Research History
I received my PhD at the University of Queensland in 2004, culminating an exciting project on bandicoot ecology. Since then, I've been working on koala conservation in urban SE Queensland and the wilds of St Bees Island and outback Queensland.
Research Interests
I began my love affair with critters at an early age, initially through a fascination with frogs. My parents were very understanding, allowing me to take over much of the backyard with dozens of buckets containing native frog tadpoles and my dad even built him a dedicated frog greenhouse where I could often be found of a night as a kid. In my latter teenage & then uni years my attention turned to other creatures of the night and so my zoological interests were diverted to more diurnal animals. Nowadays my research covers a range of fauna groups including birds, dung beetles, freshwater fish, koalas, quolls and microbats.
I'm particularly interested in how species are affected by urbanisation and how we can modify the way we build our suburbs to enhance the survival of natives. And after years of resisting, I finally succumbed to studying koala ecology, initially to stop the pestering of annoying colleagues, but then I actually got quite interested in these unusual arboreal fur balls. A major component of my current research examines the conservation and management of koalas in urban landscapes of South East Queensland and in coal mining landscapes of central Queensland.
Personal Interests
With the recent realisation that I'm not invincible, I've removed myself from contact sports but still love watching them (especially the game they play in heaven). Apparently marathon runners peak in their mid-thirties so I'm having a crack at that, but I hope it's a passing fad. I'm still very proud of his stamp collection, although it hasn’t received any attention for near on two decades. I like growing plants and playing with glow swords but never at the same time and I'm a life-time member of the Society for Promoting Garden Gnomes throughout Australasia.