Ashley Dungan, PhD (she/her)

Ecology/Evolution/Marine Biology labs recruiting for Fall 2026 (Responses)

Also @hannahgreich.bsky.social shared this great resource with me for anyone else on the hunt: docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

The gut microbiome shapes social behaviour across animal species Nature Reviews Microbiology, Published online: 14 November 2025; doi:10.1038/s41579-025-01262-yThe gut microbiome can influence brain activity and complex behaviours. In this Review, Griffiths et al. discuss microbiome-associated effects on social behaviour in laboratory model organisms, free-living animals and humans, and consider potential mechanistic pathways.

ICYMI: New online! The gut microbiome shapes social behaviour across animal species

Oh no stress - I didn't apply last year. One last chance coming up!

Oh dear. I'm about to be depressed opening this, aren't I.

I'm building a genome database that includes as many terrestrial Australian arthropods as I can find- this is a tool that I hope to use to clairify the diet of native mammals from faecal samples. If you or anyone you know might have some unique genomes that are not on NCBI, please get in touch.

ECR connection: Meet Meren when you need to A means for ECRs to get advice from a senior scientist outside of their support network

Starting this week, I set aside one hour each week to meet ECRs outside my group who want to discuss career development, mentorship, or any non-technical professional questions.

Here is a blog that explains my motivation for this and how to schedule a meeting:

merenlab.org/2025/11/16/E...

Post for LGBTIQA+ STEMM Day symposium, being held on 18 November 2025 at Swinburne Uni. In person event only.

Guess what, QueerFam?

We’re hosting the #LGBTIQA+ STEMM Day symposium at Swinburne Uni (MELB.) on 18 Nov. 2025.

We’d love for you to join us — incl. special
session on Trans+ health & wellbeing + networking.

Info: queersinscience.org.au/event/lgbtqi...

Tickets: www.trybooking.com/events/landi...

Now Open for Submissions

🎉ASM is pleased to launch ASM Animal Microbiology🎉 Submit your original research & reviews now! The journal's EiC is José Vázquez-Boland, DVM, Ph.D., Chair of Infectious Diseases at the University of Edinburgh! @edinuni-irr.bsky.social

➡️ Read PR: brnw.ch/21wVUHf
➡️ Submit Now! brnw.ch/21wVUHe

Graphic with a blue background and light green dots. The text 'call for applications' appears in green, and 'Ausschreibung' in white. A white arrow on the right points diagonally upward.

Early-career researchers: want to run your own lab? 🌟Max Planck Research Groups offer 6+ years, up to €2.7M in funding, open-topic freedom, team support & tenure-track opportunities. Intrigued? 😃Apply by Oct 14, 2025! www.mpg.de/max-planck-r...

Please RT!

📢 #Doctoral / #PhD position available with us at Leibniz-IZW for 4 years working at the interface of #wildlife + #disease #ecology, #veterinary sciences and #modelling.
🐗🐗🐗🐦🐦🐦
Training within #DFG #RTG 3069 led by @freieuniversitaet.bsky.social

▶️Apply here for P7: tinyurl.com/j2ehtz7m

Picture of my recent edition 💜

So, if you're interested in how diet changes or faecal microbiome transplants or probiotics might influence the health of your system, get in touch!

So why am I here? I love being a microbial ecologist. But I'm also fascinated by conservation and nutrition and immunology and mammalian physiology. I can never be an expert in all those things so I'm on the look out for people who I can learn from and who might want to collaborate.

Why such a crazy past 20 months?
•Jan-Sept 24 working as a contractor for AIMS in a field I had very little experience in
•Sept 24-Jan 25 in Germany as a Fellow at the Wissenschaftskolleg
•Feb 25 started a fellowship at UniMelb
•April 25 HAD A BABY

But as it turns out, I was fascinated by the microbiology and just how impactful a microbiome is on host physiology and overall health.

If you work in Australian mammalian conservation, you've probably never heard of me. That's because I've spent the bulk of the past 13 years working in coral reef ecology. My PhD thesis was on designing coral probiotics.

It's been a whirlwind 20 months, but I'm finally here. For those of you who haven't met me, I'm a microbial ecologist based out of the University of Melbourne. I apply microbial ecology principles to try and improve conservation outcomes for native Australian species.