About the School of BioSciences

Head of School's Welcome

The School of BioSciences is a vibrant collective of academic and professional staff, as well as undergraduate and postgraduate students, and valued funders, collaborators, and alumni.

Our scholars and students explore questions of conservation and climate change, evolution and behaviour, genetics and development, marine biology, or plant biodiversity.

You won’t just find us in the lab. We work in rainforests, creeks, deserts, mountain ranges, and even underwater. Our tools of the trade include precision electron microscopes, petri dishes and test tubes, as well as boats, four-wheel-drives, waders, outdoor cameras, snake protection and insect repellent.

We are a member of significant national research hubs that help maintain Australia’s standing in priority research areas such as climate change, biosecurity and genomics.

With more than 50 research groups and state-of-the-art facilities including optical microscopes, the Glasshouse Complex, the Herbarium and the Tiegs Museum of Zoology, we are a leading centre for bioscience research, collaboration and learning.

In seeking to understand life on Earth, we acknowledge and honour Indigenous Australians as this country’s first scientists, and holders of knowledge about its living systems, and its land, waters, and sky.

We value a respectful, consultative, and supportive environment that provides a physically and psychologically safe space.

The school supports diversity and inclusion and seeks to foster the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities both within and external to the university.

We are committed to reducing barriers for women, LGBTIQ+, people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in the biological sciences.

Professor Margie Mayfield
Head, School of BioSciences