Chantelle Derez
Researcher biography
Chantelle Derez is a PhD student studying nuisance wildlife in urban areas through social and ecological dimensions. Specifically, she is focused on snakes and the impacts of wildlife relocation, with an interest in improving wildlife welfare. Currently, it is unknown how choices are made by snake relocators for releasing snakes and how these impact on the fate of relocated reptiles. For her PhD, Chantelle is conducting field work radio-tracking resident and relocated coastal carpet pythons in urban Brisbane to gain an understanding of how pythons respond to relocation.
Chantelle received a BSc in Conservation, Biodiversity and Park Management from University of South Australia, Honours in Science from Flinders University and completed her MSc in Conservation Science at The University of Queensland, where she was involved in the describing a new venomous snake species from Queensland. She has experiences in wildlife research and conservation, working with wildlife centres, government agencies and NGOs. While reptiles are her main passion, she has worked around the world with sharks, whales and mammal reintroductions.