Peter Gell is a biogeographer, ecologist and paleoecologist who specialises in the use of diatoms. He has examined long term change in the forests of East Gippsland, the climates of south east Australia and the wetlands of the southern Murray Darling Basin. He has lead working groups in the Global Research Project Past Global Changes and was a member of the PAGES steering committee. He is on the editorial board of The Anthropocene and Frontiers in Conservation Science, has produced ~ 160 publications, lead over 20 category 1 research grants, and supervised more than 50 postgrad and honours students. He was Director of Diatoma and the Centre for Environmental Management and is now chair of both the Regional Climate Adaptation Group and Bunanyung Landscape Alliance.