Rate My Professor Julien Louys

Professor Julien Louys is Professor of Palaeontology in the Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution at Griffith University. He specializes in vertebrate palaeontology and palaeoecology, developing and applying new methods to examine past environments through the mammalian fossil record. Louys obtained a Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Mathematics from the University of Newcastle in 2003, a Bachelor of Science with Honours in 2004, and a PhD in 2008 from the University of New South Wales. His career trajectory includes a three-year postdoctoral research assistant position at Liverpool John Moores University in the UK (2008-2011), a 12-month role as Curator of Geosciences at the Queensland Museum (2012), a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Queensland (2012-2013), and a postdoctoral research associate position at the Australian National University (2013-2017). He joined Griffith University in 2017 as an Australian Research Council Future Fellow, was promoted to Associate Professor in 2019, and to full Professor in 2023. He formerly served as Deputy Director of the Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution.

Louys' research investigates Pleistocene megafauna extinctions in Southeast Asia, early modern human dispersals and migration routes through Wallacea, palaeoenvironmental reconstructions in Sumatra, and the palaeontology of Australian underwater caves. His fieldwork spans Australia, Indonesia, Timor-Leste, Kenya, Saudi Arabia, and Mongolia. Funding for his projects has been provided by the Australian Research Council, the Ian Potter Foundation, the Wenner-Gren Foundation, National Geographic, and the Leakey Foundation. He has authored over 100 peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, and edited volumes. Notable publications include 'An early modern human presence in Sumatra 73,000–63,000 years ago' (2017), 'Homo sapiens in Arabia by 85,000 years ago' (2018), 'Characteristics of Pleistocene megafauna extinctions in Southeast Asia' (2007), and 'Climate change frames debate over the extinction of megafauna in Sahul (Pleistocene Australia-New Guinea)' (2013).