May marked an exciting milestone for several of our students, who have graduated after years of dedicated study and hard work. Please join us in congratulating them! 

Tiahni Bament – Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology 

Tiahni received first class honours for a thesis entitled ‘Barcoding Biodiversity: Building Upon the Insect Investigators Citizen Science Project’. This project involved developing a rapid DNA barcoding pipeline for the SARFMEE labs, as well as analysing the contribution of Insect Investigators on Hymenopteran records on the Atlas of Living Australia. A highlight of her honours year was attending the 2024 Australian Entomology Society conference in Hobart, where she presented a part of her honours work and got to meet passionate entomologists working all over Australia.  

Kelly Summers – Bachelor of Science in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology 

Throughout her undergraduate degree, Kelly focused her studies on both geology and environmental sciences, gaining valuable fieldwork experience in both disciplines. It was during this degree she first discovered an interest in studying underrepresented species, a passion she hopes to share with others. 

Katherine Oestmann – Bachelor of Science (Advanced) in Evolutionary Biology and Genetics 

During her undergraduate studies, Katherine undertook a summer research scholarship and an internship with the ISB Lab, both of which laid the foundation for her passion for invertebrate taxonomy and conservation. Katherine received the School of Biological Sciences 2024 Prize in Evolutionary Biology (Level III) for outstanding all-round academic achievement and service to the School of Biological Sciences. 

What are they up to next? 

Happily, all three students are continuing research work with the ISB Lab! 

Tiahni is working as a research technician within the lab. This has included working on the rapid DNA barcoding pipeline developed in her honours to DNA barcode Hymenoptera from a range of projects within the lab quickly and for a lower cost. 

For her Honours project, Kelly is researching cave cricket populations from Far North Queensland. She is working to describe and identify individual species from a variety of unidentified specimens using both their morphological traits and DNA barcoding techniques.

Katherine is investigating cryptic biodiversity in a South Australian isopod as part of a Master of Philosophy. She will be combining genetic, geographic data, and morphometric analysis to formally describe new species in the critically endangered group Phreatomerus.

You can see more of what our students are up to here!