” I grew up in Bangalow and went to school in Lismore at Trinity Catholic College. I finished school and moved to Sydney to do a Bachelor in Environmental Biology. I actually did a double degree and my other degree was International Studies in Italian so I got to go on exchange to Italy for a year as part of my degree. I did some science subjects over there as well. I loved both degrees. Environmental Biology was definitely my choosing but International Studies was such a great experience to add onto that. I had a bit of time so I wasn’t stressed to finish Uni.
I had been studying Italian in high school so I went on with that at Uni. I took all my classes in Italian over there as well. I came home with one more year to go so my Undergrad took me 5 years and I finished in 2015.
I started a Masters by research in fresh water ecology pretty much straight away with a bit of travelling in between. Recently I upgraded to do a PH.D. My thesis is focussing on fresh water Eco systems in inland Australia. I’m looking at dam management and how that affects food webs and thermal regimes of the Macquarie River in central western NSW. I’m doing a basic monitoring program so every month I go out and take my samples. I probably cover about 3,000 kms of central NSW every trip. I drive along the river and go to all these fantastic sites picking up samples of water to look at in the lab at Uni. We monitor temperature 24/7. Monthly samples include algae, water bugs and I hope to look at how fish are affected in the future.
When I’m not working I love hiking. For me it’s an opportunity to step back and look at everything with a new perspective. If I’m struggling at uni I’ll take a day off to go hiking. It’s so good to step back and I feel like the only time I can really relax is in nature. I have a passion for fresh water ecology but what I want to do with my life is spend lots of time outdoors, not have to stress about sitting In an office or the daily commute. I’ve definitely travelled a lot and hiked a lot to kind of keep that feeling with me.
The most recent climb I did was Kosciusko. I do a lot of multi day trekking now so I camp in the valleys around. I’ve recently been exploring the less used paths in the Blue Mountains and camping somewhere in the valleys overnight. About a year and a half ago I did two five day walks in New Zealand. Just go into nature, take your food, just the basics. No phone for 5 days. Over the 11 Days I covered about 250kms.
I got to go to Borneo which is what I really wanted to do. I volunteered in Borneo. The uni gave me a grant to go over and volunteer in the rainforest on some regeneration projects. I was able to hike into little villages and learn about their lifestyle and to help plant trees so they have food for years to come. Rather than thinking the only way they could make money was to sell off their land which consisted of rainforest thousands of years old. We went in and showed them a diversity of things they could plant to be sustainable in their own little villages.
With the research I’m doing I’m studying a structure that’s been put in a dam which is the first in the world these being used for its purpose so people on an international level are really interested in the research. Earlier this year I was asked to speak at a conference to be held in July in the Czech Republic which sadly I can’t make this year. There’s another conference which will be held at UTS for the first time ever which I will be speaking at in September.
It’s so nice to know a lot of people are interested in what we are doing. A lot more people are taking notice these days of Environmental Science which is really good. “