Flinders University\u2019s Matthew Flinders Fellow and South Australian Museum earth sciences expert Professor Mike Lee is the recipient of the 2018 Verco Medal.<\/p>\n
The Royal Society of South Australia awards this medal to an outstanding researcher who makes a significant and outstanding contribution to a field of science. First awarded in 1929, the Verco Medal is the highest honour that the Society can bestow on one of its Fellows.<\/p>\n
Professor Lee\u00a0is an internationally recognised authority in palaeontology and systematic biology, with more than a dozen Nature\/Science papers to his credit.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am interested in broad-scale patterns of evolution, such as major changes in body plan, or why some groups speciate much more rapidly than others,\u201d explains Professor Lee, outlining his area of expertise.<\/p>\n
\u201cReptiles are typically the research focus, though I also collaborate with workers on other groups such as birds, mammals and even arthropods.<\/p>\n
\u201cI grew up in Queensland in the 1980s, and spent most of my childhood catching and examining any creature that moved, much to my parents\u2019 horror. I now ostensibly get to do this for a living, except that with encroaching age and commitments my research is moving more into theoretical and computational areas.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think Bayesian methods (a means of assessing statistics) are the future of science.\u201d<\/p>\n
Professor Lee is a valued member of Flinders\u2019 outstanding palaeontology department.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are so pleased to have Professor Lee here at Flinders, adding strength to our palaeontology research group,\u201d says Professor John Long, Research Section Head for the Ecology and Evolution research group at Flinders University.<\/p>\n
Professor Lee is also helping to inform the next generation about palaeontology, appearing in a new Scope episode about Dinosaurs which has been posted online. https:\/\/tenplay.com.au\/channel-eleven\/scope<\/a><\/p>\n Previous Flinders University recipients of the Verco Medal include\u00a0 Matthew Flinders Fellow in Global Ecology Professor Corey Bradshaw (in 2017), Professor John Long and Professor David Day, from Biological Sciences in the Flinders University College of Science and Engineering.<\/p>\n