Michael did his BSc and MSc at the University of the Witwatersrand (South Africa) where he studied the unusual mating system of foam-nest frogs. He then did his PhD at Oxford University (UK) studying: how symmetry affects mate choice in zebra finches and damselflies; how variation in male calling affects female choice in reed frogs; symmetry in plants; if the enlarged claws of male fiddler crabs are honest signals of mate quality and fighting ability; cooperative breeding in mammals; why females mate multiply; and sources of variation in female mate choice. He then did a post-doc at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama, working on: life history evolution in live-bearer fish; parental care and mate desertion in cichlid fish; and mate choice in fiddler crabs. Since arriving at the Australian National University he has worked on: signaling behaviour in crickets; sperm competition, genital evolution, mating and cognition in mosquitofish; the reproductive behaviour of fiddler crabs; and human attractiveness;. He has also published reviews and theoretical models on: sexual selection; personality; the costs of sex; the use of meta-analysis in ecology and evolution; and publication bias in biology. Michael was the Head of the Division of Evolution & Ecology at the Research School of Biology, Australian National University (2020-2023).