My research is driven by questions about the evolutionary and demographic history of species, and the environments in which they live. Using genomics, my work investigates evolutionary relationships, molecular evolution, historical biogeography, population and conservation genomics. I am especially interested in the ways we can use museum collections as a resource for understanding biodiversity loss. My work focuses on Australian mammals and reptiles - especially rodents, marsupials and geckos.

I'm available to supervise honours, masters or PhD students. Below is a brief description of currently available student projects. I also welcome students who have their own project ideas. Please get in touch.

Project 1: Historical demography and population dynamics in Gehyra geckos. This project uses whole genome data to investigate the population size across a diverse group of lizards in northern Australia. If you are strong in bioinformatics - or are keen to learn - and are interested in questions related to detecting population size change in the genome, this project might be for you. While this project has a primarily computational focus, there will also be opportunities to gain laboratory-based skills, as well as potential to join in fieldwork in northern Australia.

Project 2: Detecting chromosome rearrangements with comparative Hi-C. New approaches in chromosome conformation capture (e.g. Hi-C) now allow for high-resolution reconstruction of chromosome structure, and chromosome evolution across diverse species. This project applies cutting edge genomic approaches, combined with direct karyopte data, to investigate genomic evolution and rearrangements in one of the most chromosomally-diverse Australian vertebrate radiations. This project will foster advanced computational and laboratory skills, as well as have potential to join in fieldwork in northern Australia.

Project 3: Comparative phylogeography of Australian mammals. This project investigates phylogeographic patterns in rodent species across northern Australia using genomic data, especially in the delicate mouse (Pseudomys delicatulus), western and eastern chesnut mouse (Pseudomys nanus, Pseudomys gracilicaudatus), and rock rat (Zyzomys argurus). There is opportunity to work with both new and existing exon capture and SNP-based datasets, as well as potential to visit museums to obtain samples and examine specimens. This scope for this project is broad, and can be expanded to other mammal species across Australia, including marsupials.