Andrew Stempel is the president of the Australian Speleological Federation,. He leads a community of nearly a thousand volunteers exploring and protecting Australia’s vast underground landscapes.
Formed in 1956 in Adelaide, the federation—soon to be rebranded as Caves Australia—unites 26 clubs across the nation. Every caver contributes to a growing digital archive, preserving decades of handwritten expedition reports that map the unseen beneath our feet.
Andrew became president in January 2025. Originally from the United States, he moved to Australia in 2014, discovered caving in 2018, and has since spent more than 4,000 hours underground.
With a background in molecular cell biology, he left the laboratory for outdoor education and now merges both worlds through citizen science. This month, he begins a PhD studying ancient DNA from the strange creatures of Australia’s caves.
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About The Citizen Science Show Podcast
This episode of the Citizen Science Show podcast is coming to you from CitSciOz25 the Australian Citizen Science Association conference, in Melbourne Connect, a world-class innovation precinct at The University of Melbourne.
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