Catherine Monagle is a programme manager and Senior Fellow with the Traditional Knowledge Initiative of the UNU Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability (UNU-IAS). An Australian national, Monagle graduated with degrees in science (ecology and evolutionary biology) and law from Monash University, and undertook studies in international law at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands. She holds a Master of Laws from the Australian National University and was admitted to legal practice in the Supreme Court of NSW.

Monagle has particular expertise at the intersection of international law, natural resource management, biodiversity, genetic resources, climate change, traditional knowledge and intellectual property rights, and has an interest in science in environmental regulation. In these areas she has advised governments, international organizations and NGOs. She is currently acting as Secretary of the Expert Taskforce on Global Knowledge Governance being undertaken by the Global Economic Governance Programme of Oxford University. She is also currently reviewing legislative frameworks for the protection of the marine environment in Australia, and working with traditional owners in managing intellectual property rights and interests in the context of biodiversity and natural resource management in the North of Australia.