Celine Frere is a

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

evolutionary biologist. In 2017, she was named one of Australia's first "Superstars of STEM" by Science & Technology Australia. She is known for co-founding USC's Detection Dogs for Conservation initiative, training sniffer dogs to aid in research and conversation efforts around endangered and protected species.

Early life and education

Frere was born and raised outside of

Geneva, Switzerland Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the capital of the Republic and Ca ...

. After graduating high school in 1999, she moved to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

to attend university. In 2002, she received a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

degree in

Zoology Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the anatomy, structure, embryology, Biological classification, classification, Ethology, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinction, extinct, and ...

from the

University of Queensland The University of Queensland is a Public university, public research university located primarily in Brisbane, the capital city of the Australian state of Queensland. Founded in 1909 by the Queensland parliament, UQ is one of the six sandstone ...

, where she studied

humpback dolphins Humpback dolphins are members of the genus ''Sousa''. These dolphins are characterized by the conspicuous humps and elongated dorsal fins found on the backs of adults of the species. Humpback dolphins inhabit shallow nearshore waters along coast ...

for her undergraduate research. She then pursued her graduate education in

evolutionary biology Evolutionary biology is the subfield of biology that studies the evolutionary processes such as natural selection, common descent, and speciation that produced the diversity of life on Earth. In the 1930s, the discipline of evolutionary biolo ...

at the

University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW) is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It was established in 1949. The university comprises seven faculties, through which it offers bachelor's, master's and docto ...

, where she joined the Shark Bay Dolphin Project, working to understand how social and genetic factors affect dolphins' ability to survive and reproduce. She began her postdoctoral work in 2009 at the University of Queensland, transitioning from studying dolphins to studying

koalas The koala (''Phascolarctos cinereus''), sometimes inaccurately called the koala bear, is an arboreal herbivorous marsupial native to Australia. It is the only extant representative of the family '' Phascolarctidae''. Its closest living re ...

as they were undergoing a dramatic decline in their population. Her research focused on using koala poop to track and trace the animals, which became the basis for her subsequent research.

Career

Frere became a research fellow at the

University of the Sunshine Coast The University of the Sunshine Coast (UniSC; formerly abbreviated as USC until 2022) is a public university based on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia. After opening with 524 students in 1996 as the Sunshine Coast University College, it ...

where she began her program of training dogs to follow the scent trail of koala poop to track where koalas were living and patters of habitation. She and her research group tested a

detection dog A detection dog or sniffer dog is a dog that is trained to use its senses to detect substances such as explosives, illegal drugs, wildlife scat, semen, currency, blood, and contraband electronics such as illicit mobile phones. The sense most use ...

called Maya trained by professional dog trainer Gary Jackson to smell koala scat, demonstrating that this method was more efficient and accurate than other scat surveying methods. The method served as the basis for USC's Detection Dogs for Conservation, which she co-founded with colleague Romane Critescu. The program is dedicated to promoting the use of detection dogs in environmental conservation efforts. The program has since trained three dogs, including a dog called Bear, who found and rescued over 100 koalas affected by the 2020 bushfires.

Awards and honours

* Superstar of STEM, Science & Technology Australia, 2017 * Young Tall Poppy Science Award,

Australian Institute of Policy and Science The Australian Institute of Policy and Science (AIPS) is an Australian non-partisan and non-profit organisation that aims to further public understanding of the public policy and science in Australia. Founded in 1932 as the Australian Institute of ...

, 2020

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Frere, Celine 21st-century Swiss biologists Academic staff of the University of the Sunshine Coast University of New South Wales alumni University of Queensland alumni Swiss LGBTQ scientists 21st-century Swiss women scientists Evolutionary biologists 1980s births Living people Year of birth uncertain 21st-century Swiss LGBTQ people Scientists from Geneva