Professor Paul Bertsch was appointed as interim Queensland Chief Scientist in February 2019.

Paul is also Deputy Director-Science of the Land and Water Business Unit at CSIRO where he led a team of approximately 650 scientists and technical specialists from across CSIRO working on the stewardship of land and water resources, ecosystems and the built environment.

He has championed interdisciplinary and cross-agency science approaches to address the significant challenges facing Australia and the world, specifically around the environment, natural resource management and sustainability.

Prior to joining CSIRO in 2013, Paul was the Director of the Tracy Farmer Institute for Sustainability and the Environment and Professor of Environmental Chemistry and Toxicology at the University of Kentucky, Lexington.

Prof Bertsch has 30 years of experience in the fields of soil science, environmental geochemistry and toxicology.

He has significant international science administration, leadership and policy experience, and has built links to key leaders in federal and various state science agencies.

Paul has authored or co-authored more than 300 scientific and technical publications, and has held numerous executive roles for national and international scientific committees.