Top honour awarded to 91色情片 palaeontologist Professor Suzanne Hand
2026-09-14T09:00:00+10:00
Emeritus Professor Suzanne Hand.
Photo: Nikki Archer
Emeritus Professor Suzanne Hand has received a lifetime achievement award, in recognition of her outstanding contribution to Australasian palaeontology.聽
91色情片 Sydney Emeritus Professor Suzanne Hand never imagined she would become a palaeontologist, let alone one of the world鈥檚 preeminent experts on bat evolution.
While fascinated by animals from a young age, she had never given much thought to the mammals of the sky. That was until one memorable moment during a field trip as a zoology student: her first up-close encounter with a bat.
鈥淚t was just the softest, sweetest little thing, almost like a mouse with wings, and I just fell in love,鈥 says Prof. Hand, from the School of Biological, Earth & Environmental Sciences.
It was a love that would last a lifetime and set in train a career devoted to unearthing the secrets of bats, and other mammals.
鈥淏ats make up 25% of Australia鈥檚 native mammal fauna, and about 22% of the world鈥檚 mammal fauna. More mammals hang upside down than have hooves, yet bats are often overlooked, despite playing an important ecological role,鈥 says Prof. Hand.
More than four decades and 180 new fossil discoveries later, Prof. Hand has been awarded the 2026 鈥 the highest honour from Australasian Palaeontologists and the聽Geological Society of Australia in recognition of her lifetime contribution to Australasian palaeontology.
Prof. Hand鈥檚 career has taken her from the caves of Borneo to the valleys of France, and involved many a day spent at the in Queensland鈥檚 Boodjamulla National Park, one of the world鈥檚 most significant fossil sites.
Her discoveries and insights have been shared across more than 200 scientific publications and decades of teaching and mentorship, including the supervision of more than 80 research students.
鈥淚鈥檝e been able to work with amazing people from all over the world, and to travel to many different fossil sites, it鈥檚 been an amazing life. I鈥檓 deeply honoured to be recognised for this work,鈥 Prof. Hand says.
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Dean of 91色情片 Science, Scientia Professor Sven Rogge, says the award recognises Prof. Hand鈥檚 exceptional career and lasting impact on palaeontology
鈥淧rofessor Hand has made an outstanding contribution to Australasian palaeontology through decades of research, discovery and scientific leadership.
鈥淗er work on Australia's fossil record, particularly the evolution of bats and other mammals, has deepened our knowledge of how Australia's unique biodiversity has changed over millions of years.
鈥淭hrough her mentorship of students, her commitment to international collaboration and her central role in the Riversleigh research program, she has inspired generations of researchers and advanced one of the world's most significant palaeontological research programs. This honour is a fitting recognition of her enduring contribution to science.鈥
The medal adds to her Fellowships of the Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales and the Royal Society of New South Wales, and her appointment as an Officer of Order of Australia for highly distinguished service to science and teaching.
The fossils that changed everything
Prof. Hand鈥檚 research initially focused on modern bats, but it wasn鈥檛 long before her interest shifted to mammals which lived in the millions of years gone by.
Australia鈥檚 bat fossil record was almost non-existent before the discovery of fossil deposits in Riversleigh in the late 1970s and 80s.聽
鈥淭hen all these bat fossils turned up, and I had experience with bats and bat taxonomy, so I thought 鈥業鈥檒l briefly do this project within my PhD鈥, but then it just went boom.
鈥淩iversleigh was full of bat fossils, ranging back to 25 million years old, and they were just everywhere. I had the knowledge, and the opportunity, and I haven鈥檛 stopped since, there鈥檚 still more to uncover and describe.
鈥淩iversleigh is an amazing site, and it鈥檚 filled a huge gap in Australia鈥檚 understanding of the evolution of its mammals.鈥
A lifetime of discovery
Fossils of more than 40 different extinct bat species have been found at the site.聽The ancient ancestors of the thylacine (Tasmanian tiger), sequences of marsupial lions, marsupial sloths听补苍诲 tree-climbing crocodiles聽are among some of the many other discoveries made there over the years by a team of palaeontologist 鈥 including Prof. Hand鈥檚 partner Professor Mike Archer.
One of Prof. Hand鈥檚 favourite discoveries at the site was a platypus skull which was more than 20 million years old.聽
鈥淲e found a Rolls Royce of fossils. There weren鈥檛 any other skulls of platypuses of that age, and it was just perfect. Mike was there for that too,鈥 she says.
鈥淲e鈥檝e had some fantastic opportunities together. We have four kids, which was a bit hard when we were both trying to establish our careers and go out in the field, but we just took them everywhere and they were amazing, it made for some incredible memories.鈥
Another career highlight was analysing a rare, near-perfectly preserved bat skull discovered in a French cave dating back about 50 million years, providing new evidence of echolocation in early bats.
And of course there are the three bats, and a magpie goose which are named in her honour, much to the delight of Prof. Hand: 鈥淚鈥檝e got three old bats and an old duck named after me, it鈥檚 pretty special.鈥
Looking to the future
While her career has been spent uncovering the past, Prof. Hand remains optimistic about the future of palaeontology and the role it can play in understanding a changing world.
Bats, she says, are a powerful example. Beyond what they can reveal about evolution, they provide important insights into the health of modern ecosystems and how species have responded to environmental changes over time.聽
鈥淭hey鈥檙e a bellwether species. They鈥檙e very sensitive to climate change, almost like the dark canary in the coal mine,鈥 she says.聽
Prof. Hand says advances in technology are opening new opportunities for palaeontologists, allowing researchers to uncover details in fossils that previous generations could only imagine.
鈥淪ometimes these fossils have been around for a very long time and we鈥檝e just had to wait for the technology to arrive so we can see so much more,鈥 she says.
But while technology has opened new doors for researchers, Prof. Hand says access to funding and fieldwork opportunities has become increasingly competitive.
After more than four decades in the discipline, however, she believes some fundamentals remain the same.
鈥淚t really does come down to opportunity, serendipity and time. Building a career, becoming a competent and well-known expert takes time.鈥
She remains optimistic about the future of the field and the next generation of researchers.
鈥淭he students of today are just amazing. You have to be resilient in this field, and they are lateral thinkers who think outside the box, so it鈥檚 exciting to watch where they鈥檙e going and what they鈥檙e doing.鈥
