Our Living with Anxiety Study is hosting an art competition to showcase artistic representations of what it means to live with anxiety. If you are aged 18+ and reside in Australia and want to participate, please visit livingwithanxiety.org.au/artprize/ #anxiety #art #artprize #artcompetition

It's seems crazy that a super secretive skittish Lewin's Rail was spotted on Wednesday in Brisbane's South Bank (an inner city greenscape). My son and I bussed in this morning and found it foraging close to a busy footpath! An unexpected lifer! #birds #birding #Australia #lewinsrail #lifer

That was soooo stressful to watch. Go the Mighty Maroons! #QLDer #StateofOrigin

Let's all celebrate bees because today is #WorldBeeDay! There are over 20,000 bee species globally and ~2,000 species of Australian native bees but their survival is threatened by habitat loss, intensive farming processes, diseases and pests. Here's a selection of bees I've photographed.

Being celebrated on Mother's Day by my kids is a wonderful distraction from all the doom and gloom that's going on in the world right now. I always love getting their hand made cards. #mothersday #handmade

#predatoryjournal follow-up emails both amuse and annoy me. Today's email: You failed to receive this [2 month old] message, or intentionally you are not responding... 2 months ago: We genuinely emailed you quite a lot of times but received no response, so we'd like to try once more....

I was so excited to vote in my first Australian Federal Election since becoming a citizen. The election is tomorrow but I early voted today. After 20 years living here I finally got to have my say as to who I want governing Oz. Check out the long Senate ballot paper! #Australia #FederalElection

It's great that we contributed data from four Australian cohorts to the largest genetic study of #osteoarthritis published to date. The study identified hundreds of genetic risk loci and drug targets that could accelerate the development of more effective treatments. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

After becoming an Australian citizen in 2023 I'm looking forward to voting in my first federal election on May 3. Three useful websites to figure out who to vote for are 'Vote Compass 2025', 'They Vote for You', and '2025 Federal Election Preview'. #AustralianElection #federalelection #Australia

Spotted Pardalotes are native to Australia and one of our smallest birds at 8-10 cm in length! They are also one of my favourite Australian birds. I saw this one entering and exiting its small nest burrow in a soil bank along a walking track. #spottedpardalote #pardalote #birdsofaustralia #birds

PubMed searches weren't working an hour ago and it made me think again about whether PubMed will get targeted for a DEI purge along with all the other US government websites. I may be overly paranoid but what can we do to prepare if this happens? #PubMed #systematicreview #publications #research

Check out our new study that will improve our understanding of Anxiety disorders - in particular the identification of genetic or environmental factors that predict individual responses to common interventions, with the aim of increasing personalized care. #livingwithanxiety livingwithanxiety.org.au

Take shelter and stay safe everyone in South East Queensland and northern New South Wales! Fingers crossed we all make it through without loss of life. #tropicalcycloneAlfred #cycloneAlfred

Bar-shouldered Doves are native to #Australia and Southern New Guinea. It has a distinctive call that sounds like 'Bob Hawke' who is Australia's 23rd Prime Minister! #birds #birdsofAustralia #Dove #birdphotography

Tropical #Cyclone Alfred will be the first cyclone to make landfall near Brisbane since 1974 (that one caused the historic 1974 Brisbane floods). I'll be working from home and we're preparing for the rain and wind. I hope it doesn't cause too much destruction. #TropicalCycloneAlfred #Brisbane

This was the last straw and I've cancelled my Washington Post subscription. Bezos is now suppressing opinions that don't align with his own in the name of "freedom". #cancelwashingtonpost

I bet you didn't know I'm the second best #Questagame player in the world?! Think of it as a gamified iNaturalist where your aim is to photograph and identify all things wild to species level. I've photographed 821 unique species and IDed 6951 species photographed by other players.

As one of ~90,000 Australian #FluTracking participants, I fill in a short survey each week about whether I had any COVID and flu-like symptoms and my vaccination status. It's always interesting to see the latest respiratory illness trends. #citizenscience #respiratoryillness #covid #influenza #flu

Great Bowerbirds (Ptilonorhyncus nuchalis) are native to northern Australia and have a gorgeous bright pink crest that can be raised and lowered. This one lives in the backyard of my mother-in-law in Mareeba, QLD #bird #birds #birdsofaustralia #bowerbird #greatbowerbird #birdphotography

Today I'm very happy that I saw my first (actually my first 5!) Australian Painted-Snipes west of Brisbane. They are elusive and endangered birds. Sadly it's estimated only ~1000 are left in the wild. #wishIhadabettercamera #birds #AustralianPaintedSnipe #lifer #birdwatching #Australia

I've been making an effort to provide alt text on my photos so I'm happy to have a 100% rating! You can check your own alt text rating here: dame.is/ratingalttext #alttext #alttextrating

Variegated Fairywrens (13-14 cm big) are native to Australia and are always a delight to see. Watching one of them forcing her way in between the three on the branch in the other photos reminded me of when I was a kid with my three siblings on the couch! #birdsofaustralia #birding #birds

We're delighted to have contributed results from our Australian Genetics of Bipolar Disorder Study to the largest multi-ancestry GWAS of #Bipolar disorder to date (158K cases & 2.8M controls!). This international study was led by the #PGC & identified 298 genomic loci of which 267 were novel.

