KZ: What is your role in the Passport2Recovery Koala Compass project, and when did you start working on this project?

J: I am a member of the team that established the Passport2Recovery Citizen Science Program starting in 2022. The Koala Compass project is one of 12 linked projects that make up the Passport2Recovery. I co-lead Koala Compass with Prof Karen Burke da Silva (who is a collaborator, my mother-in-law, and my son’s grandmother).

KZ: What are some of the achievements accomplished by the Koala Compass program so far?

J: Koala Compass has helped map the spread of koalas as their population recovers on Kangaroo Island after the Black Summer Bushfires. We’re also receiving excellent observations about how koalas cope with hot and cold weather. Did you know that koalas literally hug trees to cool themselves down on hot days? How hot is too hot for a koala? Citizen scientists are helping work that out by observing whether the koalas they see are curled up in a ball, sitting upright, or hugging their tummy flat against the tree.

KZ: Did you study any subjects or have any hobbies as a child that gave you skills you use now?

J: When I was a child, I used to pore over books about Australian animals – Guide to Reptiles of Australia, or Steve Parish books, or books about sharks, tigers, bears etc. I just found them intrinsically interesting for some reason and it didn’t click for me that you could be a biologist as a job until I was at university. Also, when I was in Year 5 and 6, our school participated in Streamwatch, a citizen science water monitoring program focused on our local waterway. That was my first experience of macroinvertebrates that live in creeks and how they can be an indicator of water quality. Looking back, that really was a foundational experience.

To read the main Ideas Lab interview with Dr Julian Beaman, grab K-Zone's 'Journey To The Final Frontier' 2026 issue, on sale now!