Brendan Holly received his bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies and Anthropology/Sociology from Centre College, Kentucky in 2018.

Under 2018 US Fulbright Student Grant, Brendan spends 12-month research on his project entitled: “Assessing Ecological Restoration: Odonates as a Bioindicator for Peat Swamp Forest Recovery.” The research is conducted in Central Kalimantan where he spends most of his time in a camp in the Sabangau peat swamp forest at the Study of Peat-swamp Forest research site, surveying dragonfly and damselflies at different life-stages along research transects. In addition to surveys, he describes dragonfly larvae and rear them to their adult stage and record environmental variables and macrofungi distribution patterns to characterize the environmental conditions in the area. The project aims to provide a tool for analyzing ecosystem restoration in areas where peat swamp fires threaten local livelihoods and ecological communities. He also plans to engage with the local communities and environmental education programs about the use of indicator species to evaluate ecological health.

During his Fulbright Grant, Brendan is working with University of Palangka Raya, the Borneo Nature Foundation, and collaborators from Indonesian Institute of Science.