Rate My Professor Emily Roycroft

Dr Emily Roycroft is a Research Fellow, Lecturer, and Group Leader in the School of Biological Sciences within the Faculty of Science at Monash University. In January 2025, she established the Evolutionary and Conservation Genomics Research Group, which uses genomic approaches to investigate the evolutionary, ecological, and demographic histories of species and their environments. The group's work centers on three main themes: evolutionary history, phylogenomics, and macroevolution; genome evolution and the genomic basis of evolutionary processes; and conservation genomics, including genetic health and management of threatened species. A key emphasis is the application of museum collections to study past genetic diversity, population declines, extinctions, and to inform conservation strategies, primarily focusing on Australian biodiversity such as mammals, birds, reptiles, and other taxa.

Emily Roycroft's career began with an undergraduate degree at Monash University from 2010 to 2014, followed by Honours at the University of Auckland in 2015, where she developed interests in genetics and evolution. She completed her PhD at the University of Melbourne from 2016 to 2020, applying advanced genomics to examine diversification, molecular evolution, and extinction in Australo-Papuan rodents, including the genetic resurrection of the extinct Gould's mouse. From 2020 to 2024, she held a postdoctoral fellowship at the Australian National University, advancing research on the genomics and evolution of Australian wildlife. Her achievements have earned her the Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) Fellowship in 2023, L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Fellowship in 2024, J G Russell Award from the Australian Academy of Science in 2024, Alan Wilton Award from the Genetics Society of Australasia in 2024, and Dobzhansky Prize from the Society for the Study of Evolution in 2025. Notable publications include "Genetic mixing in conservation translocations increases diversity of a keystone threatened species, Bettongia lesueur" (Molecular Ecology, 2025), "Sperm competition intensity shapes divergence in both sperm morphology and reproductive genes across murine rodents" (Evolution, 2025), "Speciation across biomes: Rapid diversification with reproductive isolation in the Australian delicate mice" (Molecular Ecology, 2024), and "Building meaningful collaboration in conservation genetics and genomics" (Conservation Genetics, 2024).