Selwood was educated at the University of Sydney, graduating with a BSc in 1960 and an MSc in 1963 for her thesis "Histological and cytochemical studies on development in Bembicium nanum (Lamarck) (Gastropoda Littorinidae)".[2] She then completed a PhD on "Oogenesis in the chiton Sypharochiton septentriones (Mollusca, Polyplacophora)" in 1967.[3][4] She worked as a post-doctoral researcher at the University of New South Wales from 1967 to 1970 before moving to London from 1972 to 1974.[5]
Selwood was a member of the Council of the Royal Society of Victoria and, in 2010, was the first woman to be elected president since its inauguration in 1854.[7] As of 2022[update] she serves as a trustee of the Society.[8]
Annoyed that possums were eating her garden, Selwood developed a spray which, with assistance from the University of Melbourne, was patented and commercialised and is produced and sold as Yates Possum Repellent Spray.[9]
Honours and recognition
Selwood was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia in the 2017 Queen's Birthday Honours. She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Victoria in 2018.[10] She received the Ellis Troughton Memorial Award in 2018 from the Australian Mammal Society for her lifetime of mammalian research[11] and is an honorary life member of the Society.[5]