Researcher biography

Dr Steve Salisbury is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Biological Sciences at The University of Queensland, and a Research Associate at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.

Born in the Blue Mountains in 1972, he studied biology and geology as an undergraduate at the University of Sydney, receiving the Edgeworth David Award for Palaeontology in 1993. He then moved to the University of New South Wales, where he completed a 1st Class Honours thesis on fossil crocodilians from Murgon, south-eastern Queensland, under the supervision of Professor Mike Archer and Dr Paul Willis. 

Subsequently, while still affiliated with the University of New South Wales, Steve went to Germany and the UK to complete a PhD on crocodilian locomotor evolution under Dr Eberhard 'Dino' Frey. He returned to Australia in 2000 to pursue a life-long dream of searching for Australian dinosaurs, a dream that was fulfilled in part during 2001 with his involvement in the discovery of (at the time) Australia's largest dinosaur, Elliot the sauropod. Steve now conducts regular expeditions to Cretaceous vertebrate localities in central-western Queensland and the Dampier Peninsula in The Kimberley region of western Australia. He is also involved in field-based research on the South Island of New Zealand and on the Antarctic Peninsula.

Steve's research focuses on the evolution of Gondwanan continental vertebrates, in particular dinosaurs and crocodilians. He is also interested in vertebrate biomechanics and using extant animals to better understand the anatomy, behaviour and evolution of extinct ones.

Find out more information on how to apply for a Research Higher Degree (MPhil or PhD) with the School. For all enquiries regarding research supervision, please contact ask@uq.edu.au.