Roberta Ann Townsend (born 1954) is an Australian botanist, phycologist and archivist.
[1] She later graduated from the University of Sydney in with a PhD for her thesis "The Sporolithaceae : its place in the Florideophycidae" in 1995.
[2] In 1994 Townsend's interest in researching algae led her to edit the Australian Marine Algal Name Index.
[1] She married American botanist Richard Sumner Cowan in 1986.
[3] As of 2023[update] Townsend is working at the Western Australian Herbarium on coralline algae.