Gael Jean Campbell-Young (; born 1973,

Carletonville Carletonville is a town in Gauteng and the seat of the Merafong City Local Municipality in the West Rand District Municipality in Gauteng, South Africa, just north of the richest gold-mining area in the world. At 3,749 m, Western Deep Levels ho ...

) is a South African-born

plant taxonomist Plant taxonomy is the science that finds, identifies, describes, classifies, and names plants. It is one of the main branches of taxonomy (the science that finds, describes, classifies, and names living things). Plant taxonomy is closely allied ...

and actor. She was actively involved in botanical research in South Africa until 2007, at which point she emigrated to Australia. Campbell-Young jointly discovered a new species of ''Pearsonia'' (Fabaceae) and the finding was published in 2008. She continued her work in botanical research while pursuing a PhD at

Curtin University Curtin University (previously Curtin University of Technology and Western Australian Institute of Technology) is an Australian public university, public research university based in Bentley, Western Australia, Bentley, Perth, Western Australia. ...

and after a period of research management and academic teaching interspersed with a sabbatical in which she trained in the dramatic arts, she pivoted her career into Project management of biodiversity and land-use projects. Since March 2020 she has been employed as Project Officer - Short-Term Modular Housing Program for Bushfire Recovery Victoria, a division of the

Victoria state Victoria, commonly abbreviated as Vic, is a States and territories of Australia, state in southeastern Australia. It is the second-smallest state (after Tasmania), with a land area of ; the second-most-populated state (after New South Wales), ...

government. From 2013 Campbell-Young trained in acting, TV presentation and screenwriting. Subsequently, she has appeared in theatre productions, feature films, short films and television commercials, amongst other productions.

Scientific education and career

Campbell-Young completed her BSc (Biological sciences) at the

University of Johannesburg The University of Johannesburg, colloquially known as UJ, is a public university A public university, state university, or public college is a university or college that is State ownership, owned by the state or receives significant fundi ...

, South Africa in 1994, followed by a BSc(Honours) in Botany in 1995 and MSc (Plant Taxonomy) in 1998, for which she revised a genus of legumes endemic to the South African fynbos region called '' Rafnia''. In 1995 she worked as a freelance editor during which time she did technical editing and proof-reading of academic publications, PhD dissertations, technical reports and other similar documents. Campbell-Young was appointed Botanical Research Officer / Biodiversity Consultant at the University of Johannesburg from October 1998 to November 2003. During this time she was involved in botanical taxonomy and research projects as well as biodiversity assessments for industrial development projects. She was one of three co-authors of a proposal presented to the

International Association for Plant Taxonomy The International Association for Plant Taxonomy (IAPT) is an organization established to promote an understanding of plant biodiversity, facilitate international communication of research between botanists, and oversee matters of uniformity and ...

to conserve the name ''Spartium capense'' (Leguminosae), a name that was in use from at least the early 1800s. They were not successful. From January 2005 to October 2007 Campbell-Young worked as Biodiversity Project Manager for conservation initiatives involving the Drakenstein municipality of

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

, the

South African National Biodiversity Institute The South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) is an organisation tasked with research and dissemination of information on biodiversity, and legally mandated to contribute to the management of the country's biodiversity resources. ...

(SANBI) and the organisation "Friends of Paarl Mountain". Crotalaria

In 2008, Campbell-Young and her colleague, Kevin Balkwill, jointly published the discovery of a new species belonging to the

Faboideae The Faboideae are a subfamily of the flowering plant family Fabaceae or Leguminosae. An acceptable alternative name for the subfamily is Papilionoideae, or Papilionaceae when this group of plants is treated as a family. This subfamily is widely ...

subfamily, '' Pearsonia callistoma'' in the

Nordic Journal of Botany The ''Nordic Journal of Botany'' is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal of botany, including the plant ecology, taxonomy, evolution, conservation, and biogeography of plants, algae, bryophytes, and fungi. It originated from four botanical j ...

and the discovery is jointly attributed to them in the botanical name. () Campbell-Young emigrated to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

in 2007 and worked as Biodiversity Consultant for Ecological Associates (Pty) Ltd in

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

and editor of the ''Australian Systematic Botany Newsletter''. In July 2010 she was appointed Vegetation Science Research Associate at

. She went on to pursue her PhD in Taxonomy at Curtin. Part of her research here included work for the Australian Research Council Linkage project. She stayed in this position until July 2013, at which time she left the university to pursue education in the dramatic arts. From August 2015 to June 2018 Campbell-Young returned to Curtin University and

Monash University Monash University () is a public university, public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. Named after World War I general Sir John Monash, it was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the ...

, where she had academic teaching duties. At the end of July 2018, Campbell-Young briefly returned to South Africa to attend the Fynbos Forum in

Rawsonville Rawsonville is a small wine growing and farming community in the Breede River Valley of the Western Cape province of South Africa. The town forms part of the Breede Valley Local Municipality, and is located in a scenic portion of the valley on ...

Western Cape The Western Cape ( ; , ) is a provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the List of South African provinces by area, fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , an ...

. She was employed as Project officer from Sep 2018 for Policy and licensing at the Environmental Protection Authority in

Victoria, Australia Victoria, commonly abbreviated as Vic, is a state in southeastern Australia. It is the second-smallest state (after Tasmania), with a land area of ; the second-most-populated state (after New South Wales), with a population of over 7 million; ...

and from February 2019 for Vicamp Supply Review for the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning. In 2019, Campbell-Young registered with the

Australian Business Register The Australian Business Number (ABN) is a unique 11-digit identifier issued by the Australian Business Register (ABR) which is operated by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO). The ABN was introduced on 1 July 2000 by John Howard's Liberal gov ...

as a sole trader and since March 2020 she has been the Project Leader for the Short-Term Modular Housing Program for Bushfire Recovery Victoria.

Dramatic career

In 2013 and 2014 Campbell-Young attended several courses and workshops on Acting, TV presentation and Screenwriting, with additional courses up to 2016. Since 2013 she starred in 23 film productions, 4 television commercials, and 7 theatre productions (3 as lead). Her theatre appearances include: * 2016: Lead role in '' 'Night Mother '' * 2015: Lead role in ''Deadly Relations'' * 2014: Lead role in ''Love and Other Flushes'' Her film appearances include: * 2018 ''Neighbours'' * 2018 ''Jack Irish'' * 2016 ''Tainted Getaway'' * 2015 ''To the End'' * 2014 ''House of Hancock'' * 2014 ''Dinner with Friends'' * 2014 ''Three Idiots'' * 2014 ''Infected Paradise''

References

External links

Gael Campbell-Young
on

JSTOR JSTOR ( ; short for ''Journal Storage'') is a digital library of academic journals, books, and primary sources founded in 1994. Originally containing digitized back issues of academic journals, it now encompasses books and other primary source ...

Gael Campbell-Young
at the Harvard University Herbaria & Libraries database
Ecological Associates website

Australian Linkage research projects
{{DEFAULTSORT:Campbell-Young, Gael Living people 1973 births University of Johannesburg alumni 20th-century South African botanists South African taxonomists Women taxonomists Curtin University alumni South African emigrants to Australia South African actresses People from Carletonville 21st-century South African botanists South African women botanists 21st-century South African women scientists