Dr Matthew Cody Nitschke

I am a postdoctoral research fellow in the Global Ecology Laboratory here at Flinders University. My research broadly focuses on developing mechanistic models of biological and evolutionary processes. To do this, I work closely with an interdisciplinary group of experts from areas including biology, philosophy, anthropology and ecology. In the past, I developed a series of mathematical models that explore the evolution of multicellularity from unicellular ancestors and of uniquely human behaviour from our closest primate relatives. At the Global Ecology Lab, I’m working to develop a mathematical model to investigate the impact and spread of disease brought to Australia through external contact. To address these problems, I apply ordinary differential equations and agent-based models.