The Big Ecology Lab
Information for Prospective Students


 The Big Ecology Lab is a new lab, just getting established at UNSW. We are a very collaborative group, with really wide-ranging interests. Current work in the lab includes global patterns in plant and animal traits, plant-animal interactions, vegetation dynamics, developing theory and collecting data to understand life history strategies, and invasion biology.
 
As a student in the Big Ecology lab, you’re expected to get involved with as many things as possible. For instance, you might attend a weekly discussion group, present work at conferences, help your labmates out (with fieldwork, figuring out the answers to difficult questions, and with moral support), do some undergrad teaching, go to seminars, talk science with other staff/students in the department, and come out for beer sometimes. This all takes up time; but it's this sort of stuff that makes being a grad student fun.
 
PhD/MSc students
I think it is best if you can come up with your own research questions (after all, you’re going to be thinking about this topic a lot for the next 2-3 years – it might as well be something you really care about). However, I will work with you to make sure that you end up with something that’s going to be achievable, scientifically sound AND interesting. I’m open to a wide range of project topics (check out the people/projects page for an idea of the sorts of things people do here) – but I will only supervise projects that are within my field of expertise (e.g. I’m just not qualified to supervise hard-core biochemistry, and you’ll need a cosupervisor if your project includes genetics).

BSc(hons) students.
I will be really happy to talk about your ideas for research; but if you can’t come up with anything, I do have a list of project ideas that I think will be both manageable and interesting. E-mail me, and I’ll send you the current version.

 NOTE: The single most important thing you should do while choosing a supervisor is to talk to their past/present students and ask what it’s like in their lab. Come and talk to us all.

Scholarship available!

I have a PhD scholarship available at the moment. This scholarship is for AUD$20,000 per year for three years. It does not include a fee-waiver, so if you’re not Australian or kiwi, you’ll need to get a fee-waiver scholarship from UNSW to go with this. Please e-mail Angela if you are interested in applying: a.moles [at] unsw.edu.au

Ben with a kiwi                                                                                               Lab meeting at UNSW - Laura, Paul, Angela, Floor (picture by Joanna)