Associate ProfessorKatrina Schlunke

Project Total: $213,210; This project aims to tell a global story about extinction as a human problem, by reconstructing the individual biographies of a selection of thylacine (Tasmanian tiger) specimens. Through transforming these specimens into grieveable lives the project expects to facilitate scholarly and public engagement with the cultural history of extinction, advancing the foundation for a sustainable and informed response that may help prevent further extinctions. In bringing together the zoo and the museum as key sites for the development of public environmental sentiment, this project has the potential to generate new and globally-relevant resources for engaging with conservation and extinction, through these institutions and beyond. Funded by: Australian Research Council - Grant-Discovery Projects ($213,210); University of Tasmania ($15,000).

Project Total: $7,126; This scoping project uses the Thylacine as a case study in order to investigate the ethical, political and philosophical questions that arise when we look at extinct animals in museums in an era of mass-extinction. Funded by: University of Tasmania - Grant-CAL Hothouse Research Enhancement Program; University of Tasmania ($7,126).