There's a lot going on in the world, and if you need a break you should join me watching the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney's Amorphophallus titanum flower blooming today! Here's the livestream. #corpseflower #Amorphophallustitanum #Amorphophallus #Sydney

Instead of doom scrolling about the state of affairs in the world, I'm going to refocus on the fact it's my 11th wedding anniversary to my best friend today! It's also the 19th anniversary of our first date. I super love this photo of our ceremony where our oldest son was our ring bearer.

It is wonderful to be able to share the latest PGC major depression GWAS that included results from our Australian Genetics of Depression Study. Large scale GWAS meta-analyses aren't possible without collaboration between hundreds of researchers and hundreds of thousands of study participants.

When your sister wants you to paint one of her favourite birds for her birthday you can't say no! Especially when you see Cheng Kang's amazing #Silvereye photo. Luckily she's not on Bluesky so she won't see this before I mail it to her! #sisters #birds #watercolour #watercolour

And with that, the 2024 season is over in Queensland, Australia. I hope you have a fantastic New Year and that 2025 treats you all well!

We were amazed to see the vibrant rufous feather colouring on this Little Pied Cormorant a few years ago! The white feathers had likely been stained with tannins in the water or bacterially deposited iron oxide. #Australia #birdsofaustralia #bird #birds #birdwatching #birding #cormorant

Christmas is only an hour away here! I hope you all have a Merry Christmas and happy and safe New Year! May 2025 be full of birds, odonata, and time spent with family and friends for us all!

This is why it's so important that Prof Katherine Wallis, myself and colleagues just got an #NHMRC #IdeasGrant awarded to identify genetic risk factors for antidepressant withdrawal symptoms. #antidepressantwithdrawal

I'm happy to announce that Prof Katharine Wallis (University of Queensland, UQ), myself (QIMR Berghofer), A/Prof Maria Donald (UQ) and A/Prof Chad Bosman (University of Calgary) were awarded an #NHMRC #IdeasGrant to identify genetic variants impacting antidepressant withdrawal symptoms.

Scientists, academics, researchers: We’re excited to share that @altmetric.com is now tracking mentions of your research on Bluesky! 🧪

African Penguins are the only penguin species I've seen in the wild. It was an amazing experience visiting the Stony Point Penguin Colony in Betty's Bay, South Africa last year. Loved seeing the Cape Rock Hyrax too! #birds #Penguin #SouthAfrica

The colours on this Crimson Marsh Glider are so striking! I loved seeing this along with a handful of other new #Odonata species when I was in #Singapore for work in October. #dragonfly #insectphotography

Some of the top birds I would love to see one day: Whiskered Auklet, King Eider, Surf Scoter, Common Loon, and Greater Roadrunner. In consolation of not seeing them I've drawn or painted a few like this #GreaterRoadrunner over the years. #birding #birds

Last year a pair of Noisy Pittas hung out at a sanctuary near me for a month and I took my oldest son birding with me to see them. It was so lovely to see his excitement (they were a lifer) and gasp/joy when he saw them foraging a few metres from him. #birds #Australia #wildlife #birdphotography

Seeing this Greater Racket-tailed Drongo at #Singapore Botanic Gardens was a magical experience! I ran/half jogged to the trees when I saw a long black blur fly in to them. The two delicate long tail feathers were so unexpected! #birds #birding #drongo #photography #birdphotography #wildlife #nature

As a Kiwi living in Australia it's always a thrill to see a #Koala in the wild! #wildlife #Australia #photography #wildlifephotography

Our baseline paper exploring self-reported experiences of #clozapine use and response, side effects, and mental health in the #ClozaGene Study is published in Schizophr Bull. We thank the >1000 participants for giving their time and support for this important project. doi.org/10.1093/schb...

Its always a pleasure to see a Galah (Eolophus roseicapilla) in our backyard. They aren't as common where we live as Rainbow Lorikeets and Long- and Short-billed Corellas. #birds #birding #Australia #backyardbirding #birdsofaustralia #wildlife

I left New Zealand 22 years ago for work. I miss family, nature, and of course the #birds ! On a visit home last year with my husband and kids, I photographed this beautiful #kererū / NZ Pigeon (Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae) that was feeding outside my Mum's lounge while we were all playing cards.

Another of my #Birdtober posts. I seriously love all #Auk species but sadly have never seen any in the wild. Razorbills (Alca torda) are also known as Razor-billed Auks or Lesser Auks. It is the closest living relative of the extinct Great Auk! #Razorbill #birds #birdart #birddrawing

I also love photographing dragonflies and damselflies like this Graphic Flutterer (Rhyothemis graphiptera) with the sun shining on its wings 4 years ago. They are also known as Banded Flutterers and Small Pond Dragonflies in Australia. #insectphotography #australia #dragonfly #graphicflutterer

While I'm a birder at heart my favourite Singapore wildlife that I spotted were a pair of Asian House Shrews at the Botanical Gardens. They kindly kept me company while I sat waiting for my camera and bins to acclimate to the humidity. #AsianHouseShrew #wildlife #photography

Saw this Banded Woodpecker when I was in Singapore last month for a conference. As a Kiwi living in Australia I'm always excited to see Woodpeckers since there are no Woodpecker species downunder! #birds #birding #BandedWoodpecker

Outside of being a research scientist I love birding and drawing birds. I just finished #Birdtober2024 where I made a watercolour painting of a painting of a bird every day in October. Here's Day 26: Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis). Reference photo: Ria Brodell. #birdtober #RedtailedHawk