Past PhD students

Experiment in glasshouse testing rapid evolution of introduced plants.

  • Laura Warman (PhD 2011) – Alternative Stable States in Australia’s wet tropics. Now grants manager at Triangle Land Conservancy, North Carolina, USA.
  • Fiona Thomson (PhD 2011) – Global to local perspectives on seed dispersal. Now a Science Advisor Weeds at the New Zealand Department of Conservation.
  • Raymond Blick (PhD 2012) – Ecological associations and mimicry in Australian Mistletoe. Now a data scientist for research analysis, data and reporting at UNSW Sydney.
  • Habacuc Flores-Moreno (PhD 2013) – Ecological Mechanisms and evolutionary patterns of introduced species. Now Data Curation Analyst, Terrestrial Ecosystems Research Network, Australia.
  • Rhiannon Dalrymple (PhD 2015) – Patterns of colour diversity across communities. Now Project Officer for the CEPI funded Rapid Response Vaccine Pipeline at UQ.
  • Jacinta Green (PhD 2016) – Fouling on marine macroalgae. Now an environmental consultant in Northern NSW.
  • Sichong Chen (PhD 2016) – Seed size and seed dispersal. Now a Professor at the Wuhan Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan.
  • Floret Meredith (PhD 2017) – Herbivory and plant defense on islands vs. mainlands. Now Climate Change and Environment Officer for the Indigo Shire Council, Victoria.
  • Claire Brandenburger (PhD 2019) – Rapid evolution in an introduced beach daisy. Now a Herbarium Digitisation Officer at the National Herbarium of NSW, Australian Institute of Botanical Science.
  • Susan Everingham (PhD 2021) – Plant responses to climate change. Now a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Bern, Switzerland.
  • Alexander Sentinella (PhD 2021) – Spatial patterns in climate change risk. Now Science Coordinator at Growing Media Europe.
  • Zoe Xirocostas (PhD 2022) – Cross-continental analysis of interactions facilitating or hindering successful introduction. Now a research fellow at the University of Technology Sydney.
  • Frederick Dadzie (PhD 2023) – Using native microorganisms to restore degraded drylands.
  • Joe Atkinson (PhD 2023) – Assessing the effectiveness of ecosystem restoration across Australia. Now a postdoc at Aarhus University, Denmark.
  • Giancarlo Chiarenza (PhD 2023) – Large and in charge? How plant-soil relationships can shape plant success. Now a postdoc at Curtin University, Australia

Past Masters students

  • Joanna Buswell (MSc 2009) Rapid evolution in introduced species. Now an analyst at the Ministry for Environment, New Zealand.
  • Floor Soudijn (MSc 2009) Offspring size-number trade-offs in marine invertebrates. Now a postdoctoral researcher at Wageningen University & Research, Netherlands.

Past honours students

  • Paul Chachelle (BSc hons) Herbivory on land and in the sea. Went on to a PhD at U Western Australia.
  • Karen Bartle (BSc hons) Evolution of seed dispersal ability in introduced Senecio madagascariensis. Now a team leader in plant biosecurity at Australian Quarantine Inspection Service.
  • Ellen Couchman (BSc hons) Rapid morphological change in introduced starlings. Now an Environment Advisor at BMA, Queensland.
  • Rhiannon Dalrymple (BSc hons). Do clonal species change as quickly as sexually reproducing species? Went on to a PhD at UNSW (see above).
  • Marianne Tindall (BSc hons) The latitudinal gradient in spinescence. Now a swimming teacher.
  • Thomas Meredith (BSc hons) Herbivory on land and in the sea. Now QA/QC Brewer at Bridge Road Brewers.
  • Timothy Hitchcock (BSc hons) The latitudinal gradient in plant longevity. Now works at Commonwealth Bank.
  • Stephanie Creer (BSc hons) Ecological processes underlying rapid evolution in Arctotheca populifolia. Now a Strategic Evaluation and Data Governance at NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment.
  • Martin Kim (BSc hons) Herbivory on introduced vs native populations of Arctotheca populifolia. Now a graduate environmental consultant.
  • Susan Everingham (BSc hons 2016) When Native plants invade novel ecosystems. Went on to a PhD at UNSW (see above).
  • Casey Kirchoff (BSc hons 2016) Development of reproductive isolation in introduced Arctotheca populifolia (F1 generation). Became a PhD at UNSW Sydney (with David Keith).
  • Sivagowre (Meena) Sritharan (BSc hons 2017). Are Australian Alpine plants changing in response to climate change? Now a Conservation Scientist in the Science, Economics and Insights Division at the NSW Department of Planning & Environment.
  • Coen Romalis (BSc hons 2017) Development of reproductive isolation in introduced Arctotheca populifolia (F2 generation). Now works at an Ecological consulting firm in Melbourne.
  • Neil Ross (BSc hons 2017) Why do spinifex hummocks form fairy rings? Now doing a PhD at UNSW Sydney.
  • Karen Zeng (BSc hons 2018) Using photoperiod sensitivity to predict phenological responses to climate change. Currently a PhD student in The Big Ecology Lab (see “Lab Members”).
  • Zoe Xirocostas (BSc hons 2018) Does the sex with the reduced sex chromosome die earlier? A comparison across the tree of life. Went on to a PhD at UNSW (see above).
  • Jennifer Auld (BSc hons 2020) Quantifying distribution shifts of Australian alpine plants through time. Now an Senior Environmental Consultant at Ramboll.
  • Ashika Jagdish (BSc hons 2020) Shining a light on patterns of photoperiod sensitivity in seed germination across latitudes, ecosystems and functional traits. Now a Spatial Data Analyst at Lotsearch.
  • Lillian Zhang (BSc hons 2020) Range shifts in plant species in eastern Australia over the last 150 years. Now a Data Analytics Instructional Associate at General Assembly.
  • Sebastian Schwarz (BSc hons 2021) Plants with domatia house mycophagous mites to endure wetter climates for fungal control. Now a Policy Officer at the Department of Agriculture & the Environment.
  • Rosa Earle (BSc hons 2022) Empirical evidence for introduction bias.
  • Bettina Ignacio (BSc hons 2022) The potential for natural regeneration in a semi-arid rangeland from the soil seed bank. Now a Youth Minister at the Chatswood’s Our Lady of Dolours Church.
  • Madelon Cruickshank (BSc hons 2022) Introducing the COVERater: A training tool that decreases inaccuracy of cover estimates in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Now in the Graduate Development Program of the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water.
  • Marcus Greenwood (BSc hons 2022) Contextualising maternal effects: when and where do they matter? Currently a PhD student in The Big Ecology Lab (see “Lab Members”).
  • Euan Rogers (BSc hons 2022) Comparing the shifting distribution of Australian arid and mesic plants through time. Now a Graduate Environmental Consultant at GHD.