I currently supervise several student research projects, and welcome new opportunities including via undergraduate interns, Honours, Masters and PhD candidates. I like to co-develop projects with students and work collaboratively on developing key skills of interest to my students throughout their candidature. I am open to discussing ideas for new research projects, and will list any upcoming opportunities with me below. New projects should ideally be ecological, or have a significant ecology component. See my About me page for contact details.
PhD student opportunity
PhD in urban bat adaptation to city environments, University of Sydney
NOW CLOSED - Expressions of interest welcome - please email me a 1-2 page outlining your experience, motivation to do a PhD and research interests/proposal on this topic.
This project will be focused on investigating ways that bats adapt to urban environments via examining key differences in behaviours, physiology and life history between urban and non-urban bat populations.
Key methodologies proposed for consideration include wing banding, assessment of nest box occupancy and breeding success, acoustic methods of bat call identification (via AudioMoth), GIS, mark-recapture analysis, hair or scat analysis and data analysis in R.
Additional info
This project is part of a larger Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) awarded to Caragh Threlfall
Animal handling is required, and the successful candidate would need a Lyssa virus vaccination for animal handling
Potential sites include those with bat nesting boxes, where the candidate may be required to complete working at heights training (~ 5 m).
A current driving licence is required
The project will be co-supervised by Prof Dieter Hochuli and Dr Bradley Law (NSW DPIE)
Candidate required to apply for an Australian Government Research Training Program (RTP) scholarship:
o https://www.sydney.edu.au/scholarships/e/australian-government-rtp-scholarship-domestic.html
Contact me to discuss prior to starting an application caragh.threlfall AT sydney.edu.au
Further information on applying at The University of Sydney can be found here
https://www.sydney.edu.au/research/opportunities/opportunities/show/2884