In this post we welcome our new Honours student, Steve Molan!
"My passion for nature started at a young age - my Mum tells me that I started my foray into conservation as a little boy. I would draw pictures of whichever bizarre animal I had most recently learned about, then bring them into class for show and tell. As an adult I decided that conservation was the career path I wanted to pursue after realising that I wanted meaningful work. I hope that one day my work might benefit myself, but also people and nature. As I trace my family lineage from the channel country in central Queensland, I am passionate about terrestrial Australian ecology, and endeavour to one day perform research in the outback.
I started my Bachelor of Environmental Science Majoring in Ecology and Conservation with Griffith University in 2018. Throughout this time, I have far from cemented my aspirations for the future, but hope to take every opportunity presented to me. My passion for learning has culminated in being offered a place in the Golden Key society, who only accept students with a GPA in the top 15%. I hope to use this opportunity to make international contacts and improve my prospects for the future in an ever globalising world.
Studying with Griffith has offered me some unique opportunities. I was lucky enough to get to go study abroad at the University of Southern Denmark in late 2019, where, among other things, I assisted some masters students with a project studying the diversity of terrestrial invertebrates. I’ve also recently interned with the Moreton Bay Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation which aims to protect the biodiversity hotspot of Moreton Bay in south east Queensland. Interning during the COVID crisis provided its own unique challenges, but these experiences have helped to shape my communication and organisational skills.
Before COVID, I spent much of my free time volunteering for the Our Living Outback campaign, a campaign aiming to gain more government funding for conservation programs in the outback. Through this work, I’ve made connections with prominent ecologists and conservation professionals, all of whom have inspired me and garnered an even stronger desire to work in this field.
When I’m not studying, I enjoy playing music - this was my first area of study, where I achieved a Bachelors in Music Technology at the Queensland Conservatorium. Nowadays, I enjoy writing music on my own, and play bass guitar in a band on the Gold Coast. I find that the creative exercise in playing music helps to keep my mind agile and malleable, which can be useful when working on essays or reports for university."
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