Potential Supervisors for Australian Herpetological Research Projects

List of Potential Herp Supervisors (PDF version of the document)

List of Potential Herp Supervisors (EXCEL version of the document - you can cut and paste web addresses from this one)

Australia has an astounding diversity of frogs and reptiles and lots of undergraduate students are keen to follow their interests by studying for a Graduate Diploma or Honours and perhaps a Masters and/or PhD.

It is now very common that students do Grad Dips, Honours or Masters degrees at the same university that they did their undergraduate. It is also very common for students to do PhD degrees at the same place they did their Honours. That can be fine and many students have done extremely well by doing all their degrees at the same university, but there are a couple of things you should know.

• It can be very good to move to a different university to do your next degree. It broadens your experience base, you might get to go in a totally new direction, and you gain access to mentors you otherwise might not meet.
• There is a strong feeling among top researchers that moving labs between Honours and the PhD and/or PhD and postdoc is an important part of academic development (for example, ARC Postdoc applicants are required to give good justification if they are seeking to stay in the same lab).
• There is considerable and ever increasing pressure from universities on their academics to keep students in place and not let them move to other places to study. Incredibly, at some universities this is now official policy. This is entirely driven by money - your enrolment is worth cash to a university.
• Your supervisor might not want to let you go. This could be because you are an excellent student, but it also could be because they need students, they are feeling the pressure from the university, or because they are not acting in your best interest.

With these issues in mind, I have created a list of Australian-based people who can serve as a supervisor or co-supervisor on a herp related project, either for honours or postgraduate study. I have included their contact details where I have been able to find them easily. The idea here is that as long as students know about this web site, there is no excuse for not being aware of alternatives.

The list is not complete. For example, I have only included people who have permanent or senior long-contract jobs. I have not included postdoctoral fellows even though they generally are able to co-supervise students. Of course there are also lots of potential supervisors who do not themselves work on herps.

At present, there are about 65 potential supervisors on this list from every State and Territory in Australia. There are surely people I have missed and I will endeavour to add them as I become aware of them. Please email any comments or suggestions to me at: Scott.Keogh@anu.edu.au

LINKS to related info:

Resources and advice for young scientists (has links to a lot of herp related grants)

Piled Higher and Deeper (PhD) - a comic strip for graduate students

Australian Society of Herpetologists