Prior to joining NCEPH, Rocio worked as a fisheries scientist for the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) at the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. Rocio has a Master of Wildlife Management from Macquarie University and a Bachelor of Science from James Cook University.

Rocio’s PhD research is part of the ARC Linkage funded project “Surveillance programs and sampling schemes for assessing and maintaining the absence of pests and diseases”. Her research involves spatial modelling of spread of pathogens and pests, including the role of climate variability in driving incursion.