Researcher profiles

Dr Liz Reed

Dr Liz Reed is a vertebrate palaeontologist affiliated with the School of Physical Sciences, University of Adelaide. Her research has largely been focused on Quaternary aged cave deposits within the Australian Fossil Mammal Sites - Naracoorte Caves World Heritage Area. Previous research has included taphonomic studies of processes of bone accumulation in caves. Recent work has centred on extensive sedimentary sequences from late Pleistocene to Holocene deposits in Blanche, Robertson and Bat Caves. Dr Reed has taught at undergraduate, Honours and graduate level at Flinders University for many years.

Her interest in caves extends to conservation, heritage management, interpretation and tourism. She has done many print, radio and television interviews for national and international media e.g. Discovery Channel, National Geographic, TBC and the BBC to name a few. Dr Reed has also been involved with organising and participating in many public events at Naracoorte Caves since 1997 and has worked for many years to promote science and tourism at the caves.

Email: liz.reed@adelaide.edu.au

Peter Holz

Peter Holz is a PhD candidate and veterinarian who graduated from the University of Melbourne veterinary school in 1987 and spent the next 25 years chasing a career in zoo/wildlife medicine (really just an excuse to travel and annoy other species), working in the UK, Canada and Australia. He has now returned to the University of Melbourne to investigate the role of disease in population decline of the critically endangered Southern bent-wing bat.

Emmi Scherlies

Emmi Scherlies is a PhD candidate at La Trobe University, Bendigo, and is fascinated with elusive, nocturnal and threatened species. In 2014, Emmi was awarded First Class Honours for her thesis on the diet of the Powerful Owl in central Victoria. Since being introduced to the amazing world of bats by Dr Lindy Lumsden in 2015, her passion has been bat conservation. She is currently completing a PhD on the population dynamics of the critically endangered southern bent-wing bat using passive integrated transponder (PIT) technology.

Perry Beasley-Hall

Perry Beasley-Hall is an Honours student who graduated from the University of Adelaide with a Bachelor of Science (Advanced) in 2015. Her interests include invertebrate systematics, forensic entomology, and social justice issues.