Dr Alice Clement

FLINDERS UNIVERSITY
Research Field: Evolutionary Biology

Dr Clement is an evolutionary biologist and palaeontologist, who studies fish and tetrapods (the first terrestrial vertebrates), and the changes that occurred in their bodies over deep geological time. This spectacular transition from water to land is arguably the greatest step in evolution, and occurred close to 400 million years ago, in the Devonian period.

Alice enjoys working on spectacular fossils, as well as studying the animals that live today, to answer questions about early vertebrate evolution. She uses modern scanning and imaging techniques (such as CT and synchrotron imaging) to uncover the origins of the vertebrate body plan, focusing on early brain evolution and the origins of living on land.

Dr Clement has written an article for The Conversation and has featured on the children’s science TV show, Scope (Channel 10). She has actively participated in the CSIRO Stem Professionals in Schools Program at a school in Adelaide.

Dr Alice Clement received her PhD from the Research School of Earth Sciences at Australian National University in 2012. Dr Clement currently works as a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Palaeontology Group at Flinders University, Adelaide.