These points try to give you an idea of my expectations as a supervisor and the flavour of working in the lab so that you know what you are getting yourself in for if you wish to join us!

• We work co-operatively and endeavour to help each other with particular procedures or practical work. My supervisory style is "hands-on" and I would probably talk to you about your project almost every day. If you want to be left alone to do "your" project, then this is probably not the lab to do it in!
• I expect you to work hard and to be professional and dedicated to your research project. Your project should be your major activity while you are in the lab and not something that you fit in around other commitments. While working hours are somewhat flexible, laboratory and field work will often require your presence outside the usual 9am-5pm. You will need to be highly motivated to succeed in honours or a PhD. We will invest significant time, effort and resources on your behalf and we want you to succeed.
• PhD students should be determined from the outset to do work that will be noticed internationally ­ this is essential for future funding opportunities. I strongly encourage students to publish as they go, not after they finish. Evidence of your skills is critically important to your future career and finishing with a couple of publications already under your belt will drastically improve your prospects (and the continuing funding of the Foley lab).
• Students are always the primary or first authors of any work from their theses, provided you write it up within an agreed time frame. Most of the projects that are done in our lab require significant resources (be they analytical, equipment or animal-related) and so virtually all papers coming from our lab involve several authors. As a general rule we work on the "2/6 rule" when deciding who should be an author of a paper. If anyone makes a significant contribution to two of the following six steps then a joint authorship is warranted. (The six steps are (i) initial idea; (ii) obtaining funds, (iii) provision of resources, (iv) collecting data, (v) analysing data (vi) writing & publishing the paper)
• I expect students to be communicative and co-operative, to interact with members of the lab, other people in the School and to build networks with scientists in Australia and overseas.
• I expect students to present their findings at appropriate scientific meetings and to communicate their findings to the wider community through media outlets as the opportunity arises.

Scholarships for PhD students are available on the following topics

(1) Ecological genetics of defences in eucalypts.

(2) Production and quality of medicinal plants

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