When not immersed in the world of creepy crawlies, you’ll find Professor Mariella (Marie) Herberstein bringing order to the Academic Senate in her role as Chair. She took time out to share a few things about herself and educate us on the little-known Austrian chocolate famine of the 1980s.

I’ve been at Macquarie for…
Over 15 years.

In a nutshell, my job is to…
Enthuse students about biology, find out more about the behaviour of spiders (sometimes insects) and support the University through my work as Chair of Academic Senate.

The question I hear most often in my work is…
Is it true that daddy long-legs are the most poisonous spiders in the world? (No).

The top three things on my to-do list today are…
1) Update lectures for next week
2) Plan engagement events for Senators
3) Write the introduction to a review paper on scramble competition (where males don’t fight over females but scramble to reach the females first)

If I could do any other job at Macquarie, it would be…
Tour guide of the campus fauna for visitors.

Name a Macquarie staff member that impressed you last week…
Rekha Joshi, who made a green wall for my office from recycled materials only!

If I could change anything about Macquarie it would be…
Get rid of all the rubbish that accumulates on campus – it drives me mad! I pick up what I can on the way from the train station.

My heritage is…
I grew up in Austria and did my PhD there. My family immigrated to Australia during the great Austrian chocolate famine of the mid 80s.

Outside work, you’ll often find me…
Watching and blogging about Eurovision at thescienceofeurovision.wordpress.com.

The most amazing place I’ve ever visited is…
Probably Iceland, where I saw a blue whale, volcanos, glaciers, hot springs….

The last great movie I saw was…
Deadpool … should I admit that?