Current Recipients
Anna Faber (UWA)
Through the lens of a microbiologist – Looking at Western Australia’s unique biodiversity in times of pollution.
Plastic pollution has become an urgent challenge also for Western Australia, with up to 60,000 pieces/km2 found in Perth’s metropolitan area. While plastic pollution is mostly devastating for wildlife, certain microorganisms may be adapting to utilizing plastics as food. With the support of the John Glover Research Support Grant, we will investigate the plastic degradation capabilities of microbes from WA marine sediment, most of which have not been identified anywhere else in the world. This funding will help us understand how local microorganisms respond to and potentially mitigate the impact of persistent pollutants like plastics in WA’s marine environments.
Ben Roots (Murdoch)
Future-proofing food-webs in a drying climate: impact of increased salinity on the nutrition of a significant crustacean.
Ben Roots is a PhD candidate at Murdoch University passionate about aquatic invertebrate ecology and physiology. His research assesses the energetic and physiological demands on blue swimmer crabs and their prey in hypersaline estuaries (>40 ppt), and how this climate change impact alters food web nutritional quality.
Using standard ecological methods such as abundance, biomass, and community composition, alongside more novel ecological assessment methods including calorimetry and protein and lipid analysis, Ben’s work offers the first Western Australian-based quantitative assessment of how hypersalinity affects both invertebrate prey species availability and food web nutritional quality in estuaries
Ian Lim Han Yan (Curtin)
Interrogating the family: Estimating fine-scale dispersal of invasive species in Western Australia.
With a background in genomics and bioinformatics, Ian has explored population genomics of falcons and seahorses as part of the Malaysian BioGenome Project at Monash University Malaysia. Now a PhD candidate at Curtin University under the Population Biology & Genomics research group, Ian is channelling his passion for conservation and wildlife genomics to study invasive species in Western Australia. His research explores computational approaches to estimate natal dispersal and gene flow directionality at a fine-scale landscape. Using the invasive Portuguese millipede (Ommatoiulus moreleti) as a model species, Ian applies close-kin genetic methods and landscape resistance to uncover how small, cryptic invertebrates move between habitats to inform strategies in managing invasive spread and protect native biodiversity in Perth bushlands..
Jackson Rendall (UWA)
Conservation and population genomics of the south-western Australian spiny trapdoor spiders (Idiopidae: Arbanitinae).
Jackson is a Forrest Scholar and evolutionary biology PhD student at UWA. He is using genomic techniques to address key knowledge gaps relevant to the conservation of south-western Australian spiny trapdoor spiders. This group includes long-lived species (with lifespans often stretching decades) that construct deep, permanent burrows, sometimes with ornate twig-lining. These spiders have extremely low dispersal abilities, with some species being short-range endemics of conservation significance. Key threats include land clearing, rising soil salinity, and intense fires. Jackson’s work funded by the RSWA John Glover Research Grant aims to investigate how fragmentation in the Western Australian Wheatbelt has affected genetic connectivity, genetic diversity and inbreeding among remaining populations of the priority-listed Idiosoma schoknechtorum, which is endemic to the Northern Jarrah Forest and Wheatbelt. This work, which is in collaboration with DBCA, will help to identify populations of particular significance and will inform future conservation strategies such as translocations and captive breeding.
Julian Dietrich (ECU)
Multi-Omics Characterisation of Microbial Consortia Inhabiting Monazite Mineral Samples from the Mt Weld Mine, Western Australia.
Rare Earth Elements (REEs) are critical minerals essential for modern technology but are currently extracted using energy-intensive, chemically demanding, and environmentally harmful methods. This project aims to develop sustainable bioprocessing strategies for REEs recovery from monazite by investigating the microbial ecology of monazite ores. Bioleaching is significantly enhanced when monazite native microbial communities and exogenous phosphate-solubilizing microorganisms act synergistically.
Using experimental microbiology, multi-omics, and systems biology, the native microbial community will be fully characterized, and syntrophic microbial interactions will be explored, uncovering novel mechanisms of phosphate and REEs mobilization. This project will generate key insights into biogeochemical cycling, which will be applied to optimize and scale-up low-impact extraction biotechnologies.
Kiera Gordan (Murdoch)
The Effects of Habitat and Environmental Change on a Freshwater Turtle (Chelodina oblonga) Within a Modified Urban River System.
