is a senior advisor on research and innovation for the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy. Cathy’s previous role was as Knowledge Broker at the Clean Air and Urban Landscapes (CAUL) research hub, of the National Environmental Science Program.

As a Councillor at the City of Melbourne (2008 – 2020),  Cathy was in the Environment portfolio for 12 years and Transport portfolio for 10 years, and as a member of the ICLEI (Local Governments for Sustainability) Global Executive Committee since 2009 and First Vice President (2018-2021), she has active in advocating on behalf of local and sub national governments at six United Nations Conference of the Parties (CoPs)– for climate and biodiversity. Cathy has a Bachelor of Science (marine biology, zoology) Hons (genetics) degree, and a PhD in Molecular Science.

Alluvium CEO Matt Francey is known for his leadership and depth of experience in urban water, natural resource management (NRM) and river restoration and he has worked across multiple sectors including academia, government and consulting.

Facilitating interdisciplinary teams has been a hallmark of Matt’s career and he has managed a number of large, complex projects including the Flow Requirements for Key Ecosystem Functions for the Murray-Darling Basin Authority, and the preparation of a Synthesis Report on the Framework for Australian River and Wetland Health for the National Water Commission.

Matt’s passion for rivers encompasses rural and urban environments and he is a recognised leader in the urban water sector. In early 2002, he founded and led the Stormwater Quality team at Melbourne Water. Under Matt’s leadership, the team developed and managed the Lower Yarra and Living Rivers programs with a focus on water sensitive urban design and implementation of stormwater controls for development. Key projects during that period included the development and implementation of the nitrogen offsets program for Port Phillip Bay, and the preparation of WSUD Engineering Procedures: Stormwater, which became the standard technical document for WSUD design.

Matt’s PhD, looking at the generation of urban stormwater pollutants, was completed in 2010 and he has published papers and presented at conferences across Australia and internationally.

Jan is a well-respected and recognised champion, leader and strategist for liveability, sustainability and natural resource management. 

Jan has held senior management positions in local government for the past 15 – 20 years, she has managed and led large and diverse teams across environment and sustainability, parks and recreation, waste and recycling, works and infrastructure. Her strengths lay in using the evidence available with a wide range of voices and experiences bringing together diverse groups, interests and disciplines to address what are often complex urban management issues.

Jan has extensive experience in engaging communities, state and federal government agencies, researchers and other stakeholders in public land / public interest plans. She was at the forefront of open space planning in NSW working alongside the State Government in the implementation of the first plans of management for community land. Since then Jan has expanded the craft of collaborative planning across recreation, rivers, open space, infrastructure and services. She is an expert in developing strategy and policy that meet the needs of place and the people.

Jan has led change in many areas of sustainability and land management and been recognised through many awards. In 2008 Jan was named the public sector manager of the year by the Institute of Public Administration Australia for her leadership and impact in applying research around integrated urban water management to the local government sector. Jan has also recently completed Company Directors course at the Australian Institute of Company Directors, Sydney.

Dom is a specialist in catchments and cities. As a geographer, he has particular expertise in bringing together blue / green infrastructure and restoration planning for environmental and social outcomes.

Over his 20 year career in consulting and research, Dom has delivered complex projects and helped clients solve intractable problems. His collaborative approach, advanced project management capability, workshop facilitation skills, and deep technical knowledge allows him to develop strategies, plans and on-ground actions that meet multiple, and often competing, objectives.

In additional to his technical leadership roles, Dom has held several senior management roles at Alluvium (Mosaic Insights sister company) including as a Board Director. He is experienced at engaging at senior levels in government agencies and working with stakeholders with competing perspectives and objectives. He maintains close links with leading research institutions, in particular the Smart Green Cities Centre at Macquarie University and the School of Geography at the University of Melbourne (where he gained his Ph.D).

Dom has led some significant initiatives to improve the liveability and resilience of Australian cities. In partnership with Melbourne Water he led a project to identify and design creek naturalisation projects across Melbourne to improve the ecological and social values of these significant green infrastructure assets. He advised the Victorian Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning on the development of the Metropolitan Open Space Strategy for Greater Melbourne, and speaks regularly on the need to bring evidence to the fore in urban planning and design.

Matt is a landscape and environmental planning, design and construction consultant with over 20 years’ experience in management of environmentally and culturally significant urban, rural, waterway, coastal and bushland landscapes.

