Manager, Bee Biosecurity & Surveillance
Dr Jenny Shanks joined PHA in 2016 as a Project Officer working with honey bee and pollination-reliant industries. In 2018 Jenny become the Coordinator of the National Bee Pest Surveillance Program, and in late 2020 she was promoted to Manager Bee Biosecurity and Surveillance.
Over her time with PHA, she has worked collaboratively with government, industry, and research groups to deliver bee biosecurity preparedness, exotic bee pest surveillance, and diagnostic activities across Australia. In addition she has overseen various research projects and delivered a range of new and innovative surveillance tools. Jenny is actively engaged across the company on a range of honey bee and native bee biosecurity projects.
Over the last ten years, Jenny’s scientific background has been focused on entomology specifically native bees and honey bees. She completed her PhD from Western Sydney University in 2015, with her thesis titled Tetragonula carbonaria and disease: Behavioural and antimicrobial defences by colonies to limit brood pathogens. A key outcome was reporting the first bacterial brood disease in a stingless bee colony. Her research experience includes the fields of behaviour, microbiology, molecular biology, and insect rearing. She has an honours degree investigating fruit fly behaviour and has also held both technical assistant and research officer positions at university and other government departments within the plant pest area.
Jenny feel’s fortunate to utilise her knowledge and skills to work directly with the Australian honey bee industry, emerging native bee industry, pollinator-reliant industries, enthusiastic community groups, and all government departments focused on improving bee biosecurity, pest and disease awareness and pollination outcomes.
She is a beekeeper, a dog-lover, and enjoys gardening.
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