Ailie MacKenzie
Research Profile
Key Info
-
- Position Title
- PhD Candidate, University of New South Wales and Australian Museum
-
- Section
- Palaeontology Collection
- Branch
- Life and Geosciences
- Division
- Australian Museum Research Institute
- On Social Media
Ailie is a PhD candidate at the University of New South Wales and the Australian Museum, working with Dr. Matthew McCurry. Her thesis project aims to find ways to deduce useful information from isolated fossil snake vertebrae, primarily exploring the correlations between vertebral shape and ecological niches in habitat, predation methods and diet in Australian snakes. While her ultimate goal is to apply her findings to fossil taxa, much of her research involves the exploration of these correlations in living snakes to use as a foundation for morphological comparisons with their extinct predecessors.
Qualifications
- Doctor of Philosophy, University of New South Wales - Current
- Master of Research, Macquarie University - 2021
- Bachelor of Science (Palaeobiology), Macquarie University - 2019
Grants, awards and scholarships
- Postgraduate Research Forum ESSRC Presentation Prize, University of New South Wales - 2024
- Peter Rankin Trust Fund for Herpetology, AMRI - 2023
- University Postgraduate Award, University of New South Wales - 2023
- University Medal for Biology, Macquarie University - 2022
- Master of Research Year 1 Biology Prize, Macquarie University – 2021
- Dr Alan Cole Award for Outstanding Academic Achievement (Postgraduate), Robert Menzies College - 2021
- Research Training Program for Master of Research (RTP MRES) Scholarship, Macquarie University - 2020
- Ralph Faulkner Prize for Evolutionary Palaeontology, Macquarie University – 2018
