{{Short description|Australian botanist}} '''Roberta Ann Townsend''' (born 1954) is an Australian botanist, phycologist and archivist. She is also known as a plant collector under the name '''Roberta Ann Cowan'''.
== Life == Townsend was born in 1954 in Melbourne, Victoria. She completed a BSc (hons) in 1976 at the University of Melbourne.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last= |title=Cowan, Roberta Ann |url=https://www.cpbr.gov.au/biography/cowan-roberta-ann.html |access-date=2025-02-13 |website=Council of Heads of Australian Herbaria |language=en |archive-date=2025-02-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250221041747/https://www.cpbr.gov.au/biography/cowan-roberta-ann.html |url-status=live }}</ref> She later graduated from the University of Sydney in with a PhD for her thesis "The ''Sporolithaceae'' : its place in the Florideophycidae" in 1995.<ref>{{Citation |author1=Cowan |first=R. (Roberta) |title=The Sporolithaceae : its place in the Florideophycidae |publication-date=1995 |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/21835408 |access-date=13 February 2025 |archive-date=21 February 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250221041828/https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/21835408 |url-status=live }}</ref>
In 1994 Townsend's interest in researching algae led her to edit the Australian Marine Algal Name Index.<ref name=":0" />
She married American botanist Richard Sumner Cowan in 1986. Together they collected many plant species.<ref name=":0" />
During 2002 and 2003 she served as the Australian Botanical Liaison Officer at the Royal Botanic Gardens in London, England.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=George |first=Alex |date=May 2024 |title=The Australian Botanical Liaison Officer (ABLO) scheme at Kew, 1937–2009 |url=https://www.dcceew.gov.au/science-research/abrs/publications/biologue/33-part-3 |journal=Biologue |volume=33 |issue=3 |via=Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water |archive-date=2025-02-13 |access-date=2025-02-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250213065903/https://www.dcceew.gov.au/science-research/abrs/publications/biologue/33-part-3 |url-status=live }}</ref>
{{As of|2023}} Townsend is working at the Western Australian Herbarium on coralline algae.<ref name=":0" />
{{Botanist|R.A.Towns.}}
== References == {{Reflist}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Townsend, Roberta Ann}} Category:1954 births Category:Living people Category:University of Sydney alumni Category:Australian Botanical Liaison Officers Category:Australian women botanists Category:Australian phycologists