Rate My Professor Kelly Merrin

Dr. Kelly Merrin serves as a Lecturer in the School of Biological Sciences within the Faculty of Science at Monash University. She earned her PhD in Zoology from the University of Canterbury in 2007, with a thesis entitled 'Australian and New Zealand Ilyarachninae (Isopoda: Asellota: Munnopsididae) and their worldwide relationships.' She previously obtained a Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Zoology and Botany from the University of Melbourne in 2001. As an education-focused academic, Merrin lectures biology to large undergraduate cohorts and coordinates units such as BIO1011 Blueprints for Life, BIO1022 Life on Earth, BIO1042 Life in the Environment, and BIO2231 Animal Diversity. Her research interests include strategies to better equip teaching associates for their roles in undergraduate education and the taxonomy and systematics of deep-sea isopods, particularly the sub-order Asellota from south-eastern Australia. She describes herself as a passionate educator and researcher into deep-sea isopods, with expertise in crustacea, isopoda, biodiversity, marine invertebrate biology, marine ecology, zoology, marine biology, nomenclature, and taxonomy.

In addition to her position at Monash University, Merrin has been a Research Associate in the Department of Sciences at Museum Victoria since June 2008. Her key publications encompass 'Nine New Species of Ilyarachninae Hansen, 1916 (Crustacea: Isopoda: Munnopsidae) from Australia and New Zealand with an Updated Key of the Subfamily from the Southwest Pacific' (2024), 'The genus Argathona Stebbing, 1905 (Crustacea: Isopoda: Corallanidae) in Singapore marine waters, with description of two new species' (2022), 'The lower bathyal and abyssal seafloor fauna of eastern Australia' (2020), and 'Invertebrate diversity in the deep Great Australian Bight (200-5000 m)' (2018). Her work contributes to UN Sustainable Development Goal 14: Life Below Water. Merrin has been recognized for teaching excellence with the Faculty of Science Dean’s Excellence in Teaching Award in 2021 and as a member of the First Year Biology Team, which received the Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Teaching Excellence in 2021 for implementing an innovative flipped classroom model that enhances metacognition and real-world application for diverse large student cohorts across Clayton and Malaysia campuses.