Cool Jobs: Aquatic Ecology

Participant: Michelle Hobbs

A marine biologist working in the semi-arid interior of Australia? A career across environmental consulting, water quality policy and agriculture has meant just that for Griffith University’s Michelle Hobbs, who has a cool job in freshwater research. A lecturer in rivers, catchments and conservation biology, Michelle’s research is focused on the ecology of freshwater mussels in Australia. Michelle’s research also looks at how Indigenous knowledges and values are critical to conservation and water management. Michelle’s field work sees her contending with sandflies, venomous snakes, wild pigs, crocodiles and sharks, but becoming immersed in new places to learn what lives there and from people who belong to those places helps to gain knowledge in how to best manage these precious ecosystems into the future.