INVITED PLENARY SPEAKERS

Prof Charlie Veron

Corals of the World

Charlie was the first full-time researcher on the Great Barrier Reef and the first scientist employed by the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS). He became Chief Scientist of that organisation in 1997, a position he held for 7 years. He left AIMS in 2007 to work on corals, climate change and reef conservation. He has been interviewed more than 300 times and has had a central role in 34 video productions the best known being Australian Story (ABC, 2021), The Reef (HBO, 2020), The Magnitude of All things (2020), Chasing Coral (2017). Has about 100 publications including 16 books and monographs on almost anything to do with corals from palaeontology, taxonomy and biogeography to physiology and molecular science. He has also published widely on other subjects notably evolution, mass extinctions, and most importantly, the website www.coralsoftheworld.org, (2016 and 2026). His most influential reviews are his memoire A Life Underwater (Penguin 2017) and Review of coral taxonomy, evolution and diversity (4 authors, 2025).