Postgraduate opportunities

The ACA offers a range of PhD and Masters research opportunities to postgraduate students. Research topics available depend on current research being conducted by the ACA's research associates:

Palaeontology, Geology, Chemistry
Microbial life in ancient high temperature ecosystems
Earth's oldest lifeforms
Major asteroid/comet impacts with Earth
The evolution of microscopic lifeforms

Planetary exploration
Early life on Earth and the search for life on Mars

Microbiology
Microbial diversity in modern high temperature ecosystems, e.g. hot springs in South Australia and New Zealand

Astronomy
Understanding the origin of chirality in biological molecules
Searching for extrasolar planets by means of polarimetry
Formation of planetary systems

For details of scholarships for Australian and international students: http://www.research.mq.edu.au/students

Undergraduate opportunities

The flexible BSc program at Macquarie University allows students to follow a broad based degree course including units from a range of sciences relevant to astrobiology (astronomy, biology, chemistry, geology, physics).

A special interest seminar in Astrobiology (GEOS 309) is also offered at 300 level for science students. It is offered by the department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, in conjunction with the ACA, in Second Semester, on Friday afternoons from 2-5pm.

The course is interdisciplinary, and examines a range of concepts including the origin of life, molecular biology, planetary geology and cosmology. Lecturers include Prof. Malcolm Walter, astronomers A/Prof Jeremy Bailey and Dr Fred Watson, geoscientist A/Prof Simon George, historian Dr Marnie Hughes-Warrington and science communicator Carol Oliver.