Matt has proven experience in leading multi-disciplinary teams in wetland and waterway design, bushland and waterway restoration and establishment of sustainable recreational and major infrastructure in complex high profile public open space areas.

Vicki is a social scientist with interests in behaviour change, communication, and environmental impact and management.

She has over 25 years of experience in research and consulting in Australia, New Zealand, the USA, and Chile. Her work focuses on social perspectives of environmental issues, using mixed methods in social science to understand the needs and interests of different audience groups to improve public engagement in environmental issues and solutions.

At Mosaic Insights she works with government and NGOs to deliver evidence-based social science, evaluation, stakeholder engagement, and community engagement services.

Vicki holds an Adjunct Senior Fellow position with the University of Queensland, Australia, and was recently a Visiting Fellow at Cornell University, U.S.A.

Jayne is a social planning practitioner with a particular interest in the connection of people and place, and using a collaborative, human-centred approach to creating inclusive, sustainable environments. Having worked in private consultancy for 10 years, Jayne brings a diverse skillset encompassing urban and social planning, social impact assessment, placemaking, and engagement and communications.  

 Jayne is a highly competent and organised project manager able to coordinate and work with multi-disciplinary teams, manage project budgets and reporting, and review and coordinate project inputs. Jayne is certified in engagement and is experienced designing and delivering stakeholder engagement plans, developing communication materials, and communicating complex and technical information to stakeholders and the community.  

 Jayne values the importance of thorough analysis and an evidence-based approach to inform design and planning, and guide policy and decision-making to deliver the best outcomes for the community and environment.   

Matthew is a Senior Social Scientist at Mosaic Insights, He is an environmental social scientist with more than 15 years’ experience across multiple organisations including government, NGO, private sector, and universities.

Matthew is passionate about making social science research more accessible to all and applying it to promote resilience and liveability through connecting people to nature.

Anne is an urban green and blue space expert specialising in the health and social outcomes of green and blue infrastructure. She is passionate about shaping landscapes and systems that promote human connection with nature for the benefit of people and the planet.

Anne is skilled in using co-design and place-based approaches with diverse stakeholders to produce fit-for-purpose, nature-based solutions that deliver co-benefits across environmental, health and social outcomes.

She is experienced in transdisciplinary, mixed methods research with experience investigating the role of nature-based interventions (Green Gyms, Care Farms) as part of social prescribing within mental health care. Additionally, Anne is proficient in the effectiveness of urban green space interventions for delivering social, health, environmental and equity outcomes.

Anne completed a PhD on the mental health and wellbeing benefits of urban green space at Griffith University’s School of Medicine and holds an adjunct position at the University of Queensland’s Institute for Social Science Research. Her career has spanned diverse sectors and locations with experience in academia, not-for-profit and industry. This includes working as a research fellow at the Institute for Social Science Research at The University of Queensland, Brunel University London, World Health Organisation (European Centre for Environment and Health) in Germany, and Healthy Land and Water in south east Queensland.

Jake is a spatial analyst and cartographer skilled in data visualisation. He is familiar with both the technical and creative aspects of data analysis. This leads him to develop impactful data products.

Jake has previous experience working in public sector strategic transport planning. Whilst working in government, he was recognised for his ability to tailor complex policy advice for a wide range of audiences. He worked collaboratively across a wide range of disciplines including: freight, land use change, walkable neighbourhoods, street tree canopy analysis, transport modelling and road safety. His work added significant value to the Department’s integrated transport plans.

His honours thesis involved working with the Wurundjeri Woi-Wurrung Cultural Heritage Aboriginal Corporation to quantify cultural resources in Wurundjeri Country using high-resolution remotely sensed imagery. Jake believes that usability, simplicity and precision is the key to effective data communication.

Luli is an architect with a keen engineering perspective, specialising in regenerative design informed by biophilic principles. She prioritises incorporating sustainable practices into every stage of development, ensuring practical solutions that adhere to compliance standards.

Her methodology effectively bridges the technical gaps among the design, planning, and construction phases, fostering seamless integration and innovation. She brings a technical eye for design proposals, a problem-solving mindset, and meticulous attention to detail.

With background in the Green Infrastructure (GI) industry and as a Committee Member of the Australasian Green Infrastructure Network, Luli not only offers a deep understanding of GI applications but also strong industry connections and excellent communication and collaboration skills, enhancing project outcomes.

