Wan Faridah Akmal Jusoh

Dr

Accepting PhD Students

PhD projects

If you are interested in the following topics, feel free to reach out to Wan.

• Integrative taxonomy and systematics of fireflies
• Digitisation and archival of biodiversity heritage data
• Ecology and conservation of tropical biodiversity
• Conservation assessment of threatened taxa

20102022

Research activity per year

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Personal profile

Biography

Wan F.A. Jusoh is currently a Senior Lecturer in Biodiversity and Conservation at the School of Science, Monash University Malaysia. Before joining Monash University, Wan worked as a Research Fellow at the National University of Singapore for five years. Between 2015 and 2017, she worked as a Senior Programme Officer at WWF-Malaysia, lobbying for the protection of Setiu Wetlands, Terengganu.

Research interests

Wan conducts research at the intersection of biodiversity research and historical natural heritage – from studying flashing fireflies to reconstructing timelines of how ecosystems have evolved. Her primary research aims to develop a comprehensive species database using combined approaches from field, laboratory, museum, library and archives.

Integrative taxonomy and systematics of fireflies

Firefly beetles (Coleoptera: Lampyridae) comprise over 2,000 species globally. The subfamily Luciolinae—all of which are exclusively flashing fireflies—represents a diverse subfamily distributed across Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, and the Pacific islands. With her collaborators, Wan seeks to explore the systematics of fireflies and other bioluminescent beetles of SE Asia and the Australopacific region. Her research team uses various analyses derived from morphological and molecular data, behaviour, and ecology, culminating in taxonomic revisions.

Story of species – towards making the digitised historical and type specimen data accessible

On minor but significant research, Wan is keen on developing and mobilising species-based digital data from museum collections, particularly material collected from SE Asia in former colonial museums. In collaboration with historians and museum curators, she explores the history of collections, collectors and taxonomists to digitally 'repatriate' original specimens (historical and type specimens) collected from Singapore, Malaysia and other countries in SE Asia.

Global and national assessments of fireflies

With the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Species Survival Commission (SSC) – Firefly Specialist Group, Wan assesses fireflies' conservation status in SE Asia. She also assesses fireflies' conservation status for Singapore's Red Data Book 3rd edition.

Monash teaching commitment

  • BIO3820 – Tropical Terrestrial Biology
  • ENV2726 – Global Conservation & Biodiversity
  • SCI2800 – Human Ecology & Biodiversity

 

Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals

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):

  • SDG 8 - Decent Work and Economic Growth
  • SDG 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities
  • SDG 13 - Climate Action
  • SDG 15 - Life on Land

Education/Academic qualification

Entomology, PhD, Universiti Putra Malaysia (University Putra Malaysia)

Environmental Quality & Conservation, MSc, Universiti Putra Malaysia (University Putra Malaysia)

Environmental Science, BSc, Universiti Putra Malaysia (University Putra Malaysia)

External positions

Co Chair IUCN SSC Firefly Specialist Group, IUCN Species Survival Commission

20222025

Research area keywords

  • Ecology
  • Biodiversity
  • Conservation Biology
  • Integrative Taxonomy
  • Entomology
  • History of Natural History collections
  • Data Mobilisation
  • Species Discovery
  • Specimen Digitisation
  • Zoological Nomenclature
  • Phylogenetics
  • Systematics
  • Fireflies
  • Dark Taxa
  • Threatened Taxa

Network

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