Peter Wood is not your average academic, far from it actually.
A Darwin High School graduate in 1984, Peter would never have dreamed of being involved in critical marine research as a part of his PhD.
Having finished his Graduate Certificate in Tropical Wildlife Management externally through Charles Darwin University (CDU) in 2004, Peter embarked on a Masters in Ecotourism through James Cook University in 2005 while working at the Wet Tropics Management Authority.
“My main reason for this was to get involved in nature based tourism and also utilise the tropical wildlife education from CDU,” Peter said.
Successful completion of his studies at James Cook University resulted in Peter receiving an APA PhD scholarship to do a PhD in tourism at JCU.
“The topic is 'Development of marine research tourism across Australia' and I hope to do a case study for all over the Top End. The goal and benefits of the PhD are wide reaching; however there is an emphasis on developing a sound and comprehensive marine research tourism knowledge base to support a significant expansion of marine research tourism ventures across Australia.”
“For me, the CDU Graduate Certificate in Tropical Wildlife Management (GCTWM) was significant as it marked the time where I seriously applied myself to study and fortunately the course was so engaging that most of the time,the study wasn't hard work,” he said.
“So, in a way, the CDU experience kicked started me onto this PhD and into a study field that is interesting for me.”
Anyone who is interested in the direction and result of this project can contact Peter at peter.wood@jcu.edu.au.