Flinders University palaeontology degree breaks new ground

Fossil hunters are digging the only degree of its kind in Australasia, studying alongside a university team with expertise spanning the past 400 million years of life on Earth.

The only palaeontology degree of its kind in Australasia is expected to unearth opportunities for those with an interest in prehistoric life.

The bachelor degree, launched this year by Flinders University, combines a broad knowledge of the scientific principles that underpin global palaeontology with a focus on Australia’s fossil record.

Palaeontology director Professor Gavin Prideaux says the Bachelor of Science (Palaeontology) degree — the only dedicated palaeontology degree in Australasia — is a major step towards Flinders becoming a world-leader in palaeontology study.

He says graduates will have the expertise required for a range of palaeontology careers, including working in museums, evolutionary studies, field work, ecological and environmental research, teaching and science communications.

“Our aim is to develop one of the best undergraduate and postgraduate training grounds in the world for palaeontology,’’ Prideaux says.

“We have been bullish about creating a diverse training program that will set graduates up for different career paths, ranging from researcher and fossil preparator to outreach officer and palaeo artist.’’

Bachelor of Science (Palaeontology) students Fraser Brown, Rachel Oertel and Maddison Randall at Flinders University’s $1.1m palaeontology laboratory. Picture: Flinders University

Throughout the degree, students will gain hands-on experience in field and laboratory-based settings, including field trips to fossil deposits in South Australia’s Naracoorte Caves and the Northern Territory’s Alcoota Fossil Reserve. From next year, human evolution will be introduced as a first-year subject in the degree, providing an insight into the origins of hominids and the history of the rise of Homo sapiens as a species.

“Our students will learn how we can use the fossil record to better understand the diversification of hominins, the position of our species in this evolutionary framework and the reasons we’re the only hominin species today,’’ Prideaux says.

MORE NEWS

What graduates really want from their first job

‘No-brainer’ training path lets you earn and learn

Flinders University boasts a team of six specialist professors and more than 25 researchers, with expertise spanning the past 400 million years of life on Earth.

The team regularly makes globally-significant discoveries, publishes in the world’s leading science journals and attracts millions of dollars in grants.

First-year palaeontology student Rachel Oertel says the new degree is extremely exciting. Oertel was part of a field trip to Alcoota earlier this year, where she dug up part of a leg bone of the largest bird ever, the Dromornis stirtoni. The megafauna weighed up to 650kg and lived up to eight million years ago.

“I’ve loved the idea of digging up bones since I was little,’’ says Oertel, who hopes to go on to study honours in Australian megafauna palaeontology.

“Palaeontology is very interesting because it can help to inform us about climate change and conservation nowadays. It’s also really cool to dig up old fossils.’’

Originally published as Flinders University palaeontology degree breaks new ground