Project Opportunities

The Wildlife Genetics Laboratory within the Institute for Applied Ecology at the University of Canberra currently host an ARC funded project on sex determination in reptiles.

Eastern Water Dragon PhD and Honours: Sex in Dragons The research involves using molecular and cytological approaches to compare genetics of sex across vertebrate groups and to learn more of the evolution of mechanisms of sex determination in reptiles. There are also opportunities to devise projects in the broader area of sex ratio evolution and ecology of sex determination.

Publications arising from our work can be accessed from here.

Specific project areas for PhD students that have been identified as a priority for us include

redball Comparative mapping of candidate sex determining genes in reptiles.
redball Searching for sex specific markers in lizards, with a special focus on homology across the GSD-TSD boundary.
redball Applying molecular markers derived from the genetic work to incubation and/or field experiments with temperature and hormonally-induced sex reversal to test hypotheses on offspring viability and fitness.
redball Using agent models to explore hypotheses in sex ratio evolution, evolution of sex determination and sex allocation for species with overlapping generations. Computing and mathematical capability together with an interest in tackling biological questions would be required for a project in this area.
Specific project areas for Honours students that have been identified as a priority for us include
redball Mapping vertebrate sex chromosomal or candidate sex determining genes in our target species, the dragon lizard Pogona vitticeps.
If you are interested in joining our team, please submit an electronic copy of your resume outlining your qualifications and experience and giving the names of two referees, with a covering letter outlining any specific research interests or ideas you might have regarding a PhD project , to Prof. Arthur Georges with a copy to Prof. Stephen Sarre. You may also wish to contact Assistant Prof. Tariq Ezaz to discuss the project opportunities in further detail.

Australian Postgraduate Research Awards, University of Canberra Scholarships and Endeavour International Postgraduate Research Awards are available in the current round. The closing date for applications is October 31 in each year.

Application forms for Australian Postgraduate Research Awards ( Australian and NZ citizens), Endeavour International Postgraduate Research Awards (International students) or University of Canberra Scholarships are available on request from our postgraduate office. Guidelines can be found here.

Note that if you are an international student, the Australian system might be different from that in your home country. To gain entry to the PhD program in Australia, you will require a four year undergraduate degree, with a substantial research component in your fourth year. The fourth year would need to be graded with an average mark of 85% or greater to gain the first class equivalence that is necessary to be competitive. Alternatively, an ungraded Masters degree with a publication record would be considered to meet the criterion of first class honours equivalence.

 

Professor Arthur Georges
Applied Ecology Research Group
University of Canberra, ACT 2601, AUSTRALIA Telephone: + 61 2 6201 5786 Facsimile: +61 2 6201 5305 Email: "surname"@aerg.canberra.edu.au
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