Rate My Professor Roberta Bencini

Roberta Bencini is an Associate Professor and Senior Honorary Research Fellow in the School of Agriculture and Environment at the Institute of Agriculture, The University of Western Australia. She holds a PhD on the physiology of lactation in sheep and a Graduate Certificate in Tertiary Teaching from the University of New South Wales. Appointed as an academic at The University of Western Australia in 1993, her career trajectory includes Lecturer in Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, The University of Western Australia (1995–2001); Associate Lecturer in Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, The University of Western Australia (1992–1994); and MAF Technology Research Fellow at Flock House Research Station, Bulls, New Zealand (1990–1991). Bencini coordinates three postgraduate units: ANIM3306 Clean, Green and Ethical Animal Production; SCIE4403 The conduct, ethics and communication of science; and organizes wildlife-related field trips for ENVT4461 Assessing environmental quality. She supervises honours, Master's, and PhD students mainly on wildlife research projects and has managed 27 research grants from sources including the Australian Research Council and Main Roads WA.

Her research specializations include the ecology and management of endangered marsupials and threatened wildlife, developing methods to mitigate negative effects of roads and developments—such as underpasses and rope bridges—and managing orphaned and rehabilitated western ringtail possums (Pseudocheirus occidentalis), now critically endangered. Other interests encompass conservation biology and lactation physiology. Since 1997, she has served on the Dibbler Recovery Team, contributing to a captive colony at Perth Zoo, a new population on Escape Island, and research showing resource availability determines male die-offs in dibblers (Parantechinus apicalis). Key publications feature "Predator awareness training improves survival of released critically endangered western ringtail possums, Pseudocheirus occidentalis" (Corsetti et al., 2025, Scientific Reports); "Captive-raised western ringtail possum (Pseudocheirus occidentalis) with a bold personality have higher survival rates when released into the wild" (Corsetti et al., 2024, Scientific Reports); "Practical, effective and safer: Placing traps above ground is an improved capture method for the critically endangered ngwayir (western ringtail possum; Pseudocheirus occidentalis)" (Corsetti et al., 2024, Animal Welfare); and the influential "Factors affecting the clotting properties of sheep milk" (2002, Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture). Her applied work supports infrastructure projects like the Bunbury Outer Ring Road and Forrest Highway, involving translocations and monitoring to reduce road kills and promote wildlife passages.