Professor Paul Roe is Dean Researcher at James Cook University. His pioneering ecoacoustics research—including the Open Ecoacoustics project and the Australian Acoustic Observatory—continues full steam ahead, helping to shape the future of environmental monitoring through sound.

Previously, Paul was a full professor in the Science and Engineering Faculty at QUT in Brisbane, where he founded and led the Microsoft-QUT eResearch Centre—a collaboration with the Queensland State Government and Microsoft Research focused on smart tools for eResearch. He received his MEng from the University of York in 1987 and his PhD from the University of Glasgow in 1991.

Paul has published over 200 papers, secured more than $10 million in competitive research funding (half in category one research), and supervised more than 21 research students to completion. His interdisciplinary work ranges from large-scale ecological acoustic monitoring systems to innovative technologies that support communication and collaboration in remote Aboriginal communities. He is also the creator of the world’s first acoustic observatory to monitor biodiversity across Australia: acousticobservatory.org.