Researcher

Emeritus Professor Suzanne Joan Hand

My Expertise

Fossil bats; mammals; palaeontology; taxonomy; evolution; Riversleigh fossil project; bat conservation & evolution; Miocene fossils

Fields of Research (FoR)

Palaeontology (incl. Palynology), Evolutionary Biology

Biography

Professor Sue Hand is a vertebrate palaeontologist researching the history of Australian mammals, continuing climate and environmental change in Australia, New Zealand and Oceania, implications of that change for forest and island faunas, and the biodiversity, global relationships and evolutionary ecology of bats.

Her research interests are largely in the area of palaeontology, phylogenetics and biogeography, and specifically taxonomy,...view more

Professor Sue Hand is a vertebrate palaeontologist researching the history of Australian mammals, continuing climate and environmental change in Australia, New Zealand and Oceania, implications of that change for forest and island faunas, and the biodiversity, global relationships and evolutionary ecology of bats.

Her research interests are largely in the area of palaeontology, phylogenetics and biogeography, and specifically taxonomy, systematics, morphometrics, phylogenetics, biocorrelation, biogeography, palaeogeography, evolutionary biology and palaeoecology. Her area of special interest is fossil and modern bats, a major component of Australasia's living and fossil faunas, representing a quarter of Australian mammal species.

In these research areas, she has supervised/co-supervised 40 Honours, 3 Masters and 23 PhD students.

A key focus of the UNSW palaeontology group is the study of the fossil-rich Cenozoic faunas of the Riversleigh World Heritage Area in northwestern Queensland. These extremely rich 40 km2 deposits span the last 26 million years of Australia's extraordinary prehistory and have been described by Sir David Attenborough as one of the four most important fossil deposits in the world. The UNSW research group has been exploring, processing and studying assemblages from these deposits for over 40 years, with current research focusing on increasingly detailed aspects of site geology, geochemical analyses, radiometric dating, biocorrelation, taphonomy, systematics, evolutionary biology and palaeoecology using novel, innovative techniques. Their findings have more than trebled previous knowledge about the diversity of Australia’s terrestrial vertebrates with identification of more than 300 new kinds of animals. The Riversleigh Project involves the research efforts of over 100 researchers across 30 research institutions in 11 countries including the United States, Argentina, South Africa, China, Japan, England, Germany and France.


My Qualifications

  • PhD, Macquarie University, Australia 1986
  • BSc Hons, University of New South Wales, Australia 1980

My Awards

  • Fellow, Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales, 2001, for sustained zoological research
  • Fellow, Royal Society of New South Wales, 2015, for contributions to palaeontology 

My Research Supervision


Areas of supervision

Palaeontology, phylogenetics and biogeography, evolutionary biology and palaeoecology; bat functional biology


Currently supervising

  • Andrew Guess (Hons) – Tail morphology & function in Riversleigh diprotodontids
  • Chloe Ottaviano (Hons) – Identity, age and integrity of the UNSW Cave Bear skeleton
  • Corey Bennetts (PhD) – Analysis of the Hazel Creek Early Cretaceous biota
  • Tim Churchill (PhD) – New dasyuromorphians from Eocene to Pleistocene Australia
  • Roy Farman (PhD) – Analysis of frog fossils from the Oligocene & Miocene of Riversleigh
  • Chris Palmer (PhD) – Palaeoecology and community dynamics of Riversleigh mammals
  • Antonia Parker (PhD) – Diversity and phylogenetic relationships of Riversleigh fossil possums
  • James Strong (PhD candidate) – Oligocene and Miocene gastropods from Riversleigh
     

My Engagement

  • Australian Research Council College of Experts (2019 – 2021)
  • Australian Research Council ERA 2018 Research Evaluation Committee: Biological and Biotechnological Sciences
  • Australian Academy of Sciences Dorothy Hill Medal, Committee Member (2018 – 2020)
  • PANGEA Research Centre, Director (2017 – 2020)
  • Research Associate, American Museum of Natural History (1997 – )
  • Editor in Chief, Australasia’s palaeontology journal Alcheringa (1994 – 1997), Ed. Board (2000 – )
  • UNESCO World Heritage listing of Riversleigh fossil deposits, co-author inscription papers (1993)
  • President, Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales (1989 – 1991)
  • Inaugural Scientific Chairman and Treasurer, Australian Geographic Society Research Advisory Board (1986)
  • Councillor and Editorial Committees of Association of Australasian Palaeontologists, Linnean Society of New South Wales, and Australian Mammal Society (multiple terms)
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Location

Room 133
Samuels Building (F25)
UNSW, Kensington 2052

Contact

+61 2 9385 2125
+61 2 9385 1558