Dr Margaret Friedel is an Adjunct Professor at the Research Institute for Environment & Livelihoods, in the College of Engineering, IT and Environment at Charles Darwin University in Alice Springs.

Margaret joined CSIRO Land Resources Management in Alice Springs in 1974 to research the ecology and management of arid rangelands. Over time her research expanded from nutrient cycling and productivity in central Australian grazing lands to include rangeland monitoring and assessment, land rehabilitation, tourism, land use planning, cultural values and policy development, and invasive plants. In addition to undertaking research in arid Australia, she worked with colleagues in South Africa, India, the US and Mongolia. Margaret was Officer-in-Charge of the CSIRO Central Australian Laboratory 2002-2009. She was awarded an Australian PSM in 2007. Having retired in 2010, she was appointed as an Honorary Fellow with CSIRO Land & Water to the end of 2019 and as a Professorial Fellow at Charles Darwin University from 2013. She was made a Fellow of the Australian Rangeland Society in 2017.

Margaret remains actively engaged with rangelands, including addressing aspects of fire, vegetation dynamics and weeds, and the importance of community inclusion and indigenous values in decision making about rangelands. She is currently researching the history of CSIRO in central Australia.