Research Staff - Biodiversity North
Dr Michael Braby - Entomologist
Qualifications
Michael joined the Biodiversity Conservation Division in late 2005. He gained his B.Sc. (Hons) in zoology at La Trobe University (1987) and a PhD in entomology at James Cook University (1995). Prior to moving to Darwin he completed three postdoctoral fellowships with CSIRO Entomology, Harvard University and the Australian National University.
Research
Michael has around 20 years experience in a wide range of scientific research activities, has published two books and more than 55 refereed papers, including three book chapters, and has led field expeditions to several remote areas including Cape York Peninsula, Papua New Guinea, and Central and South America. His current and past research interests include the ecology, taxonomy, systematics, biogeography, and conservation of threatened Lepidoptera.
He is currently developing a database of threatened invertebrates in the Northern Territory, an atlas of key focal groups, and recovery plans and management of threatened insect species.
Prizes/Awards
In 1999, Michael won a Fulbright Postdoctoral Fellowship to study for two years at the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, USA. He was then awarded a three-year Australian Postdoctoral Fellowship through the ARC, which he took up at the Australian National University, Canberra.
In 2001, he was awarded the prestigious Whitley Medal by the Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales for his two volume text book Butterflies of Australia: their Identification, Biology and Distribution published by CSIRO Publishing in 2000.
In 2005, he won a Whitley Award for the best Australian Field Guide for his book The Complete Field Guide to Butterflies of Australia, also published by CSIRO Publishing in 2004.
More recently, he won the Best Paper Award of the Year by the Entomological Society of Japan for a paper published in the journal Entomological Science in 2006.