Perth’s freshwater snake-necked turtles (Chelodina oblonga, also; Booyi/Yakkun) are known to be threatened by anthropogenic impacts including urbanisation and accelerated climate change. Through this study, I seek to determine how turtle behaviour and movements are impacted both by aquatic infrastructure and the effects of climate change. To do so, I will tag turtles within the Canning River (also; Djarlgarra Beelier) with GPS data-loggers. The Canning River is a critical habitat for turtles within Perth’s metropolitan area, and this PhD project aims to better understand and thus accommodate these turtle populations. In doing so, we may help to safeguard the species into the future as Perth’s ephemeral freshwater continue to decline.
Madhoolika Karunakaram (UWA)
Investigating The Changes In Gene Expression During The Evolution Of C4 Photosynthesis In The Australian Grass Genus Neurachne.
Madhoolika is a PhD candidate at the University of Western Australia, working on the evolution of C4 photosynthesis in the endemic Australian grass genus Neurachne. C4 syndromes evolved from C3 photosynthesis as an adaptation to hot, dry, and arid conditions. In C4 plants, photosynthetic efficiencies are improved under these challenging conditions through a spatial separation of photosynthetic reactions across multiple leaf cell types. Madhoolika’s research will use two spatial transcriptomics technologies to identify changes to gene expression in three cell types participating in photosynthesis in leaves of C3, C3-C4 intermediate, and C4 Neurachne species. This research will contribute to identifying molecular mechanisms enabling C4 evolution which can be applied to improving photosynthetic efficiencies in C3 and C4 plants.
Charmaine Chin (UWA)
Chemical make-up of the deepest ocean dwelling animals.
The deepest ocean zone, termed the ‘hadal zone’ (> 6000 m), constitutes one of Earth’s most unforgiving environments and is considered the least explored of Earth’s biomes. My research project focuses on chemically characterising amphipods (shrimp-like crustaceans) from the Western Australian hadal zone and comparing them with shallower species, as well as with other regions on Earth. Evaluation of the organic, inorganic, and pollutant profile of WA amphipods will be achieved using a suite of advanced chemical characterisation techniques including high resolution chromatography and mass spectrometry. Identifying compounds relevant to deep-sea amphipods will contribute understanding towards the physical and chemical limits to which the existence of life is bounded by. Additionally, obtaining a baseline survey for marine conservation initiatives will help safeguard the ocean for future generations.
Stuart Lay (UWA)
Uncovering the Biodiversity of the Pilbara: Resolving the Shortfall in Taxonomic Knowledge of the Carabid Beetle Genus Abacetus (Coleoptera: Carabidae: Abacetini) and Investigating the Biogeographic Patterns and Evolution of Australian Abacetini.
The ground beetle genus Abacetus is poorly known in Australia with basic knowledge of species limits and species distribution unknown, and many undescribed species. The aim of my research is to discover, delimit and describe species of Abacetus, using genomic and morphological methods. I will sample specimens for genomic sequencing through field work in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, an area with a significant but understudied ground beetle fauna. I will also utilise natural history museum collections from Australia and overseas to confirm species identifications with type specimens. Understanding the diversity of Australian Abacetus will help to inform research into the evolution and biogeography of the tribe Abacetini.
Rosie Brown (Murdoch)
Environmental Drivers of Flatback Turtle Foraging in the Kimberley: Linking Diet, Nutritional Status, and Habitat Use.
Flatback turtles (Natator depressus) are endemic to Australia and rely on Yawuru Nagulagan Roebuck Bay Marine Park as a key foraging ground to build energy reserves for reproduction. Despite their Vulnerable conservation status, little is known about how environmental changes, such as marine heatwaves and seasonal shifts, affect their foraging ecology. This research uses stable isotope analysis and environmental DNA to explore how dietary patterns in flatback turtles vary in response to environmental variability. Understanding these patterns will help us monitor habitat quality, predict future space use, and inform effective conservation strategies for this unique species.
Ahmed Hussein (Curtin)
Quantum Diamond Imaging in Paleomagnetic Studies: Unveiling Earth’s Evolution and Ore Formation.
I am a PhD candidate at Curtin University. My research investigates Earth’s earliest magnetic history through cutting-edge grain-scale analysis. My PhD project pioneers the use of Quantum Diamond Microscopy (QDM) to image the magnetic signatures of individual grains preserved in some of Western Australia’s oldest rocks. By integrating QDM with traditional paleomagnetic methods, I aim to reconstruct ancient magnetic fields and improve understanding of early plate tectonics, planetary evolution, and the origins of ore-forming processes.
Supported by the RSWA John Glover Research Grant, I will conduct essential fieldwork to collect key rock samples from remote geological terrains across Western Australia. This field component is critical to building a high-quality dataset for QDM analysis and advancing a new workflow for grain-scale paleomagnetism. My work has the potential to provide valuable insights into deep-time geodynamics and contribute to the development of improved mineral exploration strategies across the state.