​President: Bianca op den Brouw

Bianca is originally from Victoria, Australia, but has spent eleven years living and working overseas. She has a BSc (Hons) Zoology from Liverpool John Moores University, UK, and conducted her Honours research on European viper venom at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. Past research experience includes projects monitoring coral reef recovery and whale shark ecology in the Seychelles as well as herpetological surveys and tropical rainforest ecology research in Ecuador. She is currently doing a PhD with the Venom Evolution Lab in the School of Biological Sciences, UQ, where she is researching viper venom evolution and ecology. ​

​Treasurer: Chantelle Derez
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​Hi All, my name is Chantelle but I am better known as Chilli. Currently I am a Masters student about to start Elapid taxonomy project, but I started out many years ago working with venomous snakes and rare lizards, both in the wild and captivity. After my Honours, I was working with a rare lizard in the outback but had a change of lifestyle moving in the marine sector. Over time, I have been a Manager and Assistant Curator of a Venom Zoo in Australia, responsible for finance, paperwork, day to day running, staff, animals, presentations and call-outs, plus I've travelled around the world as a Manager of a NGO vessel (Sea Shepherd), responsible for crew, day to day activities, organising boat maintenance and finance. I am fastidious when it comes to money and even managed to backpack around Africa for three months with all my money on me, without getting robbed!

​Secretary: Daniel Dashevsky
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Daniel is an Alaskan who got his undergraduate degree in Biology from Reed College in Portland, Oregon. He is now a PhD student at UQ studying the venom composition of coral snakes from Asia and the Americas.

Daniel's experience also includes multiple seasons of field work looking for speckled rattlesnakes in Arizona and Mexico as well as an internship at the Kentucky Reptile Zoo.​​​

​Media Relations: Nicholas C. Wu BSc (Tech), BSc (Hons)

Nicholas is an ecophysiologist at the University of Queensland. He is currently a PhD candidate for the Franklin Eco-Lab at the School of Biological Sciences investigating the role of sloughing (skin shedding) on the physiological homeostasis of amphibians and how chytridiomycosis (fungal disease) affect this process. 
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Nicholas has a general interest on the form and function of vertebrates in relation to their ecology and evolution. Past research experience includes projects on riverine fish ecology, pheromonal discrimination in tuatara, energetics of skinks, bipedalism in agamids, and ion regulation in crocodilian cloaca.

Events Coordinator: Cameron Baker

Cameron is a movement ecologist at the University of Queensland. Having completed his BSc in Ecology and Zoology at UQ he is currently an Honours student in the Franklin Eco-Lab investigating the environmental factors influencing movement and reproduction in estuarine crocodiles. Previously he has assisted with research into the social systems of eastern water dragons, monitor lizard movement, and mitigation of sea turtle nest predation. Along with this he has extensive experience working with and caring for a variety of reptile species, including venomous snakes and crocodilians.

​He is an avid herper and enjoys getting out in the field to find and photograph all the native species that Australia has to offer.

Events Coordinator: James Dobson

James grew up in Thailand where his love of reptiles began. After being spoilt for reptiles his whole life there was only one place to go, where the native herps are legendary: Queensland, Australia.
​Herpetology is not only a hobby of James' but hopefully a career path, having dedicated three years of his life to a Bachelor of Science with Honours in the field of reptile venom. For the past four years he has been volunteering as an RA in the Venom Evolution Lab at UQ.

From his nearly seven years here in Brisbane he has become familiar with the native species and the reliable places to find them.

Header photo: UQ Herp Society Board members