If you are potentially interested in undertaking a PhD in the comparative ecology lab at Macquarie University, here is information that may help you.

The lab occupies an area on the ground floor of building E8C. The area is shared with Dr Lesley Hughes's research group, which works on plant-insect interactions in relation to global climate change. Lab members have desks within the common area.

The current research activities in the lab are outlined on separate pages, but research students typically develop their own project, which need not be closely related to the ARC-funded research or to the projects by other students.

The lab engages in a lot of discussion, mutual assistance with each other's projects, and comments on each other's manuscripts and seminars. Responsibilities are shared around, ranging from taking care of the vehicles to building web pages to scrubbing the coffee pot. Each member spends a scheduled half-hour once a week in discussion with Westoby, and one day a week is given over to this. There is a weekly journal club at midday, and an end-of-afternoon session for ad hoc discussions of results or methodology. All this undeniably takes time away from collecting your own data, so if you would rather not be distracted by all this communal activity, please choose another lab!

As far as funding to live off during a PhD, you will need to have an Hons I result, or a good MSc, in order to obtain an Australian Postgraduate Award. Australian funding is not available for overseas students. The deadline for APA applications is generally at the end of October. As well as being in a position to obtain an APA, you should contact Mark Westoby, and preferably arrange to visit the lab and talk to us all, sometime between July and November. The lab doesn't accept new members on the strength of an application form alone, even if they can obtain an APA. Decisions depend on personal factors and on the current degree of crowding in the lab, as well as on your academic record.

Research students doing PhDs often undertake some tutoring in undergraduate classes as well. This does not provide enough income to live off, but helps to broaden the research student's experience.

The lab's activities are embedded in the many other research activities of the Department of Biological Sciences. The Department includes the Key Centre for Biodiversity and Bioresources, the CRC for Marsupial Biology and Conservation, and the Australian Proteome Analysis Facility. All postgraduates in the Department are expected to attend at least 26 seminars a year and keep notes, in order to cultivate good habits in taking an interest outside their immediate research area. There is a conference in November each year, where all postgraduates give a 20-min seminar, and have an interview with an advisory panel. The Department's vigorous research culture converts talented research students into PhD graduates of very high standards, as indicated by frequent publication in competitive international journals, and by the many best-presentation or best-manuscript prizes awarded to our students over the years.

List of past postgraduate students & topics .