Supervision & Opportunities
There are several opportunities to develop your research career through honours and PhD projects. Contact me if you have ideas on how we can progress these research topics below.
(Please note that due to COVID-19 and international travel restrictions, application are limited to domestic or on-short international students. Please check back occassionally for updates!)
PhD OPPORTUNITY
The effects of wetland management on microbial carbon breakdown in Australian wetlands
The PhD candidate will investigate how wetland restoration and management influences a key part of the carbon cycle – plant litter decomposition. It is a multidisciplinary project that combines microbial ecology, biogeochemistry and wetland ecology. This work sits within a larger research program investigating global wetland decomposition, TeaComposition H2O.
3-year program inclusive of a AUD$28,600 per year stipend, tax exempt. International applications contingent on COVID-19 restrictions. Domestic applicants may be prioritised.
Applicants send me a cover letter, CV and contact info for two referees.
Who should apply? The scholarship would suit a highly-motivated candidate with an interest in coastal and freshwater wetland ecology, biogeochemistry and/or microbial ecology. Applicants will require a first-class honours (or equivalent) or a Masters degree in a similar field. We are looking for a candidate who is independent and works well in an interdisciplinary team environment. Excellent written communication skills are desired. A driver’s license is required for the fieldwork component. Selection will be based on prior academic experience.
Research Environment: The PhD candidate will be principally supervised by DECRA fellow Dr Stacey Trevathan-Tackett and will work withing Deakin University’s Blue Carbon Lab, led by A/Prof. Peter Macreadie, the School of Life and Environmental Science and Centre for Integrative Ecology. The position is based in the Melbourne/Burwood Campus, with opportunities to travel to other campuses, including the Queenscliff Marine Research Station.
My key interest is the breakdown of plant litter in blue carbon ecosystems. Decomposition is a key – but understudied – process that converts living plant carbon into the carbon available to be sequestered in wetland soils. How to climate and land-use change impact this important process?
The intersection between soil microbiomes and soil chemistry is another fascination of mine. Is the fate of carbon as emissions or sequestration a matter of who is there (the microbes) or what the carbon in like (the chemistry).
The microorganisms associated with plants, called the microbiome, play an essential role in plant health, resilience and adaptation.
We still have a lot to discover about the microbiomes of seagrass, mangrove and saltmarsh plants, including their roles in plant health, function and restoration.
Seagrass wasting disease, caused by the opportunistic pathogen Labyrinthula sp., has led to massive die-offs of seagrass meadows.
In a changing climate and increasingly stressful environments, we investigate the triggers of SWD linked to seagrass stress and Labyrinthula virulence.
