Dr van Klinken is Leader for the Tropical Invasive Plants research project at CSIRO and Program Leader 1 with the CRCNPB.

His current activities involve conducting research into the ecology, control and management of tropical weed species including:

• Prosopis spp. (mesquite)
• Parkinsonia aculeata (parkinsonia)
• Hymenachne amplexicaulis (olive hymenachne)
• Phyla canescens (lippia)
• Xanthium occidentale (Noogoora burr)
• Cenchrus ciliaris (buffel grass).

Dr van Klinken has been with the CSIRO Entomology tropical weeds program since 1996. Most of that time has been spent at the Long Pocket Laboratories in Brisbane but with a three-year stint in Darwin, 2000-03, to expand his research in rangeland weeds.

Dr van Klinken was awarded a Bachelor of Science in Ecology and Entomology in 1989 with First Class Honours (testing coexistence theory), in 1990, from the University of Queensland.

He received his Doctor of Philosophy in Entomology (drosophilid ecology), also from the University of Queensland, in 1996.