Over a glass of wine, you'll hear from a broad-spectrum of scientists ranging from early to late-career scientists;
Dr
Lauren Esposito is an Assistant Curator at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco and the Founder of 500 Queer Scientists. She is a specialist of spider and scorpions! She is passionate about public engagement and science education and will deliver a video message to introduce the event.
Professor
David Mabberley AM is a British-born Australian botanist, educator and writer. He was consecutively founding Director of the University of Washington Botanic Gardens (Seattle, USA); Keeper of the Herbarium, Library, Art and Archives at the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew (United Kingdom); and Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney (Australia). His academic interests range from the taxonomy of citrus fruits to the history of science and botanical art.
Professor
Marie Herberstein is a Professor at Macquarie University working on the ecology of spiders and insect behaviour. One of her specialties is the evolution of sexual cannibalism, male genitalia and mate choice in praying mantids and orb-web spiders! She is also involved in Macquarie University's Ally Network, which provides a safe point of contact and support for staff and students.
Dr
Adam Frew is an ecologist at Charles Sturt University investigating interactions between soils, plants and insects. Adam is passionate about diversity across STEM industries and supporting early career scientists. He is a co-founder and President of Charles Sturt University Postdoctoral Society and is on the Equity and Diversity Working Group for the Ecological Society of Australia.
Perry Beasley-Hall is a PhD student at the University of Sydney. She studies the evolutionary history of giant burrowing cockroaches - not as scary as they sound! - and what they can tell us about the predictability of evolution as a whole.
Dr
Hervé Sauquet is a research scientist at the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney, specializing on the evolution of flowering plants and the extraordinary diversification of their flowers since their origin to the Present. One of his proudest achievements has been to show that all flowers are ancestrally bisexual! He is also one of the many faces on 500 Queer Scientists.