Professor Paul McDonald

Paul established the ABEL when he moved to UNE in 2010. He has worked on a range of projects over his career, but has long-standing interests in acoustic communication, sociality and adapting existing technology to ask new and exciting questions. He teaches first year biology, zoology and third year animal behaviour at UNE, as well as leading the Overseas Study Tour to southern Africa. He was a past President of the Australasian Society for the Study of Animal Behaviour and a past member and also Chair of the Research and Conservation Committee of Birdlife Australia. He has also served as a Subject Editor of the Journal of Avian Biology and an Associate Editor of Emu: Austral Ornithology. In 2023 Paul took up a position as Chair of the Academic Board Teaching and Learning Committee at UNE. Google Scholar profile.

 

 

 

 

Dr Julie Kern

UNE Postdoctoral Fellow – Julie will investigate how Noisy Miners interact using social networks, and explore the impact of communication strategies on helping behaviour.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dr Steve Debus

Adjunct Researcher - Steve is one of Australia's premier raptor researchers, and has an impressive track record of publishing and commitment to ornithological research spanning decades. This expertise has seen him recently rewarded with a highly prestigious Serventy Medal from Birdlife Australia.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rhiannon Cheesewright

Masters student - The Impact of diet on the degree of aggression displayed during intraspecific conflict by Australian meat ant (Iridomyrmex purpureus) colonies.

 

 

 

 

 

Emily Dickson

PhD candidate – Improving animal welfare in beef cattle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Martin Dillon

PhD candidate – Camouflage of motion in lizards and snakes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lucy Farrow

PhD candidate – The impact of sociality on communicative complexity and brain size.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Simon Ling

PhD candidate - Ecoacoustics as a tool for biodiversity assessment

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Louise Streeting

PhD student - Headstarting Bell's Turtles: can we enable hatchlings to avoid the predation bottleneck?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chris Thomson

Masters student - Conservation and management of an endangered coastal emu population in a natural and agricultural landscape: investigating habitat selection, vehicular collision and mitigation techniques.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mick Wakefield

PhD student - Raptor nest behaviour, diet, and habitat requirements near Armidale in the Northern Tablelands, NSW.