Research output per year
Research output per year
The University of Western Australia (M309), 35 Stirling Highway,
6009 Perth
Australia
Associate Professor Debra Judge is a biological anthropologist and evolutionary ecologist in the School of Human Sciences. She received her BS (Behavioral and Ecological Biology) and MS (Animal Ecology) from the University of California, Davis. She completed her PhD -- an evolutionary analysis of testamentary property distributions -- in 1996 (Univ Calif Davis). After a post-doc investigating evolutionary demography (NIH funding), Debra moved to UWA to take up a T&R position in Anatomy & Human Biology.
Debra's abiding interest in family-living species led her to undertake field studies of monogamous birds and primates, archival studies in testamentary practices, and to the comparative study of life history and longevity. Her primary research currently is a longitudinal study of child growth in several ecologically varying communities in rural Timor-Leste. She focuses on understanding the role of family ecology in the growth and development of children. With a holistic understanding of the local conditions associated with better child growth, interventions can be tailored to the conditions of local communities, and facilitate improved child growth in the rural areas of Timor-Leste where most families depend on subsistence agriculture. This research has been funded by ARC Discovery grants and by UNICEF. Under her guidance, honours and PhD students have undertaken in-depth field projects in Timor-Leste resulting in numerous publications in research journals of high repute. Debra is passionate about developing the experiences, skills, insights, and critical thinking of young researchers in a way that prepares them for a wide array of careers in public service, international development and aid, as well as in academia. This passion resulted in her appointment as the Department's Graduate Research Coordinator from 2016 to 2023.
Debra coordinates two undergraduate units in Biological Anthropology and teaches into units on human biology, women's health, gender studies, and the intersection of demography and disease. She has also taught graduate units in Human Ecology.
Debra is a consulting editor to the two main journals in her discipline, Human Nature and Evolution and Human Behavior, the Chair of the international group Women in Evolution and Behavior, and the President of the UWA Academic Staff Association. She is also an elected member of the Academic Board and of the Board of the Graduate Research School.
Teach biological anthropology at all levels; also teach into Gender Studies
Graduate Research Coordinator for School of Human Sciences
President, UWA Academic Staff Association
Elected member, Academic Board
Elected representative, Academic Consultative Committee
Research supervisor
Research on family ecology and child growth in East Timor
Intergenerational relationships
Primate social behaviour
Evolution of longevity as a life history trait
UNICEF
Australian Research Council
Univ. Western Australia
National Institutes of Health (USA)
Rockefeller Foundation
Sigma Xi Grants in Aid of Research
Assistant Professor, UWA 2010-2014
Teaching and Research Fellow, UWA 2002-2010
Professional Research Ecologist, Univ California Davis
Coordinator ANHB 3315: Human Evolutionary Ecology
Coordinator ANHB 2215: Biological Anthropology: Human Variation
Coordinator APHB5502 Human Ecology
ANHB 3321: lecturer (demograph)
Primates & Human Evolution (in ANHB1101)
Human Behaviour (ANHB1102)
3310/3320: Applications
Population Growth, Evol of Menopause (ANHB 2216)
GEND2903 Sex,Gender and STEM
functional French
basic Spanish
functional Tetun
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
Ecology, PH.D, University of California Davis
Award Date: 10 Mar 1996
President, UWA Academic Staff Association
30 Jul 2023 → …
Chairperson, Women in Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences (WEBS)
2022 → …
Consulting Editor, Journal: Evolution and Human Behavior
2017 → …
Consulting Editor, Journal: Human Nature
2016 → …
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Research output: Book/Report › Other output
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Judge, D. (Creator), The University of Western Australia, 2024
DOI: 10.26182/zvkz-e569
Dataset
1/03/20 → 28/02/21
Project: Research
Judge, Debra (Recipient), 2004
Prize: Award