Amala has a diverse background in urban planning and architecture, she has a specific interest in creating sustainable and greener urban spaces through a transdisciplinary approach. In her master’s thesis, she analysed the change in urban tree canopy cover across the Parramatta local government area in Sydney over a specific timeline using iTree and Nearmaps.

In her work with Mosaic Insights, she has assisted in the development of several urban greening strategies, climate resilience and adaptation projects, and also in significant open space projects across NSW and Victoria. She brings her strong design skills to convey information in an engaging way. Especially in projects like Banyule urban forest strategy, she rendered infographics with street sections to demonstrate the opportunities to enhance urban forests within the streets of Banyule.

In her recent works, she has also contributed by bringing her knowledge in design into engagement tools in the social science projects of Mosaic. With her combined experience, Amala is passionate to create meaningful interaction between the social and natural urban systems.

Sophie has a background in plant ecology and conservation. She is a recent graduate of Macquarie University’s Master of Research program, where she investigated the change in diversity and function of trees within Australian cities. Her specialty is in investigating the diversity of features that Australian councils build into their plant selection, and how urban forests across the public and private domains can encompass more diversity of function in their tree canopy and beyond.

Before joining Mosaic Insights (part of the Alluvium group of companies), she was involved in research for the Which Plant Where project, contributing to best-practice planting guides, climate resilience and functional analysis of street trees, and collateral for the project’s Interactive Plant Features Tool. With Mosaic Insights she has supported the development of the Draft Greener Neighbourhoods Roadmap for the NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment and has worked with the team on urban forest strategy and planning for city councils across NSW and Victoria.

Sophie is a PhD candidate with Mosaic Insights and Western Sydney University investigating the natural canopy dynamics of urban trees across metropolitan Sydney. She finds the complex and novel nature of urban ecosystems a fascinating and creative research and industry space, and sees advocacy for healthy equitable urban forests as crucial for the city’s human and other than human populations.

Jess is a social scientist with specific interest in improving the lives of humans and wildlife by bringing nature back to urban areas and creating sustainable, resilient, and healthy places. 

In her final year of university, Jess completed a research project titled “Transitioning towards circular cities: A systematic review of concepts, cases, and tools relating to urban forestry and urban farming”. The project focused on the role of circular economy, urban forestry, and urban farming in addressing the Sustainable Development Goals. She is interested in further research on these topics.  

She has four years’ experience in applying social research methods to social impacts and social infrastructure assessments, peer reviews, submissions analysis, community needs assessments, and research projects for public and private clients throughout Australia. Her experience ranges across the resources, renewable energy, infrastructure, education, local Council, and housing sectors.  

Craig is a landscape and graphic designer at Mosaic Insights with more than 20 years’ graphic and digital media experience across multiple organisations including government, private sector, and universities.  

He has spent over ten years working and living with indigenous communities in Northern Australia where he has collaborated on indigenous language and literature production for community engagement and training programs. He has worked closely with a diverse range of stakeholders including traditional owner Elders, rangers, and Learning on Country program staff to complete the digital design and presentation of the Bilingual Resource Website (lpc.elcho.org) for Remote Indigenous Schools which is shared across Australia and around the world.  

Craig combines his background in 3D modelling, animation, and video production with his skills in landscape design to bring data visualisation to new levels. 

Craig is passionate about creating engaging designs and spaces using the latest digital tools and techniques to promote resilience and liveability by connecting people to nature. 

Jabbar is an expert in spatial ecohydrology and environmental monitoring, focusing on analysing spatio-temporal data on climate, water, terrain, vegetation, and extreme events such as floods, wildfires, and droughts. His expertise lies in analysing timeseries, remote sensing and spatial data to understand complex land and water interactions and to generate metrics, indices, and predictive machine learning and statistical models that monitor current environmental conditions and track changes over time.

Jabbar develops advanced tools and automated workflows that support decision-making processes and solutions for challenges across catchments and cities. His technical skills include Python and its analytical packages, ESRI GIS, APIs, WCS clients, and cloud-based platforms such as Google Earth Engine (GEE), ESA, NASA MAAP, and ODC-DEA.

With a strong background in collaborative consulting, stakeholder engagement, and clear communication, Jabbar consistently delivers valuable insights and practical outcomes to meet client needs effectively.