Aadhi Ramkumar

I just attended the 2026 WA Teaching and Learning Forum held at Curtin University with my supervisor Carly Newcombe from The Living Room (TLR). The conference began with a keynote address by… | Aadh... I just attended the 2026 WA Teaching and Learning Forum held at Curtin University with my supervisor Carly Newcombe from The Living Room (TLR). The conference began with a keynote address by Profess...

Took a short break from beetles🪲...

Carly Newcombe and I were fortunate to present at the WA Teaching and Learning Forum 2026 hosted at @curtinuniversity.bsky.social.

We spoke about UWA's The Living Room (TLR) and the work we do as the first point of wellbeing support for so many UWA students🌱!

Cryptic spiders 🕷️❓

Congratulations to #CEB member Jackson Rendall on their recent publication in Austral Entomology (@austentsoc.bsky.social) about the natural history of the South Australian spiny trapdoor spider (Blakistonia aurea).

Read the paper here: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

5.Started a journal club for the CEB, innovatively named the “CEBrief”.

6. Got stuck in an elevator.

7. Won a “Best Poster Award” for the RSWA 2025 Poster presentation competition. It was a sobering experience walking into a room filled with rectangular posters.

Onwards and forwards. Beantastic.

3. Presented my proposal to an enthusiastic crowd of CEB members. Got a lot of amazing feedback and fell in love with morph transitions.

4. Supervised master’s students for a mini beetle research project! They are doing great, and I was there to say encouraging things.

Quick fire big bean updates from the past few months:

1. Began demonstrating labs and running tutorials at UWA! Helping students in the same place I was 5 years ago has been extremely humbling and rewarding.

2. Proposal completed - I am now 0.5% closer to achieving my dreams of obtaining a PhD.

Great flash talk by Jackson Randell at #AES2025! @ceb-uwa.bsky.social

Great talk by Kim Wong at #AES2025 … this talk never gets old! @brainiants.bsky.social @ceb-uwa.bsky.social

Avantika Sharma showcasing her plans for her PhD on intrasexual selection in magpies at #AES2025. Great work Avantika! @mandyridley.bsky.social @ceb-uwa.bsky.social

Who doesn’t enjoy a good animal behaviour video at #AES2025? Andrea Piccinini surely had captured our attention by presenting his work on post-copulatory mating behaviour in mygalomorph spiders 🕷️ @austevolsoc.bsky.social

🐞 Ornaments Aren’t Just for Males 🏆
@hasbeanbeetle.bsky.social is studying female beetle ornaments, testing whether traits such as melanisation are used in mate choice, conflict, or resistance to harm — showcasing that ornaments may have functions beyond mate acquisition. 🐞👩‍❤️‍💋‍👨🥊 2/11

Crazy! Who would do such a thing?!

Presenting at the CEB ✅ Was awesome having a large and engaged crowd!

More presentations and emotional-support beetles to come.

@brainiants.bsky.social discussed her PhD proposal this afternoon where she plans to study variation in intraspecific cognition & its relation to complex behaviors, specifically combat and group foraging in Western Australian ants. 🐜 @mandyridley.bsky.social @notthebestsam.bsky.social #LeighSimmons

Darwin came to town!
@beetlebonking.bsky.social @brainiants.bsky.social @upama.bsky.social

#UWAOpenDay #EvolBio #EnvironmentalScience