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Deputy Director and ARC Future Fellow, Australian Centre for Ancient DNA, University of Adelaide

I grew up in Tasmania and completed a Science Degree and PhD at the University of Tasmania where I developed a keen interest in the evolution of island faunas and ancient DNA. Since then I have worked on ancient DNA projects (including the extinct Dodo, Moa, the reptile fauna of the Mascarene islands and attempts to retrieve DNA from insects preserved in amber) at the Natural History Museum (London), comparative phylogeography of rainforest vertebrates at the University of Queensland, phylogeography and molecular systematics of Australian owls and lizards at Museum Victoria, and have been based at the University of Adelaide since 2005. My research uses ancient and modern DNA to understand the impacts of human activities over the last 200 years on threatened and endangered species, the impacts of climate change on genetic diversity and demography over the last 50,000 years and the phylogeography of a range of vertebrates. Since 2007 I have applied my ancient DNA expertise to the problem of forensic identification of degraded human skeletal remains and am currently an ARC Future Fellow working on a project to establish a Advanced Forensics Facility at the University of Adelaide to provide specialist DNA identification of human remains.

Experience

  • 2011–present
    ARC Future Fellow and Deputy Director - ACAD, University of Adelaide
  • 2005–2010
    Research Scientists and Deputy Director - ACAD, University of Adelaide
  • 2003–2005
    Research Scientist, Museun Victoria
  • 2000–2003
    Research Scientist, University of Queensland, Brisbane
  • 1994–2000
    Research Scientist, Natural History Museum, London

Education

  • 1995 
    University of Tasmania, PhD
  • 1991 
    University of Tasmania, Bachelor of Science (Hons)

Research Areas

  • Forensic Biology (069901)
  • Conservation And Biodiversity (050202)
  • Biogeography And Phylogeography (060302)