PhD Project Title
BugEye: Automated monitoring of Australia’s priority insects with AI
Project Summary
To scale up biodiversity conservation, technological solutions to improve biodiversity monitoring are paramount (Pringle et al. 2025). Insect diversity is a key indicator of ecosystem health, and this project aims to genuinely revolutionise insect monitoring in Australia by adapting AI algorithms and generating training data sets to monitor Australia’s priority insects, such as invasives and pests, threatened species, and indicator species. Building on a data-rich approach from Europe, this project will help track landscape restoration, monitor threatened species, improve biosecurity surveillance, and hone precision in pest control methods. The hardware for automated insect monitoring units, BugEyes, are in pilot funded by WSU School of Science, TERN, and the Wedgetail Foundation (through Umbers’ Industry Fellowship partner Invertebrates Australia), due for deployment in the Blue Mountains and Tasmania in 2026 and Umbers’ ARC Linkage Project on Bogong moth breeding grounds and stewardship. The project will help train neural networks to identify Australian priority species from images libraries that will be developed from citizen science platforms like iNaturalist, verified by experts. This project has the potential to substantially increase monitoring power, help bend the curve on biodiversity loss, and deliver a scalable, marketable product.
This project ties into global networks including Insect AI, WildLabs, and the Research Coordination Network for Insect Decline.
Funding
The new Linkage Project (awarded May 2026) provides a scholarship for this project and the project is supported by existing grant funding.