Professor Rick Shine

Rick Shine is a Professor of Biology at Macquarie University, in Sydney. He was employed for most of his career at the University of Sydney, and was able to devote his time to research (with a lot less undergrad teaching and administration) through Fellowships from the Australian Research Council. The first of those was a Federation Fellowship. Rick was then awarded a Laureate Fellowship, again from the ARC, to run until 2018. After that finished, he left Sydney University and transferred to nearby Macquarie University.

With the backing from those ARC Fellowships, Rick created TEAM BUFO in 2005, and he still heads the group.

Rick has been passionate about wildlife, especially reptiles and amphibians, since he was a small child in Brisbane. He turned that passion into a career, doing an undergraduate degree in science at the Australian National University (in Canberra), then a Ph.D at the University of New England (in Armidale). Then, after a few years’ postdoctoral work in the USA (where he met Terri), they both returned to Sydney in 1978.

Rick has conducted research all over the world, mostly on the ecology of snakes (which was the subject of his Ph.D). He’s published more than 1000 papers, and received many national and international awards for his research. For example, he's the only scientist who has received three Eureka Awards, for three different fields (research, mentoring, and communicating science to the public). In 2016 he received the two top awards in Australian science: NSW Scientist of the Year, and Prime Minister's Prize for Science.

Text courtesy www.canetoadsinoz.com